Looking for a low-wattage air fryer to save money and energy? After testing, we are sharing some of the best energy efficient air fryer.
The air fryer has undergone many innovations in design aspects and features to attribute to the special needs of consumers. That’s why there are more things to pay attention to when choosing one!
Especially when your concern is how much expense this electrical appliance adds to your electricity bills, narrowing down an power-saving air fryer is one deal-breaker factor.
Air fryer power consumption often varies according to size, wattage, cooking capacity, and heating element. You may also like to check out the best air fryer grill combo and our recommendations for the best 8-quart air fryer.
Our experts took 117 hours to test 29 models from reputable air fryer manufacturers to pick out the best energy-saving air fryers. All the air fryers we tested have wattage power between 700W-1500W.
16 Best Energy Efficient Air Fryers To Save Money [SEP 2023]
1. DASH Tasti-Crisp Best Compact Air Fryer
This 1000-watt air fryer by DASH Tasti features a 2.6-quart cooking capacity in compact and lightweight housing. It has an improved basket design that maximizes the interior space.
Our experts made crispy french fries and tacos on this air fryer in single servings, and luckily, we got everything done nicely. While using it, the auto shut-off feature facilitated us to get a perfect golden shade instead of a dark one.
There is also another version of the DASH Tasti-Crisp fryer but in a family size of 6-quart capacity. Large capacity comes at the expense of higher wattage and price. In contrast, this model is 1000 watts with a price tag of under $60, making it budget-friendly and the best low wattage air fryer.
As per our hands-on experience, the basket handle feels like it will break sooner or later. We hope it won’t happen. We will update you on this after 3 months.
Another downside is the absence of grooves on the temperature wheel. Sometimes it is difficult to set precise cooking temperatures.
The non-stick coating on the basket is another plus that makes cleaning a breeze after cooking the meal.
Nonetheless, once you get a hold on to the cooking settings, the DASH Tasti air fryer leaves nothing behind in producing the best air-fried delicacies in your kitchen comfort.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 2.6 quart
- Wattage: 1000 Watts
- Temperature Range: 200°F-400°F
- Dimensions: 10.7″D x 8.7″W x 11.3″H
- Weight: 3.2 pounds
2. CHEFMAN Best Air Fryer For 2 People
CHEFMAN small air fryer that works on the same 1000 wattage as the first one but has a narrower capacity of 2 quarts. Thanks to its compact footprint, you can easily fit this appliance on a small counter.
We’ve also tested another version of the CHEFMAN air fryer, a bulkier one with a 3.7-quart capacity. Also, that model has digital settings compared to the one with knob adjustment.
From the point of view of energy saving, we choose to go with a smaller version. It has a taller yet lightweight design, making it an easy-to-carry gadget while traveling. And this model is also less expensive than the one with the digital panel.
One promising feature our experts like is the added safety convenience with the light indicators for power and heat.
While testing this air fryer, we noticed its rubber handle offers a great grip that allows easy food flipping without the risk of getting in touch with hot elements.
However, a few glitches occur when we cook in this air fryer, such as the plastic caps of perforated trays keep coming off and are also a little hard to clean. Also, you cannot expect it to cook large-portioned food. It is only suitable to be chosen as the best air fryer for one person.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 1.3 quart
- Watts: 1000
- Temperature Range: 200°F-400°F
- Dimensions: 11.8″D x 7.1″W x 7.1″H
- Weight: 3.31 pounds
3. iRUNTEK Best Non Toxic Air Fryer
Contrary to the first two air fryer models, this mini air fryer by iRUNTEK has a much smaller capacity of 1.3 quarts and a low-wattage (800 watts) appliance.
iRuntek is a non-stick PFOA/PTFE toxic-free air fryer, making a great deal for people who are scared of health risks associated with the air fryer construction material.
The knob on the front and top lets you set the desired cooking time and temperature. Its maximum timer setting is 30 minutes, and the temperature goes up to 400°F.
With cool-to-touch housing and handle, iRUNTEK ensures you air fry safely without harming yourself. While its feature of overheating protection further ensures you don’t end up damaging this appliance.
We loved its built-in Rapid Air Technology, which ensures the entire basket gets equal heat to cook food evenly. Additionally, its auto shut-off prevents your favorite food from getting overcooked or burned.
Inside the package of iRUNTEK mini air fryer, we found a recipe book, user guide, and free parchment paper liners. Providing free liners is a nice gesture. It helps people to begin their air frying game right away.
Some people may find the tick-tock sound of the front-timer knob a little annoying, but we like this air fryer sound. It also gives a loud beep when the timers end to alarm you that the food is ready to serve.
During the test, we accidentally set a long timer, and when we tried to speed up the timer midway through cooking, it didn’t work. Any twisting of the timer knob turns on the heating, so ultimately, we choose to unplug the fryer to halt the heating process.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 1.3 quart
- Watts: 800
- Temperature Range: 200°F-400°F
- Dimensions: 11.8″D x 7.1″W x 7.1″H
- Weight: 16.61 pounds
4. Elite Gourmet EAF3218R Best Low-Wattage Air Fryer
Elite Gourmet EAF-3218R Personal is one of the best low electricity-consuming air fryers among our top picks. It has an approx 1-quart cooking capacity and operates at 700 watts. These elements make it ideally the best air fryer for dorm rooms, camping, and camper van.
Every necessary functionality, from auto shut-off and indicator beep to 360° Air Circulation, is integrated quite well into this low-cost air fryer. Our experts appreciate Elite Gourmet for introducing a built-in air filtration system that prevents odor.
This air fryer includes a drawer pan and a removable frying rack with a non-stick coating. Built of the unit seems more flimsy than the previous Gourmet air fryer version.
We bake a small batch of butter cookies in this air fryer that comes out perfectly baked and golden brown. If you are interested in baking, you can check out the best air fryers for baking. However, what disappointed us is that there is no way you can alter or halt the time between a cooking session.
Hence, this 700 watts air fryer offers less control over cooking settings. You can opt for other low-wattage air fryers of Elite Gourmet for customized cooking settings. We have also added another model for your convenience.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 1.1 quart
- Watts: 700
- Temperature Range: 180°F-390°F
- Dimensions: 7.75″D x 7.75″W x 8″H
- Weight: 5.24 pounds
5. DASH Deluxe Best 3 Quart Air Fryer
Like DASH Tasti-Crisp, the Deluxe version has a more high-end buildup by replacing the plastic-based dials with stainless steel and a stylish silver handle for easy grip.
But guess what?
With these upgrades and the power of 1200 watts, the Deluxe model costs a little more than the Tasti-Crisp model by DASH. This modern-looking model provides you with a 3-quart capacity to fulfill the cooking needs of a small family (2 people) or personal use.
You can adjust temperature and time settings with an easy-to-slide knob. Furthermore, its cool-touch body with a user-friendly handle eliminates any safety risks.
Even though it has a bigger quart size, its round basket is comparatively less impressive than the rectangular one of Tasti Crisp. You can fill the food from one edge to another in a rectangular design basket, but it can’t be done in a round basket. The edges remain vacant, reducing basket capacity to some extent.
People also suspect that the round basket leaves space on closure affecting heat flow, but that’s not true per our testing. Dash round basket is made with such perfection that seals heat flow the same as in rectangular design for even cooking results.
To our surprise, preheating the air fryer took less time than expected. The basket became so hot that we had to place a trivet on the counter to protect it. We advise you to do the same.
We tested this model by making wings. Wings come out sizzling and crispy with restaurant-style color and flavor. Our experts have rated this the best air fryer for chicken wings.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 3 quart
- Watt: 1200
- Temperature Range: 95-400°F
- Dimensions: 13.0″D x 10.4″W x 12.6″H
- Weight: 8.8 pounds
6. GoWISE USA GW22661 Best Air Fryer for Single Person
Our experts rate it as the best air fryer for a single person, RV, and campervan. Courtesy of its modern-looking compact design enclosing up to 2.7-quart capacity.
Its basket size is enough to make single-serving snacks in no time. To facilitate it, GoWise’s built-in presets of air fry, toast, keep warm, reheat and frozen food will make you cook things in one touch.
GoWise USA eases the cooking rituals, especially for beginners, students, and older people, by providing a free recipe book and access to the GoWISE app.
You will also find GoWise fryers in other sizes, such as 3.7-quart or 5.8-quart capacities. Among all, this particular model of Gowise owns the most space-friendly outlook. Also, with fewer amps needed, this air fryer consumes very less energy.
It offers maximum control over cooking settings with buttons to select the cooking functions. Though the screen panel is backlit but is not quite readable, meaning you have to check the selected option multiple times.
Unlike most models, this mini air fryer lacks the feature of a few degree increments over each rotation or press. During testing, we pushed buttons multiple times to achieve our desired cooking settings.
Overall, this multi-functional air fryer only takes 1200 watts, which can go very well with small kitchens, camp life, dorm rooms, and apartments.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 2.75 quart
- Watts: 1200
- Temperature Range: 175°F-400°F
- Dimensions: 11″D x 8″W x 6″H
- Weight: 11 pounds
7. Elite Gourmet EAF2612D Best Air Fryer for Dorm
Unlike the air fryer model of Elite Gourmet we mentioned above, this one has a reasonable capacity of 2 quarts. Though this air fryer’s wattage is a bit higher (1000 watts), it retains the elements, technology integration, and frying capacity the same as the previous one.
One distinguished aspect of this air fryer by Elite Gourmet is the 6 quick presets for baked food, poultry, meat, fried items, and seafood.
The previous model (Elite gourmet personal air fryer) was manufactured with a traditional approach for manual cooking settings. In this variant, Elite Gourmet has successfully incorporated digital features in their range of air fryers for personal use.
According to our expert assessment, its non-stick coating can peel off after a few months of use, and its cool-touch handle tends to break because of poor quality. That’s not something to comment on after the first day of testing (but we’ll keep you updated about how it goes in the long run).
We tested the quality and functionality of this cool black air fryer for two people, and the results came up to par. Its digital panel is by far most easy to use and readable, with no complex functionality.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 2.1 quart
- Watts: 1000
- Temperature Range: 170°F-400°F
- Dimensions: 11.02″D x 8.5″W x 10.75″H
- Weight: 5.64 pounds
8. DASH Aircrisp Pro Best Air Fryer For RV
DASH pro compact air fryer is our last pick among the best low-power-consuming air fryers. Its cooking space of 2 quarts comes in the sleekest and most portable design with an easy-to-remove basket.
This fryer has a minimalistic design with no advanced functions and presets to complicate cooking, especially for beginners and seniors.
With only a power button, a heating light, and two dials for time and temperature, the unit is simple and relatively easy to use with no preheating fuss involved. Compared to the DASH compact air fryer, this model falls a little behind since it doesn’t have accessories included in the price.
Dash Aircrisp Pro air fryer only has a crisper tray and drawer. Its previous version, featuring the same size, includes a baking pan, rack, and deep dish for multipurpose cooking.
Its 2-quart capacity is enough to air fry one pound of wings or frozen delicacies. Even with that, one has to halt cooking and shake things off more than once to obtain an even crispy brown texture.
Our experts assess while testing this air fryer that heat circulation is not as uniform as we expect it to be (or claimed). To cook food evenly, we shuffle things between the top and bottom areas. You can do the same to get good results.
Apart from the mentioned issue, its compact size and ease of cleaning make this 1000-watt air fryer worthy of consideration for small families!
Here is a word of caution: Its exterior gets very hot while you cook despite the cool-touch aspect, so be careful when working with this Dash model.
Key Features:
- Capacity: 2 quart
- Watts: 1000
- Temperature Range: 200°F-400°F
- Dimensions: 10.2″D x 8.1″W x 11.6″H
- Weight: 7.04 pounds
Buyers Guide For Energy-Saving Air Fryers
Below are some necessary factors one should look into when looking for the best low-wattage air fryer to maintain its overall electricity consumption.
Air Fryer Wattage Usage
Air fryer wattage and the energy it consumes are directly related characteristics. It means the greater the wattage, the greater the power consumption, and vice versa.
Generally, below 1000 or 1000-watt air fryers are often referred to as low-wattage. Any air fryer under this range of wattage ideally serves as the energy-efficient option to cut down electrical expenses.
Cooking Capacity
Depending on how much food you can cook at once, it’s easy to assess how much energy an air fryer will consume. Not necessarily, but low-wattage air fryers are bound to come up with small cooking space measured in either quarts or liters.
There is an argument that small-capacity air fryers will cost more since they cook food in small batches. But in a practical approach, small air fryers have low wattages meaning they will not cost much, even if run multiple times.
Dimensions Of Air Fryers
Again, there is a direct association between an air fryer’s size and how much electricity will it consume to cook your daily meal. Air fryers of small sizes will use less energy than larger ones. Also, assuming energy-saving air fryers are often the requirement of narrow living spaces (RVs, dorm rooms, or camps), picking an air fryer with a small footprint will help you!
Amperage
People living in small spaces such as camps, caravans, or RVs should know how many amps an air fryer pulls out to understand their energy efficiency. Here, the factor of air fryer amps plays a major role in evaluating the power needed to make the appliance run.
FAQs
Do air fryer use a lot of electricity?
No, the air fryer does not use a lot of electricity. It is not only a healthier alternative to traditional frying but also an energy-efficient appliance. It takes less wattage to run and is designed to cook food quickly in less time, resulting in low electricity usage.
Is an air fryer more energy efficient than an oven?
Air fryers are more low-wattage appliances when compared to convection ovens. Although both consume electricity, air fryers owing to their small size, take less to preheat and cook food while giving out the same taste and crispiness expected of an oven.
Which air fryer uses the least electricity?
Air fryers with low-wattage value use less electricity and thus make an ideal choice for the least power consumption. The Elite gourmet air fryer (the one we mentioned) is an example of an appliance with only 700 watts required to run, so it consumes less electricity.
Does an air fryer use more electricity than a toaster oven?
You may find many contradicting answers because their electrical usage depends on the wattage required, the type and amount of food, and the time it takes to cook. However, being smaller, air fryers, on average, take 1600 watts instead of toaster ovens (2.2 Kwh), cook food rather quickly, and thus use less electricity.
Wrapping Up!
Let’s be fair that these are not the only air fryer models claiming to be made energy efficient. You may see other manufacturers taking this notion of energy-efficient appliances to a new level. That’s why finding a low-wattage air fryer that doesn’t cost a lot is a nerve-racking task. Our suggestions will help you make the right decision. Do let us know in the comments which one you choose and how your experience has been so far.
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