Efficient, easy to use and easy on the eye: Zwilling’s first air fryer ticks off most of the features you’d want from a compact air fryer. As well as just squeezing in enough food for a small family, one of its most appealing aspects is its 1.4kWh energy usage – lower than some air fryers, which can range up to 1.7kWh, and ovens, which can be 2-2.2kWh and take longer to cook and heat up.
It's ideal for most everyday foods, such as the poultry and chips I cooked, as well as baking – there’s even a pizza programme if you’re feeling creative. I swapped my air fryer for it over multiple weeks to see how it measured up. While it had less capacity inside than my usual model, and its highest temperature is only 200°C (mine goes up to 230°C) – I was impressed with its speedy efficient cooking.
Perhaps the only limitation is its preset programmes. While there are six of them, it’s missing those that you might find on some of the best air fryers, such as meat, reheat or cooking from frozen. There’s also no preheat – it suggests adding on an extra minute to cooking times – which is a bit of a faff if you’re in a rush. Keep reading to find out why this is an air fryer worth investing in if you’re keen to reduce your running costs.
Zwilling air fryer product specs
- Material: Plastic
- Colour: Black
- Capacity: 4 litres
- Modes: Manual, chips, poultry, seafood, bake/cake, pizza and fish
- Weight: 3.91kg
- Power: 1400 watts
- Size: 30 x 29 x 35 cm
- Cable length: 100cm
Who tested this air fryer?
Unboxing the product
Pleasingly, there’s a minimal amount of plastic used in the packaging of Zwilling’s air fryer – just two plastic bags protect the exterior finish of the product and the plug. The rest is far more sustainable cardboard. There are no accessories other than the grill plate that sits inside the air fryer drawer.
While the same width as my own machine, I liked that the air fryer was squatter – enough to tuck below kitchen wall cabinets if worktop space is in short supply – and all the controls are located on the top, so there’s no mess of buttons on the front. However, this does throw up its own issue – rather than being able to see at a glance how much cooking time was left from across the kitchen, I had to walk over and look down on the machine instead. The display itself is also not very bright.
The touch controls themselves were clear, although it’s a shame that you can’t just select a programme and hit start. Instead, there’s a button for scrolling through them. Each is represented by an easily understandable icon, such as a cupcake for baking, plus there are manual settings for toggling your own time and temperature.
Using the air fryer
Something that I became aware of is that the Zwilling air fryer vents from several places. When trying to push the drawer back in without slamming it, I touched the back of the machine and scorched myself on a vent, when ironically, I’d been trying to avoid touching the top of it, where there are also vents from around the control panel. It’s advisable to pop on a pair of oven gloves if you’re opening the drawer to shake food.
A minor issue I encountered was the odd mix of programmes – there’s only six, yet two are dedicated to fish and seafood, when there’s no programme for meat, reheat or frozen food. It’s also not possible to add on or subtract a few minutes once a programme is in operation, which is less than ideal. A final niggle is that the default temperature when turning on the air fryer is 80°C, rather than the more commonly used higher temperatures.
However, there is lots that’s great to balance these things out. One is that it comes with a recipe booklet – perfect for those new to air frying or for getting to grips with the machine’s capabilities. It’s also reasonably priced compared to many on the market. I also really liked its alert when food was cooked – loud enough to be heard in a busy kitchen, yet not harsh and annoying. Plus, it has a two-year guarantee.
Cooking vegetables
I referred to the recipe booklet for guidance on cooking vegetables as there’s no set programme. It suggested 180°C for antipasti veg, so I went with that temperature for fresh corn on the cob, set manually for 18 minutes (including 1 minute for preheat). Halfway through I checked on progress – the corn was turning a deep yellow colour but not yet browned.
After the time had elapsed, the resulting corn was well cooked, not dried out and with plenty of browning without burning. A few minutes less would probably have been fine.
Grilling burgers
As mentioned previously, the air fryer has no programme for cooking meat, so for grilling burgers I chose the poultry programme (200°C) but reduced the time to 10 minutes. The flat space inside the air fryer isn’t huge – I struggled to fit on four raw burgers – but once they had started to cook, they reduced in size. After the programme had finished, the burgers were thoroughly cooked, yet still very juicy. The exterior was nicely browned and when I sliced into them, there was no pink flesh in the middle. In the air fryer, lots of fat had run into the base.
Making homemade chips
Handily, there’s both a recipe suggestion in the booklet and a programme for homemade chips, although both are geared towards making skinny French fries. Because of this, I increased the preset time from 15 minutes to 20 minutes for my slightly thicker potato chips. The recommended amount was 600g – I cooked a little more than this in the basket.
I placed fresh chipped potato pieces, which had been washed, patted dry and tossed in a small amount of oil, in the drawer and shook the contents every few minutes or so. This was fairly effective. After 20 minutes, most of the chips were nicely browned and crisp at the ends, with only a few pieces still remaining pale (but cooked). Thinner pieces and fewer of them would probably produce crisper results.
Air frying frozen food
There was no preset for frozen food, so I opted for the highest temperature (200°C) when cooking hash browns from the freezer. After only 15 minutes (I had allowed 18 minutes), the hash browns were perfectly cooked: crispy and golden brown. This was more efficient than other air fryers I’ve tested, which are prone to leaving frozen food soggy or need a longer cooking time for good results.
Grilling cheese
Golden brown strips of halloumi are a favourite of mine to make in an air fryer, and the perfect opportunity to use the lower heat programmes. In this instance, I chose the bake programme (180°C), which had a preset time of 15 minutes. I felt this would be too long as cheese is prone to burning, so lowered it to 10 minutes. After 7 minutes, the halloumi was ideally cooked: bubbly, browned yet soft and not burnt.
Roasting chicken
Much like with the beef burgers, it’s tricky to fit larger amounts of food in the air fryer. I just managed to squeeze in four chicken legs overlapping, so it will do for a family meal but not if there are more than four diners. I roasted these on the poultry/chicken programme (200°C), raising the preset time from 15 minutes to 22 minutes as the legs were quite chunky, and I felt that this programme was probably designed for drumsticks and breasts.
After the cooking time had finished, the legs were browned, with crispy bubbled skin. Cutting into them, there was no pink remaining at the thickest part of the legs, showing that they were thoroughly cooked. A lot of fat and juices had run away below the grill plate too.
Cleaning
Both the Zwilling air fryer drawer and grill plate are dishwasher safe. Reassuringly, both have a robust non-stick coating that looked sparkling whether I cleaned it by hand or popped it in the dishwasher – grease just slid off. This meant that clean-up after cooking was consistently effortless, making this a good one to choose if you’re looking for a low-maintenance air fryer.
Storage and maintenance
The Zwilling air fryer’s relatively compact size might mean slightly restricted space inside but for storage it’s a blessing. It happily lived at the back of my worktop, and would also be short enough to tuck inside a cupboard. There are no accessories to store either. The lack of buttons is also a plus for keeping the outside sparkling as there’s nowhere for dirt and grime to gather other than the vents.
How does it rate online?
Unsurprisingly, as well as being highly rated for working well, the Zwilling air fryer gets a mention for its beautiful design – something that most air fryers don’t prioritise. Ease of use is also highlighted in reviews, as is its capacity, being ideal for smaller households. Some also raise the issue of finding the right time and temperature combinations, suggesting that its presets may not be as useful as they could be.
Comparisons
This is Zwilling’s first foray into the air fryer category and while it feels more designed for a European market, on the whole, it offers good value for money – efficient cooking with robust build quality. It’s similarly priced to some air fryers with the same capacity, such as the Philips Essential, while being costlier than budget brands, such as Dreo. And while it offers slightly more capacity than Ninja’s smallest and cheapest air fryer, the Ninja AF100UK, the temperature range is narrower (The AF100UK goes from 40-210°C).
Should you buy the Zwilling air fryer?
While it’s neither the most compact or cheapest air fryer out there for a small household, what the Zwilling air fryer has in spades is a feeling that it’s a robust workhorse. The build quality is excellent compared to cheaper brands and it’s been designed to be as low maintenance as possible, which is a real win for busy families. It’s faster than some too – I was impressed with the minutes it shaved off frozen food cooking times. And should you not have a cupboard to pop it away in, it’s probably one of the most attractive air fryers you’ll find to have out on the worktop.
Realistically, the only things that let it down are the limited choice of programmes and being unable to toggle time and temperature while they’re in operation. Which, if you’re used to air frying already, won’t be much of an issue, as the manual cooking mode is straightforward.
About this review, and the reviewer
At Ideal Home, we're serious about how we test products, as without having hands-on experience, we can't wholeheartedly recommend making certain buying decisions. That's why we employed the help of our experienced freelancer Rachel to tell you exactly what's great, and not so great about this air fryer grill. She spent weeks cooking with it and really getting to know its capabilities, and has been allowed to keep it after the review to judge its long-term performance.
Rachel has reviewed hundreds of small and large appliances, yet still gets excited by unboxing anything with a plug attached. When not rigorously testing appliances, you’ll find her antiquing, going for a gentle run or unwinding with a glass of fizz.
