Review of Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer : A ‘smarter fry’ chips
Categories: TECHNOLOGY
The Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer has a capacity of 3.5 litres. This one also comes with a separate grill, which you can place inside the basket. The grill allows you to create two layers. For instance, if you are frying a lot of chicken wings, you can keep some at the bottom, and some at the top of the grill.
Xiaomi states you can use the air fryer to bake a cake, dry out your fruits, and even make curd, in addition to ‘air-frying’ chicken, veggies, frozen snacks and french fries.
But the key difference here is that this is a ‘smart’ air fryer. So this can connect to the Mi Home app on your smartphone. You can just start a pre-set programme from your phone, and pre-schedule a meal, though I’m not sure why anyone would do so.
Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer review: So what’s so good?
When I first set this up, I had this feeling the product would annoy me. Does anyone need to connect their ‘Air Fryer’ to Wi-Fi? But once I got used to setting the recipe from the app, I have come to appreciate this more. No more twiddling around with the knob to figure out the exact time or switch the temperature. I found the app more convenient to use.
You will need the Mi Home app on your phone for this. The Air Fryer should appear in the list of devices to add. Keep in mind that this ease of connecting to Wi-Fi might also depend on the size of your house and how far the kitchen is located from your Wi-Fi router.
The list includes French Fries, Chicken Wings, Fish, Shrimp, Vegetables, Cake and Dried Fruit. The first time I used the French Fries setting, it suggested the temperature at 200-degree Celsius, which seemed on the higher side to me.
The fries did turn out nice, but a little too crispy. I should have reduced the temperature settings and gone with 180 degrees Celsius. You can tap on the temperature option in the app and reduce as per desire, even in these preset options. The second batch of fries I made in the Air Fryer was much better with better texture.
Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer review: What’s not so good?
The air fryer also claims it can be used to make curd. I did try that out, and the instructions said the milk+curd mixture should be placed in a glass bowl inside the air fryer. But when I checked halfway, the milk had spilt into the rest of the basket. So yeah, that was not ideal. When using the manual mode, it can get confusing, especially since my Philips one is very old school and simple compared to this — you just rotate the dial on top for the temperature and the one at the bottom for the time, and you are done. But this Xiaomi is more advanced.I soon realised I had to rotate the knob to tweak the temperature and time. It took a few tries to figure this out. There is a learning curve involved with this air fryer, which could frustrate some users.
My biggest problem with the Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer though is the colour. This pristine white will not stay so in Indian kitchens for too long. Xiaomi needs to bring this in black. I can already imagine the number of turmeric stains that will stick to this if I used it daily.
I also want to point out that the size of the Air Fryer is a bit too compact. I’m not sure one can actually bake a cake in this. Because you would need a baking tin which will fit inside. I, for sure, don’t have one this size in my collection of baking tins.
Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer review: Should you get this?
es, if you have been looking for an air fryer and want something smart and are good with tech. And when I say good with tech, I mean you are someone who has always wanted smart kitchen gadgets and is confident about learning the ropes soon. The Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer does the job well. It is a great product to eat all the snacks you have wanted to eat–including those pre-frozen ones– without worrying about extra oil.