How to Air-Fry Without an Air Fryer
Make yummy chicken wings and crispy fries with your convection range, wall oven, or toaster oven
When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.
With an air fryer, you can make crispy chicken, french fries, Tater Tots, and more without the mess and health drawbacks of deep-frying. But what if you don’t want another appliance eating up space on your countertop? Or if you want to air-fry larger portions than the typical air fryer will hold? The answer may already be in your kitchen.
In the past few years, more range ovens, wall ovens, toaster ovens, and even microwaves have added convection modes that enable air-frying. Convection, when hot air is circulated using one or more fans, is the same technology behind countertop air fryers. So we tried out a few of these appliances with air-frying functionality to see how well they work. Below are tips for getting the best results from each, plus a closer look at the top appliances from Consumer Reports’ tests that can air-fry.
Our buying guides for ranges, wall ovens, and toaster ovens provide additional, big-picture information on what you should consider as you shop for a cooking appliance. CR members can also access comprehensive test results in our ratings for ranges, wall ovens, and toaster oven. Check a model’s features page to see if it has a convection or air-fry setting.
How to 'Fry' Food in an Oven
An air fryer works by rapidly circulating hot air and a small amount of oil to fry foods. The oil and air work in tandem, transferring heat via conduction (the direct contact of the hot oil) and convection (the heavy rotation of hot air). The air-fry function works the same way in a wall oven or the oven of a range with convection.
In our range lab, we tested the air-fry functions of two ranges and a wall oven. All produced golden, crispy french fries with just a few teaspoons of oil—and in record time, shaving 20 to 30 minutes off the total cook time using a regular bake setting. That’s largely because the ovens didn’t need to preheat on the air-fry setting; the heat ramped up almost immediately.
Our fries weren’t quite as beautiful as when we made frozen fries in a countertop air fryer. But a range is capable of holding more than twice as much food as a standard air fryer. For families, the larger capacity and shorter cooking time can be a real mealtime game changer.
If your convection oven doesn’t have an air-fry setting, you can still get similar results using a convection roast setting. Just know that darker bakeware absorbs more heat in the oven than a shiny, reflective pan, so darker bakeware will radiate more heat onto foods, helping them brown.
Below are three highly rated ovens that offer a convection feature suitable for air-frying.
How to 'Fry' Food in a Toaster Oven
Convection toaster ovens can air-fry in the same way a convection oven can, but many models come with dedicated air-fry settings and even air-fry baskets. Our toaster oven ratings show which of the models we’ve tested have air fry functions. If you have a toaster oven that has convection but no air-fry setting, try using convection bake, and just as with an oven, use a dark pan to get the best crispy results. The following toaster ovens all have air-fry settings.
Air-Frying in a Microwave
An air-frying function in a microwave may seem counterintuitive. Often, a microwave is the appliance to use when you need to heat food up without removing a lot of moisture. On the other hand, an air fryer works by removing moisture from the surface of food, drying it in order to make it crispy. But add a convection fan to a microwave, and hot air can circulate just as it does in an air fryer. We haven’t tested microwave air fryer capability in our labs yet, but if you’re curious, the highly rated models below offer it. We’ve included both countertop and over-the-range models.
If You Want to Try an Air Fryer
The options above provide great alternatives to a stand-alone air fryer. But if you don’t have a range or toaster oven with convection, let alone a dedicated air-fry setting, then a stand-alone air fryer is still your cheapest and easiest route to crispy veggies and golden fries. The models below deliver just that.
