A six qt air fryer is neither big nor small; it is perfect for a small to medium size family. Check out our picks for the best 6 quart air fryer.
If you have a family of four to five people inclined to enjoy healthy meals cooked in an air fryer, you must buy a 6 quarts air fryer at a minimum.
The size of the air fryer should align with your specific needs and preferences. If you cook for large groups in routine, consider buying the best 8 quart air fryer or a 10-quart air fryrer.
Best 6 Quart Air Fryer Tested and Reviewed [AUG 2023]
- Best Overall: Instant Pot Vortex Plus 6-in-1
- Best Under $100: Ultrean Air Fryer
- Best With Cook Window: Instant Vortex Plus ClearCook Air Fryer
- Best for Beginners: Ultrean Air Fryer Oven Oilless Cooker
- Best with Oven Function: Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer
- Best for Chicken Wings: DASH Deluxe Air Fryer
- Best Digital Air Fryer: Gourmia Fry Force GAF686
- Best Stainless Steel Air Fryer: Dash DFAF600GBSS01 AirCrisp Pro
Why You Should Trust Our Picks!
Today we will list all the best 6-quart air fryers we have found after at least 125 hours of collective searching and testing. We started with 31 units and finally reached this list of the 6qt top-selling air fryers on the market, which we can confidently recommend to our readers.
1. Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer Oven: Best 6 QT Overall
Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer Oven outshines others at making chips, wings, roasts, fish, and chicken. This air fryer is for you if you want to make these things and more.
We loved its nifty combination of the black body and the stainless steel accents bestowing the unit with an attractive outlook. Stainless steel durability makes the unit hardwearing.
During testing, we put it to everyday rough and tough use, and it withstood it. Our experience with this air fryer suggests that using aluminum foil in the air fryer can help you ensure mess-free cooking.
The touchscreen digital control panel lights up when you turn on the air fryer, making it easier to configure the settings. Once you select the options, only what you choose remains lit, and the rest goes completely black.
It was quite comforting for our team to know that the unit has over 100 recipes in its smartphone app. These recipes provide instant ideas for creating a whole meal plan for the whole family.
This iteration of the instant Vortex is without a viewing window. But, let’s be real, peering at food only involves taking out the basket, which hardly takes a few seconds, so not a big issue there. But if you prefer an air fryer with a viewing window, you must opt for the instant Vortex plus 6-in-1 Clearcook.
A slight discomfort our team reported was the air fryer getting warm from outside. So, use mittens to protect your hands or do not touch it until it cools down.
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2. Ultrean Air Fryer Roaster Combo: Best Under 100 Dollars
We recommend this air fryer because, based on our tests, the food it produces exhibits a similar quality to that of more expensive units. We were genuinely surprised by the reasonable price tag of this air fryer, considering its on-par cooking ability.
So, its reasonable price and cooking results were the major reasons for including this unit in our six qt air fryer list.
It is a digital air fryer. Contrary to our fears, the screen is highly responsive to touch unless there is grease on it, making it less responsive.
We felt that there should have been names on the touchscreen for the function each button performs. Still, controls are represented by easily identifiable pictures.
The cooking capacity makes it a highly recommended 6-quart air fryer for 4 people. It allows you to make about three pounds of fries, making it perfect for a small group. Additionally, you can easily accommodate five chicken breasts or more than 10 spring rolls in one go, ensuring everyone is well-fed.
The basket has a firm handle that helps it slide out very easily. Thanks to its safety shutoff feature, the cooking process pauses when you pull out the basket. When you Slide the basket in, the process resumes automatically, ensuring a seamless cooking experience.
During our cooking tests, we tried. Initially, we were afraid, unsure of how crispy it would be. The air fryer took about six minutes at 375 F to cook. The results were terrific; the bacon was crispy yet juicy. As for the fat splatters, we tackled them by adding a small amount of water underneath the basket.
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3. Instant Vortex ClearCook Air Fryer: Best With Cook Window
This air fryer from the Instant Vortex slightly differs from the earlier mentioned instant vortex plus.
The major difference is that this version has a big viewing window on the basket to look at the food during cooking. This feature eliminates the need to take out the basket to check the food.
This also makes it particularly helpful for seniors who may need assistance in the kitchen, as it provides a safe and easy way to monitor their cooking.
Moreover, this air fryer has a matt-black finish which looks clean and chic. There are no stainless steel accents, yet the construction seems sturdy and of good quality.
We liked that the interior light stayed on throughout the cooking. You can see what is happening inside the unit from afar.
The air fryer has a minimalistic backlit beveled control panel, giving you all the details of your food with a cursory look.
It shows you the selected cooking function and remaining time and temperature. You can also see if the air fryer is in the preheating stage or has reached the cooking stage.
After conducting various experiments, we were quite delighted with the cooking performance. We prepared succulent steak strips, crispy sweet potato fries, and gooey mozzarella bites.
The appliance delivered satisfactory results, with the steak strips turning out reasonably tender. The sweet potato fries achieved a decent crispness, and the mozzarella bites turned out to be irresistible.
The plastic-like smell on the first few uses and big footprints are the two issues our experts expressed displeasure about. These can be a deal breaker for some people.
To summarize, both Instant Vortex units (with and without a viewing window) are great options. For traditional kitchen décor, the stainless steel one is a good choice. For a modern kitchen, the all-black is a better option.
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4. Ultrean Air Fryer Oven Oilless Cooker: Best For Beginners
Ultrean Air Fryer boosts its UL certification, which is definitely a feature to be proud of. The UL certification gives this air fryer credibility by deeming it safe for use in the house.
It is rated at 1700 watts, quite common for powerful air fryers of this caliber, offering more than just air frying.
This 6 Quarts air fryer from Ultrean has an egg-shaped design. The girth is broader than the top and the bottom. So, even if it occupies less area from the base, you still need to give it some area to manage its width.
The extremely responsive touch screen to navigate the unit is at the top. There are seven cooking presets and a separate button that you must press when changing the cooking mode.
While the compact control panel makes the air fryer’s face look less crowded, it does disappoint you a little when using it. You never know when you unconsciously enter the wrong cook settings, as icons are very close to each other.
Once we got over the control and focused on the cooking experience, the unit did make us quite happier. We tried chicken breast and veggies one by one.
One important function we noticed missing in the control panel is the no “stop/cancel” option. Pulling out the basket or unplugging the unit are the only ways to halt cooking.
The chicken was mouth-licking. All the juices and flavor were sealed inside the meat, causing tiny flavor explosions in the mouth. Veggies were burnt at a few places; it might be because we might not have shaken them quite enough during cooking.
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5. Instant Vortex Plus ClearCook Air Fryer: Best With Oven Function
This Instant Vortex is similar to the above-mentioned instant vortex plus. Unlike the all-black construction of the earlier-mentioned unit, this one comes in stainless steel color.
Another differentiating feature is the presence of Odor Erase twin filters. These filters block all the food odors even if you use them for hours preparing a lengthy full-course meal.
This additional feature explains a bit higher price tag of this version. This is the best odor-erase air fryer if you are allergic to food odors.
The unit preheats quickly. However, we noticed a slight hiccup: you can’t bypass the preheating process. We found a trick to skip this. You can put the appliance in reheat mode.
We loved the presence of six one-touch cooking functions programmed in this air fryer. During our cooking tests, they helped us achieve consistent results and made cooking convenient and time-saving.
This unit is not space-taking at all. It can easily fit under your kitchen cabinets. You can store it inside the cabinet when it is not in use. Though allocating a permanent space and keeping it on the shelf is more convenient.
Instant Vortex Plus has more width than depth. Therefore, it gets a bit annoying when finding the right size chicken to go with the basket.
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6. DASH Deluxe Air Fryer: Best For Chicken Wings
Dash promises to help you finish your meal preparation in a dash. After using it multiple times to make various dishes, we found it is not an impracticable promise.
The air fryer looks compact, but in reality, it is not. When we took it out of the box, it felt bulky and occupied a big space on the counter.
Its features make it a splendid air fryer. It draws 1700 watts, which is quite powerful for an air fryer. Therefore, it heats up quickly.
The air fryer rocks a simple display consisting of a dial. Regarding the accuracy of time and temperature, the unit is not perfect. Getting the temperature right with the knobs is a bit of a hassle. But then, this is common for most dial-style air fryers.
Therefore, you need several trial-and-error attempts to attain perfect results. However, there is an auto-shutoff feature that prevents overcooking, overheating, or burning your food.
We made different recipes using this air fryer, but the results of the chicken wings were outstanding. They had a delicious juicy taste and were crispy, so we rated this unit best for wings.
If you prefer a darker exterior, you might need to cook for one extra minute beyond the time mentioned in the recipe book.
Compared to Dash Tasti 6 qt air fryer, this model has a round basket design. A round basket construction looks good on the countertop but lacks space efficiency. A square basket accommodates food more efficiently than a round basket.
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7. Gourmia Fry Force GAF686: Best Digital Air Fryer
As you open the air fryer, you will be greeted by a large digital display that presents all the options to navigate this unit.
Each button has a picture icon and is labeled with a name; these tiny but meaningful details make it the best air fryer for the elderly and kids trying air frying.
Gourmia air fryer oven is known for giving the anticipated crispiness to the food. Therefore, we included this air fryer to test the accuracy of these claims.
We were not overly happy with its design and looks. Thankfully, we don’t have to say the same for its cooking prowess and ability.
The air fryer lost the top spot for breaded chicken. Still, it seized the limelight for Brussels sprouts, chicken wings, and frozen French fries.
A slight inconvenience is that there is no way to turn off the timer if the food is cooked earlier. The only option to turn off the air fryer is to unplug it.
Though this air fryer is powerful when cooking, in terms of watts, it does not draw much power; it requires only 1500 watts to create the magic in its cooking chamber.
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8. Dash DFAF600GBSS01 AirCrisp Pro – Best Stainless Steel Air Fryer
Last but not least, in the list of high performing 6 quart air fryers, we have Dash AirCrisp Pro. This air fryer is a good choice for anyone looking for an air fryer with multiple presets for hassle-free guess-less cooking.
This version is different from the earlier mentioned dash air fryer in a way that this one comes with a digital display.
We agree that it is not a very cost-effective option because of the stainless steel built. But its up-to-the-minute look, design, and consistent cooking make it a worthwhile investment.
Dash air fryer relatively scores more when it comes to noise control. Unlike many high-end products, it is a relatively quiet air fryer and doesn’t make much noise when working.
All the necessary air fryer accessories, such as a basket, baking pan, pizza pan, rack, and skewers, are included in the package, allowing you to cook anything you want.
We loved that the coating on the basket is non-stick. Therefore, the food does not stick to it and cooks perfectly.
There is enough capacity to cook for three to four people. But if you cook more food in routine, we recommend you buy the premium quality 7-quart air fryer or even bigger.
The product delivered mostly praiseworthy results during the last six months of cooking in it. One time we tried to recreate a restaurant-style appetizer and made jalapeno poppers.
They came out perfectly golden and cheesy, with a delightful kick of heat— a perfect crowd-pleasing treat.
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Things To Consider Before Buying A Six Quart Air Fryer
We have listed the best 6-quart air fryers we found during our search. But to make the selection easier, you must have a list of considerations. For this reason, we are providing you with the air fryer buying guide below. This will help you understand your needs and find a suitable unit.
Wattage Of The Unit
Typically a 6qt air fryer’s wattage ranges between 1300 to 1800 watts. Some people prefer their air fryers to have a higher wattage. In contrast, others want lower electricity consumption and opt for a low-power air fryer. So, power consumption is an important consideration when selecting an air fryer.
Digital Or Analog Analog
If you want a modern touch for your kitchen, go for a digital air fryer. Using a digital air fryer is quite easy. It often has innovative and smart options you may not find in an analog air fryer.
On the contrary, an analog air fryer has a traditional feel. They are often the basic air frying units that mostly lack modern cooking options. These air fryers are better for seniors in the house or those house owners who are not yet ready to spend a hefty sum on a modern air fryer.
Our recommendation is to go for a smart air fryer with a good number of presets because it eliminates the guesswork and makes cooking easier.
Safety Features
Safety must always be considered when buying any electrical appliance, not just an air fryer. An auto-shutoff is one of the must-have safety features in an air fryer.
It pauses the unit when the door opens or the basket does not sit correctly inside the air fryer. So you don’t get exposed to hot air inside the cooking chamber.
An auto-shutoff also stops the cooking process when the timer runs off. Hence, this feature prevents you and your food from burning. It also prevents your air fryer from overheating.
The absence of Teflon coating and BPA is also considered a safety feature in an air fryer. You can also be particular about the presence of a cool touch handle that helps you grab the basket even when cooking.
Performance Quality
The design and looks of the air fryer are important considerations, but functionality and practicality should always come first. Your focus should always be on the performance.
Don’t choose a modern air fryer only to find out that it does not excel in making things you want to make in it.
FAQs
Is 6 quart air fryer too big?
The suitability of the size of the air fryer is relative to the cooking requirement in the house. For instance, if there is only one member to eat in the house, a 6 QT air fryer is probably too big. But if three to four or more people are in the house, the same air fryer is ideal for such a family.
Is a 6 quart air fryer big enough for a family of 4?
A 6 quart air fryer is enough for a family of four to five. Its basket can accommodate four chicken pieces, 10-12 chicken wings, and about three pounds of frozen fries.
What size whole chicken fits in a 6 quart air fryer?
A 3 to 4 lbs. chicken easily fits in a 6qt air fryer. If your chicken is more than 4 lb., it might fit in the air fryer, but there won’t be any space left to turn sides. Also, the airflow of the air fryer will be affected too.
How many people does a 6 QT air fryer feed?
A 6 QT air fryer can make enough food to feed four to five people. You can make as much as you want while ensuring the basket is not crowded or filled to the brim.
What can I cook in a 6 quart air fryer?
You can make almost everything in a six quart air fryer. From whole chicken to fries, roasted veggies, garlicky bread, and cakes, everything is possible if you have a 6 qt big air fryer.
Wrapping Up!
Choosing the best air fryer in its respective category is the goal of every buyer. The same applies to anyone looking for the best 6 quart air fryer. The available choices are always more than your requirement, but you cannot buy every unit available. Therefore, having a few shortlisted options is always handy. We suggest you review the list above to find a unit that fits your needs.
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