Philips Airfryer XXL review – big daddy health fryer hits the spot

Philips Airfryer XXL is just one of numerous air fryers on the market, which are designed with healthier eating in mind, all wrapped up within a quick and convenient gadget. Like all the best air fryers, it's great at doing just that; cooking food without the need for vats of oil, thereby making food less greasy, tastier and easier on your insides. This jumbo-sized kitchen champion is, in fact for a long time we annointed it as the best air fryer. Although admittedly not now, but that's the march of progress for you.

The Philips Airfryer XXL doesn’t just cook chips, although that’s the first thing people seem to talk about when discussing these things. Granted, it will air fry a mean plate of fries, but it also does a nice line in roasts, as well as having the ability to cover most other meals you’ll probably ever cook. 

The recipe book that comes packaged with the Philips Airfryer XXL displays its versatility to great effect. A shame, however, it doesn't come with some tongs for working the food mid-cooking session. Never mind. 

It is an absolute nightmare working what the correct model number is for Philips products worldwide but in the UK at least the one we are talking about here is HD9650/99, with the full name Philips HD9650/99 Viva Collection Airfryer XXL – there are several other XXL models and we have no reason to think they aren't also excellent. In America, the nearest match seems to be Philips HD9630/96 Airfryer XXL.

Philips Airfryer XXL: what is it?

The Philips Airfryer XXL is, as the name suggests, one of the larger models you can buy for air frying and its basket can handle 1.4kg of food in total, enough for about six people. In other words, this is a great machine if you’ve got more than one or two mouths to feed, or you simply love your food.

The appliance works using Philips TurboStar technology, which effectively means that it circulates hot air rapidly in and around the food you want to cook for consistent results, helped with 2225 watts of power. It can take it easy on your prepped food using milder temperatures starting from 40°C, but that can be ramped up to 200°C as and when needed.

In that respect the Philips Airfryer XXL can cook just about anything and in a variety of 5 preset cooking modes that include air frying, grilling, roasting and baking settings. A simple set of icons including fish and meat symbols, plus a frozen chip one too, deliver these basic presets, while manual operation is available if you prefer. We also like the keep warm function for when the other half comes home late from work.

Philips Airfryer XXL: is it any good?

Being a Philips, the Airfryer XXL feels like a quality purchase and so it should as it sits at the premium end of the air frying product spectrum. For starters, you’ll notice the bulk of this appliance, which is immediately evident the minute you pull it out of its box. That’s a good thing though as the Airfryer XXL is designed to handle lots of food. 

Indeed, it’s got a big enough cooking basket to house a sizeable whole chicken, which gives it the edge on many less capacious models. 

The cooking basket, however, looks like it might be prone to trapping dirt and food debris over time due to the slightly fussy construction, though it is non-stick and the grille comes apart from the frame for cleaning. It also slides out quite a long way, so you need to be sure it’s on a solid flat surface to avoid it tipping forwards. The cooking parts, incidentally, are dishwasher safe though the main body isn’t, but can be wiped over.

Philips Airfryer XXL makes a lot of sense if you're in the market for a generously-sized air fryer that can handle larger food items, such as whole chickens, joints of meat and so on. We love the layout of the controls, with an orange-hued, very clear and good-on-the-eyes digital readout and functional menu settings. 

During operation the Philips Airfryer XXL is pretty quiet too, but you’ll need to make sure you’ve got room for it. Its physical size requires space, plus the heat that comes out of the unit at the back needs somewhere to dissipate.

With practice you’ll be able to perfect food across any of the settings, with chips, our staple test favourite, being one of the best things to emerge from the Philips Airfryer XXL wire basket. We also got solid results with fish and chicken fillets. 

Keeping a watchful eye on progress and tweaking the heat controls when needed, we were able to get salmon nice and crispy on the outside while keeping it moist on the inside. Ditto for chicken fillets actually, which remained juicy, but not greasy. An additional bonus with the Philips is that it can also turn its hand to more delicate items such as cakes and pizza.

As is the case with lots of air fryers, you will need to keep an eye on it as it can heat food quicker than you might be expecting. It might even catch you out. And, in the case of chips, you need to keep them moving in the pan with the occasional toss, so you don’t end up with scorched tatties.

Philips Airfryer XXL: verdict

There are smaller, simpler Philips Airfryers available – and some excellent air fryers made by other brands, of course – that are better if you’re short on space, but if it’s volume and flexibility you need then the Philips Airfryer XXL is a best buy.

Philips Airfryer XXL air fryer leaves a lasting and very positive impression. Now that we’ve lived with it for a while its appeal has definitely grown. Of course, it fries fabulous chips, and it turns out lots of hot, crispy chicken wings too.

However, we’ve found that the Philips Airfryer XXL is capable of doing an awful lot more. We did a whole roast in it, using some deft pit-stop style switching out of ingredients, including three (frozen) Yorkshire puds.

We’ve also tried muffin mix in it and, just as long as you keep a watchful eye on baking times, the Philips Airfryer XXL excels. Having got to grips with the controls we actually now prefer manual intervention to many of the automatic programmes. It's a device that is worth mastering, and it really doesn't take long.

• Buy Philips Airfryer XXL at Amazon (USA)

• Buy Philips Airfyer XXL at Amazon (UK)

• Buy Philips Airfryer XXL at Currys (UK)