How much does it cost to run an air fryer?
About $1.61 a month on the typical usage below, at the U.S. average $0.1816/kWh. Set your own rate and usage and the figure updates instantly.
Air fryers pull ~1,200–1,800W but only for short cooks, so each use is cheap.
Running an air fryer at 0.38 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week costs about
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An air fryer draws a lot of watts — as much as a space heater — but only for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time, and it heats a tiny space instead of a whole oven cavity. At 1,500W a fifteen-minute cook uses about 0.375 kWh — roughly $0.07 at the US-average $0.18/kWh — so even air-frying five nights a week runs under $2 a month. That combination makes it one of the cheapest ways to cook a small meal.
For one or two portions it routinely beats firing up the full electric oven, which has to heat a much bigger box.
What drives the cost of running an air fryer
- High wattage, but short cook times keep each session inexpensive.
- It heats a small basket, so very little energy is wasted compared with a full oven.
- Back-to-back batches add up if you're cooking for a crowd.
How to cut it
- Use it instead of the oven for small portions — that's the saving, every time.
- Don't bother preheating for most foods.
- Cook in one full basket rather than several small back-to-back rounds.
Data basis
- Electricity price
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B, June 2026 year to date, released 2026-08-26. Retrieved 2026-09-11. Average residential revenue per kWh. A benchmark average, not a utility tariff — it excludes the fixed charges, tiers, time-of-use windows, taxes and fuel adjustments on a real bill.
- Appliance energy
- A representative running power for an air fryer, compiled from published manufacturer specifications and public appliance-energy guidance, and presented as a typical figure with the usual range shown above. It is not a measurement of your unit, and we do not claim a single primary source for it — the nameplate on your appliance, or an hour with a plug-in energy meter, beats any typical figure we can publish.
- Usage model
- Per cycle — 0.38 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week
- International prices
- rounded typical household tariffs for each market, in that market's own currency unless the row says US$ equivalent. These are planning benchmarks with no single primary source; enter the per-kWh price from your own bill for an accurate figure.
- Last reviewed
- 20 August 2026. Next scheduled review 20 February 2027.
- Corrections
- Think a figure is wrong? Tell us at corrections@watt-dollar.com and see our corrections policy.
Common questions
How much does it cost to run an air fryer per month?
On the assumption shown above — 0.38 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week — an air fryer costs about $1.61 a month, or $19.35 a year, at $0.1816/kWh. That price is the U.S. average; set your own rate and usage above and the figure updates.
How is that worked out?
Energy per cycle x cycles per week, plus any standby draw between cycles. At 0.38 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week that is 0.29 kWh a day, which at $0.1816/kWh costs $0.05 a day.
How can I cut the cost of running an air fryer?
Use it instead of the oven for small portions — that's the saving, every time. As a worked example: running 4 cycles a week instead of 5 takes it from $19.35 to $15.79 a year, about $3.55 less.