What’s the Difference Between an Air Fryer and an Air Fryer Oven?

You might have heard people talking about air fryers and air fryer ovens and wondered if they’re the same thing.

But the terms aren’t interchangeable. Read on to find out what the differences are and which type of air fryer is right for you.

What is an air fryer oven?

An air fryer oven is a type of air fryer, like a single drawer or dual-drawer model.

But it doesn’t have the familiar air fryer shape or build. Instead – and just as its name suggests – it’s a mini countertop oven. It’s complete with all the features you’d expect an oven to have: a pull-down door with glass viewing panel, space for multiple cooking racks, and an internal light.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Why would you want to use a countertop oven instead of your inbuilt oven? The answer is that, as it has a smaller internal cavity and a powerful fan for circulating hot air, it’ll still be faster and cheaper to cook in.  

You can see all our top recommendations in our round-up of the best air fryer ovens we’ve tested.

Advantages of air fryer ovens

The key advantage of air fryer ovens is the amount of cooking space they provide. They’re much larger than run-of-the-mill air fryers, with a capacity from around 10QT/10 litres to 25QT/25 litres.

The largest model we’ve tested is from HySapientia and has a huge 26QT/24-litre capacity.

Their size means you can ditch your inbuilt oven for even more cooking tasks. Very few conventional air fryers have the space for a 12-inch frozen pizza, but an air fryer oven does. You’ll also be able to roast an entire chicken, or a joint of meat and potatoes at the same time. There’s also plenty of space for baking full-size cakes.

Another major advantage is that they’re multifunctional, although cooking modes apart from air frying vary from model to model. Almost all models will have a dedicated toasting setting for bread, bagels and more, which means you can get rid of your dedicated toaster if countertop clutter is becoming overwhelming. You’ll be able to roast, bake and grill in them as well.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Several have a rotisserie setting (and come with a spit), such as the Cosori air fryer oven, the HySapientia and the Breville Halo rotisserie air fryer oven.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Some even double as a microwave, including the Drew&Cole microwave oven air fryer combo.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

They’ll typically come with all the cooking accessories you need, such as grilling racks, air fryer baskets and crumb trays, although some models may have additional accessories you can buy separately.

Disadvantages of air fryer ovens

An air fryer oven won’t be as economical to cook in as a smaller, single-drawer model. If you’re regularly using it to grill a single chicken breast, you won’t be making the same savings on electricity. Similarly, if you’re using it to toast bread, it’ll be more expensive to run than a dedicated toaster.

The most obvious disadvantage of an air fryer oven over a conventional air fryer is the amount of counter space it requires. It’s the largest type of air fryer – usually taller and deeper than a dual-drawer, and just as wide.

Typically, they can also be more difficult to clean than conventional air fryers. That’s because the entirety of the cooking area won’t be coated in non-stick, as is the case with air fryer cooking drawers.

Should you buy a dual-drawer air fryer or an air fryer oven?

If you’re looking for a large capacity air fryer, you have two key options: dual-drawer, or air fryer oven. Their prices will be around the same. The right type for you will depend on how you’re most likely to use it.

Buy an air fryer oven to:

• Cook large roasts
• Make rotisserie chicken
• Bake full-size cakes
• Toast bread and bagels
• Cook large frozen pizzas

Buy a dual-drawer model to:

• Cook two separate dishes at once, using two different cooking methods
• Make energy savings by only cooking in a single drawer

Our round-up of the best dual-drawer air fryers features our top recommendations.

However, there’s one dual-drawer model that has many of the advantages of an air fryer oven: the 10-litre Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer – in the US, this model is the Foodi FlexBasket and it has a slightly smaller, 7QT capacity.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The FlexDrawer is a dual drawer air fryer with one crucial difference: you can remove the divider between the cooking spaces to create one, huge cooking “megazone”. We’ve even used it to bake a cake.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Read our FlexDrawer review to find out more or check out our round-up of the best Ninja air fryers to see how it compares to other models.