Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis 'warns' about using air fryers over ovens

You’re rarely more than six feet from an air fryer acolyte, not least if you’ve become one yourself.

Over the past few years they’ve stormed into millions of kitchens, and not without good reason.

Generally speaking, they’re cheaper, faster, and less fat-intensive than typical ovens and hobs, and that’s before you consider how quickly they heat up and how little space they require.

Martin Lewis from Money Saving Expert. Picture by: Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive/PA Images

CNET reckons they’re “50 percent more energy-efficient than the average full-size electric oven and about 35 percent more efficient than the average gas oven” — not too shabby.

They’ve somehow become part of the zeitgeist in our economically troubling times, too, with everything from cookbooks to air fryer-themed birthday cards lining the shelves.

However, as with anything offering convenience and cheaper energy bills, it’s not always as simple as it might seem.

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis issued a warning on his podcast about the pitfalls that using lower-wattage appliances such as air fryers and microwaves can pose, indicating that they might not be the ultimate cash-saving solution that they're said to be.

"A microwave gives you consistent heat whereas an oven is warming up to full temperature and then topping it up so it isn’t running at full power the whole time," he explained on The Martin Lewis podcast.

"If you were doing a full roast dinner and you were cooking many [jacket potatoes], it’s probably cheaper [putting them in the oven] than putting five or six jacket potatoes in a microwave because each additional object you put in a microwave, you need to keep it on longer because a microwave just heats the individual object."

With that in mind, there are some things to consider if you want to make your air fryer as efficient as possible.

French fries in air fryer. Photo by Scott Suchman for The Washington Post via Getty Images; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post via Getty Images

GreenMatch, a renewable energy firm, has five tips to make your air fryer go the extra mile.

First: use the air fryer to its maximum capacity where possible as this will trap the hot air more effectively and thereby help to maintain the temperature.

"Opt for an air fryer with various cooking programmes," GreenMatch said for its second tip. "This will free up your hands and time and optimise the cooking time and temperatures for specific dishes without requiring manual adjustments."

The third point of order is to regularly clean your air fryer’s filter if it has one, as any blockages in the filter can limit how efficiently the chamber can be heated.

Fourth, GreenMatch recommends cooking multiple items at once to optimise energy consumption, although be sure not to overfill the chamber. Check the manufacturer’s recommendations for your specific air fryer to be on the safe side.

Fifth and finally, GreenWatch said: "The bigger the air fryer, the more energy it needs to achieve the same effect. If your household has two people, choose a lower-wattage fryer to reduce your appliance's energy consumption.”

Keep all those tips in mind, and you can make sure your air fryer is pulling as much weight as possible in your kitchen.