How Much Electricity Does an Air Fryer Use? Watts & Cost

Popular air fryers are rated 1,550–1,725 W, but lab-measured cooks used 0.22–0.54 kWh. See cost per hour at US rates and how it compares with an oven.

By Maksud · Published Sep 27, 2026

How much electricity does an air fryer use? Three full-size models are rated 1,550 to 1,725 watts: Ninja’s AF101C owner’s guide lists 1550W, Instant’s Vortex Plus 6QT guide lists 1700 watts, and Cosori’s product page lists the TurboBlaze at 1,725W. At full draw that is at most 1.55 to 1.73 kWh an hour, or about 28 to 32 cents an hour at the July 2026 US average of 18.31 cents per kWh reported by the EIA. Real cooks use less, because the heating element cycles on and off once the air fryer is hot.

Kitchen Watcher didn’t measure any air fryer for this page. Every figure comes from the manufacturer documents, lab tests and utility data credited in each section; see how we research.

Air fryer wattage: what the number on the label means

The wattage on the rating plate or in the manual is not what the air fryer averages over a cook. Which? warns that estimating from the power rating assumes the product is always using maximum power, and the Virginia Cooperative Extension energy guide notes that the actual power consumed depends on the setting in use at any one time.

To find your model’s rating, the Virginia Cooperative Extension says to look for the wattage stamped on the bottom or back of the appliance or on its nameplate, or check the specifications page of the owner’s guide. Ninja’s AF101C guide, for example, lists “Voltage: 120V, 60Hz” and “Watts: 1550W” under technical specifications.

One manufacturer instruction matters here. Ninja’s AF101C guide says never to use an extension cord, and warns that outlet voltages can vary and affect the product’s performance. For wider safety questions, see our guide on whether air fryers are safe.

How much does an air fryer cost to run per hour?

The table multiplies each manufacturer’s rated watts by EIA’s July 2026 residential prices: the US average (18.31 cents per kWh), the highest state, Hawaii (48.00 cents), and the lowest, Louisiana (12.72 cents). Every cost is an upper bound. It assumes the element runs flat out for a full hour, which it doesn’t in normal use.

The Ninja DZ201 dual-basket model is left out because its owner’s guide wasn’t checked for this page. For how these three models cook, see the Ninja AF101 review, the Instant Vortex Plus 6QT review and the Cosori TurboBlaze review.

How to work out air fryer cost per hour on your own bill

The Virginia Cooperative Extension formula works for any appliance:

1. Find the rated watts on the label or in the manual.
2. Multiply watts by hours of use, then divide by 1,000. That gives kWh.
3. Multiply kWh by your price per kWh. That gives cost.

Worked example: a 1,700 W air fryer running 20 minutes (0.33 hours) is 1,700 × (20 ÷ 60) ÷ 1,000 = about 0.57 kWh at most. At 18.31 cents per kWh, that is about 10 cents.

Use the all-in price per kWh from your own bill, including delivery charges, rather than the national average. EIA’s figures show how much this varies: in July 2026 the average Hawaii residential rate was almost four times Louisiana’s.

For a real reading instead of an upper bound, a plug-in energy monitor or smart plug records what the appliance actually draws. That is how the InfluxData write-up below got its numbers, using a Tapo P110 smart plug.

How much electricity does an air fryer use in a real cook?

Which? measured energy use in its lab, with preheating included. An air fryer used 0.287 kWh for 320 g of frozen chips, 0.392 kWh for a 200 g jacket potato, 0.54 kWh for a roast chicken of about 1.3 to 1.4 kg, and 0.223 kWh for a cake. Which? cooked with a Morphy Richards Health Fryer 480003 and doesn’t state its wattage, so these figures can’t be set directly against the ratings in the table above.

The InfluxData post, by Ben Tasker and originally published on his own blog, logged a 1,700 W, 5.5 L air fryer cooking frozen chips in 2022. The author didn’t preheat; the first 7 minutes, until the thermostat first cut out, used 96.4 Wh, and the rest of the cook used 96.6 Wh, so about half the energy went into that warm-up. After warm-up, the element was on for 6 of the remaining 10 minutes, or 60%.

Two caveats apply. Both tests were run in the UK on UK-market appliances, not the US 120 V models in the table above. And the InfluxData numbers come from a single run with an unstated quantity of chips.

Air fryer vs oven energy cost: which uses less?

Converted to US dollars at 18.31 cents per kWh, Which?’s lab figures put the air fryer at roughly a third to a half of the built-in oven’s cost:

InfluxData’s single test points the same way. Adding its warm-up and cooking figures, the air fryer used about 193 Wh for chips and the oven about 343 Wh, a gap of 150 Wh. The author derived the oven figure indirectly, subtracting monitored devices and an estimated base load from the whole-house meter reading, because the oven is wired into its own circuit.

Which? adds caveats that shrink the gap. The basket limited quantities, so potatoes were cooked one at a time and the cake had to be made smaller. If you are feeding several people and need multiple batches, Which? says the oven may work out cheaper overall.

This section covers energy only. For cooking results, capacity and which to buy, see air fryer vs convection oven.

What changes how much electricity your air fryer uses

• Preheating. Ninja’s AF101C guide recommends 3 minutes of preheating. Instant’s Vortex Plus 6QT guide says the display shows “Preheating” when an Air Fry program starts and “Add Food” when it’s done, but that the Reheat program has no preheating time. Whether to preheat for food quality is covered in do you need to preheat an air fryer.
• Batches. Which?’s results depend on the food fitting in one go. More batches mean more energy, which is the main reason to size the basket to your household; see what size air fryer do I need.
• Temperature and time. By the extension formula, energy scales with how long the appliance runs. The InfluxData author also reasons that a higher temperature setting raises both warm-up and maintenance consumption, though he didn’t measure it.
• Dual-basket units. Running both zones means two elements heating. None of the sources read here measured a dual-basket model, so there is no sourced figure for how much more it uses.
• Standby. The Virginia Cooperative Extension notes that many appliances, kitchen appliances included, draw a small amount of power when switched off, typically a few watt-hours. Unplugging avoids that, but no source here measured an air fryer’s standby draw.

Monthly and yearly cost examples at the US average rate

These use 18.31 cents per kWh. Swap in your own rate: kWh × your price = cost.

The worst case is a ceiling, not a forecast. Going by the Which? figures, one or two small batches a day sits much closer to the first row.

More on air fryers

• Best air fryers
• Instant Vortex Plus 6QT review
• Ninja AF101 review
• Cosori TurboBlaze review
• Air fryer vs convection oven
• Do you need to preheat an air fryer?
• How we research
• Blender wattage explained