So you got a new air fryer for Christmas, and you are ready to go crazy air frying everything. The craze has invaded kitchens across America, making for a quick and easy way to have the foods you love without all the grease and butter that traditional frying requires. The big question is — is air frying healthier than regular frying? The short answer is yes.
Let us take a look at using an air fryer to make your favorite chicken. Traditionally, you would bathe your chicken in an egg wash (eggs and milk), then coat with flour; this cannot be done in an air fryer because the wet batter will drip off, rather than set correctly, which can only be achieved using a deep-frying method.
According to Science Daily, the high-temperature deep-frying method produces elevated amounts of acrylamide, a widely-used synthetic chemical that some studies have linked to cancer and neurological damage. However, the National Cancer Institute has deemed the findings inconsistent since the human studies could not be compared due to their reported diets. Air fryers, on the other hand, decreased the levels of acrylamide by ninety percent, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, making it a more favorable cooking method.
Air fryers also cut the number of calories by seventy to eighty percent, according to WebMD. Although air frying could help with your waistline, be sure to exercise caution when cooking fish. A study found that air frying fish, specifically sardines, raised the amount of the cholesterol oxidation products (COPs), which form when cholesterol breaks down in the meat during the cooking process. Using aromatics, such as parsley and chives, during the air frying process slightly reduces the amount of COPs.
In conclusion, air frying food may be a healthier method than traditional frying due to the use of fewer oils and fat in the cooking process. It is also true that preparing the right foods in the air fryer are key. Putting cake in an air fryer will not make you or the cake healthier.
