Progress WW 3.2L Air Fryer review

To test just how flexible the Progress WW 3.2L Air Fryer is, we used it to cook a selection of different foods.

Air fryers are best known for cooking foods with that deep fat-fried finish but using little to no oil, so we wanted to know whether the meal we cooked in this design came out just as tasty as it would if cooked in a deep fryer. 

A great test of how good an air fryer performs is to use it to make a batch of chips, so we decided to make homemade chips using King Edward potatoes and a spray of oil.

We also followed the recipe for Naked Chicken Tenders and compared the results with other single air fryers we’ve tested, such as the Lakeland Digital Compact Air Fryer and the Ninja Air Fryer Max AF160UK.

Finally, we decided to see how well this air fryer works at cooking red meat, so we placed 12 meatballs inside and hit the air fryer button. We also assessed the air fryer on design, performance, temperature and timing controls, and ease of cleaning.

While some bulky air fryers can take up a lot of space on the worktop and are impossible to store in kitchen units, this design certainly won’t offend. Looks-wise, there’s nothing imposing about the Progress WW 3.2L Air Fryer and you probably won’t find yourself asking “where on earth am I going to store this?”. 

At 3.2kg (7lbs), it is light enough to pick up easily and as its only 26.3cm (10in) in height, it can sit neatly on the worktop and be pushed under standard kitchen units. 

While its black and silver plastic finish isn’t as premium as your average air fryer, we found that it felt comfortable to use and the design was well realised for all your basic air frying tasks, such as cooking a batch of chips.

We found the 3.2 litre cooking basket is surprisingly roomy, in fact. While you’d struggle to fit a whole chicken inside the cooking drawer, it did well for us to house at least six chicken tenders and chips for up to four people. 

The sides of the air fryer can get a little hot in use, but the handle stays cool to touch, which means you can open it and shake the basket mid-cooking cycle with confidence.

The control dials are simple to use without reading the instructions, but we did find ourselves wondering where the off button was. Unfortunately, you’ll need to wait for the cooking cycle to finish, pull out the cooking drawer or unplug the air fryer to stop it in its tracks.

A non-stick grill at the base of the cooking drawer also ensures any oil is drained away from your food.

In terms of power and even cooking performance, the Progress WW 3.2L Air Fryer did well for us. At 1,300 watts, it’s quite powerful – the equally effective Lakeland Digital Compact air fryer is 1,200 watts, for example.

The Progress WW 3.2L Air Fryer is built to tackle a range of foods, and while there aren’t any preset cooking modes built in, it does highlight cook times for all the main food groups. On the top of the air fryer you’ll see suggestions written for food such as chips (200°C/392°F for 18-25 minutes), fried chicken (200°C/392°F for 15-22 minutes), cupcakes (160°C/320°F for 12 to 15 minutes) and more. 

The air fryer comes with a book, Weight Watchers Feel Good Food: 100 Recipes to Live Happy and Healthy, which is included in the price. While we were expecting to see this packed with lots of air fryer-specific recipes, we found that it’s more of a general cookbook for low-calorie meals.

Inside, we did find a recipe for Air Fryer Green Bean Fries and Air Fryer Spice-rubbed Salmon, but the majority of meals are sauce-based dishes that need to be cooked on the hob or are best suited to the oven. You can, however, adapt some of them to suit the air fryer, such as the Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Apple Baked Crisps. 

On first use, we needed to run the air fryer for 10 minutes without food to get rid of any smoke or odour. For each recipe it suggests factoring in preheating times. While this doesn’t run automatically, a power indicator and green heat indicator light illuminate to let you know the air fryer is heating up. Once it’s hot enough, the green light will switch off and you’re good to go. 

To see how well the air fryer could cook homemade chips, we peeled and cut some potatoes, washed and dried them, coated them in a teaspoon of oil and placed them in the air fryer. We preheated the air fryer for three minutes, then set the timer to 15 minutes at 200°C (392°F) and shook the basket halfway through.

While some of the chips came out a little browner and crispier than others, we think this was probably due to the chips not being sufficiently coated in oil. The overall taste was good, with the chips cooked evenly inside, complete with a nice crunch.

We washed the basket and then tried cooking a batch of meatballs. We set it to 180°C (356°F) for 15 minutes. This was plenty to cook the meatballs and while they looked evenly cooked, they came out a little crunchier than we’d like. In hindsight, 12 minutes would have been plenty. 

We also tried cooking some chicken tenders. After coating them in garlic, paprika and oil as the recipe suggests, we cooked them for 15 minutes at 200°C (392°F). The results were impressive, with chicken that was succulent inside and nicely crisp on the outside. 

Overall, while we found that the air fryer performs perfectly well for cooking red meat, fish, poultry and potatoes, there are a few features we think could be improved.

For a start, you can’t stop the timer and temperature dials once you’ve turned them on. Unless you open the drawer or actively unplug the device, there’s no way to revert the timer and stop the cooking cycle. While some may find the simplicity of the dial easy to use and uncomplicated, others may find the fact that you can’t easily correct the timing and temperature a little annoying. That said, the fact that it’s sub-£50 and produces effective results means this is something we could probably live with.

As this is such a light air fryer, we found it easy to move around the worktop and slide to the back once we’d finished using it. With its compact size, it could even be stored in one of the larger kitchen cupboards – although the instructions do advise that to keep it in best condition, you shouldn’t wrap the cord around the body of the air fryer.  

There is a clicking noise throughout the cycle as the timer counts down, which you will notice, but it’s not that loud in use. We used the Decibel Meter app to measure the air fryer while cooking chips and found that at 58.2 decibels, the overall noise levels are lower than your average design. 

The basket and grill aren’t dishwasher safe, so we washed them by hand with warm, soapy water, which we found easy to do. The tray is non-stick, which makes it easy to wash off all the grease.

The body of the air fryer didn’t get that dirty in our tests either, and could easily be kept looking fresh by wiping it down with a damp cloth.

Progress sells a wide range of air fryers on its Progress Cookshop website, with the WW 3.2L Air Fryer just marginally cheaper than the others.

For a couple of pounds more you can buy the slightly larger 4.5 litre (8 pint) Hot Air Fryer, for example, which costs £49.99.

If you’re looking for air fryers sub-£50, there are a few options available.

The Tower T17023 Vortx Manual Air Fryer Oven with Rapid Air Circulation costs £42.99 on Amazon, for example, but is 1 litre (1.75 pints) smaller.

Probably best suited for solo cooking, it’s not an all-singing and all-dancing air fryer, but it cooks well enough and is also nice and small, so a good choice for smaller kitchens.

Then there’s the Salter EK2817 Compact 2L (3.5 pint) Hot Air Fryer that costs £37.99, but again it’s slightly smaller in usable capacity. 

The neat, compact design means it roughly takes up the same space as a large electric kettle, so is good for those places with small worktop surfaces. And with a two litre capacity, you should be able to cook for two easily enough.

With its simple-to-use timer and temperature dials, non-stick coated cooking tray and lightweight body, we think this Progress 3.2L air fryer is a good-value buy for those looking to spend under £50 on an air fryer.

While it doesn’t have the premium finish of high-end air fryers, it’s compact on the worktop and easy to lift and move around. It’s much lighter and smaller than your average air fryer, but still has an ample capacity to cook portions for up to four people at a time.

It comes with a Weight Watchers recipe book to offer inspiration. While this isn’t specifically tailored for air fryer cooking, it does have a lot of delicious recipes for you to try out.