Review Chefman RJ38-V2-16-AM Air Fryer

While I love my full-sized air fryer when making meals for my family, sometimes it’s nice to have a smaller appliance that can handle single servings of food, like french fries, onion rings, a few chicken tenders, or a small batch of air-fried mushrooms or mozzarella cheese sticks. Enter the Chefman RJ38-V2-16-AM Air Fryer – or, simply put, the Chefman Personal Compact Air Fryer.

Like my other Chefman Air Fryer, this personal air fryer is a high quality appliance perfect for singles, couples or families who often need to make single servings of food quickly and efficiently.

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Specifications

• Weight: 6.95 pounds
• Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.8 x 14.4 inches
• Size: 1.6L basket
• dishwasher safe
• 1 year warranty
• temperature range from 180-390 degrees

Performance

I have been using the Chefman Personal Compact Air Fryer for around 2 months, and so far, I love it. It’s simple to use and cooks small portions of food quickly and evenly. I use it most often to make lunch for my son, who loves Kirkwood’s dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. It’s quick and easy to toss four or five nuggets in the compact fryer and cook them until they have the crispy outer finish and juicy inside texture most people prefer. My son definitely loves this method and eats better than when I nuke his nuggets in the microwave. Air frying simply makes food healthier and more enjoyable.

Thus far, I have cooked french fries, chicken fries, sausage patties, pizza rolls, and parmesan-panko broccoli in this air fryer, and, as with my larger capacity Chefman air fryer, this smaller version cooks single servings to perfection. I worried that because of its smaller size, the food would not finish as evenly, but I haven’t experienced those issues. I would say, however, to be careful not to overfill your basket. If you try to cook too much at once in any size air fryer, the results could be disappointing.

Quality

Chefman RJ38 V2 16 AM (L) & Chefman RJ38-P1 (R)

The Chefman Personal Compact Air Fryer is definitely compact and because of this, it does not have a separate basket and base. Instead, it includes a removable bottom that is dishwasher safe.

Additionally, this model does not have all the bells and whistles as my larger capacity Chefman has. For example, the personal air fryer does not have the digital screen temperature and time adjusters, opting instead for a less dazzling dial timer and temperature adjuster that reminded me of a toaster oven in its simplicity. But, as far as I’m concerned, simple is good – and sometimes even better than the fancier, more complicated digital settings. I set the temperature and the time, and the appliance worked beautifully for me, cooking my food with the efficiency and speed to which I have grown accustomed to my larger capacity Chefman air fryer. I won’t be air frying any whole chickens in the personal one, but cooking larger food items or servings for more than one person is not why this personal air fryer was manufactured.

So be realistic in your expectations. This compact, personal air fryer has a capacity of only 1.6 liters and is designed to handle only small servings of food. It works beautifully as long as your expectations are grounded in reality.

Ease of Cleaning

Bottom plate for the Chefman RJ38 V2 16 AM

The unit is smaller than a typical air fryer, so cleaning is easier. Because of how the bottom plate is held in place, it may require a little more cleaning around the holder hooks when certain food is cooked. For example, when I air-fried sausage patties, the high volume of grease made for a bit of extra scrubbing, but I would also expect that in a larger model as well.

The basket is also dishwasher safe, yet it’s so easy to clean, I recommend just wiping it down with some hot soapy water. While most products are labeled as dishwasher safe, I feel they wear a bit faster when placed in the dishwasher, so I wash mine in the sink. However, if you do choose to wash the basket in the dishwasher, I’d put it in the top rack.

Ease of Use

With no digital buttons and only two turn knobs, the Chefman Personal Compact Air Fryer is very simple to use. I’m someone who appreciates simplicity. While all the digitized buttons and touch screens look sleek and modern, sometimes, they are quick to malfunction and difficult to use. This personal Chefman model is so easy to use, you don’t even need the instructions to figure out how to set the timer and temperature. Another benefit to its simplicity is that my four-year-old son can adjust the settings to cook his own food (with strict supervision, of course). He loves to cook french fries, chicken fries and chicken nuggets in this smaller model and feels accomplished when he does it all by himself.

Meal Size

This is a compact air fryer so no one should expect it to hold a great quantity. However, I will say that for its compact size, it holds more food than I had originally expected.

Summary

Overall, I am very pleased with this product. While I use my larger capacity Chefman to cook for the entire family, this personal, compact model is perfect for single servings or cooking meals for one.

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