I got an air fryer for Christmas. I’d heard about these oil-less deep fryers but couldn’t believe they worked. I’ve used mine several times now and am sold on it.

Before I got my air fryer I had a fry daddy kind of machine I used on those rare occasions when I deep fried things – once or twice a year when I made fried chicken mostly. The air fryer is about the same size as my fry daddy machine and it takes just as long to cook things in it, but there’s no greasy smell.

My first attempt was frozen French fries. The secret to cooking anything in the air fryer is to spray it well with cooking spray before you cook it. French fries take a while and you need to shake or stir them a few times to get all of them crisp. The result was better than baking them in the oven. They were crispy and soft inside and didn’t burn as many of them do when you bake them in the oven. I was impressed.

Next I made fried chicken. Fried chicken is a special ritual at our house and is an echo of the time we ate at the Lady and Sons in Savannah (say what you will about Paula Deen, but that woman makes amazing fried chicken and when it was served with lemonade and hoecakes it was heaven). I followed my usual recipe for fried chicken which requires marinating it in buttermilk and herbs in advance then double coating it in a flour mixture. Cooking four bone in chicken breasts took 2 hours and 15 minutes (since you can only fit one and a half in the fryer at a time). I was impressed with the results. The chicken was tender inside. The coating and skin was very crispy and crunchy. It wasn’t greasy at all like fried chicken is. The texture was almost the same as fried chicken but when you bit into it you didn’t that oily taste.

I will probably still fry chicken once a year as a special treat, but I think the air fryer is a great way to make crunchy, crispy food when you’re not looking to gain 15 pounds in a sitting.