Anyone here got a T-Fal Actifry?

Wayne

Wayne

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First, an admission. I love kitchen gadgets. Anything to make things healthier and easier in the kitchen gets to take my money.

A week or so ago, I ordered a T-Fal "Actifry" from Amazon because it was on a great sale ($119). It's -- in essence -- a countertop "air fryer" (think big hair dryer) that you put wings, or fries, or whatever in, along with a teaspoon of oil to "fry" in.

Here's what it looks like;


I got it in Thursday (if I recall correctly) and stopped on the way home to buy some raw chicken wings. Tossed them in without any extra oil. Added a bit of Quaker Steak Chipotle dry rub, and 30 minutes later, had a truly scrumptious (albeit waaay too much food) meal...

Friday, I diced up a chicken breast, added a bag of frozen stir fry veggies (peppers/onions/etc), and a bottle of Chicken Tikka Masala sauce from Target. 20 minutes later, I opened it up to another fantastic meal, even if I do have a week's worth of leftovers.

I'm sold, but I wanted to check and see if anyone else has tried it?

Here's some guy making a bit of good lunch..

(Note, not my video)
 
I don't have enough counter space for that but maybe someday
 
:OT:

Just a side note, Wayne. One of the co-founders of Quaker Steak and Lube, Gary Meszaros, died last week due to complications after cancer surgery. The crowd was so huge that I couldn't find a place to park even on the side streets to pay my respects at the funeral home in our town.
 
@mandamiee -- After using it several times over the last week (mostly experimenting), I can offer my opinion that -- if you like "fried" stuff like wings and fries, or you love to experiment but want to try to eat a little healthier, this is a great kitchen gizmo. It goes on the shelf right next to my Ninja 3-in-1 Crock Pot (another beloved and well-worth-it purchase).

While I don't need the fat, grease, or carbs, I can cut up a single potato, add it to the Actifry with 1/2 tablespoon of oil and end up with what I'd call "pretty darned near fries". Taste-wise, they're indistinguishable from deep-fried chips, but there's simply not as much grease or fat.

Similarly, I can put in a half-dozen wings with some dry rub and NO oil at all and end up with great wings that taste just as good as your local wing joint, but without all the greasy fingers. What I haven't tried, since the cooking times are similar, is putting both in the device at the same time...

I bought a couple of cheap Actifry cookbooks off of Amazon and there are probably a dozen recipes I want to try. Mostly chicken, some steak, and lots of easy recipes that I'd never otherwise try.

The only real negative I've encountered so far is the fact that this is apparently a European device, because seemingly ALL of the recipes I can find go by metrics and not ounces/pounds. Things like "800g chicken breast" as opposed to saying "about 1 3/4 pounds of chicken breast"... Everything being in grams is inconvenient, but since they're now my cookbooks, I really only have to do the conversion once, then write it into the cookbook...

Wayne
 
redsquirrel said:
:OT:

Just a side note, Wayne. One of the co-founders of Quaker Steak and Lube, Gary Meszaros, died last week due to complications after cancer surgery. The crowd was so huge that I couldn't find a place to park even on the side streets to pay my respects at the funeral home in our town.
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Oh no! That's terrible...
 
Take a look at Youtube. Search for Actifry and it'll do a far better job than I can to show the stuff people use it for. Like I said, the Chicken Tikka Masala (while not 100% on-recipe) was really good and maybe took 30 minutes from fridge to plate...
 
Thanks for the tip Wayne. I have a kitchen scale that weighs in either metric or whatever our version is called. My measuring cups are the same way, so I'm good to go. Now to get the new gadget. :)
 
missharleyquinn said:
Could I use it for things like jalapeno poppers and mozzarella sticks?
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Honestly, I don't know why not, as long as they're pre-prepared (not freshly coated). The cheese melting might be messy though.

Freshly coated stuff like fried chicken poses a problem because the continual circular push by the blades (to rotate the food) tends to knock off the coating.
 
Just Samantha said:
Wayne, did you see this? I saw a commercial for it last year. My mother is also a gadget junkie and I thought about getting one for her
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It's essentially the same exact concept, different packaging. The big difference seems to be that the Actifry uses active rotation (the spinning paddle) to move food around whereas the one you were looking at is -- in essence -- a "fry daddy style basket" that heated air is circulated around, frying the stuff.

I don't have any experience with that one, but Youtube has probably 3 dozen reviews and recipe videos showing people using it, and what they think of it.

Wayne
 
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