Thanks to my friend Jeanette of Jeanette’s Healthy Living, I learned about this cool product, the T-fal ActiFry Cooker. I contacted the company to get one to work with, and we’ll be giving one away this Friday for Mother’s Day.
I was excited about the product because it can make fried foods with one tablespoon (15 ml) or less of oil. While Jeanette made chicken wings, I experimented with a variety of renovated foods. Read on for my review and a quick recipe if you already have one.
I made these shoestring sweet potatoes, shown here, mini roasted potatoes, risotto, tater tots, crispy tofu sticks, and the roasted cauliflower shown above (recipe follows).
What I liked about the Actifry:
- Easy to use.
- Easy to clean.
- Great for reheating foods (so long as you add a little water and set a timer).
- Great for frozen foods that you want crispy.
- Excellent for veggies.
- Helpful little recipe book gave me great ideas I would never have thought to try, like risotto and chili.
We found that most foods left quite a bit of oil behind (good!). For these potatoes, I used 1 tablespoon of olive oil (15 ml) and more than half was left in the bottom when they were cooked.
I wasn’t so keen on:
- The unit gives off a smell the first few times it is used, that did concern me a bit. I would recommend running the unit outdoors 2 or 3 times and washing it in between before using it to make food.
- It is bulky, so it would not be practical to keep for my small kitchen.
- Does have a timer, but that function requires batteries (which seems odd to me). The unit does NOT shut off when the timer goes off, which seems like a design flaw.
- Seems to work best when it’s fairly full, so not great for small portions.
- Top and sides get hot, so need to keep an eye on the kiddies when using it.
- Food can get stuck underneath the paddle or pushed up out of the liquid. I never quite got the hang of the risotto, although I loved the idea.
I recommend this for:
- People who love fried foods but want to eat healthier.
- People who eat a lot of frozen/prepared foods and have the counter space to use this unit instead of their oven or microwave.
- People who want to replace their microwave and would use this instead, as it heats using hot air.
Roasted orange cauliflower
Makes 2-3 servings, depending on the size of the cauliflower
1 organic head of orange or white cauliflower
1/2 T. (7 ml) olive oil
1 t. (1-2 g) mild or medium curry powder
juice from half a lemon
sea salt and black pepper
Wash the cauliflower and use a paring knife to remove the leaves and the core. Break or slice into uniform pieces.
Put the oil into the Actifry, turn on, and heat for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, curry powder, and stir to mix with the oil.
Add the cauliflower and salt and pepper.
Turn on and cook for 20 minutes until crispy on the outside and just starting to brown.
Today’s post is part of our mission to help you rebuild your health through food and lifestyle choices. Look for posts on Mondays featuring gluten-free, sugar-free recipes made with healthy plant-based ingredients, Tuesday reviews, Wednesday essays, Thursday how-to’s, and Friday giveaways (when available).
Here is the Actifry if you want to check it out. We will be GIVING ONE AWAY starting on Friday May 10, 2013:
I love the idea of roasted cauliflower using the ActiFry Stephanie. I didn’t try that, am going to now. I did try thin sliced brussels sprouts and they came out pretty good.
Thanks Jeanette.
I looked at this machine before because my family loves the taste of fried foods but tries to avoid it. However, I read that it is made of aluminum- is that information accurate? Thanks for the review!
It might be made of aluminum, with the nonstick coating. The insert is extremely light weight.
So one question is would you pay $200 with all the drawbacks?
Great question, Christopher! I tend to be more or a minimalist regarding kitchen equipment, but love adding multi-taskers like this if it’s worth it. Not a fan of non-stick (the bad smell is a bad thing), once it’s dinged up, it’s gotta be thrown away.
Christine, you might be able to buy a replacement for just the insert. The way that it cooks, I doubt it would get dinged up, ever, since you’re not stirring in it. If you love fried foods, this really is a great product, which is why I requested to review it.
Christopher, if I was a person in one of the “recommended for” categories, yes, I would. I don’t have the space for it. But if I could convince the Hubs to do without the microwave, and could use this instead, I would.