The Gotham Steel Air Fryer is a single-basket model with a small 2.7-quart capacity. We tested this model in collaboration with Radio-Canada, a local francophone media outlet; you can see their French-language recommendation article and video investigation on air fryers. Since our initial testing, this appliance has been discontinued in Canada but is still available on the U.S. market. This no-frills model has a basic egg-shaped design, with just a time and temperature dial for controls. It operates in a small temperature range with a single fan speed.
Our Verdict
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer is an alright option. It's a simple model with a narrow temperature range and a single fan speed, and it lacks quality-of-life features like a digital display or preheat reminder. That said, it makes satisfactory fried food. When cooking classic air-fried options like onion rings, wings, and veggies, most of each portion comes out crispy, and just a small portion is left undercooked.
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Makes decent-quality fried food.
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Lacks versatility.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer is not intended for large-batch cooking. Its 2.7-quart capacity is just enough for a single person, and it doesn't cook particularly fast. It's also not very versatile, so you're limited to typically air-fried foods like French fries, veggies, and mozzarella sticks. That said, it does a decent job of crisping up food, leaving most of each batch golden brown.
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Makes decent-quality fried food.
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Small 2.7-quart capacity.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer offers decent air frying performance, leaving most of each batch crispy and nicely browned. However, it cooks somewhat slowly, and its temperature fluctuates a fair amount throughout the cooking cycle, making it unsuitable for more delicate tasks like proofing dough and baking.
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Makes decent-quality fried food.
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Cooks food somewhat slowly.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer's cooking speed is satisfactory. It preheats amazingly fast, but cooks food more slowly.
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Preheats quickly.
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Cooks food somewhat slowly.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer has a small 2.7-quart cooking capacity, which is only enough to comfortably serve one person. Its single basket has a reasonable amount of surface area, so you can arrange food in a single layer for best results.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer is a compact option. It doesn't take up too much counter space and is not overly tall.
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Compact design.
- 6.9 Air Frying
- 6.8 Large Batch Cooking
Performance Usages
- 7.0 Frying Performance
- 7.0 Cooking Speed
- 6.8 Cooking Capacity
- 7.9 Size
Changelog
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This air fryer comes in 'Black' and features copper accents. At the time of publication, it appears to have been discontinued in Canada, but it's still available on the U.S. market. See the label for our unit.
If you encounter another variant, please let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Air Fryers
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer is a small, no-frills appliance with a single cooking mode and a narrow temperature range. Despite being advertised as a 4-quart model, it has a much smaller 2.7-quart measured capacity due to its basket's construction. That makes it smaller than most other options, though it's still larger than air fryers like the Dash Compact and thinkkitchen Retro Air Fryer. It makes better-quality air-fried food than some similarly-sized options like the Proctor Silex 35055 and Black+Decker ID1901-1BDC, resulting in food that is mostly crispy and golden brown.
However, some larger models, like the Ninja Pro AF141 and COSORI TurboBlaze offer even better air frying performance and added versatility without taking up much more space on your countertop. These options reach lower temperatures for applications like dehydrating and offer a wider range of fan speeds, which is handy for proofing dough and baking. Models like the RICARDO Air Fryer maintain more stable temperatures, which makes recipes easier to follow, and even offer a way to see into the cooking chamber, so you can monitor cooking progress.
If you're considering other options, check out our picks for the best air fryers, the best budget and cheap air fryers, and the best small air fryers.
The Ninja Foodi DZ550 is a better choice than the Gotham Steel Air Fryer for most people; it offers superior air frying performance and works faster. Air frying with the Ninja results in mostly crispy, well-browned food, while the Gotham Steel leaves a larger portion mushy or burnt.
The Ninja has two baskets and a 'Smart Finish' feature, so you can cook different foods simultaneously and set them to finish cooking at the same time.
It offers a range of temperature settings, fan speeds, and cooking presets, and even includes a temperature probe, so you can easily make various recipes. Conversely, the Gotham Steel is limited to basic air frying with a single fan speed. That said, the Gotham Steel is more compact, so you may prefer it if you have limited space and don't need the extra features.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer and the Ninja DoubleStack SL201 have different strengths; the Gotham Steel produces better-quality fried food, but the Ninja is much more versatile. When air frying with the Gotham Steel, nearly two-thirds of each batch turns out crispy and golden brown, while the Ninja leaves over half either burnt or undercooked. The Ninja, on the other hand, comes with two baskets, so you can cook different foods at the same time. It also includes six different cooking presets, so you can opt for settings like 'Roast' and 'Reheat,' and it has a larger range of temperatures and fan speeds. These setting options make it a great choice for tackling a variety of recipes, while the Gotham Steel is best suited for classic air fryer options like onion rings, wings, and French fries.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer is a better option than the Black+Decker ID1901-1BDC. Both air fryers are small, simple options that won't take up much counter space, but the Gotham Steel offers significantly better performance. It makes decent-quality fried food, while the Black+Decker leaves more than half of each batch undercooked and soggy. Additionally, the Gotham Steel finishes cooking faster. Neither option offers great temperature stability or versatility, so they aren't ideal for other cooking methods like baking, dehydrating, or roasting.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer and the thinkkitchen Retro Air Fryer are similar models. They share a simple, egg-shaped design with dials for temperature and time settings. These air fryers are quite evenly matched, with the Gotham coming out ahead by a very narrow margin in most areas. In fact, they produce almost identical batches of air-fried food. That said, the Gotham reaches that result a bit sooner. On the other hand, the thinkkitchen maintains a more stable temperature, making recipes easier to follow. Neither option is very versatile, as they have narrow temperature ranges and fixed fan speeds, but if you only plan to cook classic air fryer options, they're both solid picks. Overall, these air fryers are so similar in terms of performance that your choice might come down to aesthetics.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer and Proctor Silex 35055 are both small models with simple designs, but the Gotham performs better. While it produces air-fried food that is just decent, food cooked in the Proctor Silex air fryer is of poor quality. It has more surface area in its basket to spread food out in a single layer and, ultimately, cooks it faster. The Gotham Steel also heats back up faster after you add food to the basket, though the Proctor Silex's temperature fluctuates slightly less throughout its cooking cycle.
The Salton AF2085 and the Gotham Steel Air Fryer are pretty evenly matched. They both produce decent-quality fried food, and neither is very versatile. The Gotham Steel cooks a bit faster, but the Salton maintains better temperature stability, which makes it easier to follow precise recipes. One thing to note is that even though these air fryers are about the same size, the Salton has almost double the capacity of the Gotham Steel. So, if you're tight on space and need to make larger portions, you may prefer it.
Test Results
This air fryer is advertised to have a small 4-quart capacity; however, this is only true of the outer basket and doesn't represent the actual cooking capacity. To air fry, you must insert the inner basket, which limits its capacity to 2.7 quarts, making it smaller than most other air fryers. That being said, it has an adequate amount of surface area you can use to spread your food out in a single layer. This allows air to better circulate, so food gets crispier faster.
This air fryer isn't very versatile. It has a narrow temperature range, only one fan speed, and it doesn't offer alternative cooking methods beyond air frying. This means that it's not a good choice for things like dehydrating, baking, or broiling. While there aren't any preset cooking options, there are a handful of suggested cooking times and temperatures listed on the top panel for easy reference:
- Steak or Pork Chop: 350°F, 15-20 minutes
- French Fries: 400°F, 15-22 minutes
- Chicken Drumstick: 350°F, 18-25 minutes
- Fish: 350°F, 8-14 minutes
- Muffin: 400°F, 15-18 minutes
This air fryer makes decent-quality fried food. Commonly air-fried options like onion rings, veggies, and wings end up mostly crispy and well-browned, with about a third of each batch left undercooked.
This air fryer heats back up decently fast after you open the drawer to add food, but its temperature fluctuates a lot throughout the cooking cycle, much more than most other air fryers. This can make it more difficult to follow a recipe and increase the likelihood that your food will either not cook thoroughly or end up burnt.