I tried this unique foldable air fryer, and it's a great space-saver

I’ve tested dozens of air fryers over the last few years, so I thought I had seen it all when it comes to these popular countertop appliances. However, the new Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold Digital Air Fryer offers not one, but two unique features that I had never encountered before!

What makes this new model stand out from the crowd? First, this air fryer has a “folding” design that nests inside itself for more compact storage, which is handy for anyone short on space. Second, it has a glass basket and inner light that let you monitor your food while it's cooking—it’s much easier than peering into a tiny tinted window.

While it definitely has some interesting features, we wanted to know if this air fryer can compete with the other top-rated models we’ve tested in terms of cooking performance, too. I put the Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold Digital Air Fryer through its paces in my kitchen for a few weeks, and while it’s a solid mid-priced option, it does have a few downsides you’ll want to know about before you buy.

Gourmia Fry 'N Fold review: Price and availability

The Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold Digital Air Fryer is exclusive to Target and retails for $79.99. This price point is middle-of-the-road compared to today’s best air fryers, which can cost anywhere from $40 to $200.

Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold review: First impressions

The 7-quart Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold Digital Air Fryer is made up of three different sections. The top piece, which is the most substantial, contains the control panel, power cord, and heating element, and it sits on top of the base, which is U-shaped and doesn’t contain any electronic components. When these two pieces are slotted together, you can slide the glass cooking basket into the middle. I was a bit surprised at the weight of the basket—it’s much heavier than expected, likely because its walls are made from thick glass.

As you may have guessed, the air’s fryer’s multi-part design makes it easier to store. When the unit is off (and cooled down), the top piece can be flipped upside down and nested inside the basket. This reduces the unit’s size by around half, making it much more manageable to stash in a cupboard or cabinet. It’s a handy option if you want a large-capacity air fryer but are short on space.

The other unique feature on this air fryer is its cooking basket, which is made from glass and allows you to easily see inside while it’s cooking. It’s much easier to monitor the doneness of your food compared to other air fryers that just have small windows. However, if you’re specifically looking at this air fryer because of its glass basket, it’s important to note that the cooking area isn’t fully glass—something that’s not clear if you’re looking at the product photos. The bottom of the basket is covered with a mirrored material that seems to be glued into place, and the crisping tray (which is necessary for proper air circulation) is metal with a PFOA-free nonstick finish.

Beyond these key features, the Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold is straightforward to use. It has a digital control panel with 10 one-touch cooking functions for foods like French fries and bacon, and you can also adjust its time and temperature to suit your own recipes. The control panel is very intuitive, and it also includes an optional pre-heat cycle to warm up the appliance and/or a mid-cycle alarm that lets you know when food needs to be flipped.

Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold review: Performance

To see how the Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold compares to other air fryers that I’ve tested, I tried it out in my kitchen for two weeks. Between my partner and I, we generally use the air fryer every day to whip up a quick lunch, make a side dish for dinner, or reheat leftovers, so the Gourmia had its work cut out for it. Here are some of the foods we cooked in the air fryer and how it performed.

Cooking frozen food

In my house, we frequently use the air fryer to cook frozen foods, including things like French fries, chicken, taquitos, and pizza rolls. One of the first foods I cooked in the Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold Air Fryer was a batch of premade chicken tenders. The product says to air fry them at 350 for 6 minutes, but I’ve found that’s generally not enough time for them to crisp up. Instead, I programmed the unit to air fry at 350 for 10 minutes, and I turned on both the pre-heat and mid-cycle alarm options.

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The air fryer took three or four minutes to heat up, after which it beeps and displays “Add food” on its digital screen. It beeps again halfway through the cycle, prompting you to turn your food, and the noise is loud enough that I can easily hear it from the next room. After 10 minutes, the chicken tenders weren’t quite as browned as I like, so I put them back in for an additional two minutes. When the timer went off again, the chicken was perfectly cooked with a beautifully crispy exterior.

Over the course of testing, my partner and I used this air fryer to make a variety of other frozen foods, and we found that it often needed a few extra minutes to properly cook them. We quickly learned to just tack on a few extra minutes when cooking frozen foods.

Baking biscuits

The Gourmia has a designated bake setting, and I used it to make some biscuits for dinner one night. I followed the directions on the package, setting the air fryer to 400 degrees and allowing it to come up to temperature before inserting the dough. I was able to fit five biscuits in the basket with lots of room to spare—I would guess that you could cook around eight to 10 biscuits comfortably, which is nice if you have a bigger household.

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This was an occasion when I was glad the air fryer has a see-through basket. The package said to cook the dough for six to 11 minutes, so I set the timer to eight minutes. However, I glanced over after just five minutes of cooking, and the biscuits were almost done! They only needed another minute before they were nicely puffed up and golden brown, and if I had left them in for the full eight minutes, I think they would have burned. Based on this experience, I’d recommend opting for a shorter cook time if you’re using the appliance for baking.

Making french fries

I love making homemade French fries with leftover potatoes, and an air fryer is, by far, the easiest way to cook them up to perfection. To see how the Gourmia would fare with this classic cooking task, I sliced up two white potatoes and tossed them with some oil and seasoning. The unit has a designated French fry setting that defaults to 400 degrees and 15 minutes, and it automatically turns on the mid-cycle shake setting, too.

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The Gourmia’s basket is just the right size to hold two servings of French fries without too much overlap, but if you’re cooking for a crowd, you’ll have to work in batches. Halfway through the cooking cycle, my fries were just beginning to turn crisp up. I did find that the basket is a bit hard to shake—because it’s heavy and the glass gets very hot while cooking, I had to use two hands to carefully jiggle the basket to agitate the fries so they would cook evenly.

By the end of the 15 minutes, my fries were lightly browned around the edges, but I prefer them to be a bit cripsier. I put them back in for two additional minutes, after which they were perfectly cooked and tasted great.

Cooking bacon

I’m a big proponent of cooking bacon in the air fryer, so I whipped up a batch one day for breakfast using the Gourmia. I was able to fit five strips in the basket with minimal overlap, but the strips were a tiny bit too long and had to fold over on themselves a bit. The air fryer has a one-touch bacon option that automatically sets the unit to six minutes at 375 degrees. This seemed short to me, and I was surprised to find that it doesn’t include a preheat cycle or mid-cycle flip. However, I decided to just use the pre-programmed settings to see how the bacon turned out.

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As I suspected might happen, the bacon wasn’t even close to being cooked after just six minutes. I flipped the strips, then put them back in for six more minutes. When the timer went off again, the bacon was well cooked and crispy, though they might be too well-done for some people. Next time, I'll probably start the bacon at around 10 minutes and go from there.

Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold review: Cleaning

While this air fryer’s glass basket makes it easy to monitor food as it cooks, it’s also quite the hassle to keep clean. Only the crisper tray is dishwasher safe, so the basket has to be hand-washed. The see-through walls let you see all the crumbs and grease inside, and the mirrored bottom actually reflects the gunk, making it even more visible. I always felt like I needed to clean it right away after use, and I found the glass requires more effort to get clean than a classic nonstick basket. On more than one occasion, I washed out the basket, only to realize the walls still had some unsightly grease streaks. If you’re someone who likes your appliances to look immaculate, just know that you’ll have your work cut out for you with this air fryer.

I also noticed that some grease and gunk tends to accumulate around the edges of the bottom mirrored plate, and it’s tricky to get out. The best option I found is to go in with a wet paper towel to clean around the edges, as a normal sponge generally can’t get into the tight area.

Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold review: How does it compare?

If you have a small kitchen, the best compact air fryer we’ve tested is the Instant Vortex Slim, which has a small overall footprint but still boasts a 6-quart capacity. We love that it has intuitive controls, and it’s much easier to keep clean than the Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold, thanks to its nonstick finish. However, it’s a bit more expensive than the Gourmia, retailing for around $120, and it doesn’t break down into a smaller form for storage.

The new T-Fal Infrared Air Fryer, which costs $130, is another compact option for your kitchen. We love that it’s small and lightweight, making it easy to move around as needed, and its infrared cooking abilities aced all our tests. The only downsides of this model are that its basket is only suited for one or two servings at a time and there’s no mid-cycle shake alarm.

Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold review: Verdict

In the ever-expanding lineup of air fryers available today, the Gourmia Fry ‘N Fold Digital Air Fryer definitely stands out thanks to a few interesting features. Its foldable design is quite handy if you’re short on space, and its glass basket is unbeatable if you want to monitor your food as it cooks. It also performed well in all of our cooking tests, though a few of its one-touch settings did miss the mark.

Our biggest complaint about this air fryer is that it’s hard to keep clean. The glass walls often get splattered with grease, and the mirrored bottom reflects crumbs and other gunk. If you like things to look pristine or just don’t like hand-washing appliances, this might not be the best appliance for your kitchen.

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