Morphy Richards Health Fryer review

The 3L capacity is just large enough for cooking a main; two chicken legs, for example, or a modest portion of grilled aubergine for two. However, it’s likely you’d need to cook in batches. Its size also makes it suitable for keeping out on the countertop, or storing in a cupboard.

One feature we found useful was a fold-out handle, which makes it easier to lift between cupboard and countertop if you don’t have enough counter-top space for a new appliance.

How easy is the Morphy Richards Health Fryer to use?

If you’re au fait with the temperatures required for cooking in the oven, then this model will be easy to use, but it doesn’t offer any presets for adventurous ingredients, rather keeping things simple. There is a cooking guide in the instruction manual but it’s limited to chips, drumsticks, frozen fish fingers, frozen beef burgers and frozen pain au chocolat.

Guides for different weights of chips are etched onto the top – more practical than a label that could be peeled off with age and it saves you from digging out the manual. Because air fryers are so much more compact and quick to heat than ovens, you need to adapt cooking temperatures to account for the efficiency with which they cook.

The instruction manual didn’t offer any guide or rule of thumb ways for doing this. You would need some trial and error to master re-creating your favourite recipes in this, which does risk food waste, but there are seven air fryer recipes provided to help you kick things off.

There’s a nifty safety catch above the release button for separating the basket from the drawer by its handle – great for families with kids but not to be done in a hurry – the catch is a piece of plastic that flips up and is easy to catch your thumb on.

Cooking results

One thing that really stood out whilst cooking was how quiet this air fryer is, with only some ticking similar to that of an egg timer. With everything we cooked, opening to check the ingredients inside, the timer continued so opening the draw too often will mean you have to add additional cooking time to allow the heat to come back up.

There’s no preheat function so we left the air fryer to heat for three minutes before adding ingredients. The aubergine slices were impressively even, not dried out but also taking longer than expected as they still had a bit of firmness in the middle. The halloumi was also simple to cook and had some good colour with a soft texture.

The air fryer chicken breasts roasted at 180C for 20 minutes and they were nicely cooked but not browned, other than in a few spots. The meat was juicy in the middle and once rested, we sliced it up – perfect for a salad.

We were a bit let down by the air fried chips. Following the model’s time and temperature guidance for the weight (200g), we found that the chips needed 10 minutes longer than the manual said and even then, the results were soft on the inside but a little soggy. Not at all crunchy.

Once finished, the air fryer did ping but very quietly so could be easy to miss. We’d recommend setting an additional timer for a louder notification.

How sustainable is the Morphy Richards Health Fryer?

When ran for 10 minutes on the air fryer function, the fryer consumed 3.57p when costed against a variable tariff of 31.8p/kWh. It does come with a two-year guarantee and the brand offers an additional year when you buy direct. The packaging was quite modest, but not strategically environmentally friendly with recyclable components.

Conclusion

This isn’t the most ferocious air fryer we’ve ever tested, which can be both a pro and a con. On the one hand, its cooking replicates that of a traditional oven in the gentle sense, great for not drying out meat and vegetables whilst cooking, but not so much for achieving the crisp outer texture for chips from fresh potatoes.

However, it would be perfect for chips from frozen and have a similar effect for breadcrumbed ingredients. If you’re after an extension to your oven at home, this is a predictable air fryer that behaves as you’d hope. And at around £100, is good value for money.

Morphy Richards Health Fryer specifications

Components: Main unit, drawer with removable crisper basket
Wattage: 1400W
Dishwasher safe?: No
Bowl capacity: 3 litres
Dimensions: 28x 35 x 32cm
Guarantee: 2 years

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All costs-to-run calculations were done against the variable tariff at the time of testing (31.8p/kWh), which may have since changed – read more on the current energy price guarantee rates.