French retailers including Boulanger and Cultura are expanding their ranges of dedicated air fryer accessories as the oil-free appliances dominate kitchen sales across France.
The countertop devices, which cook food by circulating hot air with little to no oil, have become the top-selling kitchen appliance in the country, with four in ten French people now owning one.
The rapid adoption of the appliance has sparked a lucrative secondary market spanning specialized cookware, tailored baking tools, custom cleaning products and dedicated recipe books, according to a report broadcast on French television network TF1's evening news programme 20H.
In bookstore aisles, recipe collections designed specifically for air fryers have seen swift growth. At a branch of French cultural retailer Cultura visited by news reporters, one in every five cookbooks on display is now dedicated exclusively to oil-free frying, offering express meals, balanced nutrition and high-protein recipes.
Fairouz Zenati, head of the book department at the Cultura store, said shelf space dedicated to air fryer literature expanded from a single shelf to three shelves in less than a year after staff had to clear display space and make shelf choices. Prices for the books range from under 10 euros for basic editions to 30 euros for comprehensive guides.
Christine, a customer interviewed during the broadcast while browsing the bookstore aisles, said the wide variety of titles prevented home cooking from becoming monotonous and described the growing selection as tempting.
Growing Ecosystem of Kitchen Tools
Beyond cookbooks, home cooks are stocking their cupboards with hardware designed specifically for the dimensions and heating mechanics of air fryers. Online content creator Eva Vives, who publishes recipes under the handle @foooodiiizz, said she no longer needs cookbooks after mastering hundreds of dishes, but relies heavily on tailored utensils.
Demonstrating her collection, Vives highlighted custom-sized gratin dishes, small tartlet moulds, protective paper liners for the bottom of the air fryer, and specialized retrieval tongs, which she referred to as her magic utensil for lifting hot dishes out of the unit without getting burned.
Appliance stores and manufacturers are catering to this demand with increasingly specialized products. Magnetic clips engineered to secure baking paper inside the cooking chamber sell for 12 euros, while bundled accessory kits retail for around 20 euros alongside specially formulated detergent.
Alexandre Bouhier, service manager at French appliance chain Boulanger, said the retailer originally offered only basic baking paper alongside the machines. Bouhier noted that an entire ecosystem has since developed, with product lines expanding to include silicone moulds and tongs.
Manufacturing Shift in Northern France
Domestic manufacturers are also shifting production to meet the demand. In the Nord department of northern France, culinary manufacturer Guy Demarle launched a dedicated line of air fryer accessories just over a year ago.
The company has already sold nearly 10,000 specially designed cooking baskets. Behind their apparent simplicity, the baskets feature a design engineered specifically to optimize air circulation during cooking.
Diane Tahon, product manager at Guy Demarle, explained that the baskets are manufactured using platinum silicone, which she described as the highest quality silicone available on the market. Tahon noted that the material withstands temperatures up to 260 degrees Celsius, making the moulds suitable for both conventional ovens and air fryers.
As appliance manufacturers release larger air fryer units into retail stores, Guy Demarle is developing bigger accessory lines to match the expanding basket sizes, as air fryers maintain their position as France's best-selling kitchen appliance.
