Tefal ActiFry Genius+ evaluation: An expensive however good fryer

The ActiFry Genius+ is the tenth air fryer in Tefal’s healthy-cooking vary, following within the footsteps of the bigger 1.7kg ActiFry Genius XL 2in1 and the extra modestly sized 1kg Actifry Unique. Like its predecessors, the Genius+ is a complicated fryer, with premium options aimed toward making the air frying course of so simple as doable.

Certainly, Tefal is the one model within the UK to provide air fryers with self-stirring paddles, which is mirrored considerably within the lofty price ticket. Is that this extra cash price spending for that additional comfort, although? We predict so.

Tefal ActiFry Genius+: What you’ll want to know

• Worth: £210
• 1.2kg capability (six parts)
• Adjustable timing and temperature controls
• Computerized temperature and time adjustment with preset features
• Viewing window
• Self-stirring wand
• Dishwasher-safe cooking basket
• Weight: 5kg
• Dimensions: 30.three x 43.three x 23.8cm (WDH)

What do you get for the cash?

With a 1.2kg capability, the ActiFry Genius+ is actually a slimmed-down model of Tefal’s 1.7kg Genius XL. At this capability, it’s nonetheless a lot sufficiently big to accommodate six small or 4 bigger parts of meals however is much less properly suited to feeding a crowd. It’s surprisingly light-weight contemplating how broad it’s, which suggests you’ll have little bother lugging it from cabinet to counter if you’ll want to retailer it out of the way in which.

Although it might be massive, the Genius Plus can be reasonably trendy. The engaging digital touchscreen has 9 preset features in addition to buttons to pause cooking and regulate timings and temperatures – one thing you gained’t discover on Tefal’s authentic, cheaper Actifry vary.

A lot of the high of the machine is taken up by its plastic viewing window, which lets you see precisely how your scrumptious air-fried items are getting on. Inside, there’s that self-stirring wand, which churns your meals so that you don’t need to bodily shake or flip in each 5 minutes.

Like many air fryers, the Genius Plus does get extraordinarily scorching on high, however you may open and take away the cooking basket with out ever having to the touch this a part of the machine. It is because each the lid launch button and basket deal with are constructed from a distinct materials that stays cool to the contact all through the cooking course of.

The spectacular variety of presets means you may cook dinner just about something on the contact of a button. Settings embrace choices for chips and fries, breaded snacks, battered snacks, rolls and pastry, meat/veggie balls, plain hen, wok meals comparable to fried rice, world meals like tagine and eventually, desserts.

Every preset mode units the timings and temperatures primarily based on the kind of meals and can, reasonably cleverly, regulate these mechanically throughout cooking. Which means whether or not you’re cooking 100g or 300g of hen nuggets, you’ll in principle, see the identical constant outcomes each time and is once more, one thing that isn’t current in Tefal’s Actifry Unique fashions.

For many who favor to cook dinner manually, you may set the air fryer temperature from 70 to 220 levels celsius, for a most of 60 minutes. That is ideally suited should you discover the preset features don’t fairly provide the degree or browning or crisp you like. The dimensions, form and quantity of meals you set into the fryer will straight have an effect on the cooking time required, so having the choice to tweak manually could be very helpful.

What’s it good at?

Everybody loves chips and the Genius+ does an awesome job of cooking chip-shop fashion chips with its preset operate. With simply half a teaspoon of oil, you get pretty crispy chips in simply 31 minutes. You don’t have to par-boil the potatoes such as you would with some cheaper air fryers and there’s no preheat time both.

Tefal suggests peeling and slicing chips into 10mm thick strips however throughout testing we didn’t trouble peeling or measuring our reduce potatoes. Who actually has time for that? Regardless of going off-piste, we discovered that the chips nonetheless got here out evenly cooked with a crisp outdoors and a mushy, fluffy inside throughout every try. The self-stirring wand is a blessing too; whereas the anxious cook dinner in me wished to maintain peeking by means of the window to see how the meals was getting on, there was actually no want.

Selfmade breadcrumbed hen nuggets additionally got here out very properly utilizing the ‘breaded snack’ preset. The insides stayed juicy and the outer crumb was good and crispy. Relying on the dimensions of your nuggets or how you want them cooked, chances are you’ll need to take them out sooner than the advised time. Mine have been prepared 5 minutes early, as an illustration, as I favor my meals much less browned – however due to the window it was simple to keep watch over them. To get an excellent coat of oil, it’s price utilizing a cooking spray when you have one, however you’ll obtain related outcomes should you decide to make use of the measuring spoon included with the machine.

What might be improved?

Whereas the self stirring wand is a incredible function meaning you may go away your meals alone, it doesn’t flip the fryer’s contents in addition to you may by hand. The design has been upgraded from the earlier Actifry Unique fashions, but it surely’s nonetheless not good. That is extra of a difficulty for chips than the rest, because it means those trapped on the backside are sometimes softer than these on high. You possibly can all the time give them one large flip manually should you like, however for hardcore crispy chip followers who desire a completely hands-off expertise, it’d dissapoint.

A strong cooking basket and no extra drip tray additionally implies that extra fats has nowhere to go. So should you’re air frying one thing the place fats will render down, comparable to hen wings, your meals will find yourself sitting within the extra fats, reasonably than it draining away. Whereas this isn’t a difficulty for issues like potatoes, selfmade nuggets and lean meats the place you’ll add only a contact of oil your self, it does imply excessive calorie meals aren’t as mild on energy as they might be.

Ought to I purchase it?

In case you’re dedicated to creating the swap from deep-frying to air-frying for good, it’s price forking out on an air fryer just like the ActiFry Genius+. Although an air fryer can by no means totally imitate the degrees of crispness of a deep fats fryer, this Tefal can fulfill your fried meals cravings with much less mess, and relying on what you set in it, much less fats.

The preset features, computerized temperature adjustment and self-stirring wand make it extremely simple to make use of, which is precisely what you need whenever you’re already working laborious at consuming more healthy. Certainly, I used to be constantly capable of obtain an excellent degree of crispness and browning utilizing each its computerized and handbook features.

The one actual sticking level is its comparatively excessive value. If you’re prepared to forgo the preset features, improved stirring paddle and computerized temperature adjustment, you may decide up Tefal’s 1kg Actifry Unique for lower than half the quantity. There’s little question which is the extra pleasurable product to make use of, although, and I’d wager that should you go for the pricier mannequin, you actually gained’t be disillusioned.