Customer Reviews

Aroma ADF-212 Smart Fry XL Digital Dual-Basket Deep Fryer

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I was formerly a professional cook. I worked in restaurants and catering for 17 years. A person gets spoiled cooking with good equipment at work. It can be disappointing to go home and try to cook with standard household equipment, both in efficiency and results. I try to buy the best kitchen equipment I can afford.

When I chose this fryer, I deliberated for days. When it arrived and I examined the device, I was pretty sure I had chosen wisely. The heating elements and mechanisms reminded me of a small scale restaurant quality fryer.

The first time we used it, we had a fish fry for 6 people with fried pickles, onion rings, and ocean perch. Awesome! I was not disappointed. The unit worked flawlessly. The unit comes with two half baskets and a single large basket which were perfect for the different combinations of items we were frying. Our batters were fried crip, the unit maintained good temps, there was no burning, heat was evenly distributed, clean up was easy.

One side note, frying in your home will make your home smell like KFC or Long John Silvers, depending on what you are frying. It will linger for days. I use it outside on the deck to avoid this problem.

The construction is simple and the unit is fairly attractive if you like the look of professional grade stainless equipment. You can't go wrong with this one! Buy it. Buy it now. What are you waiting for? :)

Honestly I was a bit dubious of this product initially, considering its price point. But after having used it for the last few months I can definitely recommend it.
Previously I had a Delonghi, which was a great design but did not hold the temperature very well and eventually the drain hose began leaking (oddly they do not sell replacement hoses which is really ridiculous). I had never heard of Aroma before, but figured for this price it was worth a shot. Turned out to be a great purchase.
PROS
Much larger well than some of the other fryers I checked out and allows for the basket to submerge fairly deep. No problem covering the items fully in the oil.
Because of its size, the temperature stays pretty consistent, even when the basket is full.
Heats up fairly quickly considering the size of the well.
Pretty easy to clean, and the design of the well (it separates from the rest of the unit) makes it much easier to drain than I though it might.
Temperature gauge seems accurate
CONS
I HATE the way the timer on this is done... It's handled via a multi-function button, which you can easily screw up when you are in a hurry. No easy way to just put it "3 minutes" and let it go. For some people this will be less of a deal breaker than others, but seriously - I would pay 10 bucks more for the same unit with a real stand-alone easy-to-program timer.

Overall I highly recommend, especially if you do large batches of fries or tortillas. This is a great product for the money.

I purchased this item to be used to make french fries at a football concession stand. The unit is easy to operate and has a fairly quick recovery time between batches (about 3 to 5 minutes). One unit can cook about 60 lbs of defrosted french fries in five hours. The procedure I use is two step fry method described in the Joy of Cooking. With the two step method and advance preparation, the unit can keep up with demand when the pre-cooked fries are cooked a second time for only 2 minutes. The fryer is very easy to clean.

Bought this to replace a T-Fal Maxi-Fryer that was impossible to clean thoroughly. See my photos of the Aroma at the top of the fryer's home page.

OPERATION:
1) It took 18 minutes to reach 375F from room temperature. Three relatively quiet beeps indicate the set temp. is reached. This could benefit from being louder when you have kids and TV noise in the background. As mentioned in other reviews the filtered exhaust is right in front of the control unit, so you have to be careful not to get steamed when accessing the controls - approach from the side.
2) The manual doesn't explain how to use the timer manually, concentrating on the 10 built-in pre-sets for food types. I have determined that the timer can only be set once the oil has reached the temperature you have programmed in. Once the oil reaches temperature and the 3 beeps have occurred, press the temp/timer button to display the timer. Set the timer to your desired time (30 second increments, then press the on/off button. The timer will immediately start to count down. Disappointment: The timer can only be set when the oil is at the set temp. If you add food and the temp drops from the desired setting, pressing the on/off button to start the timer results in you shutting the fryer off! You can adjust the timer once it starts even if the temp is low. A major design flaw is that the timer appears to turn off the power when the timer has counted down to zero! The manual says the beeper will sound when the timer has counted down to zero. I didn't hear it! RECOMMENDATION: Just use another timer and ignore the built-in. This one is too complicated for its own good and you risk getting scalded anyway.
3) Safety risk: Although the oil bowl is suspended away from the stainless body, the air gap is not enough insulation. The outside surface gets very hot - you can only hold your finger on it for just under a second. The T-Fal Maxi-Fry was a cool-touch plastic body. The plastic handles are cool to the touch but DON'T try and move the fryer once it is full and hot. It is very heavy and you'll spill very hot oil. It will take about 4 hours for the oil to cool down. Be extra careful with this fryer!
4) Make sure you have plenty of room next to the fryer to lay down the lid. The lid is thin stainless and can get easily bent. Be careful when cleaning it as you might get cut by the edges if you have soft skin. Try and keep the fryer well back on the counter as the basket handles protrude quite a way and can get knocked if you are not careful.
5) The window in the lid is really not much use. Water/oil condenses on it and makes it impossible to see anything once frying has started.
6) The carbon filter really is of little use as the lid is not sealed when in place (the T-Fal Maxi-Fry did seal but had no filter!) and the smell of frying will escape anyway when you remove the lid. I suppose it will help reduce the amount of smell in the kitchen when the lid is on and frying. The carbon filter kit is $4 from Aroma and it is recommended to be replaced every 30 uses. 6) At the maximum oil level (20 cups/1.25 gall), there is only just over an inch of depth above the heating element. This is not much when you want to fry battered food. Obviously, using the basket for battered food will result in your food being embedded in the basket's mesh and the batter will tear off when you TRY ;-) to remove the food. The basket choices (2 small and one large) are good though for other "solid" foods.

CLEANING: This unit is very easy to clean since the oil container removes completely, (as does the heating element which sits in the oil), and it has nice plain enamel-coated walls and simple edges. Pouring out the oil from a corner is straightforward with no drips running down the outside of the container. You will find stubborn sticky oil staining at the oil level and just above, both on the container walls and the element. It just takes a little more elbow grease to remove that. It takes about 4 hours for the oil to cool down, but the heating element can be removed for cleaning while the oil is still warm (but not hot). Hold the cooler display unit, wash and rinse just the element in the dish water, dry, then rest it upside down, resting on the display unit and element ends (like a pyramid). The end of the heating element cools quickly, but the element at the 90 degree bend up to the display stays hot longer. This technique allows the heating element to be cleaned and allowed to fully cool down without damaging the surface it is sitting on. Alternatively, just wait until everything is room temperature! Note: The brushed stainless steel body tends to attract finger marks which are not so easy to remove.

UPDATE (Jan 7 2010):
- When frying 2 baskets of fries together, (homemade, thick-cut, kept pre-prepared in water from the fridge and shaken dry before frying) I noticed that the oil dropped to about 290F from the 350F setting and did not seem to warm up beyond 305F during initial cooking. I let the fries cook for a short while, then suspended them them out of the oil and let the oil recover for a couple minutes. I then re-immersed the fries. That way I was able to complete the frying around 345F.
- Regarding the filter comment in 6) above, most of the steam comes out of the slots for the basket handles !
- I fried some battered veggies without using the baskets and that worked fine. Note that filling the oil to the very top of the pressed MAX mark does result in the baskets not being quite out of the oil when suspended.
- The tabs on the stainless steel filter cover are not spring steel, so when you pull them back to remove the filter cover watch out for how much you bend them. I had to bend one back to get it to catch correctly on the lid when re-installing.
- Second use for the fryer went better than the first (was more organized knowing what to expect) and I didn't bother with the built-in timer. It cleaned up like new and did its job well. Still like it!

CONCLUSION: I do like it! A high capacity fryer that does a good job at a good value and can be very easily cleaned to be like new after use. Just be aware/careful of its design flaws - hot surface temperatures, useless timer, thin stainless steel and protruding handles.

I received this fryer for Christmas from my husband. I have two other fryers. I wanted a fryer that would allow me to cook more than one item at a time. This fryer is perfect. I used it last night for the first time. We had some friends over and cooked fried Shrimp, Fish, Oysters and French Fries. We used the large basket for the fish and french fries. The smaller two baskets were used for the shrimp and oysters. The cooking oil never burned. The temperture held real well. It only took a few minutes to return to the temperature we had it set on. The maximum temperature it has is 375 degrees which is perfect. Clean up is a breeze. The fryer has the outside stainless steel frame the inside is another non stick removable pan. The heating element and control is all in one and slips in to the inner pan. When you need to clean up all you do is remove the control/element and clean the inside pan. The element sits above the bottom a little so it allows any fish fry or flour to rest a the bottom of the pan below the element. PREFECT. I have to say all the ideas I thought needed to be changed from my old fryers have been corrected with this one. Good Job to the Aroma business. I would highly recommend this fryer.

OK,Let me save you alot of time. I am a review nut who does weeks of homework on any product I buy. I MEAN EVERY PRODUCT! I had a Delongi roto fryer,it was my second one,but the second lasted much less time than the first one.They are making them cheaper (quality wise).So I set out to find a better fryer and one that could cook more food. We are a family of three,and had to do multiple batches with the delongi. After dozens I reviewed on line and in the stores,I found this fryer,and I'm SO glad I did!
JUST BUY IT!
It does huge amounts of food,holds very hot temps.,and is very well designed! We love the versitle dual baskets,and the one huge basket.Easy clean,and is nice enough looking to stay on the counter!
Add in the fact that it's from Amazon,and you can't lose!

This is the biggest capacity frier I could find in this price range that had all the good features I wanted. It has a broad temp range, recovers quickly when cold food is put in, dual baskets or 1 big basket, and most importantly a built in thermomiter that is accurate and can see quick temp changes of about 10 degrees. It is much more responcive than my analog fry thermomiter. I especially love the digital controlls.

It is good to get a 5 liter frier even if you are making a small ammount of food because the greater capacity of oil means less of a drop in heat when food is put in. This equates to food that is less greasy.

This is a great fryer as far as cooking goes. However, the timer and temperature settings are next to impossible to set. Maybe I just got a bad one, as others seem to not have any problems. Also, the controls are right over where the hot steam comes out if you have the lid on, so getting burned is easy to do. I wish I had bought one that had one simple dial to set temperature and a light to come on when that setting was reached. I don't mind using my watch to time.

This is the 3rd deep fryer I've purchased over the years and by far the best and my favorite. I was initially hesitant to buy because I was unfamiliar with the brand - but this fryer outperforms more familiar brand names I've had experiences with.
THINGS I LOVE :
- the initial price was very reasonable
- The digital display allows for easy temp setting - shows you the temps progression - and beeps when it is at temp
- Gets up to temp very quickly and maintains that temp very well once you start cooking
- the choice of basket sizes - either 1 large or 2 smaller - simplifies cooking multiple items or satisfies larger quantities
- the machine comes apart very easily for quick cleaning
- everything I've cooked so far has come out perfect - from french fries to jalepeno poppers to chicken strips
THINGS THAT I WOULD CHANGE :
- the lid should be hinged to the machine rather than simply lifting off
- it would be nice if the basket handles folded flat - a personal preference - I have a tendency to knock into them

All and all I love this deep fryer and would buy another in a minute - funny thing is, I probably won't have too !

This is the large capacity fryer that we were looking for; you can actually lay a piece of haddock flat when making fish 'n chips!
It takes a fair amount of time to reach the 370 degree setting for the chips, but the end result has been consistently good food, not dripping with grease. In short, an excellent large capacity fryer.
Two points that stopped me giving it five stars: (i) the exterior surface of the product gets as hot as the oil so keep it out of harm's way and out of reach of kids and pets. (ii) the time and temp control is mounted at the back so if you make an adjustment when you're frying, your wrist gets scalded by the steam emitting from the filter - the design engineer clearly doesn't use the product!