While you might associate air fryers with quick, crispy snacks like French fries and chicken wings, large-capacity models can work as an alternative to your regular oven for family meals. The biggest models can handle main courses like a whole chicken or a rack of ribs and produce bigger batches of sides like Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. Since a bigger cooking surface area produces better air frying results, you may want a large-capacity air fryer if you have the space.
Many of the biggest air fryers are also dual-basket models, so you can prepare different foods on each side or just use one basket when preparing smaller amounts of food. We've tested 29 air fryers, and below are our recommendations for the best large-capacity air fryers, defined here as 8 quarts or more.
If you want to see your options for a more compact air fryer, check out our recommendations for the best air fryers. Since all of our recommendations for large capacity air fryers are from the same brand, you may want to look at our overview of the best air fryer brands for more options. You might also want one of the best 4-slice toasters for busy mornings. If you need a big microwave, you can find suggestions on our list of the best over-the-range models.
The best large air fryer we've tested is the Ninja Foodi DZ550. Ninja sells a range of air fryers, including plenty of large-capacity models that outperform similar models, which is why the picks on the list are all from that brand.
This 10-quart air fryer has a large cooking surface area across both baskets, giving you plenty of room to spread your food in a single layer for more evenly cooked food. You can prepare separate foods in each basket using different settings, so you can easily make a main and a side or keep vegetarian and meat-based meals separate. The 'Smart Finish' setting automatically syncs up the baskets, so both sides finish cooking simultaneously.
This air fryer is fast and produces very evenly air-fried food, with only a small proportion under or overcooked when it's ready. It's also very versatile since it offers quite a wide range of temperature and fan speed settings for different cooking methods, like broiling and dehydrating. This model also includes a built-in thermometer, which can help the air fryer automatically cook cuts of meat and fish.
If you want a good large-capacity air fryer for less, consider the Ninja Foodi DZ201. This 8-quart model has a smaller capacity than the Ninja Foodi DZ550 but performs better than another 10-qt model from the brand, the Ninja Foodi DZ401. Its smaller cooking surface area means you have less room to arrange food in a single layer, but it has enough capacity to serve several people and produces good-quality air-fried food. It preheats and cooks food quickly and maintains a stable temperature during cooking, which helps with accurately following recipes and cooking delicate foods.
It's just as versatile as the previous pick, with settings for different cooking methods like 'Bake' and 'Dehydrate.' However, despite its smaller capacity, it has a bulkier design and isn't much smaller than the DZ550.
If you want more options for inexpensive air fryers, check out our recommendations for the best budget and cheap air fryers.
Dual basket air fryers let you cook different recipes on each side, but if you want an air fryer with one big drawer for larger items like a whole chicken, you might prefer the Ninja Foodi DZ071. This 10-quart fryer has a single drawer and cooks a bit less evenly than the Ninja Foodi DZ550, but most of your food comes out well-cooked and crispy without being overdone. It also boasts fantastic versatility, with a somewhat wider temperature range than the previous picks and several different modes for various cooking methods.
If you want to air fry your main and side dishes separately, you can also use it as a dual-basket air fryer with the included divider. Like previous picks, you can use different settings on each side. The sides of the basket aren't as well-isolated from each other as separate baskets would be, so it might not work as well if you need to use very different settings on each side. You can apply different cook times and settings to either side. However, the big basket is a bit awkward to hold onto.
The Beautiful 9QT TriZone can be used as a single-basket or dual-basket air fryer, like the Ninja Foodi DZ071. Despite its bigger overall capacity, it has a smaller cooking surface area and cooks food less evenly. Still, it makes decent-quality air-fried food and comes in many different colors, so you might prefer it if aesthetics are a priority.
See our reviewThe Ninja DoubleStack is an 8-quart dual-basket air fryer with an unusual design. Its baskets are stacked instead of side by side, giving it a slimmer footprint. However, it doesn't perform as well as Ninja's other dual-basket air fryers, likely because of the position of the fan at the back of the air fryer. It air fries unevenly, so a large proportion of your food ends up under or overcooked.
See our reviewWe've made minor updates to the text and checked that the products are available. However, there hasn't been a change to our recommendations.
We've checked that the picks represent the best recommendations and are in stock. We've added a link to our new 'Best Budget And Cheap Air Fryers' recommendation article.
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best large air fryers for most people. We factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's a list of all our air fryer reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no air fryer is perfect, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you look for them.