Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer review

When it comes to must-have kitchen gadgets, there’s no doubt that air fryers are in hot demand right now.

They use less oil than standard methods of frying, they use less energy than a conventional oven, and they can cook everything from chips to mock meats and even cupcakes.

But as with any popular piece of kitchen equipment there are several different brands and varieties to choose from, so which is the best air fryer?

We’re putting a range of different fryers to the test to see how they fare when it comes to cooking vegan air fryer recipes.

This time it’s the turn of the Lakeland Dual Drawer Air Fryer.

Does its ability to cook two different foods at the same time justify its £150 price tag? Read on to find out what we think after putting it to the test.

Pros

• Dual basket means you can cook two foods at different temperatures and different timings
• Very quiet fan
• Auto shut off once the cooking time is up
• Easy to clean
• Responsive digital display
• Great for family cooking
• Gives food a good crisp

Cons

• Bigger size wouldn’t work well in a smaller kitchen
• No mid-point ‘shake’ reminder
• The shape of the basket offers less flexibility for cooking in tins etc than an oven-style air fryer

Buy today at Amazon’s best price (£149.99)

Technical details

• Dimensions/size: ‎40cmD x 46cmW x 35cmH
• Functions: Dual basket air fryer
• Temperature range: 80° to 200°
• Cooking time range: 1 – 60 minutes
• Capacity: 9-litres
• Where to buy: Amazon

Ease of set up

One of the best things about basket air fryers is that there aren’t many parts, so they’re incredibly easy to set up. Just get the air fryer body out of the box, the drawers are already in place, so it’s only a matter of giving everything a good wash, inserting the trays and you’re good to go.

The instructions for Lakeland’s Dual Basket Air Fryer are very good, talking you through the basics of how much space you need to leave around the fryer when it’s on, through to how to use the different preset functions, and how to clean the baskets after use.

If anything, the in-depth nature of the instructions makes the dual basket aspect look a little intimidating. They go into a lot of detail for the first basket on how to change the settings, the temperature and the time, and then there’s another chunky paragraph about the settings for the second drawer. But essentially they’re exactly the same, and so very simple to use.

Two for the price of one

The advantage of having two drawers rather than one is that you can cook two different foods at two different temperatures, for two different lengths of time.

Unlike oven-style air fryers which allow you to cook different foods simultaneously as long as everything is cooked at the same temperature, there’s a lot more flexibility.

One drawer has a 5.5 litre capacity, and the other a 3.5 litre capacity, so even the smaller drawer can fit a decent amount in.

This air fryer doesn’t automatically sync the cooking times of the two different drawers so that they finish cooking at the same time – some of the more expensive brands do offer this – but it’s easy enough to coincide timings yourself, so I didn’t find this a massive drawback.

The Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer has eight preset functions and the instruction book covers cooking times for additional ingredients.

There are three recipes included in the booklet (only one is vegan), so you’ll need to look elsewhere for your recipe inspiration, but for most people that won’t be a deal breaker.

Cooking results – cooking chips in the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer

As with all our air fryer tests, we started by cooking chips.

Following the instructions in the booklet, I cut three potatoes into medium sized chips (skin left on), washed them to remove excess starch, and then dried them thoroughly. I tossed them in 1 tbsp oil to lightly coat and help them to crisp up.

I used the larger drawer for cooking the chips. Three potatoes didn’t actually take up that much space in the drawer and you definitely could have fitted in more, which makes this fryer perfect for family cooking.

I used the chip preset which worked well, but as my chips were a little chunkier I did add 5 minutes to the time to take it up to 30 minutes of cooking time. They were perfect after this, with really light, fluffy insides and a good colour to the outside.

One downside to this fryer is that it doesn’t have a mid-point ‘shake’ timer, so you do have to remind yourself to give the chips a good shake halfway through cooking so that they cook more evenly.

The chips weren’t as crispy as they are when cooked in a lot of oil (unsurprisingly), but they did have a better level of crisp than some of the other air fryers I’ve tested, so I would put this up there as one of the better air fryers for cooking chips.

Cooking vegan chicken nuggets in the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer

To go alongside the chips, I decided to cook some vegan chicken nuggets in the second drawer to see how mock meats fare in the air fryer.

I tried two brands, one with a breadcrumb coating and the other with a southern fried batter.

I followed the packet instructions and set the timer for 14 minutes and the temperature at 190°C. I cooked 12 nuggets and these all fitted in one layer in the bottom of the small basket tray, showing that even the smaller basket has a decent size.

Once the nuggets were cooked I was really impressed by how crispy they had become, definitely taking on the texture of fried nuggets but without having to use any oil in the cooking process.

They cooked at a lower temperature than the chips so it was handy to have the two drawers which allowed me to cook both at the same time, but at different temperatures. I put the nuggets on later than the chips so they’d finish at roughly the same time, and even though the chips needed a few minutes longer the nuggets kept hot while they were waiting in the drawer.

I just needed to add some vegetables and had a complete meal ready with very little effort. This air fryer could quickly become an absolute saviour for busy families.

Cooking crispy chickpeas in the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer

For our third test in each air fryer we usually try to bake something, but when I saw the recipe for crispy chickpeas in the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer instruction manual, I had to give it a try.

The recipe just called for a tin of chickpeas to be washed and dried, then combined with spices and 2 tsp oil. I then fried the chickpeas at 190°C for the recommended 20 minutes. They weren’t quite crispy enough for my personal taste, so I gave them an extra 5 minutes.

The result was a perfect snack that’s far healthier than reaching for a bag of crisps, and the flavours can be adapted to suit your tastes.

These would also work really well to add some texture to a salad, or a bit of crunch to a rice dish, so I can see these becoming a firm favourite to cook in the air fryer.

Quick, cheap and nutritious, this is a definite win for air fryer snacks.

Buy today at Amazon’s best price (£149.99)

Overall verdict of the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer

I had heard quite a few good reports about the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer before I tested it, and it quickly became apparent why that was.

There’s no denying that the ability to cook two different foods at the same time makes life so much easier, and the results are better than if you’re trying to fudge timings and temperatures to make everything cook in the oven at the same time. It just gives you more flexibility.

For some people, the fact that the drawers don’t sync the cooking times may be a drawback, but the price of this machine is a lot lower than the air fryers that offer this capability, so to me it’s a compromise that I’m willing to make.

All three items that I cooked in the fryer came out really well, with the kind of crispy outside that I want to achieve by cooking in an air fryer.

It might not be quite as quick as some of the premium models, but you’re definitely going to save money compared to using your oven, so again I’m satisfied with that.

Having a total 9 litre capacity does mean that it’s quite a large piece of equipment and it is going to take up a good amount of space on your work surface, so as always that has to be a consideration.

For the price, however, I think this is a really great fryer with lots of undeniable benefits.

If you’re looking for a fryer that has the capacity to feed a family with ease, the flexibility to cook different foods at once, and a mid-range price, this machine certainly does tick all of those boxes.

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? See how the Lakeland Dual Basket Air Fryer compares to the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer