With so many air fryer brands on the scene, choosing the right one for you is a pretty overwhelming task. And while Cosori isn’t one of the better-known brands, its single zone air fryers have always performed well in reviews and are an Amazon-favourite.
The new, and currently the only dual zone model from the brand has a roomy 8.5 litre capacity, split across two evenly sized cooking zones. It’s not the cheapest around, it's more of a mid-range model that will set you back around the same amount as the best Ninja air fryers. And as such it includes multiple cooking functions and useful features like viewing windows in the front.
I’m no stranger to air fryer cooking. Not only do I review the latest and greatest models around, but I cook in my own air fryer more than my oven. So I set up the Cosori on my kitchen worktop for a week and used to air fry, bake, roast, and grill a variety of foods and meals for my two person household. In a nutshell, if you can get past quirks regarding the sync finish, it’s one of the best air fryers I've tried.
Cosori Dual Zone specifications
- RRP: £199.99
- Dimensions: 43.94 x 39.12 x 30.23 cm
- Presets: Air fry, grill, roast, bake, reheat, dehydrate
- Dishwasher safe? Yes
- Maximum temperature: Air fry: 205C/ grill: 230C
- Maximum timer: Air fry: 60 minutes/ dehydrate: 48 hours
My first impressions of the Tefal Easy Fry Dual Air Fryer
I was somewhat disappointed when I opened the box and found chunky polystyrene inside. Most brands have now moved away from this non-recyclable packaging, even for bigger appliances like this one.
Once out of the box though, it has a black streamlined exterior that looks similar to a lot of other dual drawer air fryers I’ve seen. There’s nothing remarkable to report about its looks, but I do like the angled touch control panel, that’s both easy to see and easy to wipe clean.
In addition to the two baskets and their removable crisper plates, this model comes with a few other accessories. There’s a skewer rack that holds five metal skewers (included), plus there’s what Cosori calls a baking rack. Though I’m slightly flummoxed by this one, it looks more like a toast rack and I’m not sure what kind of baking you could do with it.
The baskets are labelled with an L and an R, and the corresponding L and R buttons on the control panel makes it straightforward to work out which basket you’re setting. The six cooking modes are complemented by a host of other handy features, including an optional preheat button and a shake reminder.
The sync finish button allows you to set the baskets to different times and the air fryer will ensure they finish simultaneously, so you can plate everything up at once. Or, if you want both baskets to cook at the same time and temperature, just set up one side and press the sync cook button to copy the settings over. All-in-all the control panel is intuitive and I got to grips with it very quickly.
There are viewing windows in the front of each drawer and an internal light, allowing you to keep an eye on your food while it’s cooking. Better yet, the drawers are dishwasher safe, so on first impressions, it really does offer everything I’d hope to see in a dual drawer air fryer.
How does the Cosori Dual Zone perform?
One of the most helpful features of any dual zone air fryer is the ability to sync the end times of both baskets despite different cook times. So to try this, I made a classic meal of fish and chips. I used frozen breaded fish fillets and cooked these alongside homemade chips.
I soaked the freshly cut chips for 30 minutes, then dried them and spritzed with oil. I set both baskets to air fry at 200C, with the timer at 25 minutes for the chips and 15 minutes for the fish and the sync finish setting was on. Both sides did an automatic preheat at different stages and then prompted me to add the food at the appropriate time.
It all started as expected, however after the fish was added and the second timer started counting down, they weren’t in sync. There was actually a few minutes difference. And the difference increased every time I removed the chip basket to give them a shake, because it doesn’t pause both timers when you remove one basket.
The results were tasty, both the chips and the fish cooked really well within the time. The fish was moist with a crunchy coating and the chips were perfectly cooked and even in colour. The main issue was that the two sides didn’t finish simultaneously.
To check I’d not done anything wrong, I did try the sync cook on another occasion and had exactly the same problem, which was frustrating. But since it’s only a few minutes difference I got around it by leaving one side in the basket to stay warm while the second side finished cooking.
A large batch of homemade granola was a good test of the bake function. I had to split the granola between the two drawers though, so I set it to bake at 160C for 20 minutes and used the sync cook button to copy the settings to both drawers.
The automatic preheat took four minutes and the granola cooked in 18 minutes, easily half the time it would bake for in an ordinary oven. But once again, the two baskets finished at slightly different times. This is because, despite having the exact same cook time, I removed and stirred the granola a couple of times on each side, which led to them becoming out of sync.
I love to roast vegetables in the oven, so used the roast function to cook up tomatoes in one basket and sliced mushrooms in the second basket. With the temperature set to 190C for both sides, I allowed it to preheat before adding the vegetables. This took around six minutes.
Once preheated, I added my halved tomatoes directly to the base of the left basket and my sliced, lightly oiled mushrooms to the crisper plate in the right basket. It took just 15 minutes to roast both sides to perfection. During that time, I gave the mushrooms a couple of shakes, but left the tomatoes alone.
Frozen breaded chicken goujons went from the freezer to my plate in just 12 minutes. The air fryer function worked its magic on the breadcrumb coating to turn it perfectly crunchy, without the chicken drying out.
I never did quite manage to figure out how to use the strange toast-rack-come-baking-accessory. However, I did try out the skewers with some peri peri chicken chunks. There are five quite short skewers, but once I started threading on my average size diced chicken pieces, it was immediately obvious that if I filled all five with chicken, they wouldn’t fit side-by-side on the rack.
I ended up making three chicken skewers and spacing them out. Originally I intended to use the grill setting for the chicken and also for some halloumi in the second basket. But in the process of adjusting the settings, I realised that the grill can only be used on one side at a time, so I opted to air fry the halloumi slices instead.
The chicken took around 12 minutes with the grill set to 220C and the halloumi needed around eight minutes to air fry to a good golden colour. These times were a little longer than my original settings, so when it finished cooking, I hastily added a couple more minutes to each side. But I forgot to deselect the preheat mode and didn’t realise until it was too late that they spent the final few minutes being cooked on the, presumably more fierce, preheat.
Both the chicken and halloumi cooked nicely nonetheless. Although I’m not convinced the chicken cooked any differently using the grill function to what it would using the standard air fry function.
How does the Cosori Dual Zone Air Fryer compare?
If your budget is a bit tight and you don’t manage to find the Cosori when it’s on sale, it’s definitely worth checking out the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer. With an RRP that’s half that of the Cosori, the Lakeland model is a more budget friendly option. And while it boasts a similar capacity as well as viewing windows in the drawers, the compromise is that it can only air fry, there are no additional cooking modes.
On the flip side, if you can find a bit of extra cash and you want a large capacity air fryer, the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer is the one to consider. This whopping 10.4 litre air fryer has a flexible cooking zone that can be used as one large or two smaller zones. It’s a multifunctional air fryer that’s effortless to use.
Should you buy the Cosori Dual Zone Air Fryer?
This is a good quality, easy to use air fryer. It cooks food well, and offers all the functions and settings I’d hope to find. The main drawback from my point of view is that the automatic sync finish function doesn’t work properly to ensure both cooking zones finish cooking simultaneously.
But taking into account that it’s frequently discounted, offers multiple cooking functions, and is easy to use as well as easy to clean, there’s still plenty to like about this air fryer. So if the perfect sync finish isn’t high on your priority list, it’s a great choice.
About this review, and the reviewer
After completing a Home Economics degree, Helen went on to work for the Good Housekeeping Institute and has been reviewing home appliances ever since. She lives in a small village in Buckinghamshire in the UK. She is now freelance and draws on her wealth of experience to review a huge variety of home appliances.
Helen used this air fryer for a week in her own home in place of her usual air fryer. She made use of several of the cooking functions and cooked a wide variety of foods, from fish to meat to vegetables in her effort to give it a thorough test.
