I have the XL Advance model, and the XXL is noticeably larger. It also has a few improvements over the XL model:
The food basket for the XL is non-stick on the sides and has a wire mesh bottom that is secured in place by metal tabs. It can be tedious to clean. The XXL has a coated mesh bottom that is simple to remove, it cleans up easily, and there is no burnt on grease around the edges to deal with. Those like me who don’t use a dishwasher will appreciate this.
The drawer on the XL is one piece, the one on the XXL has two pieces. The base has the starfish shape and then there is a piece with cutouts that fits on top of the base. It’s called a fat reducer, and it allows rendered fat or oil to drain into the bottom of the pan. This helps to keep the fat and oil from smoking.
The XL serves up to 4 people and is equivalent to a 3.5-quart air fryer. The XXL serves up to 6 people and is the equivalent of a 4-quart air fryer. For a whole chicken, the maximum size suggested in the user guide for the XXL is 53 ounces/3.3 lbs. I cooked a 4.3 lb chicken in the XXL with no trouble. Placing it in the basket on the diagonal so the head and tail end are towards the corners is best. The same size chicken in the XL will work, but it’s a bit tighter and can be troublesome to turn.
I was surprised at how much better this model cooks than the XL version. I would have to turn or shake some things in the XL, but with the XXL, I noticed that even without turning, the bottom of everything that I have cooked so far, browned just as well the top. I am really pleased with the performance of this newest air fryer from Philips. I have owned a couple of different air fryers and neither can compare with the performance of the Philips air fryers.
I like that the food basket separates completely from the drawer. The part by the handle is not a part of the body of the air fryer. Just slide the drawer out and lift the food basket right out, no buttons to push or break, and no fear that the bottom will separate from the food basket as it is removed from the air fryer. The entire basket assembly is nonstick so metal utensils and scouring pads shouldn’t be used.
The only quirky thing about the analog features of the Viva XXL is that if there is a need to decrease the amount of time set on the timer, trying to turn the dial back is a little tricky. It’s not a game changer, just a slightly annoying feature.
The XXL comes with a recipe book that has 32 recipes with color photos. The recipes include meat, fish, and vegetable dishes that are either roasted or fried, and there are dessert and pastry recipes. The book also has a For Kids section that includes a small number of recipes. Additional recipes and tips are available on the philips.com/kitchen website or on the free Airfryer App for IOS or Android which has over 200 recipes.
Overall, I recommend this air fryer, it’s a bit pricey, but I think it is a worthwhile investment.
