What Year Did Air Fryers Come Out? | First Release Year

So, what year did air fryers come out? The short answer is 2010 for the first mass-market appliance, built on ideas that had been around for many decades.

That one year sits in the middle of a longer story that stretches from early hot air ovens in the 1940s to today’s stacked dual-basket units that handle a whole dinner in one go.

What Year Did Air Fryers Come Out?

Modern air fryers trace back to Dutch engineer Fred van der Weij, who started working on a better way to cook fries in the mid-2000s. After years of testing fan positions, basket shapes, and airflow patterns, he partnered with Philips. Philips then presented the first “Philips Airfryer” at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin in 2010, putting the first true consumer air fryer on store shelves.

Engineers and food scientists had already worked with hot air and convection ovens for decades. In the 1940s, devices like the Maxson Whirlwind Oven used forced hot air to heat frozen meals on aircraft. Later, convection ovens moved into homes and restaurants, but they stayed larger and more oven-like, not the compact baskets we now call air fryers.

By the time Philips rolled its egg-shaped Airfryer onto the stage in 2010, home cooks already knew about countertop ovens and low-oil fryers. What they had not seen yet was a compact basket, a strong fan, and branding built around crisp “fried” results with just a spoonful of oil. That mix is why most histories treat 2010 as the year air fryers came out for everyday home use.

Air Fryer History At A Glance

Period	Milestone	What It Meant
1940s	Hot air ovens heat frozen meals on planes.	Shows that forced hot air can warm food quickly.
1960s–1990s	Convection ovens move into homes.	Fans start to appear in everyday kitchen ovens.
2005–2006	Fred van der Weij works on lower-oil fries.	Early experiments with compact rapid hot air cooking.
2008–2009	Patents for rapid air technology are licensed to Philips.	Big-brand backing makes a consumer product possible.
2010	Philips introduces the first Airfryer at IFA Berlin.	Launch year most people mean when they ask the question.
2011	The appliance reaches markets like Australia.	Air fryers start to spread beyond mainland Europe.
2017	Sales jump in the United States.	Air fryers hit bestseller lists and big retail chains.
2020	Stay-at-home cooking pushes wide adoption.	Millions of homes add air fryers to their counters.

How The First Air Fryers Actually Worked

The first Philips Airfryer looked like a compact pod with a pull-out basket. Inside, a heating element sat near the top while a strong fan blew hot air around the food. Philips described this design as “Rapid Air Technology,” and company materials claimed far less fat than deep frying while still giving crisp outsides.

So when someone asks what year did air fryers come out, the answer ties tightly to that specific mix of heater, fan, and basket. Earlier hot air ovens existed, but this combination of small footprint, basket layout, and fast airflow created a fresh countertop category instead of just another toaster oven spin-off.

From a cooking perspective, early air fryers used a mix of three heat sources that still applies today:

• Radiation from the heating element at the top
• Convection from the fan pushing hot air around food
• Conduction where food touches a metal basket or tray

Because the chamber is small and mostly closed, hot air wraps around nuggets, fries, or chicken pieces and helps dry and brown the surface. A light coating of oil on the food boosts browning and gives that crunchy bite many people look for when they air fry.

Rapid Air Technology And Hot Air Flow

Food science writers often describe air fryers as compact convection ovens with stronger air speed and a tighter chamber than many older countertop ovens. In simple terms, the machine sends heat into the air, a fan drives that air across the food, and the moving air pulls out moisture while redistributing heat.

Because the basket sits under the fan, food pieces catch the moving air on multiple sides. This helps frozen fries, breaded shrimp, or vegetable wedges cook more evenly without constant turning. Time and temperature dials, or digital panels on newer models, give you direct control, so you can run a quick batch of fries at high heat or roast chicken thighs at a slightly lower level.

Researchers at Science Meets Food describe how this intense convection inside a sealed chamber leads to both browning and faster cooking compared with many larger ovens, especially when food is cut into small, basket-friendly pieces.

Why 2010 Felt Different From Earlier Convection Ovens

Hot air for cooking is not new. The difference in 2010 came from packaging that idea into a small, approachable appliance with a catchy name and a strong health angle. Instead of a wide toaster oven, you had a compact pod with a basket that slid out like a fryer drawer. Marketing leaned on crisp fries with a spoon of oil, shorter bake times, and less greasy mess.

This shift mattered for adoption. Home cooks saw a device that looked easy to clean, sat neatly on a counter, and promised crisp snacks without a pot of hot oil on the stove. The design spoke to people who wanted fried textures but did not want to deep fry at home.

Soon other brands brought out their own takes on the concept. Some copied the original pod style, while others wrapped air fryer settings into toaster ovens or multi-cookers. Even with that variety, most timelines still point to the 2010 Philips launch as the moment air fryers came out in a recognisable form.

Who Invented The Modern Air Fryer?

Behind the first Airfryer stood Fred van der Weij, a Dutch engineer with a strong interest in better fries. Around 2005 he began experimenting with ways to circulate hot air around potato pieces so they would crisp without soaking in oil. He tried different fan locations, basket depths, and airflow paths until he reached a design that balanced browning, texture, and convenience.

Van der Weij filed patents on his rapid air concept and then licensed the technology to Philips. With long experience in small appliances, Philips could invest in tooling, lab testing, and international marketing on a scale that a single inventor could not match. The result was the Philips Airfryer that appeared on the Berlin show floor in 2010 and then rolled out across Europe and other regions.

Many later brands changed basket shape, digital controls, and presets, yet the core idea still looks close to van der Weij’s concept: a heater, a fan, a compact chamber, and a basket that keeps food close to the moving air. That mix sits behind nearly every air fryer on the market today.

When Air Fryers Reached Kitchens Around The World

While the answer to what year did air fryers come out centers on 2010, the rollout across countries took several more years. After the initial launch in Europe, Philips brought the Airfryer to markets like Australia around 2011. Local food writers tested the device with frozen fries, chicken, and desserts, and early adopters spread the word through recipe columns and TV segments.

In the United States, air fryers stayed niche for a while. Reports and sales figures point to a clear jump around 2017, when larger basket models and more brands hit major retail shelves. Social media recipes and easy clean-up helped drive interest, and by 2020 surveys showed air fryers in a large share of American homes.

Other regions followed their own timelines. Some countries saw air fryers sold through TV shopping channels before they appeared in big box stores. Others met the idea later through multi-cookers that added an air fry lid to an existing pressure cooker base, then moved on to full basket models once demand grew.

Generations Of Air Fryers Since 2010

Once air fryers appeared in 2010, each wave of products added size, controls, or extra modes. That history can help you read spec sheets when you browse today. Early 2010s models mainly offered analog dials and smaller baskets suited to one or two people. Mid-2010s designs brought digital timers and slightly larger capacities. By the late 2010s, brands started selling family-size baskets and oven-style doors.

In the early 2020s, multi-function units with rotisserie spits, grills, or dehydrator modes landed in stores, along with dual-zone baskets for separately timed side dishes. Newer releases layer in features such as stacked baskets and app control, but they still rely on the same heater-plus-fan layout that set the 2010 model apart.

The table below gives a rough guide to how those generations line up.

Air Fryer Generations Since Launch

Period	Typical Features	What To Expect
2010–2013	Compact pod models with manual knobs.	Best for small kitchens and one-to-two portion batches.
2014–2016	Mid-size units with digital controls.	More precise timing and temperature settings.
2017–2019	Larger baskets, more presets, higher sales.	Family-friendly capacities and many pre-programmed modes.
2020–2022	Dual-zone baskets and multi-cookers with air fry lids.	Cook mains and sides together or swap lids on one base.
2023–2026	Smart features, stacked baskets, refined designs.	Wi-Fi apps, stacked layouts, and quieter operation.

What The 2010 Launch Year Means For Buyers Today

Knowing that air fryers came out in 2010 can help you make better choices in the store or online. A launch year that recent means the category is still young enough that designs change fast, yet old enough that reliability data and user feedback cover more than a decade of use.

If you stumble across a heavily discounted model that clearly looks like an early pod with analog dials, you might be looking at older stock based on first- or second-generation designs. Those units can still cook well, but they may lack features such as precise digital temperature control, preheat prompts, or dishwasher-safe racks that many cooks value.

Later designs that build on the 2010 base often include:

• Larger capacities that handle a whole chicken or two trays of food
• Dual-zone baskets for two dishes with separate timers
• Multi-function presets for baking, roasting, or grilling beyond fries

Reading product history through this lens helps you see whether a model sits close to that first 2010 Philips Airfryer or reflects several generations of tweaks based on how people actually cook.

How This History Helps You Use Your Air Fryer

The year air fryers came out also shapes how recipe writers think. Early recipes treated the basket like a tiny oven and leaned on classic roasting times. As more people tested batches, recipes shifted toward shorter cook times and specific basket loads that match common sizes.

Philips’ own Airfryer story and modern recipe developers often assume a basket and airflow pattern that trace back to the 2010 design. If your machine is much larger or smaller than the ones used in those tests, you may need small adjustments in time or temperature.

It also explains why so many boxes of frozen food now print air fryer directions alongside oven and microwave steps. Brands saw how common the appliance had become and started testing how their fries, nuggets, or vegetables behave in a basket that follows the 2010 template.

Main Points About Air Fryer History

• The first major consumer air fryer arrived in 2010, when Philips launched the Airfryer based on Fred van der Weij’s rapid air concept.
• Earlier hot air ovens set the stage, yet the compact basket and strong fan of the 2010 design turned the idea into a distinct countertop category.
• Air fryers spread from Europe to countries like Australia in 2011 and then surged in markets such as the United States from 2017 onward.
• Each wave of products since 2010 has added new capacities, controls, and cooking modes while keeping the same basic mix of heater, fan, and tight chamber.

So when someone asks, “what year did air fryers come out?”, you can answer with confidence: 2010 for the first mass-market model, backed by decades of hot air cooking experiments that shaped the device sitting on your counter today.