Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL EY701 review: Big, powerful and more complicated than it needs to be
Summary
Quick verdict: Tefal’s biggest air fryer is fast and effective but its cooking pre-sets aren’t as intuitive as they could be.
- Large basket size
- Affordable price tag for such a large model
- Easy to clean
- Pre-set cooking functions aren’t straightforward
- Basket doesn’t slide in and out smoothly
- Included instructions could be more clear
Tefal offers several air fryer models and the brand took home the 2019/2020 Finder Retail Award for the best air fryer brand, as voted by consumers.
The brand's largest model, the Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL EY701, offers just about everything you could want in an air fryer including 8 pre-set cooking modes and an LED touchscreen.
Design
Image: Sarah Brandon/Finder
The Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL is pretty stylish as far as air fryers go. Made of stainless steel with black plastic accents, it won't look out of place in any kitchen.
It has a large 5.6L basket that fits 1.6kg worth of food. The basket's removable parts are dishwasher safe and easy to wipe down with a sponge.
The top of the unit has an LED touchscreen with all of the unit's controls including an on/off switch, temperature controls, timer, and 8 pre-set cooking functions for fries, steak, shrimp, bake, pizza, fish, grill and roast.
The temperature is adjustable from 80 to 200°C and the timer goes up to 60 minutes and automatically shuts off when it reaches zero.
Image: Sarah Brandon/Finder
The front of the machine holds a display that shows the time and temperature in easy to see blue numerals.
Under the display is the basket and handle.
The basket design is my biggest issue with this model. The rounded basket doesn't sit flat if you slide it even slightly out of the unit. So if you want to pull the basket out to pause cooking and add something else or shake the contents, I recommend using the pause button instead of pulling the basket out. I learned this the hard way when I left the basket sitting slightly ajar while I grabbed a few spices and the entire basket slid out and crashed onto the floor, spilling cauliflower all over my kitchen.
Image: Sarah Brandon/Finder
Unfortunately, I did this several more times while using it as I somehow couldn't seem to remember not to leave the basket ajar while in the middle of cooking. I've gotten used to doing this to pause the cooking process with other air fryers and it was surprisingly challenging to retrain my brain to stop. However, I admit that this might not be a problem for all users.
The basket design also has a unique dip in the middle, and small foods like fries and cauliflower florets tend to accumulate in the middle, making them burn more quickly than the rest of the food
Performance
Image: Sarah Brandon/Finder
The Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL is easy to set up – all you have to do is plug it in and turn it on. However, the instructions for the pre-set cooking functions aren't as clear as they could be.
The instructions include 8 icons representing each function instead of text and I had to Google what each one represented, as the user guide was lacking this information. After checking out a few customer reviews, it looks like this is a common complaint from users.
The included instruction booklet isn't particularly helpful. It's full of images but doesn't include any text descriptions.
Image: Sarah Brandon/Finder
It's also not entirely clear what temperature or cooking time each pre-set uses, and overall, I found the pre-sets to be much less useful than I hoped they would be.
I preferred to cook using the manual temperature and timer settings, which were, fortunately, extremely easy to use.
This Tefal unit also is slightly louder than some other air fryers I've used.
Over several months, I cooked a variety of vegetables, both fresh and frozen. The basket is big enough to fit plenty of food for 2 people (or more) and even when it's full, it cooks the food evenly. However, as I mentioned, small foods get caught in the middle of the basket and need to be spread out manually.
My toaster broke a few months ago so I've also been relying on my air fryer for toast and the Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe falls a little short when it comes to evenly cooked toast.
It definitely crisps up the bread, but it doesn't give it the all-over satisfying crunch you get from a toaster, or from other air fryers I've tested.
Image: Sarah Brandon/Finder
Cleaning and maintenance
The Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL is easy to clean and requires little maintenance. The removable parts of the basket are dishwasher safe and the whole thing is easy to wipe down or scrub with a sponge.
After several months of regular use, everything is still working as it should be. Although the 4 rubber feet that hold the drip tray in place have started sliding around when I clean the tray.
Should you buy the Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL EY701?
- Buy it if you want a large air fryer with a digital display and an affordable price tag.
- Don't buy it if you don't have a lot of kitchen space or want basic, easy-to-use controls.
The Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL gets no complaints from me when it comes to cooking. The basket is big enough to fit everything I need for a meal and it cooks food evenly and quickly.
However, the digital controls leave a lot to be desired. The pre-set cooking functions are needlessly complicated and the included instruction booklet is no help. After several frustrating attempts, I ended up only using the manual cooking functions and ignoring the extra features entirely.
One of the biggest selling points for the Deluxe XXL is the price tag of $349, which is less than a lot of similarly-sized air fryers, especially ones with digital controls. For example, the Philips Premium Air Fryer XXL, which costs over $200 more than Tefal's XXL model.
For the price, the Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL has a lot to offer, even if all of the features don't work as well as promised.
Pricing and availability
How we tested:
I used the Tefal Easy Fry Deluxe XXL EY701 for around 2 months, cooking a variety of vegetables, baked goods and frozen foods in it daily.
Specifications
Specs
Features
