Princess Double Basket Aerofryer review: two air fryer baskets are better than one

Since Air fryers are still all the rage, we thought we’d give the keenly-priced Princess 01.182074.01.001 Double Basket Aerofryer a whirl. From hereon in I shall refrain from including the long sequence of numbers in the title because I’m reviewing an air fryer and not an internet MAC address.

Some of us at T3 are big fans of air fryers in general and have individually written yards of copy on the subject, including the best air fryer you can buy, six things I wish I'd known before I bought an air fryer, how to use an air fryer, air fryer mistakes and the best foods to cook in an air fryer. We are, you could say, fully committed to the air fryer as an excellent energy-efficient alternative to the oven – but only for certain things.

So what’s the Princess Double Basket Aerofryer like when compared, say, to the 7,327 other models on the market? Let’s go.

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Princess Double Basket Aerofryer: price and availability

If you live in the UK, consider going straight to Amazon where the Princess Double Basket Aerofryer is selling for £130. 

There are no references to the Princess being sold Stateside but we did find an almost identical model from Chefman at Walmart, priced $111.

Live Down Under? When it’s back in stock, Amazon Au is your best bet, though there is no current evidence of the price.

Princess Double Basket Aerofryer review: why two baskets?

Although a large single basket air fryer is undeniably handy for a family of up to five, there’s a good argument for a dual basket model, especially if you’re a couple or live solo. Why? Well despite the many recipes involving a wide variety of ingredients, we all know that air fryers are ultimately best for chips and anything with a skin attached, like chicken legs, wings and thighs, fish and even pork belly. Believe me, you haven’t tasted drumsticks until you’ve tasted air-fried drumsticks. Not only is the meaty centre wonderfully moist but the skin expands on the chicken during the process creating the crispiest, crunchiest and lightest texture that not even a raging charcoal barbecue can achieve. 

However, the trouble with single basket models is that, while they may have bigger containers to feed more mouths, you can’t do two things at one, like a quick lunchtime chicken wings and chips. With this model – and a few others on the market – you can. And besides, if you wanted to air fry just one set of ingredients, you can chuck them into both baskets and have them done at the same time. I’m no expert in thermodynamics but surely two separate air frying baskets with their own separate airflow is better than just one? Answers on a postcard.

Princess Double Basket Aerofryer review: design

At 38cm in width, 36cm in depth and 30cm in height, the Princess Double Basket Aerofryer is far from small. In fact, it’s about the size of a large microwave oven so finding somewhere to store it when not in use may be an issue. Nor is it the prettiest of kitchen appliances – aside from the two silver-painted basket drawers, there’s a lot of shiny black plastic used in its construction and the thin plastic front touch interface looks and feels like it was stuck on at the last moment.

On the plus side, when it’s all powered up, the interface springs to life and it begins to look more like a kitchen appliance. In fact I quite like the layout of the interface which is really easy to navigate – just as well because the accompanying instruction manual is extremely sparse. To access the two side-by-side baskets you simply pull on the big silver-embossed handles. You can’t miss ‘em.

The Princess Double Basket Aerofryer has a combined capacity of 8 litres which is bigger than many single basket models. In my chicken legs and chips test, I managed to fit five drumsticks in one basket and a large portion of frozen fries in the other – more than enough for a single large portion or two light portions. I also tried air frying some wings and managed to fit a dozen across both baskets without them touching each other too much. And this is a key thing with all air fryers – never cram in too many ingredients or the hot airflow won’t reach some areas of the food. 

Princess Double Basket Aerofryer review: cooking features

As alluded to above, the Princess Aerofryer’s interface is very easy to navigate while providing access to a slew of handy functions which I shall divulge, now. 

When you tap the Dual Cook button, a battery of LED icons all light up at once and they are all pretty self evident. Assuming you’re air frying chicken drumsticks and fries with the chicken in the left basket and the fries in the right, pop the ingredients in their respective baskets and then tap the L icon to select the left basket. Next select the chicken leg icon from the top row which will call up a pre-set program with the temperature at 200˚C (the product’s highest operating temperature) and a cooking time of around 35 minutes. After you’ve done this, tap the fries icon. If necessary, you can adjust both temp and timer parameters by tapping on their individual icons and using the plus and minus functions.

Rather cleverly – and like most other twin-basket air fryers – when air frying two different types of ingredients, this model comes with a Sync Finish button which synchronises the cooking process so both sets of ingredients are completed at the same time. Also, about two thirds the way through, a beep will sound to let you know to give the baskets a shake. This is especially important when air frying chips.

Both baskets are completely non stick and come with a raised tray insert to keep the ingredients off the floor so that the hot air can circulate more effectively. Once finished, simply remove the tray inserts and put the whole lot, baskets and all, into the dishwasher. Job done.

The Princess Double Basket Aerofryer comes with seven preset programmes of the most popular ingredients – fries, pork cutlets, fish, prawns, pizza, chicken and cake – but there’s plenty of scope for experimentation. The only thing I do not agree with is Princess’s overly optimistic statement that ‘using both baskets will enable you to feed up to nine people’. I alone consumed five drumsticks and a full basket of fries and I’m as skinny as pipe cleaner. I'm not called Spindleshanks for nothing.

Princess Double Basket Aerofryer review: performance

To date, the very best air fried chicken legs I’ve ever made came out of the Ninja Foodi 11-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker OL550UK but that’s because I selected the Steam Air Fry function, a rare addition that’s possibly unique to multi cookers and not to most air fryers.

That said, both of my chicken tests – legs and wings – delivered the goods. The skin was as crispy as I expected it to be and the centre was lovely and moist though they didn’t look as good as those that came out of the Ninja. Mind, it only took 30 minutes to complete the process so that’s a bonus.

For the chips test I opted for the easiest method and used McCain frozen fries – and this is where it gets interesting. When it comes to making thick cut chips or fries, I am an unequivocal champion of the deep fat fryer, especially my Tefal Oleoclean Pro which you can read about in our guide to the Best Deep Fat Fryers.

While the air frying results were better than an oven which always turns fries into hard, unevenly cooked sticks of wood, the Princess made a much better fist of it though I should add that the surface of some chips were still a little chewy while others were a bit soft. And this was after giving them a good shake – twice. Nevertheless, given the choice between the Princess and the oven, the Princess wins hands down. It also consumes far less electricity which is of major importance right now.

Want to know what else can be done in an air fryer? Check out our guide to the best foods to cook in an air fryer.

Princess Double Basket Aerofryer review: verdict

Although the Princess Double Basket Aerofryer is large and not the most attractive of worktop appliances I’ve ever laid eyes on, it performed exceedingly well. Mind, the same could be said of almost every other air fryer on the market. Nevertheless, given its low-ish price and wherewithal to air fry two different sets of ingredients at once, I have no qualms in recommending this model. Just don’t expect it to feed more than, say, three or four hungry gannets.

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