Oster 6 Quart Digital Air Fryer With Window

This is my first air fryer (HATE that such a stupid name has caught on. It’s a CONVECTION OVEN.) I tried one other one briefly (a Ninja affair from Costco with 2 small baskets) and was annoyed at how big the unit was yet useless due to the small compartments, so returned it promptly. I like this one better.

We attempted a grilled cheese first. Buttered the bread, assembled the sandwich, and placed it in the basket. I found instructions online, set the temperature for 380, convected for 4 minutes, flipped it over, and had it go for 2 more minutes. It was still a bit pale, so we let it go for another minute. The result? PERFECT CRUNCH. The cheese melted nicely and the sourdough was evenly toasted all over.

I like the compact size of the unit, yet the basket is fairly large. “Large” is a fairly subjective term, however, so I use that term loosely. It’s large compared to the useless compartmented thing I tried previously. You might be able to fit a small whole chicken in there.

The heating element is a coil above the basket, similar to that of an electric stove. For most items you will need to flip midway during cooking. According to the instructions, it’s supposed to beep a reminder for you at the midpoint. It didn’t do this during my grilled cheese experiment, but maybe it only applies to longer periods of cooking?

I’m still on the fence about whether an air fryer is advantageous or not. I read about why people loved these things. One is its supposed faster cook times. According to the instructions, cooking a whole 5-pound chicken will take about 75 minutes. It takes about an hour inside my electric (full-sized) oven, so I don’t know why anyone would bother using this thing for that. It’s not faster at all. Plus I don’t have to flip the thing inside my oven (usually). Another “advantage” that people claim is that air fryers don’t heat up your house the way a full-sized oven does. I beg to differ. This Oster unit vents hot air out the back. My conventional oven does no such thing.

Regardless of how I feel about air fryers as a whole, this unit does what it’s supposed to do and seems to do it well. It’s easy to use, compact, easy to clean (you can wash the entire pull-out basket) and fairly lightweight.

Other than initially being disappointed at the size, we like everything about this Oster air fryer. After using a family sized 5.5 L air fryer by Insignia for 6 years, I found many times I would use two at the same time if I had them. I had to research to convert, but found that my current 5.5L is a 5.8 quart size. Seeing that the Oster basket can hold a whole chicken in the advertised photos and reading the size is 4 quarts, I thought this would be kind of close to the size we already have. After ordering, I realized the same advertised photos were used for both the 4 and 6 quart fryers. And I found most whole chicken air fryer recipes recommend at least a 5 quart fryer. The Oster 4 quart is much smaller than our 5.8 quart – You can see the difference in my photo. There are many things to like about this Oster air fryer though. The biggest bonus for us is the light and viewing window. Such a smart design over what we’re used to. Normally we have to remove the basket several times to check on what’s cooking. With this Oster, just hit the lightbulb emblem and the interior can be clearly seen. It also cooks quieter than our Insignia – we didn’t realize how loud our older model is. We don’t frequently use the preset functions, but instead use the +/- temp and time. It cleans as easily as we expected. When researching comparables here on Amazon, I did find many other lesser popular brands with viewing windows and light, and a high number of favorable reviews that are a larger capacity for less cost. So I feel the higher cost for this smaller air fryer is mainly due to being Oster brand. So if you’re not one to favor major brands you could save money with other models and get a larger fryer.

I LOVE air fryers! They are such a great option to reduce caloric intake while maintaining good flavor. The one I have is super basic and small. It is nice for one person, but I’ve been wanting a larger unit that fry more than three bites and doesn’t take up my entire kitchen counter space. This Oster model is the perfect solution. The digital interface is easy to figure out and I really like the glass front so I can check on the food without opening the fryer and losing heat. The settings are always perfect (the fries setting burned some of my fries) so definitely keep an eye on the food as it’s frying. It’s also easy to override the settings or skip the preset function and simply enter a temperature and timer. The nonstick coating has held up well and cleans right up with a Scrub Daddy sponge. So far I’ve fried chicken, fries, brusselsprouts, and ravioli and it has all been delicious. I recommend!!