Where the manufacturers disagree, and what to do about it
If you have followed two air-fryer charts and got two different answers, you were not doing it wrong. Manufacturers publish materially different figures for the same food in the same kind of machine, and this page collects the four cases where that happens in this catalogue, sets out both positions, and explains what can honestly be concluded from each.
Questions this answers
- Why do different air fryer charts give completely different times?
- Which figure should I follow when sources disagree?
- Do I need to preheat my air fryer or not?
- How long does chicken breast actually take?
Credible sources disagree
What the published guidance actually says
Across fifteen manufacturer manuals, published cooking figures for the same food in comparable machines differ by up to a factor of four. The disagreements are concentrated in four places: chicken breast, frozen chips, preheating and prawns.
SharkNinja Europe Limited
Manufacturer cooking chart (United Kingdom)
Frozen French fries at 200°C for 10-12 minutes for 500g; chicken breast at 190°C for 18-22 minutes.
RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares)
Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Thin frozen fries at 200°C for 18-20 minutes for 400-500g; chicken breast at 180°C for 15-20 minutes.
Groupe SEB (Tefal)
Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom and European Union)
Chicken breast at 200°C for 6-9 minutes for 500g of boneless fillets, and a 13-minute preheat for grill mode.
Why they differ
Chamber architecture accounts for much of it — a lidded pot with the element close above the food behaves differently from an open drawer or a mini oven. Some of it is that the charts are aiming at different results, and some of it is that a cooking chart is a marketing-adjacent document that nobody independently verified.
What can safely be concluded
AirfryerHQ publishes every position, scopes each figure to the machine it came from, and refuses to average them. Where a food-safety rule governs, that rule takes precedence over all of the figures. Where it does not, the honest answer is to use the shorter figure as a first check and judge the food.
Disagreement is normal here, and it is usually explicable
Fifteen manuals were read for this catalogue. On some things they agree exactly — five manufacturers independently publish 160°C for cake, which makes it the best-evidenced number in the whole product. On others they differ by a factor of two for the same food at the same temperature.
The differences are rarely arbitrary. A lidded pot with the element close above the food genuinely cooks faster than an open drawer; a chart aiming at heated-through and a chart aiming at crisp will disagree about a chip without either being wrong. What is never acceptable is splitting the difference into a number none of them published, and this catalogue does not do it anywhere.
Chicken breast, where the spread is largest
Nine published figures across six manufacturers, ranging from six to nine minutes at one end to twenty-six to thirty at the other. It is the widest disagreement in the catalogue and it involves raw poultry, which is why the safety rule is shown above every figure on that page and takes precedence over all of them.
The practical answer is that no chart settles this and the food-safety target does. Cook to the target, check the thickest part, and treat the shorter published figures as a first check rather than a finish line.
Frozen chips, where the temperature is agreed and the time is not
Every manufacturer in this catalogue publishes 200°C. For a comparable 500g load their times range from ten to twelve minutes up to eighteen to twenty. The agreement on temperature is unusually strong and the disagreement on time is unusually clean, which makes this the most instructive dispute here.
The honest advice is the one nobody wants: use the instructions on the bag. A frozen chip is a manufactured product and its own packet is the manufacturer of THAT product stating a method they validated for it, which is better evidence than any appliance chart.
Preheating, and prawns
On preheating the manufacturers do not so much disagree as answer different questions. One machine in this catalogue publishes a thirteen-minute preheat for its grill mode; another states that preheating is not necessary for air frying at all; a third has a three-minute programmed preheat. All three are correct about their own appliance, and the lesson is that preheating is an architecture question rather than a technique question.
Prawns carry the largest proportional disagreement here: one chart gives king prawns one to three minutes on direct heat and another gives a shrimp preset of eight. A factor of four on a food that goes from perfect to rubber in thirty seconds is why prawns sit near the top of the controlled-testing backlog.
Evidence and confidence
- Applies to
- Specific to this type of appliance
- Why this rating
- The page is about disagreement, so it is marked disputed and carries the disagreement record rather than presenting a resolution it does not have. Every position named is quoted from a manual that was read.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-13
What this does not cover
- Only controlled testing would settle any of these, and no controlled testing has been done. The four disputes here are the top of the testing backlog for that reason.
Sources disagree
Across fifteen manufacturer manuals, published cooking figures for the same food in comparable machines differ by up to a factor of four. The disagreements are concentrated in four places: chicken breast, frozen chips, preheating and prawns.
- SharkNinja Europe Limited: Frozen French fries at 200°C for 10-12 minutes for 500g; chicken breast at 190°C for 18-22 minutes.
- RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares): Thin frozen fries at 200°C for 18-20 minutes for 400-500g; chicken breast at 180°C for 15-20 minutes.
- Groupe SEB (Tefal): Chicken breast at 200°C for 6-9 minutes for 500g of boneless fillets, and a 13-minute preheat for grill mode.
Why they differ: Chamber architecture accounts for much of it — a lidded pot with the element close above the food behaves differently from an open drawer or a mini oven. Some of it is that the charts are aiming at different results, and some of it is that a cooking chart is a marketing-adjacent document that nobody independently verified.
What AirfryerHQ does: AirfryerHQ publishes every position, scopes each figure to the machine it came from, and refuses to average them. Where a food-safety rule governs, that rule takes precedence over all of the figures. Where it does not, the honest answer is to use the shorter figure as a first check and judge the food.
Sources (5)
AirfryerHQ Sprint 4 analysis of published cooking guidance across fifteen manuals
AirfryerHQ — Calculated or inferred by AirfryerHQ (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The reading across fifteen manuals of which questions the manufacturers agree on and which they do not.
AirfryerHQ's interpretation of what it says
Citation checked — the document exists and is described correctly
Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK — Inspiration Guide and cooking charts (PDF)
SharkNinja Europe Limited — Manufacturer cooking chart (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The shorter published figures for frozen chips and for chicken breast.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 735/0124, published alongside the instruction booklet as a second document.
Tower T17067 4L Digital Air Fryer — Safety and Instruction Manual (PDF)
RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The longer published figure for thin frozen fries at the same temperature.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 947/6769. The document carries no revision code.
Tefal Easy Fry 9in1 11L Air Fryer & Mini Oven — Instruction Manual (PDF)
Groupe SEB (Tefal) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom and European Union)
Relied on for: The thirteen-minute grill preheat and the six-to-nine-minute chicken breast figure.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 201/0524.
Russell Hobbs Express Air Fry 12.6L Mini Oven 26680-56 — Instructions (PDF)
Spectrum Brands (Russell Hobbs) — Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)
Relied on for: The statement that preheating is not necessary for air frying on that appliance.
States this directly
Passage read and verified
Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 564/2566.