Question: is cooking in a convection oven the same as an air fryer?
Answer: They're Not Exactly the Same The quick answer is, an air fryer is a simply a smaller convection oven with a catchy name. There is no actual frying going on inside an air fryer—that's because an air fryer cooks food via convection baking. With actual deep-frying, your food is directly immersed in hot oil.