Air fryer vs oven: what real meals cost to cook at 2026 prices

Quick answer: At the current 26.11p/kWh rate, a whole roast chicken costs about 14p in an air fryer and 30p in a built-in electric oven, based on Which? lab measurements from June 2026. For one or two portions the air fryer wins every time. Cook for four or more at once and the oven claws it back.

How the costs are measured

We haven’t run these tests ourselves; the figures below are lab measurements published by Which? (updated June 2026) and the Energy Saving Trust, both checked August 2026. Which? metered the actual energy used, including preheating, and costed it at 26.11p/kWh, the July to September 2026 cap rate for direct debit customers. Same food, same quantities, two appliances.

You can estimate any appliance yourself with the same formula: watts x hours / 1,000 = kWh, then kWh x 26.11p = cost. The formula assumes full power for the whole cook, which oven thermostats rarely do, so metered figures like these are the ones to trust.

What four real meals cost to cook

Source: Which? air fryer vs oven test, using a Bosch Serie 2 built-in oven and a Morphy Richards air fryer. The pattern is consistent: the air fryer used between a quarter and half the oven’s energy on every dish, and was faster on all four.

The Energy Saving Trust’s own lab work agrees on the direction: a 600g chicken breast costs about 14p in an air fryer against 20p in an electric oven in Great Britain.

Why does the air fryer win on small portions?

An air fryer is a small fan oven. It heats a few litres of air instead of 60 or 70, so it reaches temperature in a couple of minutes and wastes less heat around the food. No preheat, shorter cook, smaller space: that’s the whole trick.

Which? found the savings held across dishes but noticed the limits. Their air fryer took a maximum of 500g of chips and one jacket potato at a time, and the chicken had to be a small one at around 1.3kg. Per portion, the air fryer is the cheapest way to cook hot food with electricity. Per tray-load, it isn’t.

When does the oven win?

Batch cooking. The moment you need two air fryer runs to feed the table, its advantage halves or disappears; three runs and the oven is cheaper and less faff. Roast chicken at 14p is a bargain until you remember the potatoes, the parsnips and the Yorkshire puddings that would happily share the oven’s shelf space for the same 30p.

So the honest rule for a family of four: use the oven when you’re filling it, and the air fryer when you’re not. Batch cook in a full oven, refrigerate portions, then reheat in the microwave, which is cheaper than both: about 4p to cook a 400g ready-made lasagne, per the Energy Saving Trust. We compare that trio properly in our microwave vs oven vs hob guide.

What about the hob, the slow cooker and the kettle?

The Energy Saving Trust’s lab figures fill in the rest of the kitchen. A hob session typically costs 11p to 28p in Great Britain, which makes it decent value for quick meals like pasta or an omelette. A slow cooker turned 3.6kg of beef stew into several meals for about 34p, cheap per portion despite the long hours. And cooking overall is only around 3 per cent of a typical home’s energy use, so none of this should keep you up at night.

One detail worth stealing from their findings: if you have an electric hob, boil pan water in the kettle first, then transfer it. The kettle heats water faster and wastes less. On a gas hob the kettle trick saves energy but not money, because gas units cost 7.33p/kWh against electricity’s 26.11p.

Does an air fryer pay for itself?

Which? puts the saving on a weekly roast chicken at around £8 a year. Cook with it four or five times a week instead and you’re plausibly £30 to £50 a year better off, hedged on what you displace: replacing oven cooks saves the most, replacing gas hob cooking saves little, because gas units cost about 7.33p/kWh against electricity’s 26.11p.

The machines Which? tested ranged from £30 to £285. A £40 air fryer used several times a week pays for itself within a year or two. A £285 one is a cooking upgrade, not a money-saving device; it could take five years or more to break even on energy alone. Our original air fryer vs oven running costs overview covers the appliance-level comparison, and our kettle costs guide deals with the other counter-top question we get asked most.

FAQs

How much electricity does an air fryer use per meal?

In the Which? tests, between 0.22 and 0.54 kWh per dish, or 6p to 14p at 26.11p/kWh. A typical air fryer meal costs about 10p in electricity.

Is an air fryer cheaper than a gas oven?

Usually still yes for small portions, but the gap narrows a lot because gas costs about 7.33p per kWh against 26.11p for electricity. A gas oven cook that uses 1.5 kWh of gas costs around 11p, in the same territory as the air fryer.

Should I stop using my oven?

No. Keep it for batch cooking, big roasts and anything that fills more than one shelf. The cheapest kitchen uses the smallest appliance that fits the job: microwave for reheating, air fryer for one or two portions, oven when it’s full.