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CNET
a day ago
- General
- CNET
I Was a Grilled Burger Purist Until I Tried This Easy, Indoor Method
I'm no air fryer rookie -- I've crisped, roasted and reheated just about everything in my beloved countertop convection oven, but I held off on burgers for one reason: I wasn't convinced it could deliver that perfect medium-rare magic like a grill or cast-iron pan. Turns out, I was wrong. If your backyard's missing a Weber -- and the smoky sizzle of burgers -- you're not out of luck. You can whip up juicy cheeseburgers, turkey patties and veggie stacks without ever stepping outside. One of my favorite tricks? Letting the air fryer do the heavy lifting. After air-frying a burger -- bacon, bun and all -- I am happy to report that making a bacon cheeseburger in an apartment-friendly air fryer is fast, clean and, as I found out recently, nets an equally juicy burger. Plus, you can easily get your air fryer burger medium rare via the super-convection heat that crisps the outside of food quickly without overcooking the inside. Here's how to make a bacon cheeseburger in your air fryer at home. How to make a cheeseburger in your air fryer Even a small air fryer can handle a full-sized burger patty and a few slices of bacon at once. Pamela Vachon/CNET I consulted a variety of different sources for timings and temperatures, but the process is about what you'd expect and similar to that which you'd experience cooking a burger in any manner: flipping the patty about halfway through for even results, with different timings depending on the size of your desired doneness. Read more: How to Tell When Steak Is Perfectly Cooked Without a Thermometer The air fryer works by circulating hot air in its contained chamber, so as a matter of interest, your air fryer burger will cook opposite to what you'd see on a sauté pan, with the exposed side of the burger cooking more quickly and becoming browner than the underside of the patty. Best Air Fryers: Cheap vs. Expensive Best Air Fryers: Cheap vs. Expensive Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:01 / Duration 0:30 Loaded : 100.00% 0:01 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:29 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Best Air Fryers: Cheap vs. Expensive I tried two approaches, both with a quarter pound of lean ground beef, seasoned simply with salt and pepper. Air fryer cheeseburger recipe Shape a single patty of beef about three-quarters of an inch in thickness. Place in a greased air fryer basket and cooked at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, flipping at the halfway mark. With about 2 minutes to go, add cheese to top of burger patty and place bun into air fryer basket to toast. Remove all ingredients and build burger on bun with toppings of your choice. Serve. I also tried the same amount of meat shaped into two, thin, smash-style patties for a total cooking time of about six minutes. (Double your cheeseburger, double your fun.) Making a great burger in an air fryer takes almost no skill and requires very little cleanup afterward. Pamela Vachon/CNET Air fryers require very little cleanup You can cook a burger to that perfect medium or medium rare with an air fryer. Pamela Vachon/CNET Well, that was easy. In both cases the patties cooked evenly, with an outcome that was medium in doneness. (You can easily experiment with your model and ideal burger patty size to find the precise timings for your preferred degree of doneness.) The hot air circulation even managed to produce a bit of caramelized crust on one side. Because I could, even with a small, single-household air fryer, I put in a couple of strips of bacon with the single burger patty, since crispy, spatter-free bacon is another excellent use for an air fryer -- not to mention an exceptional burger topping. Speaking of spatter-free, this is the single most compelling reason to employ the air fryer for burger prep. Your clothing, skin and stovetop all avoid the sizzling oil droplets that -- safely contained within the air fryer drawer -- like to escape the pan during regular skillet cooking. The smoky, greasy, meaty aroma, which is otherwise appealing at a burger dive, but not so much in a studio apartment, is also minimized. Cleanup was limited only to the nonstick, air fryer drawer. Read more: I've Been Making Bacon Wrong. Here's the Best (and Cleanest) Way to Cook it There are drawbacks to air fryer burgers With an air fryer, you can't smash the patties down as easily as you can on a grill or griddle. Pamela Vachon/CNET The air fryer isn't perfect when it comes to burgers, and the drawbacks as I experienced are twofold. First, since you can't really access the patty while it cooks, you're unable to smash it down in such a way that it doesn't shrink up significantly while cooking. Since an English muffin is the best burger containment method -- I will not be considering opposing viewpoints at this time -- this didn't bother me so much, since the resulting patty fits the intended vessel perfectly. Expect shrinkage when considering the size of your patty before cooking. Second, if you're like me and believe that a burger without cheese isn't worth eating, things get a little more complicated. Because of the air circulation action of the air fryer, it's hard to anchor cheese on top for a quick melt at the end of the process. My first attempt with a sliced single, an ideal burger cheese -- and I am a cheese pro, so don't come at me -- flew off and unhelpfully adhered to the surface of the air fryer drawer. Am I seeing double? Pamela Vachon/CNET My second attempt where a slice was halved and layered for extra heft was more successful, even more so when I moved the patties to the back edge of the fryer basket, which gets less aggressive air circulation. This may just be a quirk of my model, but I'd be prepared to experiment. I wouldn't even consider shredded cheese on top of a patty, but I absolutely would consider a cheese-stuffed burger, which should work nicely.
CNET
2 days ago
- General
- CNET
I Ditched the Frying Pan and My Grilled Cheese Got 10x Crispier
I thought I'd mastered grilled cheese-until I tried it in the air fryer. What used to be a stovetop standby is now faster, crispier and way less greasy. The air fryer turns out golden, crunchy sandwiches with gooey centers and barely any butter, all while keeping your kitchen cool. If you haven't made grilled cheese this way yet, you're seriously missing out. If you don't own an air fryer, I recommend Ninja's new glass-bowl model. It's the best we've tested and makes a mean grilled cheese. Making an air fryer grilled cheese is fast and easy and leaves almost no mess. Here's why your next grilled cheese should start and end in the air fryer. Why an air fryer grilled cheese works so well As you can plainly see, the air fryer grilled cheese leaves little mess to contend with after preparing. Pamela Vachon/CNET An air fryer is basically a small convection oven with nonstick surfaces, circulating hot air around whatever you put in its basket. Unlike your saute pan or skillet, it cooks from all directions at once and typically in less time. Unlike your oven, it is compact and efficient, heats up quickly and may not even require preheating. Your toaster oven could never do this. While toasted cheese is a possibility (and reheated toaster oven pizza is a revelation), grilled cheese is not. Your toaster oven is not designed to support fat on the underside of whatever you're cooking and you'll end up with a mess too complicated to clean. For your grilled cheese, the air fryer is working on both of the bread surfaces and the cheese all at once, resulting in a quicker melt, which adheres the cheese to the bread slices together making for a much easier flip. (Flipping is still recommended but with far less drama.) The air circulation provides deep crunchiness, not only to the surfaces that received the butter or mayo treatment but to the entire crust. Any inclusions beyond cheese in the interior of the sandwich are also transforming because of the ambient heat. Simply placing a lid on your saute pan or skillet can't achieve the same results, as the components will become steamed and potentially soggy. How I make a grilled cheese in the air fryer Humble ingredients are transformed into something great inside an air fryer. Pamela Vachon/CNET Assemble a grilled cheese as you would otherwise Sliced bread Sliced or shredded cheese (I like American cheese for a basic grilled cheese and a combo of gruyere and cheddar for an upgrade.) Butter or mayonnaise for the outside of the bread slices (dealer's choice) For a basic grilled cheese, you can assemble the sandwich in the basket of your air fryer: bread with buttered side down, followed by sliced or shredded cheese, then topped with the final slice with buttered side up. Be it a simple sandwich or a fancier combination of cheese, bread and fixings, the air fryer makes a crispy, gooey grilled cheese in minutes. Pamela Vachon/CNET Set the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 3 to 6 minutes on each side, flipping halfway through. The already melted cheese will keep your sandwich nicely together during the flip. You can get a lightly golden grilled cheese in less time but I recommend hanging on for 5 to 6 minutes for a deeply crunchy sandwich. Another perk of the air fryer is that you can more easily peek to see where you are without adversely affecting the outcome. The air fryer is even better for a stacked grilled cheese Add a fruit element and cured meats for a fancier air fryer sammy. Pamela Vachon/CNET This is where the air fryer really shines in the grilled cheese realm. Every element of an upgraded grilled cheese adds a degree of difficulty when trying to cook in a skillet, much of which is mitigated in the safe confines of an air fryer. Thicker bread. Thicker cheese, like hunks of camembert or brie. And think of all the great grilled cheese ingredients that can be slippery: apple slices, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, pickles, etc. Any grilled cheese with more than two components can be challenging to flip gracefully in a skillet, even for trained cooks. Bag a loaf of good bread and stuff your sandwich with upmarket cheese. Pamela Vachon/CNET To prove a point, I assembled a fancy grilled cheese with camembert, prosciutto and apple slices. (Plus mayonnaise on the exterior, because I was being fancy, and mayo gives your sandwich a little extra tang.) Because of its height, I assembled it fully outside of the air fryer and then carefully placed it in the drawer. Et voila! Pamela Vachon/CNET After 6 minutes of air fryer cooking, the flip was seamless and the sophisticated outcome belies the fact that you spent all of one minute assembling the masterpiece. The exterior of the ham even got a little bonus crisping. So the air fryer invites you to go to town with whatever you can dream up for your grilled cheese: cured or cooked ground meats, grilled veggies, various sauces and relishes -- you name it. An epic grilled cheese variation is limited only by the confines of your imagination. Do I need to preheat an air fryer for grilled cheese? A grilled cheese is a quick-cooking sandwich no matter how you do it so you don't want to add on minutes of additional time for something that only takes minutes to accomplish. That said, while preheating your air fryer may be a waste of time for certain preparations, I think putting it on for just a minute to heat up the nonstick surface that the sandwich sits on is worthwhile to get that golden crust working right away. Are there drawbacks to making air fryer grilled cheese? Depending on your model and size of air fryer, and the shape of bread you choose, it can be tricky to make more than two sandwiches at once, so it might not be the most family-friendly method for making grilled cheese. But for a solo meal or date night, your air fryer is the grilled cheese hack you didn't know you needed.
CNET
18-07-2025
- General
- CNET
No More Greasy Stovetops: Here's the Best Way to Make a Crispy Grilled Cheese
I can't seem to go a week without discovering an air fryer recipe that's better, faster and healthier than my existing method. This week's candidate is the classic comfort food: a grilled cheese. I used to swear by making the simple sandwiches in a skillet, and there's still a place for that technique -- especially if you're craving a little grease. But the air fryer delivers a crusty, crunchy exterior without drowning the bread in butter or oil. As a bonus, it'll keep your kitchen cooler during summer months since air fryers barely raise the ambient temperature the way using your oven or stovetop can. If you don't own an air fryer, I recommend Ninja's new glass-bowl model. It's the best we've tested and makes a mean grilled cheese. Making an air fryer grilled cheese is fast and easy and leaves almost no mess. Here's why your next grilled cheese should start and end in the air fryer. Why an air fryer grilled cheese works so well As you can plainly see, the air fryer grilled cheese leaves little mess to contend with after preparing. Pamela Vachon/CNET An air fryer is basically a small convection oven with nonstick surfaces, circulating hot air around whatever you put in its basket. Unlike your saute pan or skillet, it cooks from all directions at once and typically in less time. Unlike your oven, it is compact and efficient, heats up quickly and may not even require preheating. Your toaster oven could never do this. While toasted cheese is a possibility (and reheated toaster oven pizza is a revelation), grilled cheese is not. Your toaster oven is not designed to support fat on the underside of whatever you're cooking and you'll end up with a mess too complicated to clean. For your grilled cheese, the air fryer is working on both of the bread surfaces and the cheese all at once, resulting in a quicker melt, which adheres the cheese to the bread slices together making for a much easier flip. (Flipping is still recommended but with far less drama.) The air circulation provides deep crunchiness, not only to the surfaces that received the butter or mayo treatment but to the entire crust. Any inclusions beyond cheese in the interior of the sandwich are also transforming because of the ambient heat. Simply placing a lid on your saute pan or skillet can't achieve the same results, as the components will become steamed and potentially soggy. How I make a grilled cheese in the air fryer Humble ingredients are transformed into something great inside an air fryer. Pamela Vachon/CNET Assemble a grilled cheese as you would otherwise Sliced bread Sliced or shredded cheese (I like American cheese for a basic grilled cheese and a combo of gruyere and cheddar for an upgrade.) Butter or mayonnaise for the outside of the bread slices (dealer's choice) For a basic grilled cheese, you can assemble the sandwich in the basket of your air fryer: bread with buttered side down, followed by sliced or shredded cheese, then topped with the final slice with buttered side up. Be it a simple sandwich or a fancier combination of cheese, bread and fixings, the air fryer makes a crispy, gooey grilled cheese in minutes. Pamela Vachon/CNET Set the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 3 to 6 minutes on each side, flipping halfway through. The already melted cheese will keep your sandwich nicely together during the flip. You can get a lightly golden grilled cheese in less time but I recommend hanging on for 5 to 6 minutes for a deeply crunchy sandwich. Another perk of the air fryer is that you can more easily peek to see where you are without adversely affecting the outcome. The air fryer is even better for a stacked grilled cheese Add a fruit element and cured meats for a fancier air fryer sammy. Pamela Vachon/CNET This is where the air fryer really shines in the grilled cheese realm. Every element of an upgraded grilled cheese adds a degree of difficulty when trying to cook in a skillet, much of which is mitigated in the safe confines of an air fryer. Thicker bread. Thicker cheese, like hunks of camembert or brie. And think of all the great grilled cheese ingredients that can be slippery: apple slices, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, pickles, etc. Any grilled cheese with more than two components can be challenging to flip gracefully in a skillet, even for trained cooks. Bag a loaf of good bread and stuff your sandwich with upmarket cheese. Pamela Vachon/CNET To prove a point, I assembled a fancy grilled cheese with camembert, prosciutto and apple slices. (Plus mayonnaise on the exterior, because I was being fancy, and mayo gives your sandwich a little extra tang.) Because of its height, I assembled it fully outside of the air fryer and then carefully placed it in the drawer. Et voila! Pamela Vachon/CNET After 6 minutes of air fryer cooking, the flip was seamless and the sophisticated outcome belies the fact that you spent all of one minute assembling the masterpiece. The exterior of the ham even got a little bonus crisping. So the air fryer invites you to go to town with whatever you can dream up for your grilled cheese: cured or cooked ground meats, grilled veggies, various sauces and relishes -- you name it. An epic grilled cheese variation is limited only by the confines of your imagination. Do I need to preheat an air fryer for grilled cheese? A grilled cheese is a quick-cooking sandwich no matter how you do it so you don't want to add on minutes of additional time for something that only takes minutes to accomplish. That said, while preheating your air fryer may be a waste of time for certain preparations, I think putting it on for just a minute to heat up the nonstick surface that the sandwich sits on is worthwhile to get that golden crust working right away. Are there drawbacks to making air fryer grilled cheese? Depending on your model and size of air fryer, and the shape of bread you choose, it can be tricky to make more than two sandwiches at once, so it might not be the most family-friendly method for making grilled cheese. But for a solo meal or date night, your air fryer is the grilled cheese hack you didn't know you needed.
CNET
10-07-2025
- Business
- CNET
Prime Day Deal: Nab One of Our Top Espresso Machines at a New Low Price While This Deal Lasts
Prime Day deals are a great chance to snap up all sorts of things while they're on sale. You can grab TVs, mattresses and more with vast amounts of money off. You can even get a great espresso machine, and today, one of our favorites is on sale. You can currently get the mighty Casabrews CM5418 Espresso Machine at a new low price of $119. That's a 15% discount on the normal price, but it's only for Amazon Prime members. That's not a huge discount, but this machine really doesn't need one to sell. In our review of this fantastic machine, CNET's Pamela Vachon gave this a 9/10, saying, "Though a small kitchen doesn't necessarily mean a small budget, for folks who crave the luxury of espresso but think they don't have the means or the space, the Casabrews CM5418 can really challenge those assumptions. Slimmer than an average toaster, cheaper than a month of Starbucks and capable of allowing nonbaristas to make barista-quality drinks, the Casabrews CM5418 might be the ideal model for folks on the fence." Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money. This is a great deal on a great machine. We're not expecting it to last very long though, so if you do decide on this coffee machine, make sure you snap it up quickly. Why this deal matters Traditional espresso machines don't come cheap. Oftentimes, they cost hundreds of dollars and take up a good amount of counter space in your kitchen. But that's not the case with the Casabrew. This machine is slimmer than a blender and a coffee pot and is way less bulky than other popular kitchen appliances, such as an air fryer. Because of its versatility and the quality of espresso it makes, it's a great starter espresso machine for anyone trying to cut back on their weekly coffee shop spending.
CNET
08-07-2025
- CNET
I'm a Travel Writer and My Favorite Travel Backpack Just Dropped Below $30 for Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day sale: The Dinictis 40-liter travel backpack is available in all four colors for just $29 during Amazon Prime Day. That's a discount of 28% off the usual -- already shockingly affordable -- retail price. If you're shopping the Prime Day sale and have summer travels coming up, now's a great time to add this bag to your cart. As a full-time food and travel writer, I'm constantly flying to different places all over the world -- in fact, I take at least 50 flights a year. Wherever I go, my highest priority is that I have a spacious carry-on bag that I can easily hoist into the overhead compartment -- something that's also versatile enough to accommodate all my travel essentials. It doesn't take a professional traveler to know that having just the right luggage is essential. However, because I fly so often, I've tried out just about every type of carry-on bag you can find. And I say this with complete sincerity: This Dinictis backpack is the single best carry-on bag I've ever owned. I'll admit that other carry-on bags might look more stylish and come in a wider array of colors. But I have yet to find one that meets my needs for durability, efficiency and affordability better than this well-designed travel bag that's just $40 at full retail price and which often goes on sale for less. If you have travel plans coming up this summer, this is the carry-on you want to bring along, full stop. And don't worry about misplacing your backpack. Simply throw in an AirTag, especially when you can get a pack of them for a super low price, too. Read more: Traveling Soon? 5 Unique AirTag Locations for Peace of Mind When only a backpack will do It's available in four colors: gray, dark gray, blue and black. Pamela Vachon/CNET To be clear, my backpacking days were over before they started. Without the means for serious travel before age 25, my life as a traveler didn't kick off in earnest until I was equipped solely with roller-bag sensibilities. As an [age redacted]-year-old, when I scheduled myself for a bus trip along the coast of Peru, with overnight stays in modest accommodations, suddenly a roller bag felt kind of … well, prissy. Roller bags are decidedly inconvenient on unpaved or nontiled surfaces; plus, it's just not a good look when the vibe is more low-brow than luxury. This wasn't a backpacking trip by any means but a backpack was definitely called for. One that could accommodate a week's worth of clothing, amenities and a laptop but still potentially fit in a locker. The Dinictis 40L Travel Backpack came into my life for this particular trip, exceeding my expectations. Since that Peruvian adventure, this bag has come with me on every single trip, no matter the occasion. A backpack that works like a suitcase It's a backpack that packs like a suitcase. Dinictis Many travel backpacks are spacious and compartmentalized but the Dinictis 40L Travel Backpack operates like a suitcase. It opens along three sides so you can flip it open like a suitcase and pack accordingly, with straps for holding your clothing in place. This makes finding what you need much easier than shoving your belongings from the top down like a typical backpack. A side handle even allows you to carry it like a suitcase. When full, it can easily hold up to 10 kg, or 22 pounds, the weight restriction for carry-on baggage for many of the discount airlines. Because it's a backpack, nobody has ever asked to weigh it for compliance. It will always look lighter than it is. Store your laptop with confidence As a writer, I always travel with a laptop so I'm concerned with its portability as well as safety. That said, I hate having it pressed right up against my back, which can be stiff and, depending on where you're going, sweaty. The laptop sleeve on this model is ideally situated near the (sweat-free) front of the pack but isn't the most outward-facing compartment. Honestly, protected by a foam divider, the laptop feels hidden, even when packed to the gills. Outside pockets are a must A side handle is key for navigating public transportation. Dinictis I am team-soft-body, even in roller-bags, for two reasons. First, it's much easier to shove last-minute items into an already zipped suitcase without the clamshell action of a hard case, and second: outside pockets. Who can travel without these? (No, I really want to know…) This backpack has two outer pocket compartments for miscellany, arguably three when considering the extra space in front of the laptop sleeve -- and four if you include the handy water bottle holder. There are even compartments within the compartments. These are the sorts of details that separate the high-functioning from the holding-up-the-line travelers, in my opinion. Read more: Essential Items to Pack and Avoid in a Carry-On Bag to Breeze Through TSA Lines A personal item that can masquerade as checked luggage Safe laptop storage is crucial for a travel writer and this bag has a dedicated sleeve. Vaultz Many travel backpacks have an infrastructure that keeps them in a certain shape, even when empty. The Dinictis model has enough structure to keep its sides afloat while you pack it, but its essence is still as a lightweight, fabric backpack. If you've ever been asked to prove that your carry-on actually qualifies as carry-on, you will understand that "smushability" is an important factor. I have packed this backpack for a weekend away and brought it on board as a personal item. (I will fly Spirit Airlines but I will only do it while giving them as little of my money as possible.) It can totally fit under the seat in front of you when necessary. The beauty of this travel backpack is that it is also suitable as checked baggage, with heavy-duty fabric that can withstand the journey. The straps can be unclipped and tucked away and the body cinched by additional clips, for a tidy package that doesn't make you feel panicky when you watch it being whisked away on the baggage conveyor. I've had many trips where it leaves with me as carry-on and returns as checked luggage. Even in the lighter gray color, its durable material doesn't reveal that it has ever seen the tread of a baggage carousel. It was the function I didn't even know I needed but now I never travel without it for this purpose. Read more: Best Laptop Backpack for 2025 Dinictis Travel Backpack specs Exterior dimensions: 9.8 x 13.8 x 19.6 inches Storage capacity: 40 liters Weight: 2.49 pounds Pockets: 1 exterior water bottle pocket, 2 exterior front pockets, 1 padded interior laptop pocket Carrying handles: 1 top, 1 side Material: Polyester and nylon 4.7 average rating on Amazon You don't even need to take it from me. The 40L Travel Backpack has thousands of five-star ratings on Amazon. As someone who reviews various products for a living, I know just how rare this kind of rating is. And now that it's still selling for only $29, this bag is a pretty safe bet. When will this deal expire? We don't know how long this deal will last, but we do know Amazon Prime Day ends on July 11. We often see at least one color of this backpack on sale on Amazon. Still, we always recommend placing your order sooner rather than later if you want to ensure you get this price and your color of choice.
