Russell Hobbs’s express air fry mini oven makes the perfect pizza but we were left feeling hungry for more

Our initial thoughts on seeing the box were that this is going to be a really big, bulky and complex piece of kitchen kit. While it is similar in size to your average microwave, it could not be more simple to set up. While we did need two people to wrestle the mini oven out of its packaging, this was the only strenuous part of the setup. The machine itself was really light to lift and, thanks to the easy-to-follow guide included, we had it up and ready to cook in less than 10 minutes. Simply plug it into the mains and away you go – though do note the cable is quite short, so it needs to be fairly close to a socket.

How do you use the Russell Hobbs express air fry mini oven?

We’ll start by saying this mini oven claims to do a lot. With functions to grill, toast, air fry, keep warm and cook like a conventional oven, it feels like this could replace your usual cooker altogether. The manual explains how to get the best results from each function, as well as suggesting the best times to air fry things such as chicken nuggets, chips and pizza. So, naturally, we had to put each of these functions and foods to the test.

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Oven

Given that Russell Hobbs has named this a “mini oven”, we were expecting this feature to be a stand out, but we have to be honest – it was a little underwhelming. The brand claims that its 1,500W fan – which distributes heat evenly – should be able to cook things up to nearly three-times faster than a conventional oven, but, in our experience, cooking times were much the same as in our regular oven, with the results either on, or slightly below, par. That being said, we did appreciate the fact preheating the mini oven was four-times faster than our standard oven, so we could get to cooking quicker.

The real selling point for using this instead of your conventional cooker is the fact that it’s supposedly 60 per cent more energy efficient. While we can’t attest to whether this stat is wholly accurate, much like running a microwave or other smaller kitchen appliance, it was nice to know we weren’t using tons of electricity for one small meal.

Air frying

With its own specific function, when wanting to air fry using the Russell Hobbs mini oven, there’s very little you need to do. Just load up the dedicated mesh tray with your chips, nuggets or fish fingers, slide it into the oven (the position doesn’t matter too much, but we always opted for the middle) and then select your time. You should then have perfect crispy but juicy nuggets or crunchy but fluffy chips in less than 15 minutes.

In our experience, the air-fry function is among the best on the mini oven, but it’s still not perfect. We found chips needed to be shaken up about halfway through frying, to ensure even cooking, while nuggets often needed an extra 5-10 minutes to get them cooked all the way through. Was it faster than using our oven? Probably not, but the results, in spite of the time, were still pretty good.

By far the best thing to air fry, though, was pizza. While we did have to cut a large pie in half, a 12in pizza will just about fit (if you don’t mind the edges being slightly squished). Compared with the 20 minutes the same pizza needed in the oven, when air fried, it took half that time – perfect for feeding hungry guests in a hurry. The edges were crisp and the base was beautifully even – in fact, it reminded us more of a wood-fired pizza base. Bellissima!

Other features

The other functions on the mini oven include toasting, grilling and keep warm. They’re each a nice extra to have but we used them the least throughout our time testing, so wouldn’t necessarily say they’re a key selling point. That’s a shame, as we were really hoping the grill would revolutionise our grilled cheese game.

We don’t have a grill on our normal oven, so we were excited to try this out. Perhaps it’s our lack of experience, but this didn’t give us the perfectly toasted bread and gooey cheese combo we were hoping for. While the toasting function is perfectly good at getting an even brown slice – it reminded us of those fancy toasters you see at an all-inclusive hotel breakfast – we won’t be saying sayonara to our four-slice anytime soon.

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Of all the functions, we probably used the keep warm setting the least. Though, we imagine this might be a godsend when cooking for a large number of people or for when your timings on a cooked breakfast end up slightly out of whack.

How do you clean the Russell Hobbs express air fry mini oven?

Despite having no dishwasher-friendly parts (silently sobs), the Russell Hobbs mini oven is actually very easy to clean. The drip tray slides out from underneath, to clear out any crumbs – a bit of advice, you’ll want to do this regularly if air frying – and is easy to wipe clean. Similarly, a damp cloth should remove any grease or fingerprints from the exterior and glass door, while all the interior shelves will be fine to wash up with your regular dish soap.

How much is the Russell Hobbs express air fry mini oven?

The Russell Hobbs mini oven retails around the £100 mark, including on the brand’s own website, which is where we sourced ours. Compared with some air fryers on the market, it is relatively cheap and, seeing as it has multiple functions that could help novice cooks do it all, we think it’s a pretty good price.

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