Cosori Lite Air Fryer review

To find out just how evenly and successfully this air fryer performs, we used it to cook both sweet and savoury foods. This included a portion of frozen chips using no oil and a batch of chicken tenders seasoned in garlic and paprika.

We also used it to make these 10 minute air fryer kale chips and followed this recipe for air fryer chocolate cake.

In the box comes the air fryer and a comprehensive user manual and quick start guide. 

Unlike the Dual Blaze, there’s no packing cardboard to remove from under the element of this Lite design. To set it up all we needed to do was plug it in, give the body a wipe down and simply wash the basket of the air fryer by hand before drying it and placing it back in the drawer ready to use.    

We reached for the quick start guide to get connected to the app so we could start using the air fryer’s smart controls straight away. It runs off the same VeSync app as the Cosori Dual Blaze 6.4L Smart Air Fryer and you can add more than one appliance to the app.

While we couldn’t use the app to start the air fryer, we could use it to monitor its progress from afar. You can also connect to third-party devices such as Google Assistant or Alexa and control the air fryer using your voice.

We found it very easy to connect the Cosori Lite Air Fryer to the VeSync app and were ready to browse the app’s library of recipes within minutes. For more inspiration, you can also join the Cosori Cooks Community on Facebook or find a dedicated air fryer recipe section on the Cosori website.

Aesthetically, the Cosori Lite Air Fryer is one of the most stylish designs we’ve come across and it arrives in a choice of either ‘Truffle Grey’ or ‘White Peach’ finish to suit your kitchen scheme.

We tested the ‘White Peach’ version and admired the contrast of orange trim that lines the control panel and handle. The handle also comes with orange-coloured grooves that make it easy to grip and comfortable, while the basket slides out smoothly too. At just 32.5cm (12.8in) in height, the air fryer will neatly sit underneath your wall units. 

We think the manual control panel on the Cosori Lite Air Fryer is simply yet purposefully designed to include useful settings. These include a dedicated ‘Shake’ setting, a ‘Keep Warm’ setting and one for instant preheating. 

The control panel includes five pre-set cooking modes that, while handy, possibly aren’t the most obvious options. You can choose from ‘Chicken’, ‘Fries’, ‘Bacon’, ‘Steak’ and ‘Veggies’.

While it doesn’t have a ‘max crisp’, ‘bake’ or ‘dehydrate’ setting, it does offer a wide variable control range – from 75°C to 230°C (167°F to 446°F) – that you can easily tailor depending on whether you’re cooking sweet or savoury foods.

While it’s smaller than your average air fryer, the Corsori Lite Air Fryer is designed to cook 30% faster than the original Cosori model.  

We found the temperature range to be wide – from 75°C to 230°C (167°F to 446°F) – and you can adjust it easily with the control panel or app. You can also set the cooking time up to an hour. 

Navigating the app was straightforward and we found it easy to monitor the progress of our food remotely.

While it was useful to see how long there was left to cook, we couldn’t make adjustments in the app while the air fryer was cooking without turning the cycle off and starting it again. For safety reasons, the app doesn’t allow you to start the cooking cycle remotely either, so you’ll need to be on hand to get the air fryer set up and working.  

Before cooking a recipe in the air fryer, there’s a ‘Pre Heat’ setting you can use to warm up the machine. We liked the simplicity of being able to press this and heat the machine up for four minutes at 205°C (401°F).

We were also particularly pleased to see a dedicated ‘Shake’ button on board. We pressed it at the start of the cycle and the air fryer beeped five times mid-cooking cycle to remind us that it was time to check and shake our food. There’s also a ‘Keep Warm’ setting that you can press at the start of the cycle, although you can’t use both the ‘Shake’ setting and ‘Keep Warm’ setting at the same time. 

To see how well the air fryer cooks, we used it to make chicken tenders, cook frozen fries, make air fryer kale crisps and bake a chocolate cake.

To start, we placed 450g (1lb) of frozen crinkle cut chips into the air fryer drawer, with no added oil, and pressed the Fries setting. This suggested 15 minutes at 200°C (392°F) and while we checked in on the fries when the ‘Shake’ setting reminded us, the end results were a little too crispy for our liking.

We tried again, reducing the cooking time to 13 minutes, which is just when the chips started to crisp.

Our next task was to cook a batch of naked chicken tenders, seasoned in oil, garlic and paprika. We chose the ‘Chicken’ setting, which rather randomly suggested 13 minutes at 210°C (410°F).

This seemed to work well for this small portion for two, and the chicken came out nicely browned after the allotted time and not too dry. 

To find out how well it could handle vegetable crisps, we followed a recipe for air fryer kale chips.

After washing and drying the kale – and spraying it with olive oil and sprinkling with sea salt – we loaded it in a single layer in the basket.

We placed it on 190°C (374°CF) for four minutes, and while it came out evenly cooked, it didn’t look or taste too appetising.

We wouldn’t say this is a fault of the air fryer, but just the fact that air fryer kale chips are an acquired taste. The recipe suggests seasoning with herbs and spices after cooking if you want to add more flavour, but we decided to give that a miss.

Our final test was to make air fryer chocolate cake.

The recipe calls for air frying for 10 minutes at 180°C (356°F) and then reducing to 160°C (320°F) for the final 25 minutes. As the cake tin was considerably smaller than the one in the recipe we decided to try 180°C (356°F) for 10 minutes and drop down to 160°C (320°F) for the final 15.

When the cycle ended we checked in on the centre of the cake using a knife and while the exterior had nicely risen and cooked, the inside was still wet. Another eight minutes in the air fryer seemed to fix this and even things out.

As we found out, it’s important to remember to take the crisper plate out of the drawer before placing the cake tin inside. The crisper plate is grooved and will make the base uneven and topple the cake tin over, which is what happened to us. Taking it out also gives the cake more room to rise. 

We really enjoyed using the Cosori Lite Air Fryer and found it easy to wash after use. Both the basket and crisper plate are dishwasher-safe if you’d prefer a shortcut to cleaning.

The control panel can get quite dirty from fingerprints, but these marks can be easily buffed off regularly with a damp cloth. If you opt for the ‘White Peach’ design, it may be more susceptible to marks over time than the ‘Truffle Grey’ option.

For more advice on cleaning, read our how to clean an air fryer feature. 

We found the handle remained cool to touch while in use, but the sides of the air fryer can naturally get a little hot, but not worryingly so.

We were impressed with how quietly this air fryer operates too, and measured it at a 57.8 decibels with the Decibel Meter App. In comparison, we measured the larger Cosori Dual Blaze 6.4L Smart Art Fryer at around the 65.5dB mark.

We have yet to find a sub-£100 air fryer that offers smart app capability, and for this reason we think the Cosori Lite Air Fryer is excellent value for money.

The ‘Shake’, ‘Keep Warm’ and ‘Pre Heat’ settings are also handy extras.

To get the best value from your air fryer, just remember to check that the 3.8L (6.7-pint) capacity basket will suit the number of people you’re cooking for.

You will struggle to find a four-litre (seven-pint) air fryer online that has the smart app capability of the Cosori Lite Air Fryer.

The four-litre (seven-pint) Tower T17067 air fryer is online at a discounted and very reasonable £49.99 (at time of writing), and while it’s compact and easy to navigate, it doesn’t have smart control and its temperature is limited to 200°C.

For a similarly stylish finish and size to the Cosori Lite Air Fryer, you could try the four-litre (seven-pint) Karaca Air Fryer that is currently discounted to under £100 at Amazon, and comes in a choice of colours including ‘Ruby’ and ‘Starlight’ as well as grey.

If you’ve got your heart set on smart control, both the Philips Essential XL Connected HD9280/91 air fryer and the Cosori Dual Blaze 6.4L Smart air fryer are options to consider – although they are considerably larger in design compared to the Lite and more expensive as well.

The maximum temperature on this smart air fryer is 230°C, which we think is ideal for creating that crispy, fried finish you can only get with a deep fryer.

We really enjoyed the simple control panel settings that came in very useful when cooking chicken, chips and cake. The ‘Shake’, ‘Keep Warm’ and ‘Pre Heat’ settings are a particularly clever design call. 

While we think the smart app is a rather superfluous addition – as you can’t actually start the machine remotely – it does come loaded with lots of inspirational recipes that may just come in handy when you’re stuck for ideas on what to cook on a rainy Wednesday.