Salter EK5729 Dual Sector Air Fryer – Family Size 9L Total Capacity, 5.5L Drawer & 3.5L Drawer, Digital Display, No Pre-Heating Needed, Healthy Cooking, 8 Pre-Set Functions, Sync/Match Cook, 2500W

Product Information

The flexibility to use it in either single or dual zone mode immediately solves the dilemma of whether to buy a single or double drawer air fryer and gives you the best of both worlds.

Every air fryer in this buying guide has either been tested at home, or at our test facility by one of Ideal Home's reviewers for a number of weeks so that we can adhere to our testing protocol, and reliably tell you what's good and not so good about these products. Like the Ninja, this air fryer has five other functions, and all of them are perfect for everyday cooking. The bake function is ideal for bread, the reheat function works for leftovers and you can even dehydrate oranges inside with the ability to set the temperature low for a long period of time (up to 12 hours). We found several other reasons to buy this excellent air fryer during our review process. Our expert reviewer Helen mastered everything from a leg of lamb to a toastie during tests, with a perfect cook every time. And seeing as this is a Ninja air fryer, it goes without saying that it’s simple to use, with well-thought-out settings and controls.

Just make sure to go into owning your Ninja with an open mind, and join online communities if you're looking for recipe inspiration and tips.

The main reason to buy this air fryer from Russell Hobbs is the flexibility that comes with being able to split the basket into two zones, much like the Ninja FlexDrawer, which we've rated above. Upping the game ahead of Christmas dinner, I tested out Brussels sprouts cooked with bacon. This time, too long meant they'd reduced to barely the size of a pea and were very crispy. By Christmas Day, I’d figured out the perfect cooking time of 10 minutes and they were plenty flavourful. Bacon is also a great meat to cook in the air fryer if you like it crispy, but a beefburger dried out and didn’t retain its moisture, so it was almost inedible. In use, this fryer is reasonably versatile, producing decent results across a range of foods. I used it first to cook frozen chips and Quorn nuggets. The latter were perfect, but the former could have done with more crisping, despite having had 20 minutes at the maximum 200℃. As I couldn’t raise the temperature, I cooked further batches a little longer, and was rewarded with better results. With a duo basket design, this 7.4L fryer has two 3.7L independent frying trays, ideal for cooking different foods or double portions A healthier alternative to deep-frying; the Dual Air Fryer requires little to no oil, keeping the same great taste and flavoursOur expert reviewer Helen said she 'couldn't think of many reasons not to buy this air fryer', which is high praise indeed from our hard-to-please expert. There were positives with testing this air fryer too. Helen found it cooked much better when in the single zone mode, and cooked up an array of foods with it in good time. Just as I found with the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone, you’re likely to use the Dual Air’s sync mode a lot when preparing a meal. It’s extremely helpful to dial up two different programmes, then just start the Dual Air running and have it deliver everything ready at the same time. Sometimes you’ll want greater flexibility, though, and this fryer offers it. You can essentially programme each side completely independently of the other. For example, you could bake for 40 minutes in tray two, while you cook a series of other foods in tray one. An air fryer is essentially a small convection oven, circulating hot air around the food to get that crispy outer layer and fluffy or moist inside. It is also more energy-efficient due to its size and power, compared to heating your kitchen oven. The Salter Dual Air is much like any other air fryer to use, although there’s some added complexity given that you need to set programmes for each basket. Like many other air fryers, it offers a battery of preset modes for various food types. While these might be useful once you come to learn them, I generally found it easier to use the manual mode to dial up the temperature and time I wanted.

Like the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone, the Dual Air offers a choice of combined or independent control of its two baskets. By default, you can programme a temperature and time for each, then both will start at the same time. In Sync mode, the longer programme gets a head start so that both sides finish cooking at the same time. Finally, Match Cook mode sets both sides to cook with the same settings, which is useful if you just want to cook lots of the same thing. Performance While it might be too hefty for smaller kitchens, this is the air fryer you should opt for if you can stretch your budget, and if you're cooking for more than one. If the budget is your only concern, then do take a look through our Ninja Kitchen discount codes to make sure that you're getting the best deal possible. The Salter Dual Air essentially combines two air fryers side-by-side. You can use either side independently of the other, allowing you to cook one dish only, or to cook two foods – each can have its own different settings if needed. It’s much the same setup as we’ve seen from the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone, currently our favourite all-round air fryer, and that’s a strong starting place. Some on our list, such as the Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer, are actually multi-cookers, giving you multiple appliances in one, including a slow cooker or dehydrator as well as an air fryer. We’ve also included one machine that doubles as a health grill. The sync and match cook functions allow both compartments to be ready at the same time with a temperature pause and resume functionThe Dual Air did a marvellous job of roasting some new potatoes to produce rough and ready homemade wedges. I simply cut them in half, tossed them in olive oil, and cooked them at full power for 18 minutes – my children loved the end result. Potatoes and sweetcorn by Salter Dual Air. Sausages cooked in Salter Aerogrill If you know you want a dual-zone air fryer but don't necessarily need two sections all of the time, then the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer Air Fryer is the one for you. Instead of choosing, you get both, giving this model ultimate versatility. You can insert a divider when you want to use the two drawers separately or keep the mammoth single drawer for cuts of meat and larger portions. On the whole, if you have a specific reason that means the flexibility to split it into two zones would suit your needs better than other air fryers, then it’ll get the job done. But you’ll just have to accept some of its quirks along the way.