Cosori Dual Basket Air Fryer Review: Included Accessories

In one look

Expert Rating

Benefits

6 presets
Dishwasher safe parts
Two separate cooking zones
Baking and skewering accessories

The inconvenients

Recipes only available in one app
Windows can get greasy
Large work surface

Our verdict

The Cosori Dual Basket Air Fryer seeks to differentiate itself from its competitors by being easy to program, flexible, and including racks for baking and grilling. However, beyond the setting, it lacks helpful tips that are confusing compared to its multifunctionality. The result is that it might be better to expand your air fryer horizons rather than start from scratch.

Best Prices Today: Cosori Dual Zone Air Fryer

$139.99

$169.99

Dual-drawer air fryers are becoming increasingly popular, but for all their benefits, they can be more complicated to program and prone to illogical button placement. Fortunately, the controls on the Cosori 9QT/8.5L Dual Zone Air Fryer are simple, and as a bonus, it comes with wire racks to expand its cooking capabilities.

Add in a 4.5 QT/4.25 liter capacity in each drawer, a shake alert and optional preheat, plus internal lighting and windows so you can check progress, and the result is a multitasking air fryer capable of handling a variety of cooking tasks.

Design and construction

Glass viewing panels
Comes with a cooking grate, a skewer rack and five skewers
Easy to use controls

While it’s far from the bulkiest on the market, the Cosori 9QT/8.5L Dual Zone Air Fryer still packs a substantial punch on the average kitchen countertop. Finished in black and dark grey plastic, including the protruding metal handle, it measures 17 inches/44 cm wide and almost the same depth, though it’s only 11.8 inches/30 cm high, allowing it to fit under wall cabinets when not in use.

The controls are conveniently arranged

It weighs 9kg, so you can move it around easily, although it’s probably best to choose a fixed location for it. Each drawer is labelled L or R, making it clear which slot they fit into, and has the same capacity (4.25 litres) plus a vegetable tray. There’s a clear window on the front so you can keep an eye on the cooking too. Two wire accessories (a cooking rack and a skewer rack with five skewers) complete the set. Its removable parts are dishwasher safe.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

The touch controls are on top: when not in use, you’ll only see the power symbol. The controls are thoughtfully laid out, with up and down buttons and time/temperature buttons for each drawer below the display it corresponds to, a central panel of six cooking functions, including air fry, bake, roast, reheat, grill and dry, plus options for a shake alert (optional, though default on some programs), preheat, synchro cook (so both drawers use the same settings) and synchro finish (so the drawers finish at the same time).

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

The temperature and time range can be wide, depending on the setting selected. For example, if you are dehydrating food, the oven will run for 48 hours and go down to 35 °C, while the maximum temperature for grilling is 230 °C.

Performance and features

Long preheat setting
Wide temperature range
Preheating cannot be used with the timing setting

Air fryers don’t typically come with accessories, so the fact that the Cosori Dual Zone Air Fryer comes with two of these accessories sets it apart from the rest. Unfortunately, they seem like an afterthought, and are barely mentioned in the instructions as to their best use and how to use them. For example, it wasn’t clear whether they were to be used with the crisper plates or in the drawer alone.

We opted for the second option, choosing to toast some toast with the cooking rack set to grill (230°C) and some vegetable skewers with both the skewers and rack using the roasting program (220°C). Both settings required what we found to be a lengthy preheat from cold (7 minutes), but we appreciated that the preheat could be turned off and that we could change both the time and temperature while the food was cooking.

After 10 minutes, the roasted vegetables were perfectly roasted – soft but cooked through and slightly burnt. The toast was less successful – although nicely browned, the slices were dry – more suited to croutons than breakfast. However, the toast was not burnt and we appreciated that the rack allows for multiple slices to be toasted at once.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Next, we made a batch of chips using soaked, dried, and oil-seasoned potatoes. We cooked them on the air fry setting, which has a shake alert by default but a curiously short time compared to other models—just 15 minutes.

This function may be more suitable for cooking food taken out of the freezer. We have increased the time to 25 minutes and the temperature to 400°F/205°C, the highest temperature available.

We roasted chicken thighs and found the size of a single drawer to be a challenge

We noticed that the shake alert isn’t that loud, plus when both drawers are working there isn’t much of a clue as to which one needs shaking.

The fries came out more soft than crispy. Although browning was even, there were a few pale areas. At the same time, we cooked frozen hash browns in the other drawer for 20 minutes at 390°F/200°C. They came out crispy and golden brown, although cooking them revealed a malfunction.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

We had programmed the chips and hash browns to cook at the same time using the finish timing option. However, when we opened the drawers to add the food after preheating, the finish timing turned off and couldn’t be turned back on. We found that turning off preheating fixed the issue, but we found it frustrating.

We also roasted chicken thighs and found the size of a single drawer to be a challenge. Only three thighs fit comfortably, meaning for a large family, you may need to run more than one cycle for a full meal. They roasted at 430°F/220°C for 28 minutes, had golden, crispy skin, and were cooked through.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Pricing and Availability

In the US, you can buy the 9-Quart Dual Basket Air Fryer on Cosori’s website for $169.99, but at the time of writing it’s cheaper on Amazon, at $139.99.

The purchasing options are the same in the UK, with Cosori selling the 8.5-litre dual zone air fryer for £199.99, and Amazon slashing it to £159.99.

Thanks to its price on Amazon, the Cosori is cheaper than many dual-drawer competitors, while offering a similar feature set and capacity—plus, it comes with accessories. But for more buying options, each with pros, cons, and quick-to-read product summaries, check out our roundup of the best dual-drawer air fryers . We also have recommendations for the best Ninja air fryer and the best air fryer overall .

Should You Buy the Cosori Dual Basket Air Fryer?

The Cosori Dual Zone Air Fryer excels in some areas: It offers good overall performance, is easy to program, and has accessories to offer more cooking options. However, it seems aimed at people who are experts at air frying: There are no recipes included (instead, you’re directed to an app), minimal guidance for different foods and quantities, and no advice on using the accessories.

For those who don’t want to use their smartphone or tablet in the kitchen, this is disappointing. That said, if you’re willing to experiment with times and temperatures, it will yield good results.