A Complete Ninja Foodi Review

Here is a review of the Ninja Foodi a pressure cooker and air fryer in one. It also dehydrates, broils, cooks, and more. Let’s dig into the good things and bad things about using a Ninja Foodi.

Meal planning is my jam. I’ve got it down and can quickly come up with a two week meal plan in 15 minutes. As my kids grow and join in on after school activities, getting dinner on the table gets tricker.

I was seeing all the talk about a pressure cooker and being able to cook an entire chicken in 30 minutes. That was so appealing to me because we raise our chickens here on the homestead.

Yet, I wasn’t convinced I needed another kitchen appliance. I didn’t see the difference between a pressure cooker and crockpot- besides it cutting down the time.

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When we remodeld our kitchen and I was able to buy a new stove I figured the convection cooking was my pressure cooker.

But air frying food? That was a whole new thing that was calling me.

And it wasn’t just me, because the Ninja foodi combines it all.

WHAT IS A NINJA FOODI?

The Ninja Foodi is a 6.5 qt. pressure cooker and a 4 qt. air fryer. The combination of using these two together is Ninja’s Tendercrisp foods.

WHAT COMES IN THE BOX

• 1400W Unit, Pressure Lid, Crisping Lid,
• 6.5-qt. Ceramic-Coated Pot,
• Stainless Steel Reversible Steam/Broil Rack,
• 4-qt. Ceramic-Coated Cook & Crisp Basket,
• Cook & Crisp Layered Insert and 45+ Recipe Cookbook

How Does it Pressure Cook & Air Fry?

The unit comes with a second lid that is used when pressure cooking. It’s a pretty heavy duty lid and you will need a place to store it. The lid has a seal valve you turn to close and open.

The Ninja came with two separate racks. The racks allow you to pressure cook different items at the same time. For example I did pototes on the bottom and venison steak on the top of the rack and pressure cooked for five minutes at the same time.

The Air Fryer method has a separate dish you use to air fry foods. This method uses the lid attached to the unit. The
PTFE/PFOA-free basket holds up to a 5-lb. chicken or 3 lbs. of French fries. It is non stick and easy to clean.

BONUS FEATURES ON THE NINJA FOODI

Before purchasing a Ninj Foodi read carefully all the functions that come with it. Cheaper ones will not have the deydrate function. My husband got ours at BJs during their 2018 Black Friday sale for $179 and it includes all the goodies.

This Ninja Foodi can also dehydrate, sear/saute ( yep I saute my onions right in it to a golden color) broil, slow cook, steam, bake, roast and of course the pressure cooking and air fryer.

The amazing options blows a standard crockpot out of the water and earns a step up on the pressure cooker.

What’s Good About?

The good news is already all the functions this thing has. It is simple to use and the recipe book it comes with is a huge help to familiarize yourself with the machine. It cuts down time cooking and allows you to do other things while your food cooks.

I love that you only use one dish to cook multiple foods at the same time.

If you need help meal planning use my favorite Meal Planning app here. Plus it’s only $6!

• Easy Venison Roast with Veggies Recipe in Foodi Ninja
• How to Cook a Whole Chicken in Ninja Foodi
• Easy & Delicious Pizza Pasta Bake in Ninja Foodi
• Ninja Foodi Mac & Cheese Recipe

What’s Bad About it?

The bad part of it? Well it is large. If you are going to be storing it in a cupboard when not in use, it’s tall and wide. It’s also heavy so moving it up and down constantly may not be the best.

If you use it multiple times a week you need counter space to keep it. Because of lifting the lid throughout the cooking process you will need a spot where the steam can vent.

You don’t want it to close to your cupboards when you open the steam valve. That is my only negative. If you have the kitchen space for it go for it.

The price is higher than an air fryer or pressure cooker, but honestly BJs has an amazing price on it. Amazon carries it as well, but I haven’t seen the price come down.

Our First Foodi Meal

Each Friday I am going to share a recipe I made in the Ninja Foodi. As I’m learning I want to share with you. The first meal I made in ours was Buffalo Chicken wings and roasted potatoes. It was New Year’s Eve and we wanted to have some finger foods for our party.

I followed the super easy to read recipe in the Ninja Foodi recipe book that came with it.

I used frozen chicken wings and the taste was amazing. You wouldn’t have realized they were frozen. The total time for the chicken wings was 26 minutes. When you pressure cook it takes about six minutes before the pressure builds.

This means you always add on six minutes to the total cooking time when you are waiting.

The recipe said to use 2 lbs. of chicken, and I had no idea. The basket looked small to me but as I’ve cooked multiple meals in it, I realize it holds more than you think.

This is the heavy duty pressure cooking lid you place on top.

Every recipe tells you exactly what to put the settings to. For the chicken wings we hit pressure cook, HIGH and set the time for five minutes.

The timer doesn’t start until the pressure builds. This is where it takes about six minutes on top of your five-minute timer set.

And you just wait. Wondering can it really cook in five minutes?! The first time is super exciting and questionable.

Waiting is the hardest part, so while you wait, check out our chicken posts, pig posts, Debt free living posts or our DIY posts.

WOW! It worked. Five minutes later we have cooked chicken wings. Now the best part of the Ninja is crispy these up. When I make these again I am going to add a few minutes to get them crispier.

The great thing is you can customize all of this to your liking. After you pat the wings dry you add oil and use the lid attached to the unit to crisp.

I put the setting to Air Crisp temperature is 390 degrees F and time is 15 minutes. It is really important to check halfway through and shake the wings.

They were just the right crispiness for the kids and they wanted more and more.

While the kids were eating the wings I started the potatoes.

I used the Potato Wedges recipe in the Ninja book. I pressure cooked the potatoes on low for three minutes.

I added our favorite vegetable seasoning from Wegman’s to the potatoes. My kids liked this flavor better then the recipe in the Ninja cookbook.

If you haven’t tried this oil and you live near a Wegman’s grab it. It’s a must have for when your garden is booming! It could even help you get out of your garden burnout it’s that good.

After the time was up I used the crisping lid and set it to Air Crisp, 400 degrees F temp. and set the time to 18 minutes. The book suggests checking after 12 minutes. I pulled them out at the 12-minute mark because my kids won’t eat it crunchy.

Always check to see how crispy your family likes it.

It was a fun time using the Ninja foodi and I can’t wait to try out different recipes with it. Join me next Friday as we share a new recipe.