Cooked to Perfection

NutriBullet’s XXL Digital Air Fryer is a game changer! 

For years, my opinion of air fryers had been shaped by as-seen-on-tv commercials. They seemed like a gimmick to me, promising to make food healthier by removing the need for deep or shallow frying. It was only recently while watching my friend attempt to deep-fry chicken wings that I began to reconsider my position. Not least of all because of the plastic bag of leftover cooking oil he ended up with - I don’t remember how he discarded it and quite frankly I don’t want to.  

When I started to investigate a little more, I began to understand that air fryers had evolved beyond the gimmick, and consequently so had the price tag. But as luck would have it, our friends at NutriBullet were more than happy to let me test out their NutriBullet XXL Digital Air Fryer.  

Each Nutribullet XXL Digital Air Fryer features: 

• 6.8L cooking basket 
• Crisping tray 
• 8 pre-programmed cooking modes  
• Smart cooking technology to adjust for heat loss if the drawer is opened 
• 360-degree Vortex technology for even heat distribution 
• Recipe and user-guide 

Even though NutriBullet labeled the air fryer as XXL, I was a little skeptical about their claim that it could cook a whole roast chicken, but I was nonetheless excited to put it to the test.  

On first impression, despite its size (which is big but not gargantuan), the air fryer has a sleek and glossy design. It’s what I imagine a modern microwave might look like sitting on my kitchen bench. But in comparison to my microwave at least, it was infinitely easier to use. Simply press the power button and the LED screen lights up with a menu of commonly cooked foods like chicken. Each time you press the menu button it provides you with a pre-programmed time and temperature, both of which you can easily adjust to your liking.  

I already had a checklist of foods that I was eager to cook in the air fryer but I started off small with a few pieces of middle bacon. I placed two strips on the crisping tray, set it inside the basket and with a push of a button my bacon began to cook. There are some suggested cooking options in the menu but not everything is included there, so it was a bit of a stab in the dark on my first go. However, there are entire websites dedicated to air frying for you to peruse, but they weren’t necessary on this occasion as my bacon was ready in just 5 minutes. What came out was beautifully crisp bacon, just the way I like it, and in a fraction of the time it would have taken me using the oven. An impressive start.  

I decided to up the ante, this time I cooked 3 pieces of fried chicken from frozen, and after only 20 minutes I was enjoying some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. The skin was crunchy, but the meat was tender and moist. It would have taken me twice as long to achieve the same results in the oven and cost me a few extra bucks to buy the takeaway version.  

My first couple of tests proved that the air fryer was not only easy to use but incredibly convenient for cutting down on my cooking time. As for the clean-up, it’s a breeze! Both the crisping tray and basket are dishwasher-safe, although I find that the basket is a little impractical to place inside your dishwasher due to its size, but the option is there, nonetheless. If you choose to wash it by hand, my recommendation is to toss a bit of baking soda into the basket to absorb all the grease and then wash it out with hot soapy water. 

Aside from the usual fried foods, the air fryer made for effortless cooking of a variety of other dishes, including lamb chops, pastry dishes like empanadas, vegetables and even a 1kg pork roast with crackling! 

By far the biggest test and the one claim I was most intrigued by was the air fryer’s ability to cook an entire roast chicken. There’s nothing I despise more than dry chicken and I was worried that it might overcook the inside, but my fears were quickly quashed. In just 45 minutes I managed to cook a 1.5kg chicken with mind-blowing results. It was one of the best roast chooks I’ve ever eaten - the skin was a beautiful rich brown colour and incredibly crisp, while the meat was moist and succulent. I couldn’t have asked for a better result.  

I put NutriBullet’s XXL Digital Air Fryer through its paces and it passed with flying colours. Even if I feel that a meal is not cooked to my liking, I can simply pop it back in for an extra few minutes until it reaches my desired level of doneness. The best part is that I don’t have to keep an eye on it - while there is some guesswork involved at times, once you become acquainted with the air fryer, cooking with it becomes very intuitive and I’ve never accidentally overcooked anything as a result.  

My view of those gimmicky as-seen-on-tv air fryers has taken a complete 180 and I’m now a total convert. I love Nutribullet’s XXL Digital Air Fryer for its convenience, its ease of use and most importantly the cooking results.  

The Nutribullet XXL Digital Air Fryer is available now at Harvey Norman, Farmers, JB Hi-Fi or online at nutribullet.co.nz (when stock is available).

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