Air fryer ovens offer a slightly different take on the increasingly popular air fryer and that is certainly the case with the new Tefal Easy Fry Multifunction Air Fryer Oven, which is new on the market.
Sure, it’s very common for some of the best air fryers to offer multiple cooking functions such as roast, bake and dehydrate. But instead of having cooking drawers or baskets, air fryer ovens give you all these functions in a more familiar oven style setup.
With flat slide-in trays, you can use an air fryer oven in a similar way to how you would cook in a standard oven. So it offers much more scope to cook all your favourite foods without having to adapt them to work in a drawer style air fryer.
When air fryers first hit the market, I was a huge sceptic. But in recent years, I’ve been converted. I’ve reviewed many different types of air fryer, including a whole lost of the best dual zone air fryers and multi-zone air fryers, but I’d say the basket style models are still the most common and popular. So will this Tefal air fryer oven convince me to give up more worktop space and switch to an air fryer oven?
Tefal Easy Fry Multifunction Air Fryer Oven product specs
- Capacity: 20 Litre
- Functions: air fry, roast, grill, bake, pizza, toast, dehydrate, keep warm (air fry mode only)
- Accessories: air fry basket, wire rack, baking tray, crumb tray
- Weight: 10.8kg
- Power: 1800W
- Size: (H)34.8 x (W)41 x (D)35.3cm
- RRP: £249.99
Who reviewed the Tefal Easy Fry Multifunction Air Fryer Oven?
Unboxing, setting up and first impressions
The Tefal air fryer oven came in a big box as I’d expected. But it wasn’t too bulky or heavy and I managed to carry it to the kitchen worktop quite easily. Once out of the box, I’d say it’s roughly the same size as an average microwave. So you’ll need to make sure you have space on your worktop, because unlike some of the more compact air fryers, you probably won’t want to put it away in a cupboard between uses.
The control panel is really intuitive to use. The dial on the left allows you to scroll through the various cooking functions. Then the right hand dial is used to adjust time and temperature. Each cooking function comes with a pre-set time and temperature as a starting point, but these are easily adjustable.
Inside, there are three shelf levels and you can choose between cooking on the baking tray, wire rack, or using the air fry basket. Helpfully the instruction booklet suggests the best accessory and the best shelf level for each of the cooking functions.
The drop down door has a large viewing window and combined with the interior light, makes it easy to keep an eye on your food as it cooks. The only issue is that when it’s pushed to the back of the worktop the handle stops the door from opening fully flat. So if you need easy access to the lowest shelf position or to remove the crumb tray in the base, the appliance needs to be pulled forward so that the handle clears the worktop.
There are no recipes included in the box and only very basic suggestions and tips in the instruction manual. Interestingly Tefal advertises this as a 10 in 1 air fryer oven. But there are only seven cooking functions to choose from, plus a keep warm setting that follows the air fry mode, making eight.
Having looked more closely at the instruction book, it seems that the other two functions are bagel and reheat. But these aren’t separate functions, just instructions on adjusting the temperature of the toast and roast settings to perform these tasks. So calling it a 10 function oven does feel like a stretch.
What is it like to use?
Before use, the manual suggests running it for 45 minutes at 220C on bake. This is to eliminate any manufacturing residues and odours, so it’s with taking the time to do this before you get cooking.
Air Fry function
I see this as one of the main cooking functions and therefore used it a few times, to see how it compared to my usual air fryer. I started with scampi and chips. The instruction manual suggests air frying home made chips at 180C for 25-35 minutes.
I pre-soaked my raw chips in cold water for 30 minutes and after drying them, lightly coated them in oil. And with no mention of whether or not to preheat the air fryer I didn’t bother. I put the chips in the basket and set the timer to 35 minutes.
I turned the chips after 15 minutes, then added the frozen scampi after 20 minutes. I ended up taking the chips out after 30 minutes and whacking the temperature up to 200C for the final few minutes, to crisp up the scampi.
The result was fine, but neither the chips nor the scampi crisped up as much as they would in my usual air fryer, plus they were slower to cook. I think next time, I’d increase the temperature with the aim of both speeding up cooking and achieving crisper results.
One thing I noticed was that the timer doesn’t pause when you open the door and there’s no pause button either, so regardless of how long you have the door open, the timer is still counting down. On the plus side, the air fryer is super quiet, registering just 48dB on my noise meter.
Spicy chicken wings was my next air fryer test. I marinated 1kg of chicken wings in spicy sauce and then air fried at 200C for 25 minutes, turning a couple of times during cooking. The wings were cooked thoroughly and were moist and tender. But again, the skin didn’t crisp up as much as it would in a standalone air fryer.
Finally I air fried some frozen lightly breaded fish fillets. I cooked the fish at 200C and it was 20 minutes before the outer coating was nicely crisped. Overall the fish was well cooked, and while it took almost as long as it would in a traditional oven, I didn’t bother to preheat the air fryer, which saves both time and electricity compared to a standard oven.
It’s worth noting that the exterior of this air fryer oven can get hot. I measured temperatures as high as 60C next to the side vents, so you’ll need to take care not to touch the sides. And if you have little ones in the house, make sure it’s positioned out of reach.
Roast function
I used the roast function to roast a medley of vegetables including peppers, red onion and mushroom. With very little to go on, I just went with the preset time and temperature which is 190C for 30 minutes. I put the very full tray of vegetables in without bothing to preheat the oven.
I gave them a stir every ten minutes and was impressed, when after 30 minutes the vegetables were well roasted with charred edges. It was exactly the result I was looking for, and very speedy too.
Grill function
With so many cooking functions to choose from, I’d choose to air fry foods like bacon and sausages that I would previously have grilled. So with very little grilling on the agenda, I used the grill to make a speedy cheese on toast lunch.
Actually it was cheese on a bagel, but that’s beside the point. I switched it on and went with the pre-set time and temperature of 200C for 10 minutes. I put the bagel under the grill for a few minutes until it was lightly toasted, then I added my cheese and some jalapeno chunks.
It melted evenly and quickly, giving me a tasty lunch in under 10 minutes. The grill in my built-in oven would probably take 10 minutes just to preheat, so I’m happy with that result.
Bake function
It wouldn’t be a true test of the bake function if I didn’t make a cake of some variety. But since I tested this at the start of January I needed to put a healthier spin on it. So I made gluten free, vegan banana, apple and cinnamon breakfast muffins. I’ve made them before so I know the recipe works and they make a tasty on-the-go breakfast.
Unfortunately my muffin tin is too big for this oven, so I had to put the muffin cases directly on the baking tray. I preheated it to 180C for 5 minutes and cooked the 12 muffins in two batches, which took around 20 minutes each.
They baked well, and rose as expected, the only disadvantage is that without a muffin tin, the paper cases collapsed. So they ended up wider and flatter than they otherwise would. But despite not having a traditional muffin shape, they tasted great.
The bases of the muffins were a little darker than I’d expect. They didn’t taste burnt, nor did they have a crisp texture, but it’s certainly something I’d be mindful of if baking anything that requires a longer bake time, which could easily turn out with a burnt bottom.
Pizza function
Next, I tried out a homemade margherita pizza to see how the pizza function performed. I oiled the included baking tray and put the pizza directly onto it. And with no guidance on preheat times, I let it preheat at 220C for five minutes before popping the tray into the middle shelf position.
I kept an eye on it through the glass, then took it out after nine minutes. The cheese on top was golden and bubbly.
But most importantly, I was surprised at how well the base cooked. It was lightly browned and crisped, with no doughy or raw spots and it had crisped underneath too.
I was really pleased with the result, the only drawback is that you’re limited to one pizza at a time because it has to be cooked in the middle position.
Toast function
To toast a couple of bagels, I followed the guidance in the instruction booklet. It says to put the bagels cut side up on the wire rack on the middle shelf. For bagels it says to select browning level 2 (there are seven to choose from).
Browning level 2 automatically sets the timer at 3 minutes 55 seconds. When the timer finished the bagels were lightly toasted, which makes a pleasant change, as I usually over-brown/ burn them in my toaster!
Overall the toast function does the job and you could, if you wanted to free up some worktop space, get rid of your toaster and use this instead.
Comparisons
The Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer is a similarly priced multifunctional air fryer that would be worth considering as an alternative. It’s a top performing air fryer and still offers other functions such as roast and bake. It’s one of the largest capacity air fryers you can currently buy, but the drawer style cooking zone might be off-putting if you’re really set on an oven style option.
The slightly cheaper Lakeland Digital Mini Oven works as a countertop oven. It doesn’t offer an air fryer setting but unlike the Cuisinart model, it comes with rotisserie accessories, which is an added bonus if you’re a fan of rotisserie style cooking.
Cleaning
I was super disappointed when I flicked through the manual and discovered that none of the accessories are dishwasher safe. I think Tefal has really missed the mark on this front. The size of the trays means they’re perfectly suited to being cleaned in the dishwasher, which just adds to the frustration.
The tray and wire rack weren’t too tricky to hand wash, but the air fry basket can be really fiddly. After cooking chicken wings, it took me ages to get all the fat and chicken skin cleaned out of the wire mesh.
The inside of the appliance just needs a wipe over periodically, and there’s a removable crumb tray in the bottom, which makes it easier to get any spillages out of the base. On the front, the control panel will show fingerprints, so I found myself having to buff it clean frequently.
Should you buy the Tefal Multifunction Air Fryer Oven?
If you’ve got a compact kitchen, this air fryer oven probably won’t be the most practical choice. In that case you’re better off looking at one of the best small air fryers. But if you’re looking for an air fryer that doubles as a second oven, grill and a toaster, then it has the potential to tick all your boxes.
The air fryer function doesn’t quite match up to a standalone air fryer. But if you prefer oven style cooking, with slide in trays for cakes and pies, it’ll definitely suit you better than a drawer style air fryer. So before making your decision, it’s worth having a bit of a think about what you want to use it for.
