• Disclosure & Privacy
  • Soupmaker Club
  • Newest Toy Reviews
  • Rolling Back The Years
  • High Protein Cooking

Scottish Mum

Blogger Aberdeen, Blogger Scotland, Health and Lifestyle Blogger Aberdeen, Lesley Smith Blogger, Aberdeen

  • My Recipe E-Books
    • Soup Maker Recipes: Book 1 – 60 Soup Maker Recipes
    • Soup Maker Recipes Book 2 – 30 More Tasty Soups
  • Food
    • Food Tips & Safety
    • High Protein
    • Low Carb
    • Soup Maker Recipes
    • Video Recipes
  • Recipes
    • Baking & Sweet Treats
    • Drinks & Shakes
    • Fish
    • Froothie Recipes
    • Jams & Preserves
    • Low Carb
    • Mains
    • Pancakes
    • Pasta Dishes
    • Pressure Cooking – Instant Pot
    • Puddings
    • Puree for Children / Dementia Care
    • Salad
    • Sandwiches
    • Sides & Vegetables
    • Slow Cooking
    • Soup Maker
    • Soups
    • Spicy and Aromatic
    • Stock
  • Lifestyle
    • Adoption
    • Blogging Tips
    • Charity
    • Family
    • Health and Wellbeing
    • In The News
    • Parenting
    • Rolling Back The Years
    • Special Needs
    • Technology
  • Contact

Reviews

Review: Tefal Actifry for Ideal World TV Shopping

I’ve wanted a Tefal Actifry for a long time, but had never got round to buying one.  When the Ideal World TV Shopping Channel gave me the opportunity to try one, there was no way I could resist at all.  Everyone from people going to Weight Watchers to grannies kept talking about them and they sat on the shelves of one of our local shops, just tempting me to try it.Tegal Actifry Express XL 2 255

I was sent the Tefal Actifry Express XL which states it can cook for 6 people, which I thought would fit us perfectly as a family of 6.

The Official Stats

  • Cooks 1kg of chips in less than 30 minutes – up to 30% faster than the original Actifry 1kg!
  • Cooks with one spoonful of oil for six portions of chips.
  • Can be used for Curries, Stir Fries, Casseroles and more.
  • Automatic Stirring.
  • Easy Clean.
  • Cooks food from frozen.
  • Dishwasher safe parts.

Scottish Mum Thoughts

Chips

I’ve made a fair few things in mine now.  I haven’t tried casserole or curry yet as I suspect the portion for six wouldn’t be enough for my family.  I have three strapping lads, two of whom eat portions that would fear you and are still like bean poles.  The man is the same.  The rest of us eat regular sized portions.

I’ve found that 1kg of chips in the fryer are simply not enough for us all, but 2kg are too much.  The 1.5kg mark for chips would have been perfect.  Saying that, if your family all eat regular sized portions, or the kids are younger, you could feed six easily from 1kg of cooked chips.  I used oil with the chopped up potatoes, but when I used frozen chips with a light sunflower oil coating, I didn’t bother adding any oil to the pan at all.

Actifry Express XL 4
Actifry Express XL 3
Actifry Express XL 6

I tried and failed miserably to peel, chop, dry and cook potatoes from fresh.  Not that it’s an issue, as frozen chips are cheaper to buy and cooked much more consistently for me.  A definite winner that way.  I’ve learned that for our crispy chips, I need to do two rounds of chips, but I find ours are ready around the fifteen to eighteen minute mark for around 1kg.  I put those in the oven until the second lot are done.

Sausages

Complete success, no matter what I did.  Again, my machine cooked more quickly than the manual stated.  I’m beginning to know my machine now and what to expect from it, but keep an eye out on your first few tries, as it doesn’t take long to go from perfectly done to very well overcooked.  The sausages were not planned at all.  My youngest went into the shop to buy a couple of sweeties and he came out with a pack of Richmonds.

Actifry Express XL 12

I didn’t bother to add any oil to sausages. I figured there would be enough coming out of the meat, though I did prick each sausage a couple of times with a fork to stop them bursting.

There was a fair amount of fat left in the fryer to get rid of afterwards but much simpler than using my oven grill pan and faffing about with the rack and tin foil etc.

Chicken & Vegetables

I have to say, the jury is out on my first attempt with chicken.  Not because of the chicken, but the one gripe I have about the machine, is the stirring paddle that moves the food about.  It’s a little difficult to clean with some foods.  I very unthoughtfully put full chicken breasts into the base of the fryer and set it to go.

Actifry Express XL 13
Actifry Express XL 14 FFG Chicken

These are very large chicken breasts from my local butcher, so I don’t know if those make a difference, but they were too big for the machine and I ended up having to chop them up before putting them back in.

When we’d finished eating, I tried to clean the machine, which is dead easy for the pan and the lid, but for the life of me, I couldn’t get the chicken fat off the plastic paddle.  I tried scrubbing, boiling water, put it in the dishwasher, and it still had a layer on it.  In the end, I took Ajax and a scourer to it which worked.  Perhaps I should have added oil for the chicken….

The base of the pan is a dream to clean.  I can’t help wishing the paddle was made of the same stuff, but it’s a small gripe.

Actifry Express XL 18 FFG Stir Fry

I threw in some vegetables after the chicken was cooked and finished those in the Actifry as there were only four of us for supper that night.  If we’d been a full compliment of six, I suspect I’d have had to transfer to my cast iron pan to finish off.  The joys of having strapping lads to feed I suppose.

Summary

Great machine.  Takes up more room than I expected, but it’s sturdy and robust and pretty reliable in cooking terms.  Chicken nuggets will be our next try.  There is room for improvement though, and I’d like a slightly larger output for my family, so I suspect the 2 in 1 Dual Layer Actifry would have been the better option for us, but I’m not complaining.

If I were only feeding a few of us, I might never see a need to use a frying pan again, but given that I don’t own a deep fat fryer at all, this is a very nice addition to my kitchen.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Email
  • Print
  • Instagram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Telegram

Related


6 Comments

Advertisement

My Soup Maker E-Books

Advertisement
 

« Everyone has a right to be heard. Find out about ACC from the NHS.
Win a Luxury Hamper worth around £200 from Hamlyn’s Oats. Ends 04 May 2015. »

Comments

  1. Susan Mann says

    April 10, 2015 at 8:22 am

    Great review, I\’ve been wondering about these. Can you cook things like tempura chicken in it? X

    Reply
    • Scottish Mum says

      April 10, 2015 at 4:01 pm

      We’ve done chicken nuggets now 🙂 Which I guess would be quite similar. Newly home made was tougher as fresh and pliable, which stuggled as the paddle turned, but frozen ones cooked perfectly. I’d be tempted to try without the stirring paddle on my next go and interrupt the cooking in the way I would do with an oven and turn them over manually. i’ll need to check the instructions to find out if that’s a safe way to use it.

      The crisper result than being in the oven and without the masses of oil in a regular fryer make it worthwhile for me, and it might be worth finding someone you know who has one and giving it a go to see what you think. We’ve done meatballs now which came out perfectly too.

      Reply
  2. RedSetter says

    April 6, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    Interesting to read your review as I\’ve wondered if the actifry might be worthwhile. Given the time it takes to cook oven chips I\’m rather wondering if lobbing them and the sausages in the oven to cook might not have been more economical? I think I\’ll stick with my oven and pans but it is always really good to read an honest review of gadgets.

    Reply
    • Scottish Mum says

      April 6, 2015 at 9:39 pm

      I do love it, I have to say. I really dislike cleaning the frying pan, hob and grill pan so and it’s easier for sausages or to brown meat for a casserole. For most families, it would be perfectly fine and the kids do prefer the chips from the Actify to the chips straight from the oven and I have a bad habit of forgetting things in the oven or unevenly cooking them. This stops it completely.

      If I was buying, I would def go for the 2 in 1 to do meat and chips at the same time though. When this one is at the end of its life, it’s the 2 in 1 I’ll go for.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. @thefifer1314 says:
    April 6, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    RT @Scottish_Mum: Review: Tefal Actifry for Ideal World TV Shopping http://t.co/pvYHBZnbsW

    Reply
  2. @Scottish_Mum says:
    April 6, 2015 at 2:52 pm

    Review: Tefal Actifry for Ideal World TV Shopping http://t.co/pvYHBZnbsW

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Advertisement

Get my latest news to your inbox - FREE

Advertisements




My E-Books on Amazon

Advertisement

Links and Disclosure on Scottish Mum

This website contains affiliate links and banner adverts, mainly labelled advertisement.

Opinions are always my own and are not brand influenced. Links to brands are not guaranteed, & are at my discretion.

Posts which are commissioned by/in collaboration with brands, supported by brands, or reviews, will be labelled as such.

A wee note, and I am so sorry I have to add this to my website.

I sincerely thank the huge amount of readers that show up weekly to read my wee blog, and this note doesn’t apply to the majority of you.

I’m not perfect, and this website is free to browse, read, and use my recipes.  It’s a personal website, not a big business.  Sometimes I make mistakes.  If you find one, I’d like you to let me know so I can fix it, but please don’t call me names.

Also, please don’t use my photographs anywhere else, as I have taken most of them myself.  With some photographs, I’ve paid to be able to use them or been given the right to use them by their owners.

If you wish to use my photographs, please ask.

 

Get my latest news to your inbox - FREE

Giveaways

Giveaway & Competition – Hot Stone Massage in Aberdeen, Worth £70

Giveaway: Win one of the toughest cables on earth, worth £25. Ends 10 Feb 16

Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100

Copyright © 2023 ·

Copyright © 2023 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience.
We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can leave if you wish. Rejecting cookies will take you to google.com, leaving the scottish mum blog website. Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT