There are a lot of cool things out there that make us wonder — do they really work? In our I Tried It series, we set out to use them in the real world and have determined that, in fact, they really do.
On Trial: The Iris Air Fryer 19-Quart
Tester: Cat Bowen, parenting editor at Best Products and lover of crispy food and cake
The Brief: I'm a bit of an air fryer aficionado, having glommed onto the trend early and with vigor, so I'm hard to win over when a new product hits the market. I have high expectations for my crunchy cuisine, and if I'm being completely honest, I'm easily disappointed in kitchen appliances. (Sorry, slow juicers, you take too long.)
I recently downsized the amount of available countertop real estate, and I was looking to *gasp* downsize some of my appliances. However, I just moved into a new place, and while pretty much everything is an upgrade over my previous home, counter space is not one of those things.
Enter: The Iris Air Fryer. It's by no means small, at 17x13x13 inches, but with that size comes the convenience of being a triple threat — serving as a toaster, an air fryer, and a convection oven. It has seven cooking modes, from bagels to broiled chicken, and it does it all to perfection.
It's an 18-quart machine that comes with a rack, a fry basket, and a small, nonstick sheet pan. It heats to 450 degrees and has modes for broiling, baking, air frying, toasting, convection oven, defrosting, and grilling. It fits a 12-inch pizza, a dozen or more wings, a 4-pound chicken, or ... an entire bundt cake. Like, a full-sized Ina Garten recipe for lemon poppyseed cake fits in this machine and comes out deliciously. Though, it's (my) your own fault if (I) you ice it when it's too hot. That has nothing to do with the oven.
It sounds like a kick-butt product with those specs, but like so many of you, I've been fooled before by appliances that claim to pull double duty. Toaster ovens with crappy rotisserie attachments, the grill of a famous boxer of the 1980s, even electric food dehydrators. I was determined not to be fooled again, so when this bad boy arrived on my doorstep, I planned ways to put it through its paces. I wanted to test every single setting at a ton of different temperatures.
The very first thing I cooked was your bog-standard air fryer fare — tater tots from frozen. I tossed them in the basket, gave them a spritz of oil, and set the temp all the way to the max. Now, it's a big machine, as I said before, so it takes longer than your average air fryer to come to temp. I would say that it preheats in about 10 to 15 minutes for full power. This is about double the time of my smaller air fryer. However, you can fit a heckin' huge load of potatoey goodness in that basket. It easily cooks an entire bag of tots all at once, which is more than double my old air fryer, and just enough for the 13-year-old human garbage disposal I gave birth to. The tots come out crispy and brown after a short 15 minutes, and thanks to the fact that you can get all of them on without piling them up, they don't need to be tossed midway through the fry.
The next thing I cooked was an entire roast chicken because I am the roast chicken whisperer. I make it all the time for Shabbos, but never once have I attempted to make it in an air fryer. Chicken parts? Yes. Whole chicken? Nope. It simply wouldn't fit. I seasoned that bird, stuffed it with herbs and citrus, and set it to convection, which simultaneously terrified me over the potential of ruining my family's sabbath meal because I didn’t think to Instant Pot a brisket to have on standby. But alas, I cooked it in the basket that I lined with foil and placed it atop the provided sheet pan to catch any errant drippings. I basted it with an olive oil and orange juice mix twice while cooking, and between the foil and pan, it was fine, and there was no spillage. It took about an hour to cook, which is approximately 20 minutes less than a regular oven.
When I tell you that there was a fight over the skin of that bird, I am not kidding. My children woke up and chose violence over a kosher convection-cooked chicken because it was magical. And that chicken? It doesn't compare to how well the Iris bakes.
Before the Iris, I'd never been a proponent of convection baking, mostly because I never gave it a fair shake. I didn’t know how to work the fan apparatus on my oven, so the thought fled my mind. However, being the determined tester I am, I thought, “I gotta give it a try, right?” I started with the aforementioned poppyseed bundt. It’s dead simple to make, and because it’s so dense, it’s really hard to mess up, and I wasn't worried about it drying out with the fan. It did bake quicker than it would in a regular oven by about 8 minutes, but it also baked more evenly, and I noticed the rise was truer and that it didn't crack as much at the surface. Since that worked so well, I decided to throw all my chips down and make my go-to bread: the King Arthur brioche.
For those who've never made a brioche, it's important to know that they are finicky. The level of fat and protein, as well as the sugar content, can sink it before it even hits the heat. You end up with a buttery, eggy brick instead of a beautiful loaf. I am excited to tell you that not only does a single, 4-pound loaf fit in the Iris machine, it has plenty of room to rise above the pan, and thanks to the even bake, it might be the best way to make one other than a wood-fired oven.
Closing Verdict: This machine does exactly what it says it does — it's an air fryer, oven, and toaster all in one. It's perfect for hot days when you don't want to turn on the oven or if you just want a few slices of toast. I've done everything from grill pizzas to defrost dumplings, and I love it. I use it every single day.
But honestly, my favorite thing to make in it is still tots. I can make a huge pile of tots, then throw them on the superduper nonstick sheet pan, cover them in cheese for totchos, and then just wipe the sheet clean. Am I ruining the healthy aspect of the air fryer by coating the tots in a thick layer of cheese and ranch? Absolutely I am, and you should, too.
