- Air fry, steam cook and steam fry in one device
- 9.5L in MegaBasket or 3L + 6L in separate baskets
- It’s on sale for £258.99 (around $350 / AU$500)
If, like me, you cook for the family, you’ll know that air fryers tend to involve a compromise: when it comes to capacity and flexibility, you can have one but not both; So, for example, my Ninja Foodi Max has two baskets offering a combined cooking capacity of 9.5 liters and multiple modes, but neither basket is big enough to roast a really big chicken. Philips’ solution is what it calls MegaBasket.
The MegaBasket is making its debut in the Philips Airfryer 5000 series MegaBasket, which gives you a choice: you can use a single MegaBasket to get 9.5 liters of cooking capacity or use 3L and 6L divided baskets respectively.
The 5000 Series also addresses another fryer irritation: cleanup. Because this pot has a steam function, you can make it self-cleaning.
Philips MegaBasket Oil-Free Fryer: Key Features and Price
The MegaBasket 500 Series Airfryer has three cooking types: air frying, steam cooking and what Philips calls SteamFry. It combines air frying and steaming to keep the food nice and juicy in the middle while the air fryer crisps up the outside. It’s particularly useful for foods like chicken breasts, which can get very dry in a regular fryer if you don’t marinate them for a long time first. It also helps vegetables retain their nutrients.
Steam offers another important benefit: it’s great for reheating last night’s Chinese takeaway, Indian curry or deep-fried pizza (I’m in Scotland) without drying it out. As someone who tends to over-order chippy and have leftovers the next day, that’s enough to sell me on the Philips and differentiate it from the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer, which has a slightly larger capacity but lacks the steam function.
This isn’t the largest air fryer you can buy (the aforementioned Ninja is 2 x 5.2L or 1 x 10.4L capacity), but the combination of air frying, capacity, steam and a small footprint (the Philips measures just 49.6 x 32.9 x 35.5cm) makes it look tremendously appealing for family meals and entertaining alike.
The Philips Airfryer 5000 Series MegaBasket with Steam is priced at £258.99 (around $350 / AU$500) and is available now on Amazon UK.
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