Summary
I am genuinely stunned by the cooking performance of the Cosori air fryer. The speed and consistency in which it delivers food is mind boggling at times. I must admit that I was skeptical at first, but my concerns have been set aside. So much so, that I actually kept it and use it to this day. Who’d have thought a kitchen appliance could make such a difference…you guessed it…you should buy one.
Overall
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Cooking
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Build
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Design
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Value
Cosori Air Fryer Review
The Cosori air fryer is certainly cooking up a storm…and currently, they are Amazons best selling air fryer. That is no mean feat! Well done to Cosori.
So today, let’s take a closer look at the Cosori air fryer, is it the real deal or just marketing hype. Since most air fryers do the same thing, what is it that makes this one so popular and does it do anything differently? Let’s find out.
What is an air fryer and how do they work?
Before I start this review, I think it’s important that we all know what they are and how they work. If you already know, by all means skip ahead. I will be putting together a longer post soon for those of you that want more detail, let me give you a simple explanation for the time being.
Essentially, it is a modern take on the traditional fryer. Instead of drowning your food in oil, the air fryer does something very clever. You only need a tiny bit of oil and it does the rest. It heats evenly all round by blowing hot air around the pot very quickly. The food cooks evenly because of the design and method of cooking. It provides you with the following benefits
- The air fryer uses significantly less oil
- You can now fry using high quality healthy oils
- Preserve nutrients by cooking at lower temperatures
- Highly efficient.
Unboxing the Cosori air fryer
So, lets get down to business. I am excited at this unboxing…more than I am normally. In most cases, things I review, I have owned and operated before. I have looked at lots of Dutch ovens, plenty of pressure cookers too. An air fryer? never. So, this is a little bit of an eye opener for me but I have done my research, I’ really hoping the Cosori air fryer doesn’t disappoint.
Well the package arrived in a solid brown cardboard box…I still find it bizarre that that they print what’s in the box…then mail the box. It seems a little bit odd to me but hey ho.
Inside the brown box, you will find the ‘real’ box…it’s similar to the Cosori pressure cooker box. The style is very consistent across the brand.
I should probably mention that I gave the Cosori pressure cooker an excellent rating. It was fantastic in every way. I’m really hoping that the Cosori air fryer meets my high expectations. I really should try and dampen those.
Compared to the pressure cooker the Air fryer boxing was not as dramatic. In fact, a little underwhelming. Put simply, it has few things in it of note…the air fryer, manual, warranty information and a recipe book.
I guess that makes things quite simple…not a bad thing keeping things simple.
Initial impressions of the Cosori air fryer
My first impressions are good. It has a solid and robust feel to it. I really like the textured surface that it has, I’ve not seen that before on an appliance.
I really like the shape of it too…I know it’s a rectangle but it does give of a very modern minimalist vibe. It will be very comfortable in my kitchen.
Turning it on, it looks beautiful. You can clearly see the design ethos that runs through Cosori’s products. Their pressure cooker too was a really well designed.
I’m going to take some time to run through the manual and find out how it works properly. Already, I can see that it has a preheat function like you would see in an oven. This needs to be investigated further.
The recipe book looks really good with some nice pictures in it. They have clearly spent some time on this. I always like to cook a few things from the recipe books as it then sets a benchmark for anything you cook in the future.
Once I get to know the Cosori air fryer a little better, I will give you my in-depth opinion and do a few food tests to reflect on the quality of the cooking.
As far as initial impressions, I like what I see.
P.S. the instructions tell you that you need to wash the basket in soapy water before you cook anything in it.
My in-depth review of the Cosori Air Fryer 5.8 QT
So, after taking some time to get to know my new air fryer, I’m ready to give you my verdict. I will start off talking about the body and the construction, and then consider the functions that it has.
I will then cook a few items in there and show you the results. Pictures don’t always give you the best impression so I will let you know how they cooked.
Based on all this, I will then give you my thoughts on it. Is it something that you should consider buying? Is it good value and if there are any competitors I should consider looking at.
Let the in-depth review begin!
Overview
This Cosori air fryer uses 360-degree air circulation technology. It needs so little oil, often just a tablespoon. This replicates the cooking of deep-fried food without all the disadvantages. Air fried food often contains up to 75% fewer calories…75%!!!
Build quality
I thought the build quality was excellent. Everything was where it should be and the little design elements looked great. Everything was sized correctly and generally, designed very well.
Do I expect this to last? Based on what I can see, the answer is yes. It has a robustness about it which means it probably will last significant use. Obviously, that is only based on what I can touch and feel, the internal stuff is out of my hands I’m afraid.
Looking at the inside of the Cosori air fryer, the pull-out tray is large…much larger that I anticipated. You should have no issues regarding room.
The pull-out tray is robust and covered in a non-stick coating. It comes in two parts, a solid base and the basket, which has the handle attached to it.
It has quite a nifty safety feature on there which stops the two separating accidentally. You don’t want these coming apart when you are walking around with it. You need to flick a catch at the top of the handle in order to access the button that separates them. This is very well designed.
The latch that holds the base and the basket together is metal. This is very good as I suspect this part would fail sooner rather than later if it was made from plastic.
One thing I did note was that once cooking took place and the appliance was warm, the basket almost touched the top of the slot. Not enough where it stopped it going in, but enough to catch it ever so slightly. Maybe this is just my model but it is something to look out for.
Front control panel and features
The control panel of the Cosori air fryer looks fantastic. It is really well designed and I love the blue color that it lights up with.
As far as working the fryer, it is very intuitive. Let me start by mentioning the preheat function. It is unique to the Cosori and I’m sure other manufacturers are taking note. It really does make a difference to how your food looks at the end. Let me explain, without it, it is similar to putting something in the oven without heating the oven up first. Trust me when I say that the preheat function is fantastic.
In terms of working the Cosori air fryer, once you have set the temperature simply press start. This is the heat that the preheating generates. When preheating is complete, you will hear three beeps. Time to put the food in.
Now, all you need to do is choose a preset. This is when you put the food into the air fryer. To start it, you simply need to press the preset again. It really is that simple.
Some of the preset functions include, vegetables, root vegetables, French fries, breads and desserts.
If you don’t want to use the preset function, you can do it manually. Press temp time once to adjust the temperature with the plus and minus buttons. Simply press the temp time button again to change the cooking time similarly.
The shake reminder is another excellent feature that essentially means that your food is cooked as well as it can. Half way through most presets, the Cosori air fryer beeps five times…basically telling you it is time to shake or flip your food.
When cooking is complete, it beeps three times. If you are not quite ready to eat the food, it has a keep warm function which can keep the food warm for 60 minutes…obviously I wouldn’t recommend that as there is a danger it will dry out your food somewhat.
Cosori Air fryers cooking results
I chose a couple of things to test the Cosori air fryer. First up were some lamb meatballs followed by some breaded mozzarella. In both cases, I used the preset buttons and in both cases, the food was cooked perfectly.
I’m genuinely surprised at how efficient the cooking is, but I’m even more surprised how fuss free everything seems to be. You can see in the pictures below how great the food looks.
Genuinely, I can’t wait to test the full capability of this little machine.
Some further things I discovered…the frozen food function. I don’t think I have seen this on any other air fryer…it basically cooks frozen food at 350f for 10 minutes and it has a specific button for that.
Since I suspect most people are buying this for frozen food, having an air fryer that handles it well is wonderful.
The results are great too…just like they have come out of an oven.
Price
One of the best things about this air fryer is the price. It is significantly cheaper than some of the more famous makes such as Philips. Given the range of tasks that you can do in this and then factor in the health benefits of using it, I think it represents excellent value for money.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Dutch ovens and I mainly use those but I can see many a family using this on a daily basis. In which case, it is a no brainer. You should definitely have an air fryer, even if you don’t choose this one.
How does the Cosori air fryer make me feel?
You might think that this section is quite strange but here goes. I like to let readers know how it made me feel…I’m essentially describing the emotion of using this air fryer.
Initially I was quite skeptical as the claims made are quite bold. Having never used an air fryer, I couldn’t see how this could ever live up to the expectations. Having used it a few times now, it makes me feel calm. It is the consistency of the results that does it and it cooks quickly, so I am less stressed when I have hungry children acting up around me.
It makes me feel happy…
Verdict
My initial skepticism was replaced by wonder…the Cosori air fryer is a wonderful machine. Not only does it look beautiful, it continually amazes me. I review many products and I buy my own to do that. I don’t get sent any by any manufacturer. I obviously can’t keep all of them so I sell them once my review is complete. Often to family or friends, sometimes online. The Cosori air fryer…I kept. I think that says it all.
Since you are here…can i ask you a favor?
It would be really nice if you could share this image on social media…it’s just a couple of clicks for you but it means the world to me.
Thank you so much,
You might be interested in reading the following …
DASH Air Fryer…would i buy it again?
Gowise air fryer oven…is it worth upgrading?
GoWise air fryer reviews…are they the real deal?
Cozyna Air Fryer Review … Is Simple Good?
Emeril Lagasse Power Air Fryer 360 Review …worth the Hype?
I absolutely love our Cosori 5.8 air fryer! We’ve had it several months and so far, so good. The steam is normal on the right front side with occasional foods. But, it’s never been enough to cause any water on the counter at all. The door can be hard to close, but I just grab the back of the unit while pushing in the drawer. It snaps right in, tightly. Some say to occasionally check the screws that hold the handle on because they can loosen over time. And to hold the bottom of the drawer while holding the handle at the same time so it takes off some of the stress from the handle. I wash mine by hand. Very easy. And I treat it like I would any non stick pots or pans. No scratches or peeling. I highly recommend this air fryer!
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