Air frying has become popular partly because it promises the texture of fried food with significantly less oil. But less oil does not automatically mean healthy? The full picture is worth understanding before deciding whether an air fryer belongs in your kitchen.
This article looks at what actually changes when you switch from deep frying to air frying, and where the difference is meaningful.
How Air Frying Works
An air fryer is essentially a compact convection oven, with more intense hot air cook. A heating element generates heat, and a powerful fan circulates that hot air rapidly around the food. The result is a crisp exterior similar to what you get from frying, achieved through hot air rather than hot oil.
The food sits in a basket or cooking vessel rather than submerged in oil. Any fat in the cook comes from the food itself or from a light coating applied before cooking.
The Oil Difference
This is where the most significant health comparison lies. Deep frying submerges food in oil at 160 to 180 degrees Celsius. The food absorbs a meaningful amount of that oil during cooking. How much depends on the food and the technique, but it is consistently higher than air frying.
Air frying typically uses a tablespoon or less of oil, or none at all for foods with sufficient natural fat content. For the same portion of chicken, the oil intake from air frying is substantially lower than from deep frying.
What That Means for Calories
Oil is calorie-dense, at around 120 calories per tablespoon. If air frying removes most or all of the added oil, the caloric difference between the same food cooked two different ways can be significant.
Research has shown that air-fried versions of foods like french fries can have 70 to 80% less fat than their deep-fried counterparts, depending on preparation. For someone eating fried food regularly, that adds up over time.
What Does Not Change
The base ingredient is still the same. Air frying chicken thighs does not change the fat content of the chicken itself. A food that is high in saturated fat, sodium, or refined carbohydrates does not become nutritionally neutral by being air fried instead of deep fried.
Air frying is a better cooking method than deep frying for most foods. It is not a way to make any food healthy regardless of what it is. The ingredient still matters.
What About Acrylamide?
One concern specific to high-heat cooking, including both air frying and deep frying, is acrylamide. This compound forms in starchy foods cooked at high temperatures and has been studied in relation to long-term health effects.
Air frying has been found to produce lower levels of acrylamide than deep frying, typically around 90% less in studies on potatoes. It is not zero, but it is meaningfully lower than the levels produced by deep frying the same food.
The Cookware Factor
How healthy a cooking method is depends partly on what you are cooking in. Non-stick surfaces in air fryer baskets often contain PTFE or PFAS coatings, which introduce a separate health variable worth understanding before you choose an air fryer.
For cooks who want to avoid synthetic coatings altogether, a glass cooking vessel removes that concern entirely. Glass has no coating, so the question of what might leach into food does not arise.
Is It Worth Switching?
For most people who cook fried food regularly, yes. The reduction in oil and therefore calories is real and consistent. The acrylamide reduction is also meaningful. The process is cleaner, faster, and easier to manage than deep frying at home.
The caveat is that an air fryer is not a substitute for eating differently overall. It makes a specific category of cooking healthier. What you choose to cook in it still matters.
The Bottom Line
Air frying is genuinely healthier than deep frying by most measures: less oil, fewer calories, lower acrylamide. It is not a dramatic transformation, but it is a meaningful improvement for anyone who eats fried food as part of a regular diet.
The other variable worth paying attention to is the cookware itself: what the cooking surface is made of, and whether it introduces concerns of its own.
CrispGo by Durra uses a borosilicate glass pod with a PTFE and PFAS-free grill rack, so the cooking environment is as clean as the cooking method. Take a look at thedurra.com.
