The Black & Decker Purifry did a decent job of air frying foods in our laboratory. With just a spray of oil on the bottom of the basket to prevent sticking, this unit churned out some crisp french fries and chicken wings by heating and circulating air. The cooking was not perfectly even from one side of the basket to the other, but most of the competition couldn't claim that either. If you are willing to shake the food during the cooking process, as instructed by the manual, it will come out fine most of the time. We didn't see any spots that were vastly darker or lighter in most of our test batches of fries and wings with this machine.
This tied for being the easiest to clean. We barely had to exert any effort to get all the food off. It has a non-stick surface that really works. You can put the basket in the dishwasher if you want, but it was so easy to clean by hand that might actually be easier in this case.
One potential problem with the Purifry is its size. Its capacity is tiny – nearly the smallest in our comparison – so if you have thoughts of cooking dinner for a larger family, you will want to look for a bigger option. It's small in capacity but large in overall dimensions – the worst combination because you're investing a lot of counterspace but getting very little food preparation space. It is larger than all but three competitors but has a capacity that is smaller than all but one. If you need more of a family-sized air fryer, check out the Philips Airfryer XL.
This air fryer’s dials aren’t particularly user-friendly. The print is so small that it was hard to know what settings we were using half the time. A cord wrap would also make this unit more user-friendly than it is.
The Purifry will shut itself off when it is done cooking, which is a good safety feature found in most air fryers. It was also warm but not hot on the outside during our testing.
There are many air fryers with digital interfaces that are easier to use than the Black & Decker Purifry, but the food came out pretty good. Most of the fries and chicken wings were crispy and evenly cooked. This is one of the smaller ones, though, so if you have a large family, this is not a good option.
