New Findings About Air Fryers May Change Your Perspective

Scientists have compared cooking methods using air fryers with traditional techniques like stir-frying, deep-frying, and boiling—and the results are surprising.

Recently, researchers from the University of Birmingham (UK) and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Germany) evaluated how different cooking methods affect air pollution in kitchens.

To do this, they created a lab-based kitchen and tested various methods to cook chicken breast, including pan-frying, deep-frying, stir-frying, boiling, and air-frying.

Using instruments to measure particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and chemical pollutants in food, they discovered that air frying is the least polluting method.

Key Findings:

• Particulate Matter (PM):
  Measured in micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³), the peak levels were:

  • Pan-frying: 92.9 μg/m³
  • Stir-frying: 26.7 μg/m³
  • Deep-frying: 7.7 μg/m³
  • Boiling: 0.7 μg/m³
  • Air-frying: 0.6 μg/m³

  Air-frying produced 150 times less particulate matter than pan-frying.

• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs):
  Measured in parts per billion (ppb), the levels were:

  • Pan-frying: 260
  • Deep-frying: 230
  • Stir-frying: 110
  • Boiling: 30
  • Air-frying: 20

  Pan-frying emitted 13 times more volatile compounds than air-frying.

These findings give home cooks another reason to trust air fryers: they significantly reduce indoor air pollutants, which are linked to health issues like respiratory infections, heart failure, and dementia.

The researchers emphasize that regardless of the cooking method, maintaining good ventilation during and after cooking is essential to minimize indoor pollution.