Proscenic T22 air fryer review: smart, but not sleek

The Chinese language model Proscenic covers a spread of house home equipment, most notably vacuums and robotic vacuum cleaners. Nonetheless, it’s additionally made the shrewd determination to use its smart-tech expertise to the air fryer market, utilizing the identical app that might management your robotic vac to additionally monitor your air fryer from afar.

The Proscenic T22 air fryer is the newest air fryer launch from the model –I attempted the T21 a yr in the past –, so I put it to the check for just a few weeks to see the way it compares to the already-crowded finest air fryer market. One factor’s for certain, and that’s that the T22 nonetheless provides one thing fascinating that different air fryers don’t: an app with in-built recipes and the power to begin the air fryer remotely. Sadly, it lacks one thing that, in my view, is way extra essential: a sturdy, user-friendly design.

Superb House’s score: 3 out of 5 stars

Causes to purchase:

• The app is compelling
• It cooks meals fairly evenly
• Some will benefit from the recipe presets
• A big inner capability
• Commonly goes on sale for beneath £100

Causes to keep away from

• The design is a bit clunky
• Skinny plastic development
• Preset timings have been hit-and-miss
• It didn’t pace up cooking occasions

Proscenic T22 Air Fryer

Specs:

• Materials: Plastic
• Color: Black
• Capability: 5 litres
• Modes: Fries, Rooster, Steak, Vegetable, Fish, Shrimp, Pizza, Bacon, Onion Rings, Cake, Toast
• Weight: 4.54kg
• Energy: 1500 watts
• Measurement: ‎40.6 x 37.9 x 33.5 cm centimetres

Getting began with the Proscenic T22 Air Fryer

My first impression of the Proscenic T22 Air Fryer was how gentle it was. It’s because it’s all just about made from plastic. Positive, many air fryers are made from plastic, however fashions from Cosori or Ninja are often pretty sturdy in construct, excellent for opening that frying basket and slamming it shut once more tons of, if not hundreds of occasions. The Proscenic T22 feels flimsier, however it did make it very light-weight at simply 5.41kg.

The highest of the air fryer is roofed in an expansive recipe map. The pre-sets are intensive: bacon, fried hen, frozen meals, even onion rings and pizza, and so they’re fairly simple to tell apart utilizing the photographs of the varied meals.

There’s additionally a pre-heat setting (not all air fryers have this, however it’s one thing I’m an enormous fan of), a hold heat mode, and controls to toggle the timings and temperatures of your recipes manually.

When utilizing the air fryer you’ll want to press from the on-top management panel, which seems to be similar to the design of the Cosori Professional LE Air Fryer L501. The large distinction is that the Cosori has a thicker glass high which feels fairly sturdy. The Proscenic wants fairly a agency press to get going, and I do fear that over time the buttons would rub away from the highest of the air fryer with a lot tactile management wanted.

The hero to this hypothetical is the app: it’s truly fairly simple to arrange (from somebody who dreads establishing sensible home equipment) and it does allow you to scroll tons of of fascinating recipes and work on timings and controls with added steering. You possibly can gear your air fryer up to be used by turning on the pre-heat remotely, and even pair it with Alexa. It’s a pleasant thought, certain, however given how hands-on cooking in the end must be, it gained’t prevent a substantial amount of time. You’ll nonetheless have to rise up and add your meals to your pre-heated air fryer, and also you’ll nonetheless want to return to the machine when it prompts you to shake or flip no matter you’re cooking.

Cooking within the Proscenic T22

The Proscenic T22 comes with a pleasant recipe e-book, filled with concepts and inspiration of various recipes. I had a go on the Hasselback potatoes, which seemed very compelling. The recipe was in Fahrenheit, which wasn’t massively useful for a British person who works in Celcius, however it’s simple sufficient to transform to about 180°C.

These potatoes got here out good, however they did take about 40 minutes to cook dinner which is rather a lot longer than different air fryers in the marketplace, which may pace up cooking time. They have been additionally fairly delicate on the surface, and missing within the crunch and crispiness I’d often count on from air-fried potatoes. Tasty? After all. In any case, it’s potatoes and cheese. Nonetheless, I feel one other air fryer would’ve finished a greater job.

Making fajitas within the Proscenic T22

A easy fajita filling is without doubt one of the best issues to make in an air fryer. I merely reduce up some hen and a purple pepper, tossed it in some fajita seasoning, and put the air fryer on to pre-heat earlier than including to the basket. Though my potatoes took a very long time to cook dinner, I used to be happy that my hen was finished in beneath 10 minutes. I used to be additionally pleased with the end, which was even throughout the complete basket.

One factor I discovered with the Proscenic T22, and this can be particular to the one I attempted, was that the drawer was very arduous to completely shut. There’s a button on the highest of the deal with that you’ll want to press down earlier than yanking out the basket. Generally I discovered it finest to maintain a hand on the air fryer so it didn’t transfer whereas I opened the basket, however shutting the drawer once more took numerous pressure.

Cooking bacon

I all the time cook dinner bacon when testing an air fryer, as a result of when finished proper it ought to end in evenly crisped rashers with none chewiness. Most take between 8-10 minutes to complete cooking, and whereas it’s helpful to show the bacon midway by, I’ve discovered that it’s not important.

The bacon preset advisable 12 minutes at 160 levels, which felt far too low to cook dinner my bacon how I prefer it. In others I do 8 minutes at 190 and that is sufficient time to render out the fats with out drying the meat out. I did do this pre-set, however rapidly realised that I most well-liked my very own increased temperature and shorter timings, in order that’s what I did with my check batch.

The bacon I cooked within the Proscenic T22 had some tasty crispy bits, however I discovered that the entrance of the air fryer cooked a bit greater than the again, which left a number of the fats un-rendered from the again facet of the basket. Maybe it will’ve benefitted from turning the bacon midway by. The air fryer additionally took 12 minutes to succeed in this outcome, which is a bit longer than the common air fryer I’ve tried.

Cleansing

A plus of any air fryer is when it has a detachable insert on the backside, which the Proscenic T22 fortunately does. It’s a notable enchancment to the T21, which had a basket that needed to be lifted out of the deal with. The insert could be very simple to scrub due to a nonstick coating over the within of the basket and the insert itself. Simply scrub with some dish cleaning soap and heat water and let it dry.

Do you have to purchase the Proscenic T22?

In the event you like the thought of pre-sets, the Proscenic T22 is without doubt one of the few air fryers in the marketplace you’ll be able to select from. I’d warning that this pre-set recreation is a bit hit-and-miss, however it’s a great way to get into air fryers if you happen to’re nervous about cooking totally different dishes. One other benefit is the app-compatibility. That is fairly uncommon within the air fryer recreation, and whereas I don’t suppose it made an enormous distinction to my life I’m additionally admittedly extra tech-averse than some, and due to this fact not the perfect Proscenic T22 buyer.

When it comes to the standard of the construct, in unconvinced that this air fryer would final very down. It has a really skinny plastic exterior and the markings on the controls and presets really feel like they’d rub away simply. The basket was additionally fairly difficult. Briefly, for an air fryer with an RRP of £129 (though at time of writing, it’s right down to a a lot decrease £79) it’s simply not well worth the cash if you happen to don’t plan on utilizing the sensible capabilities. Instead I’d suggest you check out the Philips Important Air Fryer assessment for an instance of an air fryer with pre-sets, that additionally air fries very properly.

About this assessment, and our reviewer

Millie Fender is Superb House’s small equipment and cooking editor, and the group’s resident air fryer fanatic. She’s tried each one of many air fryers we suggest at Superb House, which suggests she’s in a position to examine immediately between fashions.

The Proscenic T22 was examined over the course of two weeks which allowed Millie to place it by its paces for not solely cooking high quality, however construct and person expertise.