Why we’re switching to a Ninja air fryer.

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Ninja Air Fryers

As keen cooks who love homemade food, we’ve found that we rely more and more on some key kitchen equipment day in and day out.  For instance, we would be lost when bread making if we didn’t have our Kenwood Chef, and our Ninja triple bladed food chopper is used nearly every day.  Similarly, our air fryer has become an essential cooking tool over the last few years.

We’re now at a point where it is used so often that we need to upgrade to something more resilient, easier to clean and with a few more options for cooking whole meals rather than individual items. We looked at several brands – but in the end realised that Ninja offered the best balance between really innovative features and a realistic price for our budget.

Which Ninja models did we consider?

There are a few models in the Ninja range aimed at different family sizes and cooking abilities.  There are the smaller options, such as the AF100UK which has a 3.8l capacity single drawer, or the AF160 UK MAX which again is single drawer, has 6 cooking functions and a 5.2l capacity.  These both have really good average reviews, rating 5 stars and have received numerous awards.  Great air fryers, but we had requirements for a more versatile fryer further up the range.

In the end we settled on one of the Ninja Foodi range of dual zone (two drawer) air fryers.  These all meet our requirements listed below, are available at a reasonable price considering how much we use the fryer (plus we benefitted from Black Friday special offers too!). The Ninja Foodi range also have absolute rave reviews about them and have received awards from BBC Goodfood magazine too.

What were our requirements for choosing the air fryer?

We need the following essentials from our new air fryer:

• Easy cleaning – as you will see below, our current Philips air fryer has not reacted well to being cleaned in the dishwasher, despite being marked as dishwasher safe.

• Dual drawers – we want the ability to cook two different items simultaneously in the air fryer, and this is something not available from a lot of brands (including Philips).

• Cooking temperatures – the Philips will only go up to 200C, which means anything requiring a crispy skin (such as pork) won’t necessarily get hot enough.

• A trusted brand – There are lots of different air fryer brands on the market, but we wanted a brand we knew would offer quality and have the support and backup in case anything did go wrong.

Once we had taken a look through numerous articles and reviews, we realised that Ninja was the brand for us.

What does the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer with Smart Cook System offer?

Our model of choice, the dual zone with smart cook probe meets our needs for something more versatile, able to cook a whole meal and comes with a range of different cooking modes and a smart probe that will tell us when the food is perfectly prepared! In short it has the following benefits:

• It’s large – the Foodi Max has 9.5 litres capacity split between two drawers.

• It has an independent cooking function – each drawer can have a different mode, which means you can cook two parts of your meal at the same time.

• It can bake as well as fry – I will be really interested in testing out the baking function to see how bread reacts in an airfryer.

• It’s easy to clean in the dishwasher.  All the cooking parts are dishwasher safe – and being Ninja, should stand up to regular washing better than the Philips has.

• It’s well loved – the Foodi Max currently has over 8,000 reviews on Google and an average rating of 4.7 stars.

There are some downsides – it is a big unit, which is to be expected of a machine with such a large capacity, and it was at the top end of our budget.  But we reasoned that being used every day, we would spend twice the amount we did pay (see below) on a standard fan oven from Neff, so actually it was still a bargain.  Plus, air fryers cook quicker and use less energy than standard fan ovens, so overall we hope to make a saving with our cookery.

Why are we replacing our current Philips?

We bought this air fryer a few years ago now during Black Friday as it was an easy-to-understand air fryer at a time when we didn’t really know what we were going to use it for.  We had seen articles around the benefits but hadn’t really bought into the concept yet.

In actuality, the air fryer was fine for small, very dry items such as chips, roast potatoes or vegetables such as parsnips.  It came unstuck (or more to the point super stuck) when trying out slightly more adventurous cooking such as crispy tofu or even things like fish fingers.

Then we found that the food just welded itself to the basket and getting that clean in the dishwasher was very very difficult.  The trays didn’t sit well in the unit and, we’ve now noticed that the tray the basket sits in has started to rust heavily and the plastic walls are degrading.  So, time to switch to a more resilient brand.

It performed adequately when not being used every day, but now air frying has become a staple part of our cooking techniques, it just can’t stand up to the rigors of everyday use.

The photos below show how much food sticks to the basket. This is after one use where we fried Karaage Chicken, which is a fairly dry batter of potato starch. This is going to take a large amount of scrubbing, and who has time for that??!

Why use an air fryer for cooking anyway?

Air frying and conventional ovens are both popular methods of cooking, each with its own set of benefits. Here are some advantages of air frying compared to conventional ovens:

Faster Cooking Time: Air fryers typically cook food faster than conventional ovens. The circulating hot air in an air fryer cooks food quickly and evenly, reducing overall cooking time.

Energy Efficiency: Air fryers generally use less energy than conventional ovens, making them more energy-efficient for smaller meals. They heat up quickly, and because of their smaller size, they require less energy to maintain the cooking temperature.

Crispiness: Air fryers are known for producing crispy and crunchy textures, similar to deep frying but with significantly less oil. The circulating hot air rapidly removes moisture from the food's surface, creating a crispy exterior.

Healthier Cooking: Air frying requires much less oil than traditional deep frying, resulting in lower fat content in your meals. It's a healthier alternative for individuals looking to reduce their oil intake while still enjoying crispy and flavourful dishes.

Compact Size: Air fryers are generally more compact and take up less counter space than conventional ovens. This can be advantageous for individuals with smaller kitchens or those who don't need the capacity of a full-sized oven.

Easy to Use: Air fryers are usually easy to operate with simple controls. They often come with preset cooking options for popular dishes, making them user-friendly, especially for those who may not be comfortable with more complex oven settings.

Less Heat Emission: Air fryers emit less heat into the kitchen compared to conventional ovens. This can be beneficial during hot weather or in smaller kitchens where excess heat may be undesirable.

Less Preheating Time: Air fryers generally require less preheating time compared to conventional ovens. The rapid heating process contributes to the overall shorter cooking time.

Recipes we use our air fryer for:

Vietnamese Tofu Spring Rolls: The rice paper wrappers puff up in the fryer and go super crispy and chewy all at the same time!

Crispy Roast Chicken: We always do our roast potatoes in the air fryer, they crisp up but remain super fluffy on the inside. Really, really good!

Air Fryer Scotch Eggs: We’ve discovered that the Ninja air fryer is awesome for cooking the perfect, just runny, scotch egg. Healthier and with no awkward oil to throw away afterwards!

Easy Air Fryer Chicken Tandoori: We combine the delicious and easy to use Tandoori spice mix from Rajah Spices with the crispy cookery of the air fryer to create delicious chicken tandoori. It takes no time at all and creates very little mess.

Ninja Foodi Max Chinese Crispy Chicken Wings: This is an air fryer take on the classic salt and pepper chicken wings you would get from a Chinese take away. Another simple but tasty fun weekday dinner idea.