How Long Have Air Fryers Been Around? | Fast Timeline Facts

If you’ve ever wondered why “air fryer” suddenly showed up on every counter, you’re not alone. The idea feels new, but the roots go back to older fan-forced ovens, then a few early countertop machines that pushed hot air hard enough to crisp food.

This guide pins down the dates that shaped the category, shows what changed from decade to decade, and gives you quick ways to tell how old your own unit is. You’ll leave with a clean timeline and the context to talk about air fryers without hand-waving.

Air Fryer Milestones That Set The Timeline

Air fryers didn’t appear out of thin air. They grew out of convection cooking, then got smaller, faster, and easier to use. The table below lays out the jump points that matter most when people ask how long air fryers have been around.

Year	Milestone	What Changed For Home Cooks
1914	Early fan-oven concept appears	Circulating heat becomes a real cooking method, even if it isn’t mainstream yet.
1945	Convection ovens enter wide use	Fans and heaters start doing everyday work in kitchens, setting the base idea.
2006	ActiFry-style low-oil countertop fryers arrive	Hot-air frying becomes a countertop product, not just a full-size oven feature.
2008	“Air fryer” patent filings show the core layout	A basket chamber, heater, and blower combo gets formalized in public filings.
2010	Philips debuts the Airfryer at IFA Berlin	Basket-style air frying becomes a branded category people can shop for.
2017–2019	Recipe sites and frozen foods start writing “air fry” directions	Cooking times standardize, and the appliance moves from novelty to routine.
2020–2023	Mass adoption era	Prices drop, sizes expand, and multi-function units put air frying in more homes.
2024–2025	Oven-style and dual-basket designs mature	Better airflow paths and smarter presets make results steadier across foods.

How Long Have Air Fryers Been Around?

When people say “air fryer,” they usually mean a compact countertop convection cooker with a strong fan, a tight cooking chamber, and a basket or tray that lets hot air wrap around food. That recognizable format is a late-2000s product, with a major public launch in 2010.

There were earlier gadgets that blasted hot air at food, plus convection ovens that did similar physics in a bigger box. Still, the modern air fryer wave traces to small appliances that made crisping simple: plug in, set time and heat, shake the basket, eat.

How Air Frying Grew Out Of Convection Cooking

Air frying is not magic. It’s convection plus tight space. A heating element warms air, a fan pushes it, and the fast-moving hot air strips moisture from the surface of food while browning it. That surface drying is what gets you crunch on fries, wings, and breaded items.

A teaspoon of oil still matters. Oil fills tiny cracks on the surface, helps browning, and keeps breading from drying out. With no oil, many foods still crisp, but they taste more like roasted than fried for quick snacks.

Full-size convection ovens have used this idea for decades. The “air fryer” name stuck once brands packaged the same concept into a smaller chamber that heats fast and pushes air harder.

What Makes A Modern Air Fryer Different From A Convection Oven

Both cook with a fan. The difference is the intensity and the geometry. Air fryers tend to run with a compact cavity, short distance between heater and food, and a fan that keeps air speed high. That combo can brown quicker than many ovens, with less preheat time.

That’s why air fryer recipes often read like speed runs: shorter cook times, mid-cook shakes, and small batches that leave space for airflow.

How Long Have Air Fryers Been On The Market By Era

If you’re trying to place air fryers in time, it helps to break things into eras. The tech story isn’t one straight line. It’s a few jumps that made the appliance cheaper, smaller, and easier to trust.

Before 2006: Fan-Forced Cooking Without The “Air Fryer” Label

Convection ovens and a range of countertop fan ovens showed the core idea: a fan can speed up browning and even out heat. Many of those units were bigger, louder, or less tidy than what people expect today. They also didn’t come with a simple “shake and crisp” routine, so they lived in a different mental bucket.

2006–2009: Early Countertop Low-Oil Fryers

In the mid-2000s, brands started selling machines that aimed to “fry” with little oil by stirring or moving food while heating with air. ActiFry is a well-known example from that period. These appliances didn’t always look like today’s basket models, but they helped prove that crisping with low oil could sell.

During this window, patent activity also picked up around compact chambers, blowers, and directed airflow. If you want a public record snapshot, you can read a 2008 “air fryer” filing on Google Patents (US20080206420A1).

2010–2015: The Basket Air Fryer Becomes A Thing People Recognize

Philips brought a clear, named product to a big stage in 2010, and the “Airfryer” label stuck. Philips also marketed its Rapid Air approach as a distinct method, which helped shoppers understand why the basket and fan layout mattered. A Philips write-up of the 2010 launch sits here: Philips Airfryer launch note.

In these early years, units were often smaller, pricier, and a bit single-purpose. People bought them for fries and wings, then slowly learned the broader playbook: roasted veg, reheated leftovers, crisped frozen snacks, and fast salmon.

2016–2019: Recipes Catch Up And Results Get Consistent

This is the stretch where air fryers stopped feeling like a gadget you pull out on weekends. Recipe creators started testing specific times and temps, frozen-food brands printed air fryer directions, and the “shaking halfway” habit became normal.

Manufacturers also tightened controls. Better thermostats, clearer presets, and improved baskets meant fewer burnt edges and fewer soggy centers.

2020–2025: Multi-Function Models And Mass Adoption

Once prices came down and capacity grew, air fryers landed in a lot more kitchens. Oven-style air fryers offered trays and rotisserie setups. Dual-basket units made it easier to cook a main and a side at once. Some models added probe thermometers or smarter preheat prompts.

At the same time, the term “air fryer” got fuzzy. It could mean a basket unit, a toaster-oven style unit with an air-fry mode, or a pressure cooker lid that uses a fan and heater. The core idea stayed the same: fast, dry heat moving across food.

What People Mean When They Say “Air Fryer”

Two people can say “air fryer” and picture different machines. So, when you’re asking how long air fryers have been around, it helps to name the type.

Basket air fryers

This is the classic shape: a compact body, pull-out basket, and a strong top fan. It heats fast and shines with smaller batches that can be shaken. It’s also the style most tied to the 2010 moment.

Oven-style air fryers

These look like toaster ovens with air-fry presets. They handle more food and let you spread items out on trays. They can cook close to an oven’s feel, but with more airflow than a basic toaster oven.

Lid-style “air fry” add-ons

Some multi-cookers add an air-fry lid. The chamber is often deeper, and airflow can differ from basket units. They can still crisp well, but the results depend a lot on batch size and how much space the air has to move.

How To Tell How Old Your Air Fryer Is

You don’t need the original box to date an air fryer. Most units leave clues on the label, the basket design, and the control panel. Use the checks below to narrow it down.

Start With The Data Plate

Flip the unit over or check the back for a sticker. Look for a model number, a production code, and a wattage rating. Many brands encode a build date or batch code there. If the label has a clear “MFG” month and year, you’re done.

Match The Model Number To Manuals And Parts

Search the model number with “manual PDF” or “parts diagram.” Retail pages can disappear, but manuals stick around. When you find a manual, scan for a first publication year or a revision line. That’s often close to the release window.

Use Design Clues When Labels Are Missing

Older basket units often had simpler dials and smaller baskets. Newer models tend to show digital temp control in tighter steps, extra presets, and baskets with smoother nonstick coatings. These aren’t perfect tells, but they help when the sticker is gone.

Clue	Where To Check	What It Usually Tells You
Model number	Bottom or rear label	Lets you find the manual and the product’s first retail window.
Production code	Label near wattage and voltage	May include week/year coding tied to factory runs.
Control style	Front panel	Dials lean older; dense digital presets lean newer.
Basket coating	Inside the basket and crisper plate	Smoother, sturdier coatings are common on newer units.
Accessory ecosystem	Brand site parts store	More accessory options often signal a later model line.
Wattage range	Label	Higher wattage often lines up with larger baskets and later releases.

Why The Late 2010s Felt Like The “Air Fryer Boom”

Even if air fryers have been around since the late 2000s, many people only noticed them later. A few practical forces pushed that shift.

• Price drops: More brands entered the aisle, and competition pulled costs down.
• Bigger capacity: Families wanted more than a snack basket, so basket sizes grew and oven-style units arrived.
• Recipe confidence: Once times and temps got shared widely, fewer meals felt like a gamble.
• Frozen food alignment: Air frying became the default way to crisp many freezer items without heating a full oven.

Where Air Fryers May Go Next

Air fryers are still changing, just in quieter ways. Better airflow design, easier cleaning, steadier temperature sensing, and more even tray layouts are the kinds of upgrades that show up model by model.

For most cooks, the real question isn’t whether the category is new. It’s whether a newer unit fixes the pain points that older ones had: tiny baskets, uneven browning, loud fans, or fiddly cleanup.

A Simple Timeline Answer You Can Share

If someone asks you, “How long have air fryers been around?” you can answer in one line: the modern countertop air fryer category started in the late 2000s, went mainstream after 2010, and exploded in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

That framing keeps the history honest, respects the older convection roots, and still matches what people mean when they say “air fryer” today.