Big Boss Air Fryer… Why You Should Avoid It

Summary of the Big Boss air fryer

The Big Boss air fryer is probably the most difficult review I have done. On a personal level, I think it is ugly and not to my taste. It is not for me…but I totally see why people may be interested in it. It is large, a great capacity and it cooks really well…fantastically well in fact. There is definitely a market for it and the sales prove that. Basically, it isn’t for everybody…but if it is for you, you will love it.

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In-depth – Big Boss air fryer reviews

I was eager to run a full review on the Big Boss air fryer because it is a little different to the normal offering. It’s quite an aggressive name…which is not a problem but will it match up to the name…that’s the big question.

What really makes this different is the sheer size of the thing. It is huge and various claims suggest you can cook a turkey in there. I’m not so sure whether that is realistic…but there is no question about the capacity. It really is big.

The other big attraction was the price…it just seems quite cheap considering the size.

In this in-depth review, I will cover it from a few different angles. I will consider the basic review subjects such as the unboxing, the accessories, its features and cooking performance. I think with something like this, it’s important to suggest who it may suit.

Before even starting the review, I already know that is not for everybody. There is no question about that. Who is it for and who will like if? If at all. Let’s wait and see.

Unboxing the Big Boss oil-less air fryer

Unsurprisingly…the box was big but not big enough to make it unmanageable. The box design wasn’t anything special, pretty standard in fact.

It was however, securely packaged which is good news considering it has a heavy glass bowl in there. Everything was neatly fitted in there and it was easy to unpack.

Within the box were the following items;

• Air fryer
• Stand
• Glass bowl
• Recipe book
• Warranty information
• Trivets
• Mesh rack
• Lifting clamp
• Extension ring

Specification

Features – Big Boss 16qt oil-less air fryer reviews

This air fryer is huge…16 quarts huge. I don’t think I can emphasize that enough…it’s big. It powered by 1300w which is on the more powerful side, especially when it comes to air fryers. The manufacturers also claim that is energy efficient. I’m not quite sure how they come to this conclusion…what are they looking at? Are they saying that to cook the same thing in another appliance, would require more energy? If so, then this claim cannot be unique to the Big Boss air fryer.

It is a manually operated air fryer, no presets in sight. You therefore need to know what temperature to cook at and for how long. That’s not so much of an issue, as the information is easily at hand.

One of its more attractive features is the extension coil which increases the height and the oven capacity. This is especially useful if you are cooking a large chicken…or maybe a small turkey. The lid simply sits on top of it.

It has a rather nice trick too. Since it is quite tall, you can place a rack inside it that gives you two shelves. A problem I have with air fryers generally, is the capacity. I’m always told how efficient they are…which is true but you can really only cook one food at a time. Come dinnertime, another appliance or the stove must be used.

Design – Big Boss oil-less air fryer, 16 quart

Let me start by describing how it works. It has three aspects to it which work in uniform to cook the contents. It is a combination of halogen heat, convection to circulate the air and infra red to cook the food. It is designed to lock in the moisture leaving your food very succulent and tasty. Does this happen? Well you’ll just have to wait and see below.

We can’t escape the elephant in the room. It’s ugly. Very ugly.

Given the concept of how this air fryer works, I suppose there is little option but for it to look like some variation of this. I’m not sure that this is something I would want sitting on my counter top full time. If you do have the cupboard space, I can see this working.

Having said all that, the Big Boss air fryer is clearly designed for functionality. It makes the most of what it is but does so in the most efficient way possible.

The Big Boss oil less fryer is fully manual which is operated via dials on the top. There are always question marks with this kind of design when it comes to the robustness of the design. I’m never a fan of moving parts…more prone to failure in my opinion.

Another aspect of the design that must be considered is the sheer weight of it. It is heavy…the glass is anyway. This means that cleaning it in the sink is a difficult task, which is quite frustrating. The set up is can be described as modular, so it does break up for storage convenience.

Build quality – Big Boss 16 qt oil-less air fryer

I have to balance the price of the Big Boss air fryer when I talk of the build quality. This is a relatively cheap item…but expensive enough for it to be a consideration.

The build quality can be described as average at best. No better, no worse than that. The build is simple which does help matters but it is not something that will last you many years. There is plenty of plastic on this unit which gives it that less than premium feel.

Since I cannot really give a longer-term view on it, I have looked at the Amazon reviews to see what kind of issues are repeatedly coming up.

There seems to be a failure rate in the units although I would mitigate that by saying they sell a lot. customers are also more likely to leave a review for something negative which could help to explain this. I would really suggest you read the reviews…I will eave a link below here.

Another issue that seems to come is the printing around the dials. I know from my own experience that this will come off really easily. This means that if you have not marked it in any way, you are essentially guessing the temperature and the time.

Which leads onto another issue. There is various feedback suggesting that the temperature you set isn’t accurate. This could lead to food undercooking or overcooking which is not great. Overtime, you will learn to adjust the temperature to compensate, but it really should be doing this out of the box.

One aspect that you may want to delve further into is the warranty. There is some feedback suggesting that the company charge you to send back failed units. I can’t verify that but given the size and weight of the unit, it won’t be cheap. I have always found Amazon to be great with returns so maybe this issue extends to the timeframe outside Amazons return policy. Worth looking into if you are considering buying it.

A nice aspect is the accessories that they give you…all stainless steel. This is great for those of you that don’t trust non stick coatings. It also means that they are likely to last a long time.

Overall, I would say this is fine…for the price but don’t expect this to last a lifetime.

Cooking– Big Boss air fryer review

The Big Boss air fryer is does what any other air fryer does…the difference being that it is big. Very big. It therefore means you can do more in it…in theory anyway. There are those that suggest you could do a turkey in there…maybe…a small one anyway.

I’m not going to take that risk. I will run a couple of cooking tests…both involving chicken. Since I suspect people buy this to roast a chicken or cook ‘fried’ chicken, those are the cooking tests I will run.

Firstly, the roast chicken. I deliberately chose a larger to judge the capacity. This air fryer is as simple as it gets. Put the chicken on the rack, lower it into the glass bowl, shut the lid, set the temperature and time…and away you go. Simple.

I have to say that I was quite impressed with the results. The chicken had a lovely crisp to the skin, whilst the meat was moist and succulent. I can totally see why some people swear by them. The result was unexpected for me, I was fully expecting an average result. The quality of the cooked chicken genuinely surprised me.

Moving onto the chicken legs, I brushed on some egg wash and dipped them into some bread crumbs. I was expecting this to work quite well given the excellent performance on the whole chicken. I was right to be confident. The Chicken legs came out beautifully. The outer surface had a lovely crunch to them. The inside was cooked beautifully and the chicken retained its moistness. Overall, a very nice result…my husband approves of this.

Who should buy this air fryer big boss?

If you are somebody who likes stylish things…this is not for you. It sure is ugly. You can probably see that for yourself.

I strongly suspect that this air fryer is marketed directly to men…a no-nonsense machine that can handle their manly requirements. If that is the case, its working since they sell well…very well indeed.

If cooking things like fried chicken or roast chicken, is your thing, I can totally see why you would be attracted to it. If you are aware of the above and you go into this with your eyes open, go for it.

What else you should consider

The design of the Big Boss air fryer seems to be consistent with some others on the market. I suspect this is down to functionality. If the Big Boss air fryer isn’t doing it for you, here are some others you might want to consider.

How did it make me feel?

This is a question I always like to ask myself whenever I do a review. This is the emotion in cooking…the feeling when you produce food. Since you cook most days, you want to feel good…. content at least.

The word I would use to describe my feeling is ‘surprised’. The end results were fantastic and it was a genuine surprise to me. Maybe that is down to my own preconceptions. A great aspect of having a glass bowl is that you can see it cooking…it’s not often you can see things cook before your very eyes. It certainly was quite entertaining…and I would describe as a nice experience.

The washing up was not a nice experience…the glass bowl is heavy…I was worried I would chip it. I didn’t but the worry was still there.

Verdict – Big Boss air fryer reviews

My emotions are quite mixed on this review. I really want to say that if you can overlook the negatives, the cooking is great. The reality is that I have to give a balanced opinion.

The build quality was average and I suspect it wont last as long as some of my other appliances. It’s heavy and cumbersome, the lid is heavy too and you need separate space for that too. Storage space might be an issue too for many.

On the flip side…the food was beautifully done. You can see why I’m hovering. I guess at the end of the day, you will decide what is important to you. For some of you, it is the food that counts. In that case, get the Big Boss Air fryer. If you like to take an overall view…have a good think about it.

If you want to find out more about the Big Boss air fryer…or read some actual user reviews, click the button below.

View the Big Boss air fryer on Amazon

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