Kerri-Ann Roper
Air fryers have been an inescapable sensation, and if you haven’t seen them in viral posts on the internet you’ll certainly have had a family member or friend raving about their benefits.
They’ve been the focus of many a guide to eating more cheaply and healthily, especially compared with regular ovens.
Air fryer manufacturer Ninja reckons its appliances use up to 65% less energy than a conventional oven, and require as much as 75% less fat.
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These time-poor modern times combined with the cost of living crisis combined to make air fryers a massive hit, and that’s before considering the health benefits of using less oil in our cooking.
However, if you’re at the top of the pile then it won’t be long before you find a target on your back.
That’s where the halogen oven comes in.
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These devices use super-bright halogen bulbs to cook food, and you’d be surprised by how effective they can be. The bulb and the rest of the electronic components sit in a hub on top of a glass bowl where you put the to-be-cooked food.
On the underside of the hub you’ll find the halogen bulb, or bulbs, which glows and intermittently flashes to reach and maintain the temperature you’ve set. It’s not unusual for halogen ovens to have a temperature range of between 60 and 240 degrees celsius, covering the range you’d expect from a typical oven.
If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to running an oven, halogen ovens are vying with air fryers for being your new go-to.
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They’re typically cheaper than air fryers to buy in the first place, with that smaller initial outlay being a tempting proposition when air fryers can often cost over £100.
Not only that, there are plenty of people saying they get better results with a halogen oven than an air fryer.
"I treated myself to a halogen oven to help with Christmas; I only have one shelf in my oven,” said one person. "It is one million times better than the rubbish air fryer I got in the summer."
Of course, as there are plenty of cheap and cheerful air fryers on the market that over-promise and under-deliver, this particular user may well have only had a bad one.
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There are other advocates, of course, such as this person who said: "Halogen oven is better, healthier and cheaper than air fryer."
But in these polarised times, let’s not set up trenches between the air fryer fans and the halogen oven disciples: it’s just a good thing we’ve got so many options, isn’t it?
And failing one of the above, you can always just use the oven in your kitchen too.