By Bryan Wall
Product Test Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakamātautau Hautaonga
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like chips, especially freshly fried from the local chippy. We’d eat chips with everything if our wallets and waistlines could afford it, right? But how do you make the perfect chip at home? Frozen chips don’t quite hit the mark, and deep fat frying at home is so 1980s and decidedly unhealthy!
Luckily, the healthier air fryer has stepped up to become the king of chips. Most models are capable of creating crispy fluffy chips in under 15 minutes. But we have found a few air fryers you should avoid if chips are your thing.
The 3 worst air fryers for cooking chips
We cook store-bought frozen potato chips at 180–200°C for 12 minutes in our lab. These 3 air fryers produced decidedly average results, based on texture and colour.
Each model scored below 50, producing chips that were unevenly cooked, with some crisp and some soft. Colour was mainly pale with some dark edges. Centres were soggy and limp.
Top 3 air fryers for cooking chips
How to make the best air fried chips
First, choose a good spud – I use Agria or red as they maintain a fluffy inner and crispy outer. You’ll only need a couple of medium-sized potatoes to make a good bowlful of chips, especially if you like your chips thinner.
We have two chip-cooking methods in the Wall household. We don’t have an air fryer at home, so we simply use an air fryer basket in the oven to bake them. I’ve also run through the same process using the Consumer NZ test air fryer.
Follow these steps
Peel the spuds and cut them into chips.
Soak them in water for around 10–20 minutes.
Pat them dry with a tea towel to remove any excess starch.
Toss them in some canola oil.
Season liberally.
Cook for 30–40 minutes in the oven. An air fryer is much quicker, taking around half the time and making the chips crunchier and uniformly cooked.
My wife’s method is even faster and more popular with the kids – they prefer skinnier, almost shoestring type, fries. To make the chips consistently slender, she uses a chip cutter (you should be able to find one online). It’s a grid of metal blades that you push the potatoes through one by one. It’s amazing how many chips you can get from a single spud!
She doesn’t bother peeling the potatoes or soaking the chips in water first. She just tosses the cut chips in oil, salts them and then cooks them in the oven in the air fryer basket.
Because they’re thinner, they tend to cook a little quicker and come out crispier.
Should you buy an air fryer to make chips?
If you eat a lot of chips and have the space, then you’ll probably be pretty happy with an air fryer. Or you could get an oven basket like we have and factor in the extra time it takes to oven cook the chips. Air fryers are a little more efficient when cooking for less than 30 minutes. If you are oven baking, use the extra space to cook other components of your meal. This is one thing you usually can’t do with an air fryer.
I’d thoroughly recommend making your own chips for either option though. They are much cheaper than frozen chips, require minimal preparation and are way tastier.
