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The Magic Bullet Air Fryer is one of the latest launches from Magic Bullet, with the budget-friendly and consumer-driven design we’ve come to expect from the brand’s blenders and food processors. This isn’t a brand known for cooking though, so I was curious to see how well it would cook up against other Philips and Instant Air fryers on the market. Real houses Try the kitchen.
Coming in at $60/£70, there’s no denying that this is one of the most affordable air fryers on the market. Surprisingly, though, it doesn’t have a very high-quality build, and it lacks some of the attractive features you’ll find in air fryers over $150. Find out how it fared in our testing in my full Magic Bullet Air Fryer review.
Magic Bullet Air Fryer Specifications
(Image credit: Magic Bullet)
- Weight: 7.9 pounds
- Sizes:11.81 x 11.81 x 12.6 inches
- Temperature: 180°F to 400°F/80°C to 200°C
- Capacity: 2.5 liters / 2.6 quarts
- Cooking modes: Vegetables, fries, chicken wings, frozen chicken, fish, poultry
- RPP: $59.99 / £69.99
- Color: white
- Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe drawer and basket, non-stick coating
Unboxing the Magic Bullet Air Fryer
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
My first impression was how easy this air fryer is. A neat and compact grill is a great option for those who want to store it in the cupboard and lift it to the counter when they need to use it.
There are two dials you can use to control the Magic Bullet Air Fryer. There’s a timer on the front for up to 60 minutes, and on the top of the fridge is a temperature dial from 180°F to 400°F/80°C to 200°C.
I’ve never used an air fryer with controls like this before, and if you’re someone who prefers more tactile dials or simple oven-style controls, the Magic Bullet Air Fryer is a good choice for you. Most other air fryers have buttons on the control panel that allow you to change the temperature and time.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
The downside to not providing this is that you won’t get the exact time or temperature, and there’s a bit more guesswork involved. If your food is ready before the timer expires, you will have to force the timer to end early, which can damage the air conditioner in the long run.
Cooking vegetables in the Magic Bullet Air Fryer
Some air fryers like the Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer have modes for frying, baking, drying, and air frying, but you can only fry with the Magic Bullet Air Fryer. There are some icons on the top of the fryer that give different temperature suggestions for different types of food, but ultimately it all depends on what you’re cooking.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
When testing air conditioners, I perform a standardized test procedure to directly compare performance between models. This includes cooking a vegetable mixture to see how well this air fryer cooks foods with a higher moisture content and the texture you expect from an oven.
Magic Bullet Air Fryer cooks the vegetables well. They had a lot of flavor and crisped up nicely, but we noticed a little smoke coming out of the basket where other grills don’t. When pouring the finished vegetables, I found that some of them stuck to the non-stick coating.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
When I ran my first test, I found that I had to gently push the basket into the Magic Bullet Air Fryer, because it was very stiff. This was resolved on the day of the test, but it made it difficult to check the vegetables while cooking, and it didn’t offer the same high-quality experience as other air fryers that simply click into place.
Cooking frozen foods
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
Air fryers usually do an amazing job of cooking frozen foods, so I’ve made some frozen bread in the air fryers I’ve tested.
Across the board, the air fryers reduced the required cooking time from around 25 minutes to 12 to 18 minutes, and I found that the finished chicken in the Magic Bullet Air Fryer was cooked and not dry after 18 minutes.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
I will say, other air conditioners cook my chicken in a lot less time than this, and even after the chicken is cooked through, it can brown more on the crust.
Cooking bacon
Air fryers usually do an excellent job of cooking bacon in less than 10 minutes, which saves a lot of stress and cleans up splattered bacon grease from the oven.
The Magic Bullet Air Fryer had a very small basket for my bacon bits, so I had to bend them to fit them.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
I cooked the bacon at the highest temperature, 400°F/200°C. Some air fryers from Ninja go up to 250°C, and these air fryers cooked our bacon in the least amount of time during testing.
Bacon shrinks as it cooks, but if it has to be folded to fit into the basket, it stays wrong. One thing I noticed during testing is that this air fryer ticks when it cooks the way the timer hits. This is because of the timer on the front of the air conditioner. The volume is very low, but this signal is a bit annoying. On the plus side, it makes a loud beeping sound when it’s done cooking (again, like a cooking timer) that can’t be missed.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
Fry in the Magic Bullet Air Fryer
The fry I made in the Magic Bullet Air Fryer was the most disappointing of the air fryers I tested, but then again, this air fryer was the cheapest of the lineup. After 20 minutes of cooking, it was very unevenly browned and the fries on the bottom of the basket were still undercooked.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
After shaking the basket and adding another 10 minutes to the cooking time, I was happy with how the finished roast looked. However, they still weren’t soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, and I was disappointed with the flavor and texture results.
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
Cleaning the Magic Bullet Air Fryer
The Magic Bullet Air Fryer is designed to be non-stick, and the removable insert is also coated with a non-stick layer. However, it cannot be put in the dishwasher, which is a bit of a shame because many other options on the market can be placed on the top shelf.
We found that the Magic Bullet Air Fryer is easy to clean by hand, but to give it a good scrubbing you should wait for it to cool down before removing the insert.
Should you buy a Magic Bullet Air Fryer?
(Image credit: Future/Millie Fender)
The Magic Bullet Air Fryer is very similar to the Fast Vortex Mini 4-in-1 Air Fryer, which is smaller and more affordable. However, if it was a choice between the Magic Bullet Air Fryer and the Vortex Mini, I would always recommend the Quick. It’s an air fryer that I use in my own small kitchen, and it comes in a fun range of colors.
However, this air conditioner is still a good choice if it is a budget model with a small capacity and can be easily moved in the kitchen. Because of the unique dial control panel, it is not like many models on the market. If you love the sound of the kitchen timer dialing, you’ll love this air fryer. However, if you have a lot to spend and want a larger air fryer, I recommend the Cosori Air Fryer.
So review and our reviewer
Millie Fender is the eCommerce editor Real houses, specializing in small items and all things cooking. Whether it’s air fryers, blenders or pizza ovens, she loves to experiment with new products, and her family and friends love to eat the results.
Millie has a constant flow of new products waiting to be reviewed in her kitchen. It’s a little tricky, so if she thinks there’s something worth staying there for, you know it’s something special.
The Instant Whirl Mini was sent to Millie by Instant Brands, and she tried it out at length before writing this review. Millie uses her air fryer at least once a day, so she was well through the process before this review. Since Instant Brands kindly let her have it, she will continue to update this review as she continues to use it in her kitchen (ie, if she hasn’t tried other air fryers!).
Learn more at How we review products Real houses.
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