My Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer Oven Review I ordered this air fryer on 09/11/2022 and received it on 09/16/2022. I had been reading a lot of good things about air fryers and had been toying with the idea of getting one for myself. I thought the 6 quart model would be just about the right size. It arrived well packaged in an outer box and was undamaged. I’ve read stories where people have received what they suspected were used and returned models, but that does not appear to be the case with me. Following the break in procedures in the included manual, I ran a foodless test cook at 400° for 20 minutes. I immediately detected the oft talked about burning plastic odor. It was noticeable, it was not nearly as over powering as some of the one star ratings made it sound. After the first test cook I allowed it cool for about 10 minutes and ran a second and then a third foodless test cook all at 400°. While I have no proof to back up my theory, I suspect the odor is nothing more then production oils burning off. The odor seemed to subside with each consecutive test cook. After a day or so it was completely gone. I should mention that taking the little "feet" off the plate in the basket did not have any effect either good or bad with respect to the odor as far as I could tell. But like I said, by the next day the odor was gone. This morning I tried my first actual test cook of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Buttered each side of the bread and preheated the air fryer. When it was ready I set the timer for 6 minutes at 400° with a flip at the 3 minute mark. Sandwich came out nice and toasty, though I would have preferred the cheese to be a little more gooey. Next I tried some home made French fries. I think I made a few mistakes. First, I used the Julian feature on my mandolin to slice the potatoes. The fries came out extremely thin and small. The next mistake was I placed them in the basket and sprayed a little EVOO on them, thinking it would help them crisp. Because they were so small and thin, some burned, the others just came out soggy from the EVOO. I’m chalking that up to inexperience. So I decided to tackle chicken wings. I dusted them with a flour, salt, pepper and paprika mix and cooked them at 380° for 20 minutes. While they did come out somewhat crispy, they were not the golden color I was looking for. I think my mistake here was in not brushing them with olive oil to help crisp up the skin. Another case of inexperience. I’m not going to give up though because I do dearly love me some fried chicken. My next foray into air fryer cooking was boneless pork chops. I seasoned these with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder on both sides. Unless I’m following a recipe I don’t measure things, I just add till it “looks right”. Just for the heck of it I decided to use the Broil feature instead of Air Fry. I set the timer for 17 minutes and the temp at 400°. I flipped the chops at 8 ½ minutes. These came out perfect. A nice “bark” on the outside and juicy on the inside. I was so pleased with the way the pork chops came out, the next day I decided to take a run at bacon. I cooked two different batches. The first was using the air fryer setting. Time was six minutes, temp was 360°. When it was done the bacon still seemed to be not as crunchy as I would like, so I added 2 more minutes. This time they were nice and crunchy. My second batch was on Broil. You can’t change the temp which is preset at 400° so I reduced the cooking time down to five minutes. Personally I liked the Broil results better then the air fryer setting. So did my wife. As a side note, I was surprised at how little bacon grease remained in the pan after cooking. In the interest of full disclosure, after I opened the package of bacon, I cut the slab in half so they fit better in the basket. I was able to get six half slices into the pan without overlapping. Also after cooking I peeked inside the air fryer and did not see any evidence of bacon grease splatter anywhere. Since I already had a third of a breakfast done, I decided to go full Monty. I found three Yukon Gold potatoes in the kitchen so I peeled and diced them up. I tossed them with just a smidge of olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper and paprika. I tossed them in the fryer, selected broil and set the timer for 12 minutes. Remember, the temp for broiler is preset to 400° and can’t be changed. At least not as far as I could figure out. When they were done I taste tested a few and they were delicious so I called it good. While eating I came across a few of the bigger chunks that probably could have gone another minute or so, but that’s not a big deal. Then I cooked up some scrambled eggs for my wife and a couple sunnyside up for me, old school on the stove and breakfast was served. Over all I would have to say I was delighted with the results. I have not tackled the Dehydrate feature yet. I’m not sure how I feel about running my air fryer for several hours. I did take a stab at banana chips. To keep them from turning black some videos recommend dunking in salt water while another suggested using lemon juice. Since the one video didn’t mention how much salt to use, I went with the lemon juice. They did not “chip” and tasted like lemon. I think I’ll stick to slicing my bananas into my Raisin Bran. Tonight I’m testing out my air fryers ability to make the “perfect” baked potato. I placed two normal sized russet potatoes in the basket after stabbing them repeatedly with a fork and giving each one a loving massage with olive oil. I set it to air fry. Time set for 50 minutes at a temp of 400°. They were still a tad hard so I added another five minutes and that finished them off nicely. Dining Tip: Plain Greek yogurt makes an acceptable substitute for sour cream on a baked potato. If there is one thing I’m not happy with regarding this air fryer is its alert beeps. Usually half way through whatever cooking time you set, it will beep to remind you to shake or flip whatever you’re cooking. It will also beep to let you know the cooking cycle is done. The problem for me is the beep is so quiet I never hear it. I sit at my desk, right around the corner from the kitchen and still can’t hear it. The air fryer itself is so quiet I can barely hear it when it’s running. Thankfully I have Alexa to set those timers for me. OK, well I better end this review now or I’ll wind up writing a cook book. So in closing I have to say I am 100% happy and satisfied with my purchase. I did come across one other feature I'm not a big fan of. And that's the timer. It only counts down in full miutes until you are down to the last minute, when it converts to a seconds count down. So when you're cooking and the timer shows six minutes, you don't know if that means six minutes and 55 seconds, or six minutes and 2 seconds. That 53 seconds can make a big difference in an air fryer. But I monitor my cooking anyway, so it's not a deal breaker for me.
