Why have air fryers become so popular in India?
A few years ago, I barely paid any attention to air fryers. They seemed like another kitchen appliance that would take up space on the counter and eventually end up inside a cabinet. But somewhere along the way, they became hard to ignore. Friends started buying them, brands started launching more models, and suddenly my Instagram feed was full of air fryer recipe reels.
So I decided to buy one too, and was surprised by how easily it fitted into my everyday cooking. Whether I wanted a quick snack after work, wanted to reheat leftover pizza without making it soggy, or simply wanted something crispy without filling a pan with oil, the air fryer made things much easier. That got me thinking about why so many people have started bringing one into their kitchens.
For many buyers, this is probably where the attraction starts. We all like fried food, but deep frying means using a fair amount of oil. An air fryer gives you a way to get a similar crispy texture while using much less oil for many foods.
That makes it especially appealing to people who are trying to cut down on oil but don’t want to completely give up things like fries, tikkis, samosas or frozen snacks. It is also easy to see why this message works so well in a market where health and diet have become bigger parts of everyday food choices.
Of course, calling everything made in an air fryer “healthy” would be a stretch. A samosa is still a samosa even if you cook it in an air fryer. But reducing the amount of added oil can make a real difference depending on what you are cooking.
As someone who simply hates to stand in the kitchen while cooking a deep fried snack, I just love how much convenience an air fryer offers. Deep frying something means heating the oil, keeping an eye on the food and dealing with the oil afterwards. With an air fryer, you can usually put the food in the basket, select a temperature and timer, and get on with something else while it cooks.
Someone coming home after work and wanting a quick snack or dinner may not want to set up a pan, heat oil and clean everything afterwards. An air fryer can handle a small portion without much preparation.
It also works well for reheating. Pizza, fries, kebabs and other foods that can become soggy in a microwave often come out much better in an air fryer.
Earlier, air fryers were mostly associated with fries and chicken wings. Scroll through Instagram or YouTube now and the list is much longer. People are cooking all sorts of things in them, from paneer, vegetables and sandwiches to kebabs, roasted makhana and even desserts. There are also several YouTube channels and Instagram pages dedicated entirely to air fryer recipes, giving people plenty of ideas to experiment with. I have even noticed my own Instagram feed filling up with air fryer recipe reels these days.
That constant stream of short recipes has probably helped the category more than traditional advertising could. Someone may not have planned to buy an air fryer, but seeing a five-minute recipe for crispy paneer or a quick evening snack can suddenly make the appliance look useful. It has also made the learning curve feel smaller. You don’t need to know much about cooking to start experimenting with one.
And it is not just my Instagram feed. The air fryer category is seeing real growth in India too. Kearney estimates that the Indian air fryer market was worth around ₹600-700 crore in 2025, growing at 14-16% a year. Around 2.3 million air fryers were sold in the country last year, according to industry reports.
Amazon India has also seen strong growth in the category. The company says air fryers are among its fastest-growing kitchen appliance categories, with sales more than doubling year-on-year. Nearly 9 out of 10 people buying an air fryer on Amazon are first-time buyers.
The brands selling these appliances are also putting more money into the category. Versuni, which owns the Philips domestic appliances business, has been expanding its manufacturing in India. In March 2026, it added an air fryer motor production line at its Chennai facility with an initial capacity of 750,000 units a year.
There is clearly a lot more happening here than people simply posting air fryer recipes online. People are buying them, many of them for the first time, and manufacturers are increasing their capacity to meet that demand.
Another reason for the air fryer’s growth is that there is now a much wider choice. You can find basic models aimed at first-time buyers, larger models for families and more expensive options with features such as dual baskets, digital controls, presets and different cooking modes. That gives people plenty of options depending on how much they want to spend and how much they plan to use the appliance.
With more brands entering the category, the air fryer no longer feels like an expensive or unusual gadget. It became another appliance you could compare while shopping for a microwave, mixer or other kitchen equipment.
There is one part of the air fryer story that is harder to measure: how often people actually use them. Buying one because you want healthier fries is easy. Using it several times a week six months later is a different matter.
For some people, it becomes genuinely useful for everyday cooking and reheating. For others (count me in), the excitement wears off and the air fryer ends up sitting on the kitchen counter or inside a cabinet.
The real test is what happens after that initial excitement wears off. People may buy an air fryer because they like the idea of cooking with less oil or making quick snacks, but it needs to be useful enough to become a regular part of their kitchen routine and earn permanent space on the counter.
After using one myself, I can understand why people are buying them. It makes small cooking jobs easier, uses less oil for many foods and saves me from dealing with a pan full of hot oil. I still don’t use it every single day, and as I mentioned earlier, sometimes it does end up sitting unused for a while.
But the growing sales suggest that plenty of people are finding enough reasons to keep using theirs. With millions of units being sold, more first-time buyers entering the category and brands putting more focus on air fryer production, this looks like more than a short-lived kitchen trend.
For me, the air fryer has ended up being one of those appliances that I don’t always think I need, but I’m glad to have when I want a quick snack or need to reheat something. And judging by how many people are buying them, I’m clearly not the only one.