Tefal Easy Fry 3in1 air fryer review: Fry, grill and steam

Tefal’s Easy Fry 3in1 air fryer is a little different to the brand’s round, paddle-based models you might be more familiar with. Instead, the EasyFry looks like the majority of the top air fryers you see today, square in shape with a basket at the front.

What sets this particular model apart is its steam setting, which slowly releases water from the top of the appliance, turning it into steam in the basket for tender vegetables and protein. This is a feature that’s only typically seen on multi cookers and gives this model a slight edge over more basic air fryers.

It also comes with a grill function, which works in the same way you’d expect the grill on your oven to work, allowing you to crisp up cheese on toast and sausages without having to turn on the oven. While it’s not the cheapest air fryer you can buy, the Tefal EasyFry cooks to a high standard and serves a couple of niches that make it worth considering.

Tefal Easy Fry 3in1 air fryer review: What do you get for the money?

The EasyFry 3in1 is a touchscreen basket-style air fryer with a 6.2L capacity. It’s big enough for three to four chicken breasts and can accommodate over 500g of homemade chips. All of Tefal’s air fryers are large but this particular model is quite the worktop hog for a single drawer model, measuring 32.4 x 40.7 x 39.9cm (WDH). Thankfully it’s relatively lightweight at 1.6kg, so can be moved around and stored in a cupboard, if you have the space.

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It has three settings – air fry, steam and grill – and these can be controlled manually or there’s a choice of preset cooking functions on the screen, which automatically select an average time and temperature based on what you’re cooking. If you do prefer to do things manually, the air fry and grill settings have a temperature range of 80ºC to 200ºC, while the steam setting is locked at 100ºC. There’s also a button for cleaning and descaling the internal water circuit that creates that all important steam.

There are a couple of accessories in the box, including a regular grid, which can be used to separate food from any oil that drips down during air frying and a die-cast grill grid, which is suitable for grilling. Unlike other air fryers, the EasyFry also has a removable water tank on top of the main body. This tank can be filled with cold water, which is then heated, filtered through into the main basket and turned into steam. At the bottom, you’ll also find a small removable tray, which collects any excess water that drips down while using the steaming function.

At £199, this is quite a pricey air fryer, especially considering you can pick up one of Tefal’s ActiFry models, the Genius+ with stirring paddle for £250 at full price and often for as little as £150. However, the functionality on these models is quite limited in that you can’t grill and steam in them, so despite that no-stir design, they might not be quite the right fit for you. It’s also worth noting you can often pick up the EasyFry 3in1 for as little as £100, depending on the time of year and at that price, it’s a real bargain buy when you take into account capacity, functionality and performance.

Tefal Easy Fry 3in1 air fryer review: What’s good about it?

While this model might not be breaking any boundaries looks-wise, its performance is decent. During our power consumption tests, the Tefal EasyFry used just 0.68kWh when running at 200ºC. This isn’t the most energy efficient air fryer we’ve tested, but it’s close, especially given its capacity. All told, it’s much less of an energy vampire than your average oven.

I was able to air fry 500g of chips in 30 minutes at 200ºC without par-boiling first. A tablespoon of oil was enough to get lovely crisp chips, though I did find I had to shake and turn them a little more than some other models I’ve tested. Oven food, such as hash browns and breaded fish, also cooks nicely in the EasyFry. While it didn’t really cook food any quicker than a standard oven, I did find that food was more evenly browned and I had fewer instances of soggy bottoms.

The good thing about this air fryer only having three functions is that it does them all well. I was really impressed with the fryers grill function, which successfully recreated the signature crispiness of a classic oven grill when cooking things such as sausages and cheese on toast. What’s more, the grill being contained in such a small area means that it’s much easier to clean up and you don’t have to risk dirtying an entire oven for one meal.

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Similarly, the steam function, which pulls water from the top of the appliance, worked well and did a great job of steaming broccoli, which came out tender and perfectly cooked in around ten minutes. You can also use the steam function first and then switch to air frying for crispy vegetables but this doesn’t work as well as multi cookers with a dedicated combi steam and air fry function.

Tefal Easy Fry 3in1 air fryer review: What could be better?

Unfortunately, the EasyFry does have a couple of little quirks that are hard to ignore. The first is that when you switch it on, the air fryer always defaults to the grill setting. This led to me accidentally cooking things on the grill setting when I was in a hurry, especially as the interface is quite busy, so it’s not immediately obvious which setting you’re using.

Another issue with the grill setting is that the cooking time resets if you open the basket to check on it. So if you’re grilling for 15 mins and open the basket after ten, the grill will reset back to 15 minutes. This means you need to keep a close eye on it while you’re cooking and run the risk of overcooking if you forget.

Tefal Easy Fry 3in1 air fryer review: Should you buy it?

I really like the EasyFry’s grill and steam settings – they’re welcome additions to the standard air frying. This model also cooks really well, with food coming out crisp and evenly browned every time, and while it does have a couple of functionality issues, none of them are terribly off-putting.

Pricing is absolutely crucial, however. If you can nab this air fryer around the £100 mark, then it’s well worth the money. However, at its full £200 retail price, you’d be advised to splash out on something like the Instant Vortex Dual Drawer (~£200) which offers dual cooking capacity and a more user-friendly experience, with the only downside being the lack of a steam function.