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The 4 Best Air Fryers For A Family Of 4
Air fryers are great for making tasty, crispy meals without a lot of oil since they use convection cooking technology to heat up your food quickly with hot air instead of cooking it in hot oil like a basic fryer. Since fryers vary wildly in size and cooking capacities, when you're looking for the best air fryers for a family of four or more, zero in on models that have a capacity of 5 quarts or larger. These larger capacity fryers can easily make enough food for a four-person meal or cook up appetizers for an even larger group to keep your parties and get-togethers fed.
When you’re choosing an air fryer, you’ll want to consider the best option for your family. While a basket-style air fryer is the most common, there are also oven-front air fryers that come with a shallow basket or removable racks. The oven-style loaders usually offer larger capacities than basket style air fryers. Plus, the shelves often allow other options like toasting and food dehydrating, depending on the model. One of my picks is even a toaster oven and air fryer in one for extra versatility. However, basket-style air fryers tend to have a smaller footprint for the same capacity and are easier to store away.
Additional functions and accessories like shake reminder timers, adjustable temp range, cake barrel, pizza pan, skewer rack, and muffin pan are also great to have when cooking for a large family if you'll use them.
To help you choose the perfect addition to your kitchen countertop, here’s my list of the best air fryers for a family of four. Each of these top picks is available on Amazon and has plenty of reviewers to back it up.
1The Best Overall Air Fryer For 4
Perfect for most large families, the COSORI 5.8-quart air fryer is a top pick with over 7,000 reviews and a 4.7-star rating overall. This fryer is capable of cooking a whole 6 pounds of chicken or a variety of other dishes to serve up to five people. It features a square nonstick basket for more cooking room, and 11 cooking presets ranging from steak to seafood.
With its digital display, all you have to do is tap on one of the preset options, and it'll automatically turn off when the dish is done cooking. There’s a handy shake reminder for even frying and a "Keep Warm" function, too. It also has a timer with a temp range of 170 to 400 degrees. The basket is detachable for easy cleaning and dishwasher safe.
According to fans: “We are a family of 5 and I got the 5.8qt. size fryer. It holds plenty, yet it has a low profile and fits under my kitchen cabinet. [...] The result is nicely cooked veggies, seafood, etc. in a short amount of time. The veggies turn out great... similar to roasting but it takes a lot less time. Just toss [...] what you’re cooking lightly in olive oil and the machine does the rest.”
2The Runner-Up: A Budget-Friendly Air Fryer With Fewer Features
The GoWISE USA digital air fryer covers all the basics at about half the price of my previous pick. This large 5.8-quart fryer with a touch-screen display can make enough food to serve up to five people and features a 30-minute timer and shake reminder. There are eight presets — a few less than my top pick — for quickly making popular snacks and meals including fries, steak, pizza, fish, and cake. The temp range can be set from 180 to 400 degrees. The pan and basket are nonstick and detachable for quick cleaning. However, the basket is not dishwasher safe like the first pick. But if you don't need features like a keep warm setting, this is a great affordable option with more than 2,000 five-star reviews.
According to fans: “Hands down the best purchase of the year, I absolutely love my air fryer!!! Frozen wing come out cooked perfect in no time, family sized thawed chicken breast cooked in 30min and juicy. Frozen french fries come out crisp like a restaurant fryer.”
3The Best Air Fryer & Toaster Oven In One
If you want the versatility of a toaster oven and air fryer in one, the BLACK+DECKER Crisp ‘N Bake air fry toaster oven is a great option. The manufacturer doesn't specify a quart capacity, but this large toaster oven can toast eight slices of bread and bake a 12-inch pizza, so it should offer plenty of room to feed a family. It can broil, bake, and warm your meals, too. This air fryer oven has a timer that can be set for up to 60 minutes and includes a pan, rack, crumb tray, and a shallow air fry basket.
“I picked this one because it’s large (we’re a family of 5 now), and it has an air fry function ... the air fryer pan can fit a lot of food, an entire bag of french fries or six chicken breasts. It does french fries well,” one reviewer wrote. However, some reviewers noted that the air fryer pan was not the easiest to clean, and it isn't indicated as being dishwasher safe.
According to fans: “This is my 4th toaster oven and by far the best! The tray fits so much more than any other toaster ovens, and it isn’t that much bigger overall. The air fryer is awesome !!! no need to buy a separate air fryer!”
4The Best Extra-Large Capacity Unit
The Soing extra-large air fryer features a generous 17-quart size with multiple cooking options. You can roast a whole 6-pound rotisserie chicken in it, according to reviewers, but it also toasts, bakes, and grills. Its touch screen menu has eight preset options. The easy-load glass door allows you to see your food inside and a 360-degree rotation feature helps it to cook evenly. This fryer comes with a skewer rack, fry net, cake basket, rotating basket, chicken fork, and drip tray that are all dishwasher safe. Its temp range is lower than the other picks on this list, from 90 to 400 degrees, and it features a 24-hour timer, which means it can also be used as a dehydrator.
According to fans: “This is an awesome air fryer, it adds a great flavor to the food, it's very easy to use and it's very easy to clean.We love this, great for family suppers as it's big enough.”
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