Today, I am reviewing the Instant Omni Plus and the Emeril Everyday air fryers. Air-fryers have gained in popularity in the last two years, and it is easy to see why. It makes cooking at home quick, easy, and air frying is a very healthy way to eat some of your favorite “fried” foods at home. Here on the Coffee Homestead I love that with my air fryer I don’t have to be the only one who cooks. The homestead is nearly a two-hour trip to a restaurant, so I cook every meal at home. That’s a lot of work! But my air fryer gives my family the opportunity to quickly make themselves some lunch and saves on dishes!
But what options and functions should you be looking for when purchasing an air fryer for your family?
Let’s start with my pick…… The Omni Plus air fryer from Instant. I have had mine for almost 2 years and the style has changed a little bit, but the size and the functions are the same. ***Please note, that I have not been paid for this review and my opinions are my own.**
The difference in functions can be a little confusing, so here is a brief run-down of the default settings. I will provide some more in-depth settings and options in a future article. These are specific to my oven but they are very similar in the Emeril oven as well.
- Air Fry: 450º Top elements and fan.
- Bake: 180º-450º Top and bottom elements, fan hi/lo, rotisserie.
- Broil: 350º-450º Top elements, fan hi/lo and rotisserie.
- Dehydrate: 85º-175º Bottom elements, fan hi/lo and rotisserie
- Toast: 1-5 level Time 1:20min-4:20min top and bottom elements.
- Reheat: 120º-360º Bottom element.
- Proof: 70º-100º Bottom element.
For more functions and details follow this link to the Omni Plus Owners Manual.
Instant Omni Plus Pros
Size:
Let’s start with size, as this was an important part of my decision. The Omni Plus oven measures 17.68 x 16.34 x 14.39. The Omni is one of the few that has the capacity to bake a 12-inch pizza, make a 5lb rotisserie chicken, and fry enough fries for up to 5 people at one time. When I was looking to purchase this was the largest air fryer under $300.
Operation
This is where this oven really shines, it is unbelievably easy to use, especially compared to other ovens. To understand what I mean let me first explain the basic difference between air fryer ovens and a standard oven. Conventional ovens are larger, heat is dissipated differently, 400º in a conventional oven does not cook, and brown food as quickly as 400º in an air-fryer. The air-fryer uses several different heat sources at the same time to really sear or fry the outside of your food quickly. So the recipes that you use for oven-fried chicken, pork chops, or fries will have to be converted to prevent burning in the air fryer. Who wants to look up and rework all of your recipes for use in the air-fryer? Not me, and in my research, this is where the Omni is far better than the others.
It is so easy my 10 year old can use it. First, you select the function: bake, air-fry, roast, toast, etc., then you select the type of food: chicken, beef, fries, wings, cake, etc. The oven sets the temperature by function and the time by food type, obviously, sometimes you will adjust the time based on how big or small your food is, but it really is that simple. In most ovens you choose what function that you want, then you have to input a temperature for that function, then you have to convert or adjust the time for a recipe to know how long to cook. The Omni gives you a very close starting point that needs little to no adjustment. For someone who does not enjoy cooking the speed and quickness of an air-fryer is very appealing, but if you get one that you have to spend 10 minutes looking up a recipe or trying to recalculate it, then you are not saving any time. This becomes a bigger issue if you are not a technology person as well, and it is, unfortunately, the problem with most of the other air-fryer ovens that I have seen and tested.
Cons:
The only con that I have found is that the oven is not super easy to clean. All the accessories and parts are dishwasher friendly, but the oven itself has a lot of nooks and crannies that are difficult to get to and clean, and the inside finish is also a little odd. You can cover the removable crumb tray with foil to help make it easier to clean the bottom. ***Take my advice and DO NOT use regular oven cleaner on it as it will remove the inside finish!***
Emeril Lagasse AirFryer 360
Size
This oven measures 19″ x 15″ x 9.5″ and is about the same size as the Omni, though it seems to be a little less wide on the inside because the control panel is on the right rather than the top. I know that you can still fit one of the small square pizza’s in this oven but I don’t think that the medium pizza would fit. It will as the picture shows can rotisserie a 4lb chicken.
Operation
This oven performs most of the same functions as the Omni and comes with a nice recipe book. The actual functions and operations of this oven seem overly complicated to me. This is the oven that my mother-in-law has, so I have had plenty of opportunity to see it in action and use it myself. My mother-in-law has a difficult time using this, she sometimes thinks she had started it and it’s off, or thinks it is off when it is on. The off function was hard for her to find and the oven does not turn its display off if it’s not being used. This means that if you are cleaning it or touch the display functions in any way the display lights up and stays on. So if she selects toast puts the bread in, gets distracted and looks over, it looks like it is cooking when it is not.
The menus have no presets for what type of food you are cooking. There is a function knob that you use to select what you want to do, air fry, bake, toast, ect., but not what you want to air fry, like chicken wings. So you are given a temperature of 400º (that can be adjusted) and then you have to select the time, then press start. But as we talked about at the beginning now you have to know or figure out exactly what time and temp you need, to air fry chicken vs french fries. If you are using an air fryer recipe this is no problem, but if you are trying to convert your oven roasted potatoes recipe, then you can easily run into problems of over or under baking.
Clean up with the Emeril oven is about the same as the Omni. The crumb tray at the bottom is not as easy to cover with foil, but the inside finish is a little easier to clean. They both have a lot of nooks and crannies that are difficult to get clean.
Final thoughts
Both of these ovens the Omni Plus and the Emeril 360 are great alternatives to deep frying for a family. I just love how easy the controls on the Omni Plus work. I love to cook and know how to develop and convert recipes, but my kids and husband don’t. This oven is so straight forward that non cooks can easily get cooking, but with enough customization for the experienced chef. I hope this information was helpful and don’t forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter!
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