With a large cooking basket and easy-to-understand controls, this is the perfect air fryer for busy families looking to streamline weeknight meals. The basket can fit up to two pounds of fries or even a 4-pound whole chicken. It’s always important not to overcrowd a fryer, so the added space helps keep foods separate, ensuring consistent air flow throughout. Another smaller, drawer-style air fryer that could fit easily under cabinets, this analog model had simple controls that were intuitive to set.
The Vortex Plus has the above functions, with the added benefit of being able to dehydrate and broil food. With the slightly angled display, we can at last use the controls without the awkward bend of the knees. Making the Vortex plus the obvious choice for “older” users or those moosoo air fryer who will be using the unit regularly. We like this because there is less wasted space compared to a circle. Then it tells you when to add the food, and then it starts counting. Preheating is also pretty quick – it typically takes between 2-5 minutes to get up to temperature.
There are some awfully expensive air fryers out there, but the Cosori Pro LE proves that higher price doesn’t always mean higher quality. It has a really nice, compact, sleek, and—most importantly—safe design. Air fryers have gained popularity for producing crispy, evenly browned “fried” foods without the use of a deep fryer. They work by circulating hot air around food, similarly to a convection oven, and eliminate the need for much (if any) cooking oil. Many air fryers are programmed with multiple cooking functions and can double as a toaster oven, convection oven, warmer, rotisserie, indoor grill, and more.
As briefly touched on, both units have the standard air fryer cooking methods we expect and a little more, with both units being able to air fry, bake, reheat and roast. The Instant Pot Vortex is an air fryer from Instant pot which can air fry, bake, reheat and roast. The Instant Pot Vortex Plus has the functionality of the Vortex with the added functions of dehydrating and broiling food.
We did find it browned frozen French fries and chicken nuggets well, but the limited capacity of the inner pot made it difficult to air fry large batches of food. The instant vortex has four pre-programmed settings to air fry, bake, roast and reheat similar to the Instant Pot’s seven settings. The caveat here is the Vortex only has eight buttons, four of which are those programs, plus Start, Cancel, Time and Temp.
We’ve come to expect the best from the maker of the Instant Pot, and the Instant Vortex Plus doesn’t feel quite like it. While I loved the dehydrate feature and enjoyed watching a small chicken rotate on a spit, there are still some rough edges here. The Instant Vortex has an incredibly intuitive control panel that made it one of the easiest to use in my tests. You can easily remove the basket from the machine, and a built-in light lets you see what’s happening inside the oven without opening the drawer.
Lastly, I tried a slightly rogue test of frozen cinnamon rolls. I tried the bake setting at 320ºF / 160ºC for 15 minutes, resulting in fabulously flaky pastry with a moist middle. For performance, the Instant Vortex Slim delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect from Instant Pot. Maximum cooking temperature is 400ºF / 205ºC and the timer will run for up to an hour. At $99, the Instant Vortex is cheaper than many other models out there with the same capacity and functions.
Unlike most pod-style air fryers, you don’t have to open the basket and let heat escape to check if your food is done. On the Instant Vortex Plus, you can just press the light button and look through the window. It combines the visibility of a toaster oven with the efficiency of a pod air fryer. To test the Instant Vortex, I considered factors like portability, versatility, and overall performance. To judge portability, I first assessed the size and weight of the air fryer and the length of the cord (a longer cord will give you more options for where to put a countertop appliance). I looked at how simple and straightforward the machine is to assemble without instructions, and also considered how easy the control panel was to read and use.