The Philips Premium Airfryer XXL has been the benchmark large-capacity air fryer since Philips pioneered the category over a decade ago, and after six weeks of cooking weeknight dinners, weekend batches, and full family meals, the HD9650/96 still holds up. At a $379.95 list price (frequently discounted closer to $300–$330), it sits at the top of Philips' lineup — built around the same hot-air frying principle Philips invented, but with the brand's signature Fat Removal Technology layered on top, something most rival air fryers still don't offer. Shoppers who want automatic time/temperature adjustment can step up to the Smart Sensing HD9870, which uses the same XXL basket and motor in a slightly more automated package.
The 3lb / 7.3-liter capacity basket is what makes this unit genuinely useful for cooking a full family meal in one batch. Twin TurboStar Technology pushes hot air through a wider, more powerful fan than Philips' standard models, and in our testing it produced noticeably more even browning on a full basket of fries than smaller-capacity competitors — no shaking the basket halfway through required. The standout feature, though, is Fat Removal Technology: a star-shaped grate at the bottom of the basket combined with a separate fat-reducing star captures rendered fat from meat as it cooks, genuinely reducing the saturated fat content of foods like chicken thighs and pork belly compared to a standard flat-basket air fryer.
The five digital cooking presets — French fries/frozen snacks, chicken, meat, fish, and baking — cover most of what a household needs without buying a separate oven appliance, and the Keep Warm mode held food at serving temperature for up to 30 minutes without overcooking it, which we used more than expected on busy weeknights. Build quality across six weeks of near-daily use held up well: the QuickClean basket's removable, non-stick mesh insert resisted sticking even with breaded foods, and every removable part went straight into the dishwasher without issue. The digital touchscreen and turn-and-press dial were intuitive from the first use, with each preset represented by a clear icon.
The honest caveats: at roughly 12" L x 16" W x 12" H and around 19 lbs, this is a genuinely heavy, barrel-shaped countertop appliance — it ate up more storage and counter space than we anticipated, and you'll want a permanent spot for it rather than lifting it in and out of a cabinet daily. We also found it noticeably louder than newer dual-basket competitors at full temperature, closer to a kitchen exhaust fan on high than on low. The 2225W draw on the international HD9870 model (1800W on the US-spec HD9650) means it's worth checking your circuit before running it alongside other major kitchen appliances. And the QuickClean basket's mesh-bottom inner tray can drip fat and juices when you lift it out mid-clean, so we'd recommend pulling the whole drawer over the sink rather than the counter. Browse our full kitchen appliance reviews or the air fryer category.
