Cosori Air Fryer Review

Introduction

Air fryers have become quite popular lately.  Boasting great tasting food with up to 85% less fat than frying in oil.  They give that fried food taste and texture, but without all the oil and fat.

Today’s modern air fryers are more powerful, larger, lighter, quieter and easier to clean than older models.  

The Cosori air fryer is no exception.  This feature-rich air fryer with monster capacity and a 5-star warranty is sure to satisfy any family.

The Cosori Air Fryer price point is in the middle of the road.  You can definitely find cheaper units, but you will sacrifice features and functionality.  You won’t find a more feature-stuffed unit in a more expensive single function unit.

With tens of thousands of positive reviews, the Cosori air fryer is the most reviewed air fryer on Amazon and still maintains 4.7 out of 5 stars as of the writing of this article.

Features of the Cosori Air Fryer

The Cosori air fryer is a basket air fryer.  It is available in two sizes – the 3.7-quart is best for cooking for one person.  If you’re cooking for more than one person, you’re probably going to want to go for the 5.8-quart unit.

The features on both are the same, except the 3.7-quart uses only 1500W of power compared to the 5.8-quart using 1700W of power.  A difference that’s not noticeable to the typical user.

The multi-function touch screen menu boasts 11 cook settings, the most on the market, including preheat, keep warm, and of course the unique shake reminder.

Each unit comes with a recipe book with 100 original recipes.  

The Cosori air fryers boast a flexible temperature range from 170 to 400 degrees F, with 10 degree increments, useful for cooking anything from asparagus to zucchini.

All removable parts are dishwasher safe making cleanup a breeze.  

The units are PFOA free and BPA free, so you won’t be absorbing any undesired chemicals cooking your food in these units.

Pros of Cosori Air Fryer

With thousands of satisfied customers, the Cosori air fryer has many positive features worth mentioning.

Cosori’s unique shake reminder lets you know when to shake the basket for even cooking.  Shaking ensures the super heated air is able to circulate to all surfaces for even crispiness all around.

The preheat function visibly improves food texture by allowing the unit to heat up before adding your food.  This allows food to begin cooking as soon as you put it in the air fryer, creating a crispy result instead of a soggy mess.

The FREE Cosori Recipe Book with 100 recipes is full of pictures and gives detailed instructions for which buttons to push.  The recipes are actually useful as well, they use basic ingredients, not obscure items you’ll use just once.

The air fryers are well packaged so they don’t arrive damaged.  Just make sure to remove all of the shipping tape and foam before plugging it in, otherwise you’ll have a lingering smell of burning plastic to deal with.

The instructions are well-written and accurate.

Preset functions are useful and accurate.  Temperature and time of each preset can be adjusted to achieve desired results.

A constant among reviewers is that the “Amazing” customer service is very responsive, supporting the 2-year warranty.  All inquiries are met with rapid responses with solutions or sending replacement parts.

The Cosori air fryer’s square shape is more aesthetically pleasing than the egg shape of many other brands.  

With the square shaped basket, food fits better than the round shaped basket.  Food fits in the basket better, making it more versatile.  It can even cook four ½ pound burgers at once.

The 5.8-quart basket is a whopping 10” x 10”, one of the largest on the market.  

Reviewers love that the unit is easy to clean.

The Cosori air fryers are not overly noisy, like some kitchen appliances.

Users find the CosoriCooks Facebook group very helpful for tips, tricks and ideas from other users.

The Cosori air fryer has an auto shutoff in case of overheating.

Cons of Cosori Air Fryer

Of course there is always room for improvement.  

Dishwasher not recommended by other reviewers, saying it reduces the life of the nonstick coating, even though the manufacturer adversities the removable parts are dishwasher safe.

Some customers complained of a plastic smell and taste at first use, others say they have absolutely none.  The smell could be due to not removing a piece of packing foam under the basket before first use.

Some people have difficulty pressing the button to insert/remove the basket, others report the basket is clumsy, making removal when hot difficult.  This is something we’ve found that’s common with air fryer accessories across brands.

The flush front panel can be tricky to operate.  The “buttons” have to be pressed just right to get a response.

Slats in the basket are sharp and can cut you when hand washing if not careful.

It can be a little cumbersome to manually change the temperature setting, you have to scroll through other settings first.

Several reviewers complained that the non-stick coating is peeling after short-term use.  

There aren’t any accessories made specifically for the 5.8-qt basket, so there is some wasted capacity when using inserts.

The tradeoff for the large capacity of the 5.8-qt unit is that it is somewhat bulky.  If you have a small kitchen, you might have trouble storing this big guy, and you might not want to take up the counter space leaving this appliance out.

Air Fryer Tips

Here are some useful tips for using the Cosori air fryers.

Some items cook faster than the recipe book indicates, so as with anything, you should keep an eye on your food until you get a feel for the time and temperature settings.

When cooking bacon, put a slice of bread between the baskets.  The bread absorbs the dripping fat so there’s no grease to clean out and no smoke while it’s cooking.

For single person cooking, the 3.7 qt cooker is fine, but for 2-5, other users recommend the 5.8 qt.

Recommended accessories

To get the most of your Cosori air fryer, consider purchasing the accessories for your air fryer.  

A second basket is useful when batch cooking or for cooking a side along with your protein.

The Cosori air fryer accessories kit contains a cake pan, pizza pan, multi-purpose skewer rack, metal rack, silicone mat, and egg bites mold.

To get the most of your air fryer, get a copy of the Air Fryer Cookbook: 600 Effortless Air Fryer Receipes for Beginners and Advanced Users. Don’t let the lack of pictures deter you. It’s full of great recipes and useful information. It’s filled with simple, no-fuss recipes and helpful instructions for cooking basic foods like meatloaf, chicken breasts, and desserts.

What is an air fryer and why do you need one?

An air fryer is essentially a compact countertop convection oven on steroids.  Rapid circulation of superheated air mimics the results of deep frying, without all the oil and fat.

Air fryers generally excel at cooking anything frozen, think battered fish, french fries, tater tots, chicken wings and mozzarella sticks.

You can’t cook anything with a liquid batter in an air fryer, unless you freeze it first.  And, space is limited, so cooking for a crowd requires cooking in batches.  

Different types of air fryers?

There are many brands and models of air fryers on the market, however they all pretty much fall into one of two categories.  

Basket air fryers have a basket that holds the food, almost like a deep fryer.  They’re more of an upright machine, like a coffee maker, with a basket that pulls out like a drawer.

Convection oven air fryers are more like a toaster oven with high powered convection power.  The food is placed on a tray or rack.  You can easily cook multiple layers of food at the same time.

Final Thoughts

Whether opting for the 3.7-quart or the larger 5.8-quart you can’t go wrong with the Cosori air fryer.  It’s a well-designed unit with a plethora of useful features, which is why we found tens of thousands of satisfied customers.