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Do you, too, suffer from the familiar problem of having half of dinner ready to go—but the other half still totally uncooked? The Ultima Cosa 8L Dual Digital Air Fryer might be your solution. With two baskets instead of one, you can get dinner or snacks on the table twice as fast and at the same time. No more waiting for the next basket or leaving food in the warming drawer.

What’s in the box of the Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer 8L?

What's in the box of the Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer 8L review 8In the box of the Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer, you’ll find an 8 litre digital air fryer with a touchscreen and two removable 4 litre baskets. In each basket, you’ll find crisping trays, which are removable, and feature silicone guards on the edges to prevent them from scratching the non-stick baskets.

The Dual Digital Air Fryer also comes with a physical instruction manual, a quick start guide, and a recipe book.

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What are the features of this Dual Digital Air Fryer?

The Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer has an 8 litre (8.5 quart) capacity stretched across two removable baskets (so, 4 litres each). Its baskets and crisping trays are dishwasher-safe and non-stick for easy cleanup. This design features eight preset cooking programs (which follow) on a touchscreen display and it’s advertised as being able to cook up to 6.5 pounds of food at a time.

    1. Preheat
    2. Fries
    3. Steak
    4. Chicken
    5. Fish
    6. Vegetables
    7. Bacon
    8. Shrimp

On the top of this air fryer is something that I haven’t seen before: A temperature and time guide for each preset. It’s super simple and probably cost the company next to nothing to include, but it’s really handy. I don’t know why more brands don’t include cooking guides on their appliances!

This Ultima Cosa air fryer also allows you to cook separately, dual cook, sync the finish time for both baskets, and set your time and temperature independently for each basket. It’ll chime when it’s time to shake or remove your food.

Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer 8L review labels

How do I choose the right air fryer for me?

I get asked a lot how to choose the right air fryer for a family or household. It happens both with readers and real-life friends. Given that writing reviews is a big part of my job, I’m kind of my family’s appliance guy. Whenever someone’s about to make a purchase, I get that little text that says, “Hi Rae, what do you think of this product?” And honestly, I don’t mind it! It’s a great reason to catch up, and it lets me tell them about everything I’d look for in a small appliance. (It’s also way better than being the family’s printer guy, which is basically my nightmare. Thanks, but no thanks—I’ll leave that territory to my mom.)

For air fryers, I recommend looking at two things: price point and design. All of the air fryers I’ve tried at Best Buy have performed really well, even the budget-friendly ones, so basic performance isn’t something you need to worry about.

Instead, focus on finding a model that fits your budget. Then, narrow down your choices based on design. If you prefer an oven door style, choose that kind. They’re great for making baked goods and rotisserie poultry. (Ultima Cosa’s version of this is their 10L.) If you want a basket design, select one based on size and countertop real estate. And, if you want to be able to cook multiple dishes at once, opt for a dual-basket design like this one.

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What I made in my Ultima Cosa Digital Air Fryer 

For this review, I wanted to make dishes that would take different amounts of time to heat up—you know; really test the air fryer’s “sync finish” function. I ended up going with Cavendish fries (something I make time and time again in different air fryers for consistency), fresh asparagus, and re-heated ribs. The three items are all very different: fries need hot temperatures and really good air flow to achieve a crisp outside that isn’t tough, while asparagus and leftovers dry out quickly if they’re heated too high or for too long.

With this air fryer’s pre-set functions in mind, here are some other two-dish air fryer meal combinations that I think this air fryer would be perfect for making:

    • Chicken wings and fries (an air fryer classic!)
    • Steak with air fried potatoes & herbs
    • Chicken parmesan with air fried eggplant or zucchini
    • Lemon garlic shrimp and baked oysters. Serve with fresh pasta, which you can make while your air fryer sorts out your seafood for you.
    • Air fryer salmon with spinach
    • Tandoori chicken breast with warm naan
    • Stuffed mushrooms with garlic toast
    • Chocolate lava cake and apple pie (okay, this isn’t a meal, but air fryers are great for quickly re-heating deserts and having two baskets means you can double your dessert options after dinner!)

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My experience with the Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer 8L

I love an air fryer, and this one was no exception. The 8L Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer has a 5 minute preheat function, should you choose to use it, and its other presets are very customized to the types of foods they’re handling. Veggies cook for a shorter timeframe and at a much lower temperature than other settings, while dishes like fish and steak broil on high.

My food heats up really quickly in this air fryer. It took about 20 minutes to cook my fries, 15 minutes for asparagus, and 5 minutes to re-heat leftovers, which makes it so easy to get dinner on the table quickly. The five minute preheat time is just long enough to wash and prep your veggies, plus grab any oil or seasoning that you may need. (I know frozen fries come pre-seasoned, but I love them with a little steak seasoning on top!) I used the meat setting on the ribs featured in the review video, but they came out a little dry; in the future, I think the vegetable setting would be better for leftovers.

Speaking of: The veggies I made in here? Divine. My asparagus, which I usually make in the oven, was crisp, juicy, and so much sweeter than usual. The dual baskets definitely came in handy, especially with this air fryer’s ability to digitally tweak each setting (time and temperature).

Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer 8L review crisping trays

Two things to remember when using this air fryer

One thing to note about the Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer is that its crisping trays have removable silicone guards to prevent scratching. This is great, because it means you can get them really clean in the wash—but it’s also something to watch out for. The guards come off easily with friction, so take extra care while placing them in each basket.

In addition to that, this air fryer comes with handles on the bottom. They’re very discreet, tucked right in at the centre on each side, but are so good! This is a feature that I rarely see included in small appliances. It makes this air fryer significantly easier to store and move than most, which is awesome for small spaces. From creating healthy, delicious meals to storing and cleaning with ease, this air fryer performs well and is really nice to have on hand.

Shop the Ultima Cosa Dual Digital Air Fryer 8L at Best Buy today.

Rae Chen
Rae Chen covers everything from handbags to speakers here on the Best Buy Plug-in Blog. They can also be found at thenotice.net, where they've been writing about beauty & wellness since 2007.

537 COMMENTS

  1. I’d like to try out some chicken. I like jerk chicken but it is expensive in the stores and restaurants. Also some cookies and some carrot cake, I understand you can bake in an air fryer.

  2. If I had the Ultima Cosa air fryer, I would make chicken breasts (savoury dish) and chocolate lava cake (sweet dish).

  3. Well I would definitely aim to try chicken wings (the classic!) as my first savoury dish, sweet is harder though, I dont make a lot of sweets, but I love the idea of the chocolate lava cake!

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