Air fryers have grown in popularity during the past couple of years. If you are thinking about buying one, you likely stumbled across convection ovens as an alternative.
What’s the difference?
The short answer is not very much.
But there are qualities of each that might impact your purchase of one instead of the other.
What is Convection Baking?
It helps to know what convection baking is to explain the difference between convection ovens and air fryers.
A traditional oven has one heat source that cooks your food, which is at the bottom of the appliance.
That heat source is stationary and cooks food via heat rising from the bottom. This cooking method can lead to hot and cold spots inside your oven, which can mean uneven baking.
The possibility of uneven cooking is why many recipes instruct you to rotate your pans halfway through the cooking time, ensuring all the food receives equal heat.
Convection baking, on the other hand, incorporates a fan into the oven. The fan blows the hot air from the heat sources around your food, covering more surface area and cooking your food more quickly.
It also reduces the moisture inside the oven, which can make your food crispier.
Convection baking is useful in cooking various foods, such as roasting vegetables or baking pies or pastries. It is also an alternative to deep-fried foods.
Foods are immersed in hot oil to be deep-fried. Oil is a good conductor of heat, so food submerged in it cooks evenly and creates a crispy exterior.
When using convection baking, the food cooks faster, which creates the same crispy exterior as deep-fried foods.
Convection baking is the same method of cooking used by air fryers and convection ovens. But there are differences in how each appliance uses it that might impact your cooking results.
Also read: Can You Use Air Fryer for Baking?
What is a Convection Oven?
A convection oven looks much like a toaster oven. It is rectangular and has a glass door that opens from one side, with metal racks on the interior.
Unlike a toaster oven, a convection oven has a fan that allows for the convection style of baking explained above.
The fan is situated at the back of the convection oven and blows air from two heat sources located at the top and bottom.
The fan blows heat from the two heat sources onto the surface of the food, cooking it faster and more evenly and browning it more quickly. This process creates a crispy exterior to your food.
If you want to crisp your food without deep frying, convection ovens are a healthier option, as they require much less oil.
To use a convection oven, you spread whatever you are cooking in an even layer on the baking sheet placed on metal racks inside.
Most convection ovens come with a perforated baking sheet that allows the air to reach all sides of the food more evenly.
Spreading food in an even layer is necessary when using a convection oven, as it ensures everything cooks evenly. If food is layered, it impedes the heat from reaching all of it.
What is an Air Fryer?
Air fryers are mini, more portable convection ovens, with a few minor differences.
They rose in popularity initially as an alternative to fried foods.
Like convection ovens, air fryers do not require much oil when cooking foods, making them a healthier option when making favorites such as french fries or chips.
But air fryers are small in comparison to convection ovens. Their size allows them not only to preheat more quickly but also to cook food faster.
That means air-fried food is often crispier than even convection oven food.
Air fryers are taller than their convection oven cousins, usually close to 12 inches, but are not as wide. They resemble a coffee pot in size, meaning they usually fit on your counter.
There is a removable bucket in the bottom half of the air fryer. Inside the bucket is a perforated tray, where you place the food.
Unlike a convection oven, the air fryer has just one fan at the top inside, situated above a heating element.
But, as mentioned above, they still cook the food faster because they are smaller and the fan is closer to the food.
Because of the air fryer’s size, the basket is much smaller than the inside of a convection oven. That means you can cook just a fraction of what you can in a convection oven.
For example, in an air fryer, you can typically cook about 1-2 serving sizes of something at once vs. a convection oven, in which you usually can cook much more.
For this reason, using an air fryer might be inconvenient if you cook for a large family or group because you could have to cook the meal in several batches.
Overall, air fryers are more energy efficient because they cook more quickly and require lower temperatures.
Of course, using an air fryer to make several batches of something negates this benefit. Air fryers also do not typically allow food to be spread out evenly, such as the convection oven.
If you are cooking something in an air fryer that must be layered, such as chips or onion rings, you must shake the basket periodically to ensure even cook.
Also read: Halogen Oven vs. Air Fryer – Differences and Similarities
Difference between Air fryer and Oven
Although both work on the same principle of cooking food by heat, below are the differences between the two :
Placement of the Heating Element
The heating elements are mostly situated on top of the air fryer basket. With the help of a high-speed fan, this heat is rotated all around the food.
A convection oven will have heating elements situated both on top as well as on the lower surface of the appliance.
A fan will be present on the backside to spread the heat.
In a standard oven, preheating produces even heating throughout the oven followed by direct exposure to the high temperatures of the heating element.
Placement of the Inbuilt Fan
A high-speed fan in an air fryer basket is mostly right at the bottom.
A convection oven will have the fan mostly situated at the backside.
A standard oven does not have any fan and heats up with the help of heating elements above and beneath the oven.
Difference in Features
Ovens are more versatile when compared to air fryers.
They have a wide range of cooking options from heating to broiling and baking. Although ovens do not need a lot of oil, they are not designed for oil-free cooking.
Air fryers are made for oil-free frying and only the air fryer ovens with advanced features can be used for different styles of cooking like roasting, grilling, etc.
Nowadays many different pre-set functions are available in both appliances.
Cooking Capacity
An air fryer oven or an air fryer basket has smaller space compared to traditional ovens.
In large gatherings, an oven works like a charm. You can slide many racks with food inside and it will all be done in one go.
An air fryer basket feeds one to two people at one time. An air fryer oven can probably feed three to four. For more people, you would have to cook in batches.
Cooking Time Duration
Due to the small size and a rapid blast of hot air fan, food gets cooked in an air fryer much quickly compared to an oven.
This is because a high amount of heat gets focused on a small area hastening the cooking.
An oven takes time to preheat and then cooks the food steadily over a certain duration of time.
You do not have to preheat the air fryer, unlike the oven. This saves you a lot of time for other chores.
Cooking is accelerated in a convection oven as well due to the presence of a fan. High-temperature air is blown over food resulting in faster cooking.
Taste of the Food
Many consumers have taken to youtube to share their experiences regarding the taste and crispiness.
They have compared the food prepared in an air fryer with food prepared in an oven.
Although a traditional oven takes more energy and more time to cook food, convection cooking outperformed air fryers in many taste tests.
This is especially true for food that is not breaded or frozen.
Cost Difference
An oven will be slightly costly compared to an air fryer.
The cost goes up for both appliances with additional features and accessories.
Small Air fryers and basic Ovens can be quite economical. Both the appliances are easily available in the market, online or offline
Electric Requirements
An oven needs around 800-1500 watts depending on its liter capacity.
The power requirement of an Airfryer starts from 800 watts and can go up to 1500 watts.
Also read: Air Fryer vs Dehydrator – What the Difference?
Convection Oven vs. Air Fryer: Pros and Cons
If you are still unsure what you should purchase for your specific needs, look at the pros and cons listed below.
Convection Oven Pros
- Capacity: Convection ovens have more space than most air fryers, which means you can cook more food at once.
- No Extra Work: Convection ovens provide an even cook without having to shake the basket (like with an air fryer) to make sure everything receives even heat.
- Easy to Clean: The front of convection ovens can open completely, allowing for a quick, easy wipe down of any drippings or ash bits.
- Visibility: Some cooks prefer to gauge how their food is cooking by looking at it. This type of cooking is easy to do with a convection oven, as the glass doors offer visibility to the cooking food.
- Versatility: Convection ovens can cook various foods, including things you might typically make in your air fryer. You can also usually turn off the fan to allow for regular baking.
- Health Perks: Most recipes only require a quick toss in oil, which is much healthier than some deep-fried counterparts.
Convection Oven Cons
- Space: Convection ovens are on the larger side and can take up a fair amount of counter or cupboard space. They are not easy to move around.
- Time: Convection ovens are larger than air fryers, so they take longer than air fryers to warm up and cook your food.
- Frying: Because convection ovens do not cook food as quickly as an air fryer, they often do not get the food as crispy as an air fryer does.
Air Fryer Pros
- Time: Air fryers are smaller, which means they heat up faster and cook food more quickly.
- Frying: Because air fryers cook food faster, they usually make the food a bit crispier than convection ovens.
- Space: Air fryers take up less counter space. They can also be moved easily from a cabinet to the counter when in use.
- Accessories: Many air fryers have various accessories available, such as grill racks, baking cups, or additional frying racks that allow versatility in what you can cook.
- Health Perks: Most recipes only require a quick toss in oil, which is much healthier than most fried counterparts. Some foods, such as frozen foods, often do not require any oil at all.
Air Fryer Cons
- Cleaning: Air fryers can be challenging to clean. Foods can drip into the basket and the bucket, so both often need to be taken out and washed separately.
- Sound: Air fryers are louder than convection ovens. Some people compare the sound to that of a vacuum cleaner, which could be distracting.
- Visibility: You will not be able to look at the food while it is frying, which might be difficult for some people who are used to cooking by sight.
- Size: Air fryers are small and cook lower quantities of food, which might be difficult if you cook for a large family or group of friends.
- Attention: Some recipes require extra attention and can involve more work when they require you to shake the basket. The additional work might be inconvenient for people who prefer a more hands-off method.Â
Also read: How to Air Fry Without an Air Fryer?
Which One is Healthier – Air Fryer or Oven?Â
When it comes to being healthier, both offer healthy cooked food.
If you need to cut down oil, an air fryer might be a better option.
This is because most food recipes require using a little oil in an oven. You can completely skip grease with an Air fryer.
An Airfryer cannot handle excessive oil or water. The liquids drip down to a container beneath the basket.
In the case of an oven, it remains inside the dish or tray.
Conclusion
Ultimately, air fryers and convection ovens are very similar, and you will likely be able to cook many of the same recipes in either appliance.
The decision about what you want has a lot to do with your personal needs, such as how many people you are feeding, what space you have available, and what is most convenient to you as a cook.
Each appliance has pros and cons, but the best choice is what you are most likely to use.
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