The Proctor Silex Air Fryer is a single-basket unit with a 2.3-quart capacity, which is available on the Canadian market. We tested this model in collaboration with Radio-Canada, Canada's francophone public broadcaster. You can see their French-language recommendation article and video investigation on air fryers. This is a very simple model, with a rounded design and two control dials, one for temperature and the other for time. It offers limited versatility and doesn't include any special features such as a shake reminder or temperature probe.
Our Verdict
The Proctor Silex 35055 is a bad air fryer. By the time foods like onion rings, vegetables, and wings finish cooking, less than half are crispy and golden brown, while large amounts remain undercooked or end up burnt. It also works slowly, taking longer than most other air fryers to cook. Sadly, it's not very versatile either; it has a narrow temperature range and only one fan speed.
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Makes bad-quality fried food.
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Cooks slowly.
The Proctor Silex 35055 is not intended for large batch cooking. With a 2.3-quart capacity and a small basket surface area, it's ideal for serving one person. However, it makes poor-quality fried food and cooks slowly. Plus, it's not very versatile, so it's not an ideal choice for things like dehydrating or baking.
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Makes bad-quality fried food.
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Small cooking capacity.
The Proctor Silex 35055 offers poor air frying performance. Unfortunately, it makes bad-quality fried food. Moreover, it does so slowly, with a lot of temperature fluctuation as it cooks. The basket has a middling amount of surface area, so you don't have much room to arrange food. It's also limited to one fan speed, so you can't use this air fryer for other applications like dehydrating or proofing dough.
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Makes bad-quality fried food.
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Cooks slowly.
The Proctor Silex 35055 works slowly. The time it takes to preheat isn't bad, but it takes a long time to cook food.
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Cooks slowly.
The Proctor Silex 35055 has a small 2.3-quart capacity, enough to serve a single person. The basket has a middling amount of surface area, so there isn't much room to spread food out in a single layer.
The Proctor Silex 35055 is very compact. It doesn't take up much space on a countertop and is easy to store on a shelf or in a cupboard.
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Compact design.
- 4.9 Air Frying
- 5.6 Large Batch Cooking
Performance Usages
- 4.8 Frying Performance
- 4.8 Cooking Speed
- 6.0 Cooking Capacity
- 8.3 Size
Changelog
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This air fryer comes in 'Black.' See the label for our unit.
Let us know if you encounter another variant, and we'll update this review.
Compared To Other Air Fryers
This air fryer is a small model with a 2.3-quart capacity that's just a little larger than the Dash Compact, giving you enough space to serve just one person comfortably. Unfortunately, it doesn't perform well compared to similarly sized options. Compared to slightly larger models like the thinkkitchen Retro Air Fryer, it works slowly and struggles to make crispy food. It also lacks versatility compared to larger options, like the Ninja AF101, with just one fan speed compared to the Ninja's wider range of options. Like the Gotham Steel Air Fryer, it has a simple design with temperature and time dials you can use to program it.
If you want more options to consider, look at our recommendations for the best air fryers, the best small air fryers, and the best budget and cheap air fryers.
The Ninja AF101 is a better air fryer than the Proctor Silex 35055. Most importantly, it produces better quality fried food, leaving a much smaller portion of each batch either over- or undercooked and reaching that outcome faster. The Ninja is also a lot more versatile, with a larger range of temperatures, a variable-speed fan, and additional cooking methods, such as 'Roast' and 'Dehydrate.' It also has a more stable temperature; it regains its heat more quickly after you add food, and its temperature fluctuates less throughout cooking cycles. The Proctor Silex takes up less counter space but has a smaller capacity and less surface area in its basket to spread food out in a single layer.
The Ninja Foodi DZ550 is a better air fryer than the Proctor Silex 35055. It makes great-quality fried food, while the Proctor Silex makes poor-quality fried food and works more quickly. The Ninja is also more versatile, with two baskets, so you can cook different kinds of food at the same time. It has better temperature stability and a wider range for both temperature and fan speeds, making it a better option for alternative applications like dehydrating and baking. That said, the Proctor Silex is smaller and more affordable, so if saving either space or money is your top concern, it may be worth a look.
The Dash Compact and Proctor Silex 35055 are both very small air fryers with enough capacity to cook for one person. The Dash Compact performs better, but not by much. It provides marginally better air frying, resulting in a slightly larger portion of each batch ending up crispy and golden brown. Both air fryers cook slowly, but the Dash has a slight edge at every turn—it preheats, cooks, and returns to temperature a little faster after you open the drawer to add food. Neither model is very versatile, but the Dash has a larger temperature range.
The thinkkitchen Retro Air Fryer performs better than the Proctor Silex 35055. Both air fryers are small-capacity units with a similar design: they have rounded bodies with two dials, one for temperature and one for time. However, the thinkkitchen cooks more of your food to a crispy golden brown while the Proctor Silex over or undercooks more than half of each batch.
The thinkkitchen also maintains a more stable temperature throughout the cooking process, which makes it easier to follow recipes. Plus, it preheats and cooks faster, too.
The Gotham Steel Air Fryer and Proctor Silex 35055 are both small models with simple designs, but the Gotham performs better. While it produces air-fried food that is just decent, food cooked in the Proctor Silex air fryer is of poor quality. It has more surface area in its basket to spread food out in a single layer and, ultimately, cooks it faster. The Gotham Steel also heats back up faster after you add food to the basket, though the Proctor Silex's temperature fluctuates slightly less throughout its cooking cycle.
Test Results
This compact air fryer has a 2.3-quart capacity, enough for a single person. Its basket has a sub-par amount of space you can use to spread food out. While this makes sense for such a small unit, some slightly larger-capacity options, like the thinkkitchen Retro Air Fryer, have much more room to arrange food in a single layer, which helps provide crispy, well-cooked results.
This air fryer is not very versatile. It has a narrow temperature range, just one fan speed, and doesn't offer additional cooking methods, such as dehydrating or reheating.
There are a handful of suggested cooking temperatures listed on the top of the air fryer:
- Frozen French Fries: 400°F
- Vegetables: 400°F
- Chicken Drumstick: 400°F
- Steak or Pork Chop: 375°F
- Fish: 375°F
- Muffin: 350°F
You can also find a long list of suggested cooking times and temperatures in the 'Use and Care Guide.'
This air fryer makes poor-quality fried food. Less than half of each batch comes out crispy, while large portions end up mushy or overcooked.
After opening the drawer to add food, this air fryer takes a very long time to heat back up, much longer than most other models. The temperature also fluctuates considerably during the cooking cycle, making it tricky to follow more precise recipes and making it more likely that your food will dry out or burn while baking.