We have been testing the intelligent hot air fryer for several weeks now Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer 3.5L. It is a great household helper with which you can prepare fast and healthy food in a few minutes.
In the review, you will learn what intelligent functions this fryer has, as well as our experience with preparing different types of food.
Where to Buy Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer?
You can purchase the Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer 3.5L hot air fryer from our international partner Gshopper. It will please availability in the Czech warehouse, from where it will be delivered to you within a few working days by courier. You don't have to worry about any unexpected fees.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer 3.5 L
Technical specifications in brief
| Model | MAE02 |
| Weight | 3.9 kg |
| dimensions | 30.4 x 25.2 x 33.5 cm |
| Performance | 1500 W |
| Volume fryers | 3.5 L |
| Range temperature | 40 - 200 ° C |
| Display | yes - OLED |
Contents of the package
The Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer arrived in a white product box, on which we can find several specifications from the manufacturer together with photos. It is a pity that the seller did not pack this frieze in another, protective box or at least in some kind of packaging.
After opening the box, the instructions for use, embedded in polystyrene, were waiting for us at the top. Below it is the fryer itself in a protective foil. The packaging is relatively simple, but the fryer is sufficiently protected by the aforementioned polystyrenes.
Design and quality of workmanship
The Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer is a very elegant appliance that is also suitable for modern homes. It is sold in white and its surface is glossy. In the front there is a round selector with OLED display, which is used for manual control of the fryer. Above it we find an inconspicuous touch button for switching it on or off, and in the lower half there is a standard frying basket.
Inside the frying pan we find a stainless steel grid and also one black base on which food is stored. The volume of the basket is 3.5 L. In the rear part we find only holes for air outlet and cable for connection to the mains. The fryer also has rubber, non-slip feet.
First turn on and pair with the application
As mentioned above, the hot air fryer is switched on by a button located above the rotary selector with display. When it is turned on, the display prompting you to connect to the WiFi network will light up immediately. The Xiaomi Home application is required to pair the fryer with a smartphone.
Our smartphone application immediately found a hot air fryer in the area, so pairing was very easy and fast. If this is not the case, the fryer can be manually searched for in the device list in Xiaomi Home. We use a customized, region-free Xiaomi Home application.
After a successful pairing, the application offered us a firmware update in the fryer, which also ran quickly and without problems. Instructions for using the fryer will also be displayed at the beginning.
Application environment and recipes for various dishes
The main screen of the hot air fryer application contains individual preset modes for preparing various meals. Specifically, we can find the following programs here:
- manual
- fries
- chicken wings
- fish
- steak
- shrimp
- vegetables
- pie
- Dried Fruit
Under the preset programs you will also find the option of creating your own recipe, as well as a button for other recipes. The recipes contain a database of up to 100 different recipes for meals, which you can prepare using a hot air fryer. You can take this part as inspiration with various tips for interesting dishes. However, they are in English, which may not suit everyone.
Here you will find recipes for onion rings, meatballs, pizza, salmon, muffins, brownies, cheesecakes, roasted chestnuts, yogurt and other recipes with meat in various ways, eggs or cakes. With the help of a hot air fryer, you can bake meat but also defrost it, make homemade yogurt or dried fruit. There are really many possibilities of use.
How it works or how to prepare food in a healthier way
As the name implies, the fryer prepares food using the warm air that flows in it. At the top, above the pull-out basket, there is a spiral, above which is a fan. It is used to stir up warm air after heating the spiral. As the air inside the fryer flows, it is a 360 ° air circulation.
Despite this information provided by the manufacturer, due to the spiral, which is located only at the top, the food is most baked from the top. Therefore, it is necessary to turn the food from time to time or at least shake the basket, for example when preparing french fries, to bake them evenly. However, the fryer also thinks about this and the rotation will remind you, as it is part of the programs.
The temperature can be set in manual mode between 40 and 200 ° C. At lower temperatures (40 - 80 ° C) the mentioned fan also adjusts its speed to 1800 rpm. For this reason, the fryer is also suitable for thawing or drying fruit.
At higher temperatures in the range of 80 - 200 ° C, the fan speed automatically increases to 2600 rpm. As for the timer, it can be set to a maximum of 1 hour. Warming up to the selected temperature is very fast. According to the manufacturer, the fryer is heated to 160 ° C in 145 seconds and to 200 ° C in approximately 185 seconds.
Since the fryer works on the principle of warm air, you will prepare food in a healthier way. You do not bake meat in oil, which will also help your health.
Control even without application
Application or pairing with a smartphone with this product is not a condition. You can fully use the Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer with the help of a manual selector with a display in the front part.
You move in the menu by turning the selector to the sides and confirm the selected item by pushing it. There are 8 basic programs that you will also find in the application, delayed start and settings.
The settings only have the option of resetting the WiFi connection and changing the language. Unfortunately, neither Slovak nor Czech is here.
Our experience after several weeks of use
With this product, we have to admit that the application and the connection to the smartphone bring almost no added value, and in most cases we did not use the application at all.
Since you have to load food into the fryer, it makes no sense to turn it on through the app when you can do it very quickly using the rotary selector with the display. It's even faster if we compare that we have to unlock the smartphone, open the application, choose the fryer from the smart device and then select the program.
However, the application is an interesting variety and offers at least a number of recipes for inspiration. However, the recipes were often displayed in the application for an unknown reason without pictures.
In the Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer, we most often prepared french fries during our testing. This is a faster and healthier way to prepare them. However, we also tried other dishes such as baked salmon, meat in various ways, fish fingers, fried cheese or even dried fruit.
As for cleaning, you can also put the frypot and grill in the dishwasher, or wash it under the tap.
How does the food taste from the fryer and does it have enough capacity?
The biggest attraction of the hot air fryer is preparing food in a healthier way without oil. However, this can cause the meat to dry out too much and lose its juiciness, for example when preparing chicken meat.
As you place the meat on a grill or stainless steel grate, a large amount of juice flows together with the fat into the bottom of the container. However, we have one interesting tip to solve this problem. If you put classic baking paper under the meat, it will retain its juice and will not be so dried.
At the same time, since the fat and lime from the meat does not drain into the bottom of the container in this way, you do not have to wash it so often.
In terms of capacity, it is 3.5 L. The dimensions of the inner part of the frying pan are 19 x 19 x 10.5 cm. The manufacturer states that it is sufficient to prepare food for 1 - 3 people. We must admit that you will definitely not prepare food for 3 people in this fryer. It is more suitable for one to two members of the household, as it does not offer much space.
You can insert the aforementioned stainless steel grill into the fryer, which will allow you to bake more portions at the same time, but when it is full, the food under the grill bakes significantly less than the food on the grill, as warm air flows from the top.
Overall, however, we were satisfied with the fryer, but it is necessary to count on a maximum of one to two portions of food per baking. Of course, the food has a slightly different taste compared to food prepared in oil, but it is healthier. As you can see in the photos, we also tried the fruit drying program. He works for 5 hours, the fruit dries well, but a lot does not fit in a frying pan.
If you have a fryer connected to a smartphone with the Xiaomi Home application, the cooking process is also displayed with the time when the program will end. You will receive a notification at the end of the program. You can customize the individual preset programs in the application - change the amount (half or full dose), temperature and baking time.
He can also bake cakes
Recipes in the application also include several sweet dishes, including various cakes and other delicacies. We decided to try a recipe for blueberry muffins. The procedure is very simple and really anyone can handle it.
When we had the blueberry dough ready, we clicked the Start button in the recipe. The first step was to preheat the fryer to 180 ° C. When the fryer was heated, we quickly pulled out the frying pan and put 5 muffins in it. Preheating is optional and it's hard to say if it's important. If you remove the frying basket, a substantial part of the heat will of course escape, but at least the spiral will remain heated.
The muffins were baked for us for about 17 minutes and were really delicious, delicate and tasty. The preset time from the recipe is 21 minutes at 180 ° C, but you will also find a note in the recipe that the time and temperature need to be adjusted according to how the muffins are baked and you can check them continuously.
We have been using the hot air fryer for several years
We have personally used the hot air fryer for a long time. Of course, the aforementioned Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer, as it has not been on the market for too long. At home, we own a hot air fryer from the Tefal brand with the same capacity of the frying basket, which we have been using for food preparation for several years. Specifically, it is the FRY DELIGH FX100015.
The Tefal hot air fryer is not smart. It does not have a display or the ability to connect to a smartphone. It is controlled by two manual elements. The first is the timer and the second is the temperature selector. Compared to the hot air fryer from Xiaomi, it is larger due to the black color in the front, but it works almost the same.
The Xiaomi hot air fryer is a bit more compact, more elegant and offers several options. It also has a longer timer, reminds you when to turn the food and has two speeds of air flow.
After a few weeks of use, our choice would be clear and we would definitely prefer the Xiaomi fryer.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer: Final review
The Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer has a capacity of 3.5 L, an elegant white design and offers the possibility of cooking without the use of oil. You can control it using a smartphone with the Xiaomi Home application, but also manually using the rotary selector with OLED display. There are several preset programs as well as a number of recipes with tips for preparing different dishes.
The fryer heats up quickly and the food bakes well. We used it mainly for preparing french fries, meat or fish fingers. However, it can also be used for baking cakes, drying fruit or making yoghurts or thawing.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Air Fryer 3.5 L
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