Following on my from ‘Healthy Kitchen Gadget Essentials’ blog post, here is my review of the Breville Halo Healthy Fryer!
When it comes to losing weight/maintaing a healthy weight I go by the ethos of ‘helping people to make informed decisions’.. however when it comes to owning deep fat fryers I am a little more blunt – I would advise everyone with a deep fat fryer TO BIN IT!! Up until now I have been advising people grill or roast foods in their oven instead, however after discovering the invention of the ‘healthy fryer’ at least now I have a healthy ‘compromise’ to suggest!!
The Breville halo fryer is advertised as ‘the healthier way to fry, cook, bake, sauté and roast’. The halogen heated fryer uses just one spoon full of oil, which is equal to roughly a tablespoon; 135 calories. When cooking fresh chips it uses 99.5% less oil than a standard 3 litre fryer and no oil at all when cooking oven chips and frozen foods.
The halo fryer is super easy to use, for example to make ‘Perfect Homemade Chips’ all you have to do is:
- Peel 2-4 ‘old potatoes’ and cut them into 11-13mm wide chips with a knife
- Rinse them twice and pat them dry with a paper towel
- Add the chips to the fryer and cover with a spoon of oil (I used just 2 potatoes/400g and so used just 1/2 spoon of vegetable/rapeseed oil which is high in healthy fats)
- Set the timer for 30-35 minutes
- Watch as the fryer cooks your ‘healthy chips’!
After 30 minutes the chips were ready to serve and I was really impressed – they tasted AMAZING and had a great texture – just like ‘real chips’! I’m (personally) not a fan of packaged ‘oven chips’ however do admit to buying them for other people. I’m going to put a ban on this now as these ‘halo chips’ are not only healthier and taste better but they are cheaper and require only a tiny bit of extra effort to make (5 minutes to peel, chip, rinse and dry!).
I also had a go at roasting carrots and followed this recipe .. after peeling and slicing the carrots I added 1/2 a spoon full of oil, 1 tsp of cumin seeds and 1 tsp of ground coriander before cooking them for 35 minutes. The carrots tasted amazing – so much ‘sweeter’ than boiled or regularly roasted carrots! I even appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to ‘keep an eye on’ them or turn them over as the paddle inside the fryer does this for you.
Having started with the basics, my next plan is to work my way through the little recipe book that came with the fryer – you can make entire meals in it.. from Tomato & Pesto Bruschetta to Szechnuan King Prawns and Spicy Lamb Burgers (using the rack/grill function).
Over all I’m really impressed with the Halo Fryer and the only downside that I can think of is the size – it takes up a fair bit of space on your kitchen counter so bare this in mind.. I’m having to clear out a cupboard to fit it in for when it’s not in use!
Do let me know what you think of the ‘healthy fryers’!
This blog post has been written in collaboration with Argos. I do not promote this product over other products not featured. Please read my disclaimer page for more information.