Cosori TurboBlaze 6-litre Air Fryer – tried and tested

When we tested the 3.8ltr Cosori Lite Air Fryer in 2023 we were impressed. It was one of the smaller air fryers on the market, but it was relatively speedy and solidly reliable. A trustworthy buy for a single person or smaller household.

So when we heard that Cosori had brought out the 6-litre TurboBlaze, with added features and even quicker cooking times, we had to try it. Could it really be that much better than the Lite?

Having put the fryer through its paces, here’s what we thought…

Ease of set up

As with most basket-style air fryers, the Cosori TurboBlaze Air Fryer is very easy to set up. Simply unpack from the box, wash up the drawer and crisp plate, and you’re good to go.

The recommendation is to run the air fryer on a standard setting for 15 minutes to burn off any residues left from the manufacturing process before putting food inside, and that’s when some machines can let off a bit of an odour. This one doesn’t thankfully.

The machine has four ‘turbo’ modes – Air Fry, Roast, Grill and Frozen – and another six preset modes – Preheat, Reheat, Dry, Bake, Proof and Warm – showing the variety of things you can do in this fryer.

One of the things I really love about it is the responsive nature of the digital touch screen. There’s no prodding at the buttons needed, one tap and you’re away.

This machine is also quite melodic. Rather than the usual shrill alarm at the end of the cooking time, it plays a jaunty little sound, almost like a tune. It doesn’t make the fryer any more effective, it’s just a nice touch.

For anyone not used to using drawer air fryers, the drawer clicks into place with a little button at the top of the handle, so you need to remember to press this before trying to get it out. Not all air fryers have this, so it can catch you out if you’re not concentrating.

Cooking results – cooking chips in the Cosori TurboBlaze Air Fryer

It may be small but it is mighty – a phrase that feels like it was invented for this machine.

In all honesty, the fact that it’s an air fryer means that it isn’t actually all that small, but compared to other air fryers on the market it’s definitely not the biggest.

My first test in an air fryer is always to make handcut chips. For these, I cut a couple of potatoes into generous fry-sized pieces and left them to soak in a bowl of water for a couple of minutes to remove the starch.

After draining them thoroughly and drying off with kitchen towel, I popped them into the fryer in pretty much one layer. The basket for this fryer is deceptively spacious, meaning that there wasn’t that much overlap, even though I’d added a good amount of chips.

I set the temperature initially at 190°C and the timer for 15 minutes.

I decided to check how they were getting on at the 10 minute mark and I was glad I did because they were already starting to go quite brown in places. So I turned the temperature down to 180°C.

After another 5 minutes I checked them again and they were perfectly cooked. Nice and fluffy in the middle, a good level of crisp on the outside. No oil needed.

Raw potato to fully cooked in just 15 minutes. This is something I’ve only previously seen with the Ninja, so I’m already impressed.

A selling point of this machine is that it doesn’t need the mid-time shake as it promises even cooking. I would really agree with this as the bottom of the chips were browned in the same way as the tops. Another big tick for this machine.

Dehydrating apple slices in the Cosori TurboBlaze Air Fryer

I will start this section with a confession.

I had every intention of trying out the dehydrate function on this air fryer right up until I pressed the word ‘dry’ on the touch pad.

I’d thinly sliced my apple using a mandolin, I’d carefully laid the slices out on the crisp plate in the basket, I’d even sprinkled each slice with a little cinnamon to create the perfect flavour combo for my snack.

But as soon as I pressed the button and noticed that the temperature was set at 55°C and the time was set to 6 hours, I panicked. I couldn’t wait that long for my snack.

Now I shouldn’t have been surprised as dehydrating really does take a low temperature and a long time. That’s usual. But for my quick snack of apple crisps, I wasn’t prepared to wait that long.

So I tried setting the time to 30 minutes to see if that would do the job. These were very thin apple slices after all.

But once 30 minutes were up, the change was minimal. The dehydrate function really does its job as it should, there are no short cuts here.

Instead, I decided to change plan. I selected the ‘air fry’ function instead, put the temperature as low as it goes on this function – 150°C – and set the timer for 15 minutes.

This worked perfectly. After taking the crisps out of the fryer and leaving them to cool down and crisp up, I had super crunchy, perfectly caramelised apple slices that tasted deliciously sweet and almost like toffee apple. They don’t stay really crisp for long, so this really is a case of cook and eat within a couple of hours, but they make the most heavenly snack, and the air fryer really does give them an amazing crisp.

It’s worth noting that this time is only for really thin slices of apple. If you cut them by hand, they will need longer to dry them out properly. You can also skip the cinnamon sprinkling, but I think it adds a delicious flavour.

Baking banana bread in the Cosori TurboBlaze Air Fryer

Another confession. I love to bake in an air fryer, because it’s something you don’t realise that air fryers can actually do. And they’re really good at. I’ve rarely burnt anything in an air fryer, not like you do in an oven.

So when I set out to make this banana bread, I fully intended to make a loaf.

I whipped up a beautiful batter using our faithful vegan banana bread recipe and I loaded it into my usual loaf tin.

The trouble came when trying to fit the loaf tin into the air fryer basket. It was about 1cm too big. This is where silicone loaf tins and baking equipment can really come in handy in an air fryer. I would recommend investing if you’re going to be doing a lot of baking.

Undeterred, I scooped the batter out of the loaf tin and transferred it to my faithful paper cups. These are brilliant for air fryers as they’re a bit sturdier and keep their shape compared to thin paper cases.

So we were now making banana bread muffins instead. Fine.

I selected the ‘bake’ function, which automatically set the temperature to 165°C for 20 minutes – a lower temperature than the original recipe calls for, but the same time.

After the allotted time, the muffins had risen perfectly, the tops started to crack so you could see that the batter all looked cooked, and the skewer inserted into the muffin came out perfectly clean.

The tops of the muffins had started to brown, but definitely no burning in sight.

The only downside to cooking muffins in this air fryer is the size dictates that you can only fit four or five in at a time, so you’re going to need to cook in batches if you do have more.

Of course, if you make a loaf as you’re supposed to, you’ll be fine!

Overall verdict of the Cosori TurboBlaze Air Fryer

Using the Cosori TurboBlaze to cook a few different things, I really found it hard to find many things that I didn’t like about it.

Cosori is a woman-founded company, which is rare in the manufacturing world, the machine itself is very simple to use but has impressive functionality, and the food cooks quickly and really evenly. You don’t even need to stop what you’re doing for a mid-cook shake.

The chips were fluffy, the apple crisps were indeed super crisp, and the muffins rose perfectly. I’ll admit that I did try to cook a risotto directly in the basket rather than in a dish which didn’t go to plan, but that may well have been user error, so I’m reluctant to judge it poorly for that.

(My tip for cooking risotto in an air fryer is to cook it in a dish and cover it with foil so that the steam is contained, rather than trying to cook it just in the drawer).

It’s a great looking machine and has definitely been designed to rival the Ninja in terms of cooking speed and temperatures, which I think it does well. It proves how quickly air fryers are progressing.

So overall, my verdict is that it’s a fantastic option for a solo person or a couple, and great to send a student off to uni with, but if you’re looking to feed a family of four, or cook lots of different foods at the same time, this probably isn’t the machine for you.

The Cosori TurboBlaze is currently on offer at Amazon for £109.99 (RRP £159.99)

How we test air fryers

We thoroughly test each air fryer in order to write an informed, useful review that you can trust.

To do this, we follow the same process for every air fryer that we review.

First we unpack the box, look at what you get with the air fryer, and then follow the instructions that come with each specific air fryer to set it up.

The important thing for any air fryer is how it cooks food though, so we test each one at least three times. Firstly to cook homemade chips, then to cook a mock meat, and thirdly to either cook a baked item, or to test the frying ability, depending on the capabilities.

We judge the air fryers on how well they cook the food, how crisp the finish is, how long food takes to cook, how easy the machine is to use, how easy is it to clean, and how many extra capabilities/functions it has.

Each air fryer is then given a score out of 5, and rated on what purpose it is best suited to.

Want to put another air fryer to the test? Check out our guide to the best air fryers on the market