The Independent’s journalism is supported by our best ninja smoothies. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.

Healthy chips might sound too good to be true, but an air fryer makes it easy to serve up great-tasting fried foods using little or no oil. These tabletop appliances cook food by circulating hot air, like a powerful mini convection oven, to create a crispy finish without resorting to a deep-fat fryer. Not only can they potentially help you to knock up healthier dishes, but research by energy provider Utilita also suggests that they’re more energy efficient than using a cooker. 05 a day to run, while an air fryer could set you back as little as 17p a day. With energy prices soaring, it might be time to change which appliance you use the most.

Pre-frozen foods, potatoes, meat and vegetables that are usually roasted all cook well in one. Bear in mind that many of these machines take up quite a lot of room in the kitchen, so it’s worth considering your space and needs before buying. If you just want to rustle up the odd portion of chips, it’s best to keep it simple instead of choosing a multi-purpose machine crammed with extras. However, more complex air fryers can be a great option for less confident chefs, anyone needing extra cooking capacity or those without easy access to a full-sized oven. Be aware that, unless you choose a self-stirring model, you will need to shake the basket occasionally during cooking to make sure food crisps evenly. Though it’s possible to cook everything from meat to vegetables in an air fryer, chips were our go-to when testing all these machines. We tested both frozen and homemade chips in every single one, judging crispiness, colour and taste to find the ones that made us swoon.

We also experimented with other dishes, including frozen and fresh fried chicken, burgers and any recipes included with each air fryer. This might not be the smallest machine we tested, but it was certainly one of the cleverest. The standout feature is simple, but a kitchen game changer: the air fryer comes with two independent cooking zones so you can cook two foods, two ways, at the same time. It’s super simple to use, too, with a digital control panel, countdown timer and variable temperature controls you can tweak to make every meal perfect. The auto-adjust fan automatically changes speed based on the cooking function selected, while the sync feature guarantees each drawer is ready to serve at the same time.

It’s particularly good at cooking food such as chicken nuggets from frozen, reaching a temperature of 240C for meals in minutes. Having two smaller compartments instead of one large one means you won’t be able to cook bigger items such as a whole roast chicken though. This is a fantastic little machine for anyone with a smaller kitchen or those cooking for just one or two people. It’s far smaller than any other air fryer we tried and one of the quietest to operate. It cooks around 450g of chips in one go with just a teaspoon of oil, although frozen chips need none at all. There’s no need to even look at the instruction book to get it working and pre-set functions include ones for poultry, fresh fries or veg, and frozen fries and veg. Frozen foods such as chicken nuggets and sausage rolls came out a treat and there’s a pause button to stop cooking so you can check progress or give food a shake.

You’ll get way more than a new way of cooking chips with this machine, which is more like a table-top oven than an air fryer. With a whopping 11 litre capacity, this chunky appliance actually has 10 cooking functions, including grill, roast, toast, bake, grill and dehydrate. It’s big enough to hold three separate trays of food, so it’s a doddle to cook potatoes or vegetables at the same time as a piece of meat or fish. We also loved the large clear glass door, which made it easy to peek at everything while cooking to make sure it turned out perfectly. It’s even big enough to squeeze in a pizza, which came out particularly well, with a crispy base and golden cheese on top. We were especially impressed by the rotisserie function, which can be used to make juicy kebabs better than any takeaway or cook a small chicken in less than an hour. It’s perfect for rustling up a midweek roast that tastes like you spent hours slaving over a hot oven.

If you’re always cooking for a full house, go straight to this machine. 12in pizza, which was cooked to perfection. You can even bake a cake in it. There’s plenty of space for a whole chicken and we loved the huge glass door that made it easy to keep an eye on dishes inside. You might never turn your oven on again once you’ve found a spot for this mighty machine on your worktop.

It goes one step further than the average air fryer and includes a grill to cook everything from salmon steaks to sausages. Though it looks more like a mini pizza oven, the air-fryer function is excellent too, particularly at cooking frozen food to perfection. There’s a progress bar to monitor pre-heating and clear on-screen instructions when cooking, though, as with most air fryers, we did need to give the food a quick shake while cooking, to get the best results. We loved the fact we didn’t have to heat the entire oven to cook these, so could hopefully cut down on our energy bills long-term too. Another mighty multi-tasking machine that does almost everything but decide what you want for dinner, this Innoteck mini oven is a worktop whopper you won’t fail to be impressed by. The controls were among the easiest to operate thanks to easy picture guides for every pre-set, a clear display and one-button dial operation. Inside, there’s also a fantastic rotating basket that automatically turns food during cooking to ensure it’s cooked evenly.

Frozen sausage rolls and, surprisingly, parsnips were also both winners, but the stand-out dish from this machine was a whole roast chicken. A good blender is essential for smoothies, milkshakes, soups, and more. We researched the top-rated options so you can choose the right one. Donna Currie is a food writer and blogger specializing in recipes and kitchen gadgets. She covers kitchen tools and gadgets for The Spruce Eats and is the author of Make Ahead Bread. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. There are plenty of kitchen gadgets and appliances most people can go without, but a blender is not one of them.