Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer review: Cooks lots of food in twin compartments

T3's Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer review in a sentence: Plenty of capacity with the added ability to cook more than one thing at the same time.

Judging by the way they’re always in the news, it seems plenty of us still haven’t purchased one of the many best air fryer models the market. I’ve tried plenty over the last few years and know the ones that work best for me, but if you’re in need of a larger capacity air fryer, the Salter Dual Digital Air Fryer is well worth considering.

This is a sizeable 7.6 litre offering, complete with twin cooking compartments, which is always ideal for families who need to cook lots of food relatively quickly. These can be independently set with different times and heat selectors, while 10 different programming options let you home in on specific foodstuffs. There’s not much you can’t cook in the appliance, plus there’s the added benefit of a bake function too if you want to try your hand at muffins and the like.

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Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer review: price & availability

The Salter Dual Digital Air Fryer sits at the higher end of the pricing spectrum, which is largely down to its capacity and performance credentials. However, the good news as is the case with most brands of air fryers, is you can frequently find it on offer from Amazon along with other online retailers and direct from Salter itself.

So, although it has a sizeable RRP of £229.99, it has been on offer for £149.99. Currently the asking price direct from Salter is an even more impressive £129.99. The best advice is to click through the link and, who knows, it may even be available for less by the time you read this.

Salter Dual Digital Air Fryer review: what is it?

If, like me, you’re constantly confused about the sheer volume of air fryers that are on the market, this model can be found with the model name Salter EK5106 Dual Digital Air Fryer on the likes of Amazon.

The Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer is most notable for the twin cooking compartments, with a pair of drawers that slide out from the front of the appliance. This means you can cook two different things simultaneously, or lots of the same foodstuff, like copious amounts of French fries. 

Therefore, the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer is ideally suited to families or anyone who needs to feed fussy eaters. The 7.6 litre capacity means there’s plenty of space, especially for larger items such as chunks of chicken, while it’s also wonderfully easy to use thanks to 10 cooking functions accessible via a sensor touch display.

The appliance looks good and is finished in the standard black plastic like so many other air fryers, with a shiny metallic finish on the front two drawers. This is a sizeable air fryer, with dimensions of 37.8D x 36.4W x 31.9H centimetres and a weight of 9.21kg, so bear this in mind if space is limited in your kitchen.

Due to the extra capacity, the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer comes with a decent amount of power, so the 1700 watts makes it suitable for cooking all types of food, including vegetables, meat and fish. The innards come with a non-stick coating, there’s a 1-60 minute timer and the cooking compartments can be controlled independently of one another.

Pause and resume sync functions add to the convenience factor of the appliance. The drawers can be washed after use, while the rest of the machine can be wiped over with a hot dishcloth to remove any residues left, post cooking session.

Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer review: is it any good?

The Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer has everything you need to carry out a multitude of cooking tasks. It can be used to tackle roasting and baking alongside the more obvious air frying tasks and the dual basket design is what will make it appealing if you’ve got a family.

The great thing about the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer is the way you can have chicken thighs in one compartment cooking for, say, 25 minutes at 200 degrees. Meanwhile, food compartment number two can have your vegetables, cooking for around 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Of course, you can mix and match the times and temperatures too, which gives a lot more freedom than being stuck with one cooking chamber, which makes food preparation much more complicated. The latter is fine if you’re a solo eater, but people with multiple mouths to feed will find the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer a real boon on that front.

I like the way Salter has included functionality for baking too. This is because air fryers can be pretty good for producing muffins and other baked goods, although I also find these things the hardest to get right due to the quick and intense heat that is generated by a machine with a fan and element, combined together in a small space. Used with caution though, the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer could prove useful for anyone who’s got the time and inclination to attempt a crop of brownies or similar.

Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer review: performance

This is one of the easiest air fryers I’ve had to use in a while as not all dual compartment appliances are quite as straightforward as they should be. All of the programming action revolves around the touch display on the front of the machine, with a selection of easily understood food icons allowing you to select your food type with ease.

The Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer can be started and stopped easily, because the secret with these appliances is keeping close tabs on what is happening. This appliance doesn’t have windows on the front of the compartments either, which means you need to quickly slide out each one from time to time to check that food isn’t getting scorched.

I tend to struggle getting my veg right in any air fryer and the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer is no different. However, it is very good on all of your regular air fryer favourites, so burgers, spring rolls, wings and even sizeable chunks of chicken emerge looking evenly cooked and crispy where it’s needed. My best advice with this model and pretty much any other air fryer, is to keep checking what’s going on or you’ll end up with frazzled food that’s dried out too much. There’s nothing worse than a tough drumstick, right?

You’ll find the temperature tops out at 220 degrees for each of the food compartments, and I’ve found this to be more than enough to cook everything and anything. I quite like using this machine with the manual options, although the pre-sets are always a bonus if you’re trying to do multiple things at once come mealtimes, which is often the case with people managing their offspring and trying to cook dinner.

Come clean up time, the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer isn’t too bad. Both the compartments can be wiped out with kitchen roll and dunked in hot soapy water. The non-stick coating needs care so it doesn't get scratched, but seems to be pretty durable. You just have to be sure you’ve cleaned any residue from around the feet of the cooking racks. A longer soak tends to help with this. The rest of the machine can be easily wiped over with a moist, warm cloth.

Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer review: verdict

I know lots of people reckon their air fryer allows them to reduce using their oven, but in the case of the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer, I reckon that’s even more true. The twin compartments really do offer up more flexibility, which means you can cook some meat in one compartment and roast potatoes in the other and not go near the oven at all.

Dual controls means that it’s actually more versatile in some ways, as once everything is loaded in, all you need to do is wait rather than going backwards and forwards to the over. However, the key is to carry out plenty of visual checks on progress.

It’s always hard to know if an air fryer really is going to reduce your energy consumption compared to a traditional oven. However, I’ve no doubt that the Salter Dual Air Pro Digital Air Fryer can get the job done quickly and even more rapidly if you keep close tabs on your food, so you know exactly when it’s done. There’s the added benefit of being able to do different things at the same time. So, for cutting down on food prep alone, this appliance scores highly with me.