I made this last night, and was shocked that not only was anywhere near edible, it was actually pretty tasty. It’s mushrooms and veggies (bell peppers, onion, asparagus) so I don’t see much wrong with it from the healthy-eating perspective - so it could be good for people on weight loss plan.
I spiked a bunch of Guy’s BBQ sauce on top, which is one of the better sugar free BBQ sauces out there - it actually tastes just like regular BBQ sauce (think sweet baby ray’s style, thick, smokey, sweet), but has almost no calories.
Well I grabbed one of those Breville Smart Air Ovens from that sale and figured I would drop a quick review. I have a cheap air fryer and while it did an acceptable job, I wasn’t all that crazy about the results. So for my first test, I cooked generic frozen french and chicken tenders from Meijer. I was amazed at the difference. Fires and chicken tenders always came of a bit dried out, from the air fryer. The Breville cooked both so they were well crisped on the outside but still soft and tender on the inside. Of course when it comes to fries, nothing can match deep frying but if you want to cut out oil, these came really darned close to deep fried. My final test was a 6lb whole chicken. I used a rub of garlic powder, thyme, cayenne, fresh ground pepper, oregano, salt and paprika. The oven had plenty of room for the bird and in fact claims it will fit a 12 lb turkey. The results were excellent and the bird came out evenly cooked and browned almost like a fresh rotisserie chicken. So I give the oven a big thumbs up, so far. It makes me consider dumping my stove and getting a couple of induction burners. I still need to test its baking skills but if the Breville does that well and seem like it will hold up well over time, I’ll probably dump my old stove. Its a dinosaur.
ps: sorry for not having pictures of at least the chicken but I had a friend over for dinner and forget to snap one before serving dinner.
Yeah, I concur. I am extremely happy with the Breville as an overall kitchen thing. I like that it’s more than just an air-fryer, and thus justifies its existence on my counter all the time.
Hmmm…we have a model without the air fry and dehydrate functions, and my impression was that they weren’t all that great. You have me rethinking that…especially since my wife is talking about getting one for our daughter t have next year and we could just give her this one instead.
Would love to hear more impressions, especially air frying and dehydrating.
The air fryer mode is probably one of the modes I use most often, as it’s great for most stuff you’d normally bake. It’s great for roasting potatoes, etc. It’s actually also great for making baked potatoes.
The dehydrator mode also worked well, but like any dehydrator it takes a long time It’s nicer than cheap dehydration units though, in that you have fine control over the temperature. It’s also nice in that it can potentially do 4 full trays of stuff, which is nice.
Wife found a lamb shank in the freezer, so I put that in the InstaPot with chopped potatoes, carrots, and onions. Came out fork tender, and it was pretty good. My only regret is not making more effort on a gravy to sop up all that deliciousness with.
I really want to try my InstaPot for a pot roast, but I’m timid about over cooking it. I usually slow cook or roast them. It seems like the perfect method though as you would end up with a super tender pot roast with a ton of juices.
