One-minute review
Ultenic isn’t one of the big appliance brands, so it’s no surprise that it hasn’t yet featured in our best air fryers guide. The Ultenic K10 is certainly an air fryer that’s capable of making the cut, however.
The K10 is a medium-sized 5.3-quart / 5-liter capacity air fryer that can cook up to four portions of your favorite fried-style foods. It’s the smaller of just two air fryers on offer from Ultenic. The dual-drawer Ultenic K20 is the brand’s other model; it’s currently only available in the UK.
While the K10 isn’t able to perform any functions other than to air fry, its app connectivity and 11 preset cooking options for a range of popular foods will make it a great addition to your kitchen. And with a recipe book included in the box, there’s plenty of inspiration provided to help you get the most from this countertop cooker.
Performance on test was impressive – we couldn’t fault with the food we cooked in it. And with features such as keep warm, automatic preheat, as well as a reminder to shake foods, there’s certainly nothing lacking from the control panel, even with the wallet-friendly price tag.
The K10 is a great entry-level air fryer that’s easy to use with lots of guidance on cook times and temperatures, and it will suit most cooks – as long as you’re not looking for a large-capacity model.
Ultenic K10 price and availability
The Ultenic K10 is available from Amazon in the US and the UK. It’s very competitively priced and regularly discounted, too, making it even better value for the money.
Ultenic’s other air fryer, the Ultenic K20, costs more and is a larger-capacity dual-drawer model that’s only available in the UK.
Price and availability: 4.5 / 5
Ultenic K10 design
- Simple touch control panel
- Sleek glossy black exterior
- 11 auto programs
The K10 is a medium-sized 5.3-quart / 5-liter capacity air fryer that isn’t too intrusive on the countertop. It measures just 12.1 x 10.7 x 10.7 inches/ 30.6 x 27 x 27cm (h x w x d). The black glossy exterior features gold accents on the handle and logo – and is likely to be a love-it or hate-it design feature. That being said, in general the K10’s appearance is uncluttered and quite subtle on the counter. For those who prefer storing such kitchen appliances away, the K10 isn’t too bulky to move in and out as you need.
It’s controlled via the touch-sensitive panel on top of the air fryer. When switched off, the panel is black and blends in with the rest of the exterior for a neat finish. Switched on, however, you’ll be presented with a lot of illuminated buttons from which to make your choice.
There are 11 preset cooking modes and each one is displayed with its own corresponding graphic. At first glance, this could prove overwhelming, but it’s very intuitive to use. The presets are; shrimp, French fries, wings, steak, vegetable, fish, onion rings, pizza, bacon, cake, and toast.
Each of the presets has a suggested time and temperature, but these can be adjusted, offering maximum flexibility. Or you can choose to set the time and temperature manually, with options from 170F/75C – 400F/205C in 9F/5C intervals, and the timer can be set at any time between 1-60 minutes in one-minute intervals
There’s an optional preheat function: at the touch of a button you can add an automatic preheat to your chosen settings, with the air fryer beeping at the end of the preheat to indicate when you should add the food.
Some, but not all presets include a reminder to shake or turn food half-way through the cooking time, which is handy if you’re prone to walking away and forgetting to do this. There’s also a keep warm function with a predefined temperature at 170F/ 75C; the time is adjustable, though.
Thankfully, the time and temperature settings can be adjusted at any point during cooking, which is especially helpful if you’re new to air fryers and need to experiment.
A button on the handle has to be pressed to remove the basket from the air fryer, making it more difficult for little ones to open. And although the manual says the frying basket can’t go in the dishwasher, Ultenic has assured us that it can and the manual is due a reprint to be corrected.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Ultenic K10 performance
- Crisp and golden fries
- Intuitive to use
- Great all-rounder
The first thing we cooked was 1.1lb/ 500g frozen steak-cut fries, with setup proving super simple. We opted for the fries preset, which cooks at 385F/195C for 20 minutes. Having selected the preset, we pressed the preheat button, which automatically added a five-minute preheat to the start. Pressing the play / pause button gets it going and it beeps at the end of the preheat to alert you it’s time to add the food.
We only gave the fries a shake once, mid-way through, when we were reminded to do so. We let the fries cook for the full 20 minutes and the end result was deliciously crisp and golden fries, evenly golden in color, with a texture that was exactly what we were looking for.
When making fries from scratch, we consulted the included recipe book for instruction. The recipe book advises using the fries preset, but to increase the time to 28 minutes, so this is what we did. We coated the raw potato fries in 2tbsp oil as per the recipe – although we did think this was excessive, and would cut it down if repeating.
After the preheat was complete, we added the fries to the cooking basket and waited until the K10 prompted us to shake them halfway through cooking. We did give them another shake before taking them out, two minutes before the end of the timer. The fries were perfectly cooked – fluffy on the inside and golden in color with a crunchy outside.
We used the wings preset to cook five chicken wings. There was more than enough space in the basket for five wings; in fact, you could easily have fit in a few more without them overlapping or piling on top of each other. The preset cook time is 25 minutes, and we turned the wings halfway through when prompted.
Once 20 minutes had elapsed, we removed the wings to find they were cooked through, and the skin was crisp and golden. Inside the meat was tender and moist– a tasty result with no added oil. We recorded the K10’s maximum noise level at 65dB, which is similar to normal conversation; and it’s fan noise so isn’t at all offensive.
Note that the control panel’s position on top of the air fryer isn’t particularly convenient if you’re vertically challenged. At 5ft 4inches/ 1.62meters, our reviewer didn’t struggle to see the controls, but those under 5ft/ 1.52 meters might find the control panel a little tricky to see.
Performance: 5 / 5
Ultenic K10 app
- Requires 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connection
- Compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
- Sends notifications when it’s time to shake or turn food
While an app to control an air fryer isn’t strictly speaking a necessity, having the controls at your fingertips when you’re not hanging out in the kitchen does have its advantages. All the settings on the control panel are available to access through the app, so if you get called away from the kitchen to answer the door or tend to a child, you can pause the K10 from another room.
Or, you can check on the progress of your dinner without getting up off the sofa. The app is also home to a wide range of recipes for inspiration, and if you’re following a recipe, then you just have to hit start at the end of the recipe and the K10 will begin cooking at the correct time and temperature. There’s also the option to schedule cooking, which you can’t do on the air fryer itself.
App: 4 / 5
Ultenic K10 score card
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Price & availability | Affordably priced smart air fryer that’s frequently discounted. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Design | Slightly cluttered but simple control panel with a good range of settings and a dishwasher-safe basket. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Performance | We can’t fault the food we made in this air fryer, plus it was easy to use and clean. | 5 / 5 |
| App | Easy to use and provides all the functionality of the control panel; but not compatible with 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. | 4 / 5 |
Should I buy?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
- First reviewed: November 2022
