An air fryer is a cooking appliance that primarily uses rapidly circulating hot air to heat and bake food. It mainly uses air instead of the hot oil in a frying pan to cook food; at the same time, the hot air blows away the surface moisture of the food, giving it an effect similar to deep-frying. It can also be understood as using high-temperature "air" as a medium to "fry" food. Air fryers on the market are mainly controlled by knobs or LCD touch screens.
In 1990, the American company QNC launched the Quik n' Crispy Greaseless Fryer, a commercial air fryer. In 2007, the French company Tefal launched a low-fat fryer called Actifry, which was the first truly domestic air fryer. In 2010, Philips officially launched its air fryer at IFA in Berlin, Germany. In 2015, brands such as Joyoung and Midea began to enter the Chinese market with air fryers. In 2021, air fryer retail sales reached 4.38 billion yuan, with 15.04 million units sold. Its market size is second only to the long-established electric pressure cooker category. According to AVC's (All View Cloud) omnichannel sales data, from January to February 2022, air fryer retail sales reached 1.2 billion yuan, a 148.7% increase compared to the same period in 2021. However, according to AVC data, in October 2024, sales volume was 419,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5%, sales revenue was 105 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.0%, and the average price was 249.4 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.6%.
Qualified domestic air fryer products must pass "3C" certification. Their advantages include high efficiency; delicious meals can usually be prepared in 10-20 minutes, saving time and resources and meeting the needs of modern people with fast-paced lifestyles. Because it uses high temperatures to absorb the food's own oil and moisture during cooking, compared to regular "fried food," air fryers produce food with less or no oil, reducing the consumer's intake of fats and making it relatively healthier.
