The RICARDO Air Fryer is a single-basket air fryer with a 7.7-quart capacity. Widely available throughout the Canadian market, we tested this model in collaboration with Radio-Canada, a local francophone media outlet. You can see their French language recommendation article and video investigation on air fryer performance. This air fryer features a 360-degree transparent window above the cooking chamber, which lets you monitor your recipe. There are 11 preset cooking programs to choose from and a button that keeps food warm. It also has an automatic preheat function and reminds you to shake your food halfway through the cooking time.
Our Verdict
The RICARDO Air Fryer is satisfactory for air frying. Foods like French fries, chicken nuggets, and vegetables come out mostly crispy and golden brown but with a substantial portion undercooked. It has a limited fan speed range with a disappointing maximum speed, so food cooks somewhat slowly compared to other models. It also has an automatic preheat function, a shake reminder, and a transparent top portion so you can see your food cook.
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Makes decent-quality fried food.
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Shake reminder halfway through cooking.
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Small fan speed range.
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Cooks somewhat slowly for an air fryer.
The RICARDO Air Fryer is good for large-batch cooking. Its 7.7-quart capacity is enough to serve four or five people. The basket has a very good amount of surface area, so you can easily arrange food in a single layer. It makes decent fried food but is fairly slow compared to other models. With a limited fan speed range, this air fryer is also less versatile than other options, although its temperature range is impressive.
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Makes decent-quality fried food.
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Very good amount of surface area for cooking.
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Small fan speed range.
The RICARDO Air Fryer has decent air frying performance, cooking most of your food to a crispy golden brown but also leaving about a third undercooked. It has a sub-par maximum fan speed and takes longer to air fry food than some other models. Its basket has a fairly large surface area, so you have space to arrange food in a single layer. Plus, it has good temperature stability, which makes following recipes easy.
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Makes decent-quality fried food.
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Leaves some food undercooked.
The RICARDO Air Fryer has a satisfactory cooking speed overall. It preheats quickly but takes longer to cook food than many other air fryers.
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Preheats quickly.
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Cooks somewhat slowly for an air fryer.
The RICARDO Air Fryer has a very good cooking capacity. Its 7.7-quart capacity is large enough to cook for four to five people, and its basket has a large surface area, so you can spread more food out in a single layer.
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Very good amount of surface area for cooking.
The RICARDO Air Fryer is a bit bulky, but its size makes sense for its capacity.
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Somewhat bulky design.
- 7.3 Air Frying
- 7.6 Large Batch Cooking
Performance Usages
- 7.3 Frying Performance
- 7.1 Cooking Speed
- 7.9 Cooking Capacity
- 7.3 Size
Changelog
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The RICARDO Air Fryer comes in 'Black.' Here's the label for the unit we tested.
If you come across another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update this review.
Compared To Other Air Fryers
The RICARDO Air Fryer is a medium-sized appliance that stands out for its transparent upper enclosure, which allows you to watch your food as it cooks. It includes an automatic preheat function and a shake reminder midway through cooking, which is nice to have, especially since these features aren't always included. This air fryer provides a very good amount of surface area for arranging food. However, some fryers with a smaller overall capacity, like the Instant Vortex Plus 140-3088-01, offer more area to arrange food in a single layer. Unfortunately, despite these features, its air frying performance is just satisfactory. It's also not as versatile as some other models, like the Ninja DoubleStack SL201 and the Beautiful 9QT TriZone, both of which have dual cooking baskets as well as larger ranges for temperature and fan speed, which is handy for more sensitive tasks like proofing dough and baking.
If you'd like more to consider, see our recommendations for the best air fryers, the best large-capacity air fryers, and the best budget and cheap air fryers.
The RICARDO Air Fryer, which is available on the Canadian market, and the Instant Vortex Plus 140-3088-01 perform similarly overall. Get the RICARDO if you want to make better-quality fried food, but the Instant if you are often in a rush and need to cook faster. Otherwise, there are minor differences in capacity and temperature stability to consider. While the RICARDO has a larger capacity, both air fryers have about the same amount of space to arrange food in a single layer. The RICARDO also regains its heat quicker after adding food to the basket, but its temperature fluctuates more during cooking.
The COSORI TurboBlaze is a better air fryer for most uses than the RICARDO Air Fryer, which is available on the Canadian market. The COSORI delivers better air-frying performance; it quickly crisps food, leaving just a small amount under or overcooked. On the other hand, the RICARDO takes longer to cook food and ultimately leaves about a third of each batch undercooked and mushy. The COSORI is also more versatile. It has a wider range of fan speeds, making it more suitable for a variety of recipes. That said, the RICARDO comes out ahead for temperature stability. It recovers its temperature faster after you add food to the basket and maintains a slightly more even temperature throughout cooking.
The Beautiful 9QT TriZone and the RICARDO Air Fryer, which is available on the Canadian market, each stand out for their design. Overall, they perform similarly, but the Beautiful has a slight edge. It's more versatile, with a wider range of temperatures and fan speeds, making it a better choice for baking and dehydrating. It also has two baskets, so you can cook food separately. Of course, this means it also takes up more space on your counter. Both air fryers make decent fried food, but they work slowly compared to other models and leave a large portion of your food undercooked. When it comes to design, the Beautiful air fryer has a modern, streamlined look and comes in a variety of colors. Conversely, the RICARDO only comes in black but features a transparent 360-degree enclosure on top that allows you to watch your food as it cooks.
The Dreo ChefMaker performs better than the RICARDO Air Fryer, which is available on the Canadian market. The Dreo makes better-quality fried food and does so faster. While the RICARDO has a larger overall capacity, the Dreo has nearly as much surface area in its basket, so arranging food in one layer is easier. The Dreo also has more cooking modes and a temperature probe. Plus, it connects with an app for more convenient cooking.
The RICARDO Air Fryer is better than the thinkkitchen Luminate. Both models feature a digital display and a way to see into the chamber while your food cooks, but the RICARDO delivers better air-frying performance and greater versatility. It produces more evenly cooked food and cooks it faster. The RICARDO has a wider temperature range and a variable fan speed, unlike the thinkkitchen. It also has a few more preset cooking methods, like 'Dehydrate' and 'Reheat.' Plus, its temperature remains more stable throughout the cooking process, so it's a better choice for baking and other finicky recipes.
Test Results
Its basket is large enough to prepare food for about four to five people. While it provides a very good amount of surface area, some fryers with a smaller overall capacity, such as the 6.3-quart COSORI TurboBlaze, offer the same amount of space to arrange food in a single layer. Its crisper plate has a PTFE coating, making it easy to clean.
This air fryer is decently versatile, making it suitable for most uses. It has a wide range of temperature settings, though some fryers can reach a higher temperature. The fan speed doesn't change much between cooking methods; there's a lower speed setting for dehydrating, but the maximum fan speed isn't very high, impacting how quickly food cooks and how crispy it gets.
It has 11 different cooking modes; however, most are essentially identical, with only the default cook time changing between modes.
- Fries: 160°F – 400°F, 15 minutes
- Bacon: 160°F – 400°F, 10 minutes
- Whole Chicken: 160°F – 400°F, 60 minutes
- Chicken Drumsticks: 160°F – 400°F, 25 minutes
- Steak: 160°F – 400°F, 12 minutes
- Fish: 160°F – 400°F, 10 minutes
- Shrimps: 160°F – 400°F, 8 minutes
- Vegetables: 160°F – 400°F, 10 minutes
- Dehydrate: 80°F – 160°F, 300 minutes
- Reheat: 160°F – 400°F, 10 minutes
- Frozen Food: 80°F – 400°F, 15 minutes
After you select a program or manually input settings, the air fryer starts a preheating phase. It beeps five times and switches from preheating to cooking mode when it reaches the chosen temperature. You can skip the preheating phase by holding the start button for three seconds. There's also a shake reminder halfway through applicable programs; the fryer will beep five times and show "SHAKE" on its digital display. Finally, you can enable the "KEEP WARM" function, which runs for 15 minutes at 140°F by default.
This air fryer makes decent-quality fried food. By the time frozen French fries are cooked, the majority are crispy and golden brown. Unfortunately, the cooking process is inconsistent, and a large portion also comes out mushy.
This air fryer quickly preheats once you select a preset cooking program or custom temperature and time. It beeps five times to let you know when it's fully heated.
This air fryer has good temperature stability. It recovers its temperature impressively fast after you open the drawer to add food. However, the temperature fluctuates a fair bit while cooking, which makes preparing delicate foods or following a precise recipe tricky.
