An air fryer is a very common kitchen appliance nowadays. If you are a health-conscious person, you probably can not think of cooking food without an air fryer because of its ability to cook with little or no oil. However, air fryers usually do not have the ability to cook in large batches. They do not have multiple cooking functions other than air frying and similar cooking options. Instant pots have some of these missing features of air fryers. But which one is better? In this article, I am going to differentiate between Instant Pot and air fryer. I will show the advantages and disadvantages of both the kitchen appliances and try to find out which one is better.
Difference between an air fryer and Instant Pot
| Features ( typically) | Air Fryer | Instant Pot |
| Capacity | 4-6 quarts | 3-8 quarts |
| Cooking function | air fry, bake, roast | pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute etc. |
| Temperature Range | 170F – 400F | varying rage |
| Popular models/ brands | Ninja, COSORI, Nuwave, Power, Philips, Gowise USA, etc | Duo, Duo crisp, Pro crisp, Ultra, Duo plus, Nova, etc. |
| Power range | 1500W – 1800W | 1200W – 1500W |
| Control panel | Digital, manual knob | Digital, manual push button |
Advantages of an air fryer
- Air fryer is good for regular air frying.
- It has a wider temperautre range.
- Foods cooked in an air fryer is healthy.
- It requires less or no oil to cook food.
- Air fryers are more powerful.
- Foods cooked in air fryer are crispy.
- Air fryers can cook faster.
Advantages of An Instant Pot
- An Instant Pot has versatile cooking functions.
- They have more cooking capacity.
- You will find a lot of recepies to cook in Instant Pots.
- Cooking in Instant pots is safe compared to ordinary pressure cookers.
- They are easy to clean.
- Some Instant pots can air fry as well.
Instant Pot or Air Fryer – Which one is the winner?
Air fryers and Instant pots have their own advantages. They are functionally different. An air fryer is better for only air frying. On the other hand, an Instant Pot is a pressure cooker with some other cooking functions. However, it is conclusively difficult to say which one is better as they are not similar cooking appliances. I think a modern kitchen should have both of these. Instant pot pro crisp can air fry. You can get this one if you want to keep the number of appliances less in the kitchen.