Expert’s Rating
Pros
- 6 presets
- Dishwasher-safe parts
- Two separate cooking zones
- Baking and skewer accessories
Cons
- Recipes only available in an app
- Windows can become greasy
- Large worktop footprint
Our Verdict
Cosori’s dual-basket air fryer seeks to differentiate itself from rivals by being simple to programme, flexible, and by including racks for baking and toasting food. However, beyond setting it, there’s a lack of useful guidance which is jarring alongside its multi-functionality. The result is that it might be best for broadening your air fryer horizons rather than starting from scratch.
Best Prices Today: Cosori dual zone air fryer
$139.99
$169.99
Dual-drawer air fryers have become increasingly popular but despite all their advantages, they can be more complicated to programme and prone to illogical placement of buttons. Fortunately, the controls of Cosori’s 9QT/8.5L Dual Zone Air Fryer are straightforward, and, as a bonus, it comes with wire racks to expand its cooking capabilities.
Add in a capacity of 4.5QT/4.25 litres in each drawer, an optional shake alert and preheat, plus internal lighting and windows so you can check on progress, and the result is a multitasking air fryer that can handle a variety of cooking jobs.
Design and Build
- Glass viewing panels
- Comes with baking rack, skewer rack and five skewers
- Easy to use controls
While it’s far from being the chunkiest out there, Cosori’s 9QT/8.5L Dual Zone Air Fryer is still substantial on an average kitchen worktop. Finished in black and dark grey plastic, including the metallic, projecting handle, it’s 17in/44cm wide and almost the same deep, although it’s only 11.8in/30cm tall so it’ll scoot below wall cabinets when not in use.
The controls are thoughtfully laid out
It weighs 20lbs/9kg so you can move it around, although it’s probably better to pick a fixed home for it. Each drawer is labelled L or R, so it’s obvious which slot they fit, and has the same capacity – 4.5QT/4.25 litres – plus a crisper plate. There’s a clear window at the front so you can keep an eye on cooking too. Two wire accessories – a baking rack and a skewer rack with five skewers – complete the package. Its removable parts are dishwasher safe.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
The touchscreen controls sit on the top: when it’s not in use, all you’ll see is the power symbol. The controls are thoughtfully laid out, with up and down and time/temp buttons for each drawer below the display it corresponds to, a central panel of six cooking functions including air fry, bake, roast, reheat, grill and dry, plus options for a shake alert (optional although a default on some programmes), preheat, sync cook (for making both drawers use the same settings) and sync finish (so drawers finish at the same time).
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
The temperature and time range can be wide, depending on the setting selected. For example, if you’re dehydrating food, it’ll run for as long as 48 hours and go as low as 95°F/35°C, while the top temperature for grilling is 450°F/230°C.
Performance and Features
- Long preheat setting
- Wide temperature range
- Preheating can’t be used with sync setting
Air fryers don’t usually include accessories, so the fact that Cosori’s dual zone air fryer comes with two of these sets it apart. Unfortunately, they seem to be an afterthought, getting barely a mention in the instructions as to what they’re best used for and how to use them. For example, it wasn’t clear if they should be used in conjunction with the crisper plates or in the drawer by themselves.
We settled on the latter, choosing to make toast with the baking rack on the grill setting (450°F/230°C), and vegetable kebabs with the skewers and rack using the roast programme (430°F/220°C). Both settings required what we felt was a long preheat from cold – 7 minutes – but we liked that the preheat could be turned off, and that we were able to modify both time and temperature as the food cooked.
After 10 minutes, the roasted veg was perfectly roasted – moist yet cooked through and lightly singed. Toast was less successful – while well browned, the slices were dried out – more suitable for croutons than breakfast. However, the toast wasn’t burned, and we liked that the rack made it possible to grill several slices at once.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Next, we made a batch of chips using potato that had been soaked, dried and tossed in oil. We cooked this on the air fry setting, which has a default shake alert, but a curiously short duration compared to other models – just 15 minutes.
This may be more suitable for cooking food from the freezer. We increased the duration to 25 minutes and the temperature to 400°F/205°C – the highest available.
We roasted chicken legs and found the size of a single drawer a challenge
We noticed that the shake alert isn’t that loud, plus, when both drawers are running, there’s little clue as to which one needs a shake.
The chips emerged with more of them soft than crispy. Although the browning was consistent, there were few pale patches. At the same time, we cooked frozen hash browns in the other drawer for 20 minutes at 390°F/200°C. These crisped up and browned well, although cooking them exposed an operational issue.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
We had set the chips and hash browns to finish at the same time using the sync finish option. However, when we opened the drawers to add the food following a preheat, the sync finish turned itself off and couldn’t be turned on again. We found that opting out of the preheat solved the issue but found this frustrating.
We also roasted chicken legs and found the size of a single drawer a challenge. Only three legs fitted comfortably, meaning that for a large family, you might need to run more than one cycle for a whole meal. They were roasted at 430°F/220°C for 28 minutes, had crispy golden skin and were thoroughly cooked.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Price and Availability
In the US, you can buy the 9-quart, dual-basket air fryer from the Cosori website for $169.99, but at the time of writing, it’s cheaper on Amazon, at $139.99.
The buying options are the same in the UK, with Cosori selling the 8.5-litre, dual-zone air fryer for £199.99, and Amazon discounting it to £159.99.
Its Amazon pricing means that the Cosori undercuts many dual-drawer rivals, while providing a similar feature set and capacity – plus it comes with accessories. But to see more buying options, each with pros, cons and quick-to-read product summaries, have a look at our round-up of the best dual-drawer air fryers. We’ve also got recommendations for the best Ninja air fryer and the best air fryer overall.
Should you buy the Cosori dual-basket air fryer?
There are some things that the Cosori dual zone air fryer excels at: it offers a good overall performance, is easy to programme, and has accessories to give more cooking choice. However, it feels aimed at those proficient in air frying: there are no recipes included (instead you are directed to an app), minimal guidance for different foods and amounts, and no pointers on using the accessories.
For those who don’t want to use their smartphone or tablet in the kitchen, it’s disappointing. That said, if you’re prepared to experiment with times and temperatures, it will deliver good results.
