I tried Tefal's pizza-sized air fryer - it's a simple to use buy that's bound to be a hit with families

This Tefal Easy Fry & Pizza is billed as the way to cook your pizzas at home even if you want to use your air fryer. It takes things back to basics, reminding us that before air fryers were ten-plus gadgets in one, they were simply designed to cook certain kinds of food quickly and easily.

The simple, sleek design is smaller than some of the OTT models out there, as is the price tag at £139.99, but despite it being fairly conservative with the room it takes up on your worktop, the design means you can fit a fair bit of food in it, and the flat tray style means fairly generous portions of chips cook recently and get nice and crispy without you having to faff around tossing them to move them round.

The pizza function itself is pretty efficient, and it really does live up to the promise of cooking a fresh pizza in six minutes. But obviously I didn’t stop there, testing it on everything from home-cooked chips to bacon, and easy frozen food. Here are the results of testing out this simple, affordable but effective pizza-friendly version of one of the best air fryers.

Tefal Easy Fry & Pizza product specs

• Type: Oven air fryer
• Dimensions: (LxWxH) 425mm x 420mm x 241mm
• Cooking area: Capacity - 4.5l
• Weight: 7kg
• Maximum temperature: 200C
• Cooking modes: 9 automatic cooking functions
• Power: 2200 watts
• Size: 4.5l
• Colour: Black
• Material: Stainless steel & aluminium

Who tested this air fryer?

Ellen Manning

Ellen Manning is a freelance journalist specialising in food and drink, as well as an award-winning food blogger and there’s nothing she loves more than exploring the world through food and writing about her experiences. Over the years she’s tested many a kitchen gadget, including for Ideal Home, from coffee grinders to air fryers, microwaves and more. Often a bit of a cynic when it comes to the latest trends and hype, she takes great delight in testing things as thoroughly as possible, checking that every bit of marketing magic and every PR promise is put to the test.

Unboxing the product and first impressions

Like most air fryers, the Tefal Easy Fry & Pizza comes in a shiny box shouting about how wonderful it is. It’s not overkill on the packaging, and it’s all sustainable, without the mountains of polystyrene that once accompanied gadgets like this.

The air fryer itself isn’t too unwieldy, and I’ve seen bigger products on the air fryer market. But it’s worth remembering that this isn’t a multi-functional gadget that will steam, slow-cook, pressure cook and everything in between.

It’s gone back to basics focusing on the task at hand - air frying - with the added ‘unique’ function of focusing on pizza. While it boasts a spacious design, it doesn’t take up too much room on your work surface and does have a nice sleek look about it, with a pull-out drawer to throw your food in and light-up display on the top.

At first glance, the cable seems fairly short for a kitchen appliance that might need a space that’s not necessarily right by a plug. That said, despite our initial reservations we easily find it the perfect spot next to a socket, and its size and style means it’s not like we have to clear the decks to fit it in. We also compare cable length to our current air fryer and it turns out they’re basically the same, so our concerns were unfounded.

The tray is easy to open and close and entirely removable, making it easy to clean. Everything feels simple and sleek, making it my kind of gadget, and there’s no need to consult a bible of instructions to work out how to make it function, which is a refreshing change from some appliances these days.

In terms of noise, a decibel measuring app puts the noise of this air fryer at 60-63dB. Yes, you can hear it in your kitchen, thanks to the fan, but it’s also not intrusive, and I’ve heard far louder in my time.

What's it like to cook with?

Pizza

Given Tefal is touting this as a unique air fryer thanks to the fact it’s apparently been designed to cook a 27cm pizza “to perfection”, it makes sense to test this. Apparently a combination of air frying from above with conduction heating from below delivers a perfectly crispy pizza base, so we test it on a supermarket bought Pizza Express fresh pizza.

As well as a pizza setting among the various presets for different foods, there are easy ‘fresh pizza’ and ‘frozen pizza’ buttons. I go for the fresh pizza option, then proceed to ignore the recommendation on the handily lit-up display, which puts the temperature at 200C and the time at six minutes - upping the time to the 12 minutes advised on the pizza packaging. More fool me.

When I pop the light on at 10 minutes that allows me to see through the viewing window, the pizza is well and truly done (read, verging on burnt) and there is no doubt that the promised crispiness is there. Which means, while the pizza isn’t the best I’ve ever eaten, the promise on the Tefal packaging has come good - and next time I should just believe that when it says it cooks a pizza perfectly in just six minutes, it actually means it, and stick to the easy option button for ease and correct cooking.

Pizza aside, I’m impressed with how easy it is to use. Again, the back to basics approach reminds me of the earlier air fryers on the market, that were a simple case of picking a temperature, picking a time, and hitting start.

With the addition of a few easily illustrated presets for things including the aforementioned pizza, bacon, fish, chicken and a few others, including one that turns out to be a ‘dehydrate’ function if you want things even easier.

To test my most common air fryer usage which, sad to say, is a simple chicken breast, I pop it into the tray, spray with some oil, and pop on at 180C for 20 minutes, then proceed to wander off and forget about it. Another joy of an air fryer in my book, as you don’t have to worry about it burning. When I reappear it’s cooked perfectly and I’m more than happy with the Tefal’s performance when it comes to my staple use.

Chips

I’ve never been a fan of chips in an airfryer. Yes they may be more healthy but they don’t quite get that lovely crispy, fried chip-ness do they? However, I’m hopeful that the Tefal will prove me wrong.

We make chunky chips from scratch using standard supermarket potatoes, toss them in some oil and seasoning and cook for 15 minutes to see how they do. By this point thinner fries may have been done, but ours aren’t. They’re on the way to being done but definitely need longer.

However, after the added minutes they’re really quite good. The big wide tray means a hefty portion of chips for two people can be spread out, without piling on top of each other, so this and the way this air fryer cooks - a dual heating method - means they come out nice and crispy without you having to shake them.

We also think maybe the lack of holes in the tray helps, as it stops the oil dripping out of the tray which lends a nice crispy coating to the chips. Arguably not quite as healthy as some models where it disappears and drains away, but definitely better taste-wise.

Bacon

We all love a bit of air-fried bacon, so we test the Tefal against some fat-laced streaky slices. The marketing spiel reckons the tray can hold 10 slices but we opt for eight - mainly as there’s only two of us and even we don’t need 10 slices of bacon.

Again, we use the preset button for bacon and it works well. Cooked through, and evenly, without any need to turn it halfway through. If you love your bacon super crispy you could add a few minutes, but it’s plenty cooked for us, with all the fat rendered properly.

Again, the lack of holes in the tray means that it’s got a nice crispiness, without swimming in any liquid or fat thanks to the ridged design.

Frozen fish

The final test is what we call in my household an ‘easy tea’. Something frozen that can be thrown into an air fryer for a quick and simple dinner. In this case, breaded fish fillets from the supermarket freezer aisle.

We follow the instructions for a fan oven on the pack, popping the fillets into the tray and adjusting the temperature and time manually. At the conclusion of the cooking time they’re done perfectly.

Moist fish inside, crispy golden breadcrumbs on the outside, and we can’t fault the Tefal’s job at cooking these quickly and efficiently.

How does it compare to similar models?

As straightforward air fryers go, this is pretty good. It cooks food efficiently and easily, and performs well in terms of making sure it’s not just cooked through, but that items that should be ‘crispy’ really are.

It’s not quite as noisy as some of the earlier air fryers were, and it also doesn’t take up too much space, yet still provides plenty of volume inside, so you kind of get the best of both worlds. The addition of the pizza focus moves it on from its predecessors with an extra appeal, and something that its technology is designed to execute well.

The addition of the viewing window also takes it forward from some early air fryer models and means you don’t have to keep opening the drawer to see your food inside. It’s also cheaper than some other air fryer ovens with a focus on pizza, like the Sage Smart Oven Air Fryer.

The fact it’s a combination of a drawer-style air fryer and a pizza oven also makes it more versatile, as you’re not likely to whack a chicken breast in a more conventional looking counter-top pizza oven air fryer like the ProCook Electric Pizza Oven Air Fryer, but you can easily in something like this. It also seems a bit easier to clean in some ways.

Should you buy the Tefal Easy Fry & Pizza?:

If you’re after a simple air fryer with the bonus of a promise of a decent pizza with a crispy base, this could be for you.

This isn’t a gadget for someone who wants all the bells and whistles, and for one gadget to roast, steam, poach, slow cook, pressure cook and a million other tasks. This is for someone who might want to air fry some chicken, crisp up their bacon, cook some party food or meat or fish - and maybe at a push dehydrate something.

It’s all about simplicity and is fairly intuitive, with some basic presets to keep things easy. The fact it’s only got one drawer and just air fries means you won’t be cooking multiple elements of a meal for a big family all in one go.

But that said, its fairly large tray means you can cook decent portions of food - and properly - without having to play Rubik’s Cube or regularly shake or move it around.

It’s a single drawer, simple air fryer with the added appeal of the pizza function and at £139.99 it’s not too pricey. Yes, you might want to spend more on something that does more, but for something that is energy efficient, looks good, easy to use and easy to clean, this is a pretty good choice.