Cook Healthy Meals With Up To 75% Less Fat
Air fryers are known for needing little added oils or fat, and in this case, this foodi Ninja air fryer can cook delicious and tasty food which is also healthy because it will have up to 75% less added fat or oils.
This is all thanks to the way air fryers work, which consists in circulating hot air through the air fryer baskets, which cooks the inside of the food and gives to the outside that brown/golden color and crispy texture.
The hot air does the same thing than the hot oil, yet the air does not have any fat at all.
Which Ninja Foodi Should You Buy All The Cookers And Air Fryers Compared
While some of us may find an evening standing at the stovetop therapeutic, or even inspiring, there are just as many folks who would willingly ditch the hours of prep, stirring, and constant pan and oven checks in exchange for the time spent. Thats where high-performance small kitchen appliances come into play. Lets look at two types: Multicookers and air fryers.
A multicooker is a compact kitchen appliance thats easy enough to stow away but just as simple to break out and quickly set up when its needed. Built for speed and convenience, the average cooker allows you to boil, simmer, sauté, grill, and roast a myriad of breakfast, dinner, and dessert recipes using significantly fewer ingredients, with finished meals ready for eating in record time.
An air fryer is another type of small appliance that uses fan-driven convection technology to create a crisp outer shell for a number of deep-fried favorites. Everything from mozzarella sticks to onion rings can be whipped together quickly, and best of all, air fryers require little to no cooking oils to achieve that perfect crisp exterior and melt-in-your-mouth interior.
% Faster Cooking With This Ninja Cooker
This is quite obvious since you have pretty much two 5 quart air fryers woking at once, so it is expected for this Ninja air fryer to cook about two times faster than other 5 quart air fryers out there.
Yet, this is not the only reason why this DualZone Ninja Foodi XL air fryer cooks faster than other air fryers. What happens is you have a 10 quart capacity air fryer with the capacity to cook this same amount of food.
So even when you only use one side of the air fryer, the IQ Boost and the DualZone Technology from Ninja makes sure all the cooking power goes where is needed.
This is why you can expect to cook two 6-lb whole chickens 30% faster than with other air fryers in the market.
The same is true for frozen food. Just pour in your frozen french fries or chicken wings and you can have them crispy and tasty in 30 minutes, and all of this without adding a single drop of oil or fat.
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How Well They Cook
To get a sense of how each air fryer in this test group handles, we ran a battery of three tests on each model. Each test focused on one food: chicken wings, Brussels sprouts and frozen french fries.
Most air fryers we tested passed the French fries test, although it’s critical to check on them frequently so you don’t overcook and dry them out.
Should You Buy The Ninja Foodi Dz401 6
The Ninja Foodi DZ401 6-in-1 XL 2-Basket Air Fryer is a very large air fryer. It’s perfectly suited to large households or those who find their solitary air fryer lacking. A dual drawer design does seriously change the cooking options in your home, because you can cook two elements of a meal at once, but note that with the cooking controls on the Ninja Foodi DZ401 I did find that there was a bit of a learning curve. Perhaps it’s just me, but I found it easy to confuse the Match and Smart Finish settings.
I also noted the lack of shake reminder or pre-heat settings with this air fryer, which is something that could impact the precision of your cooking times. However, it’s a speedy choice with a very high maximum temperature that can crisp up frozen food in under ten minutes. That’s really impressive. Plus, cleaning was a breeze.
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What Size Air Fryer Should You Get
While there are several features to consider, the size of your air fryer is likely the most important decision you’ll make. If you’re typically cooking for one or two people, a 2- or 3-quart air fryer should be large enough. Consider adding another quart of capacity to your air fryer for every person that you’re regularly cooking for. A family of four or five, for instance, should be fine with a 5-quart model. If you plan on regularly cooking full meals for a family including meat and veggies or sides, you might consider a larger, dual-basket air fryer like the Ninja DualZone that we’ve recommended above.
Here’s the tiny 2-quart Gourmia air fryer next to the more standard 4.25-quart Phillips model.
All that said, the smaller the air fryer you can get away with the better. I’ve found that smaller air fryers such as the Magic Bullet 2- to 5-quart model and Instant Pot’s Duo Crisp net better results since food is going to get blasted faster and more often than inside a larger model. But smaller air fryers mean less overall capacity, so you may have to cook in batches.
How We Test Air Fryers
To date, we’ve tested well over a dozen air fryers to curate this list. Each air fryer is evaluated for its power, consistency, ease of use, design, features and overall performance. In total, we’ve logged over 75 hours of air frying.
There are hundreds of recipes that can be made with an air fryer but we stuck to the basics and focused on the most popular foods people associate with air fryers. Chicken wings are at the top of that list but French fries, frozen snacks and dense vegetables — in this case, Brussels sprouts — are tried and true air fryer food. Before we began, we consulted each model’s manual for relevant cooking directions. If the manual didn’t provide specific instructions, we applied uniform procedures to each air fryer depending on the type of food we were preparing.
The Cosori Lite made some mighty tasty wings in 30 minutes.
For chicken wings, we followed a basic air fryer recipe. First, we preheated the air fryer 400 Fahrenheit and cooked them for 25 minutes in the basket with the included tray and checked on them and turned them every 8 minutes. Most of the air fryers we tested had a solid showing in the wing test although some, including the powerful Ninja and Cosori Lite models, got the wings a bit crispier in that amount of time.
Dense Brussels sprouts are a popular air fryer food. Soft and watery veggies such as zucchini and mushrooms may turn to mush under this type of intense heat.
Recommended Reading: Air Fryer Gourmia 6 Qt
How Do I Convert A Regular Recipe To An Air Fryer Recipe
Converting regular recipes to air fryer recipes is not as straightforward as converting a regular recipe to a convection oven recipe, which typically requires decreasing the temperature by 25ºF and checking on it sooner. Instead, keep in mind that most foods air fry best at 400ºF unless they are thicker , so you are often just adjusting the timing.
The most important thing to remember is that air fryers cook very quickly, so keep your user guide handy and check the included cooking charts and recipes often. Until you know the recipe, it’s also a good practice start checking your food within a quarter of the time you would normally check it in the oven.
Container Shape & Capacity
For air frying, I highly recommend something that can take medium to large volume of food.
Heres why:
When frying, its usually in bulk, right? Therefore, with a significant capacity, you have the option to either cook in large or small batches. Sadly, with a small-sized air fryer, cooking in bulk means doing it several times.
On a different note:
The container shape plays a huge role when getting your air fryer. Briefly speaking, you should get a more rectangular shape since it can handle more servings.
Recommended Reading: Recipes Using An Air Fryer
Why Trust Good Housekeeping
Nicole Papantoniou is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Culinary Innovation Lab. She has worked at kitchen appliance companies, where she helped develop some popular air fryers as well as many recipes for them. Since joining Good Housekeeping, she has had her hands on all of the new air fryers that come through the Lab and has tasted food that was made in almost all of them. She’s an avid air fryer user at home, too, where she has about six to choose.
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Best Overall Air Fryer
| Functions | Max Crisp, Air Fry, Air Roast, Air Broil, Bake, Reheat, Dehydrate |
|---|
This 5.5-quart basket-style Ninja Air Fryer Max XL was the top performer in our air fryer test. It scored the highest marks across the board for ease of use, thanks to its intuitive, easy-to-read buttons and clear and useful owners manual. During our tests, the air fryer basket slid in and out easily, which made handling a breeze. Were fans of the baskets removable tray and slick, ceramic interior, which makes it nonstick. The tray also fits snugly and securely on the bottom of the basket so you dont have to worry about it falling out when you turn the food out onto a plate. Both basket and tray are dishwasher safe and easy to clean, even if you choose to hand wash.
| Functions | Air Fry |
|---|
Though it’s not the least expensive air fryer on our list, this Cosori Air Fryer is a great value: It’s straightforward, easy to use and can feed an entire family without costing a fortune. It has a 3.7-quart square basket, which offers a lot of cooking space, especially compared with its round competitors. The basket is removable and lightweight, with many vents for optimal air circulation. The control panel is loaded with presets that are programmed with recommended cooking temperatures and times, including a preheat option. The Cosori Air Fryer can also be used in a manual setting if none of the presets are the perfect fit.
Dash Compact Air Fryer
| Functions | Air Fry |
|---|
Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven
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Are Air Fryers Worth It
Air fryers are worth it if you like to cook foods quickly with minimal cleanup. Sure, some are bulky and may feel like a usurper of your counter space, but most people who use them learn the benefits right away. They’re especially great for prepackaged frozen foods and leftovers, like french fries or dumplings, that would normally get soggy or rubbery in a microwave. In the Kitchen Appliances Lab, we like using ours for quick dinners. All types of proteins, like chicken, pork chops and salmon, cook up quickly and become golden brown and juicy veggies become nicely blistered or caramelized. We especially like air frying root vegetables, like mini potatoes and diced butternut squash and beets.
Ninja Foodi Fd401 Deluxe Multi
When people talk about an all-around cooker, they must be talking about the Ninja Foodi FD401 Deluxe Multi-Cooker. Every cooking method that you might need in a home kitchen, you get with this multi-cooker. You can pressure cook, slow cook, steam, sear, sauté, bake, roast, broil, dehydrate, and air fry.
A very handy feature is the Keep Warm feature, which will keep your food fresh and warm after it cooks. So, if someone is running late, or doesnt want to eat right away, let their food sit in the fryer, and it will stay warm and fresh.
All this is possible thanks to the two lids you get with this versatile air fryer- a primary crisping lid that allows you to air fry and a removable lid for pressure cooking. Both the lids stay in place once locked, so you dont have to worry about any unwanted accidents or spills. The crisping lid is bulkier than the pressure lid, so it always stays attached to the cooker.
With all these features inside a stainless-steel body, the air fryer will cook your favorites for a long time, and it will look good sitting on your kitchen counter.
The various cooking methods are very easy to control, thanks to an intuitive and easy-to-use control panel. The control panel has a few buttons, a dial, and an LED screen. First, you need to select the cooking methods using the dial and then set the cooking time and temperature by pressing the dedicated buttons. The controls do have a learning curve, but anyone can learn them fairly quickly.
Also Check: Ninja Foodi Air Fryer Oven Manual
About This Review And The Reviewer
Millie Fender is our Editor for all things small appliances at Homes & Gardens. She spends a lot of time testing everything from toasters to air fryers in her own apartment and recommending the very best ones to readers.
Millie put this air fryer to the test for a number of weeks to make fries, bacon, and roasted vegetables. She will keep this review updated with any thoughts on how it compares to other models on the market.
Why We Prefer Pod
In a word, cleanliness. While the idea of a toaster oven that doubles as an air fryer is a good one, and the air frying function on many of the hybrid machines is proficient, there are certain foods we love cooking in an air fryer that are too messy to cook in a toaster.
All pod air fryers have removable cooking baskets and most of them are nonstick. When you’re cooking chicken thighs with a sauce or even veggies drizzled with oil — a few favorites — there is going to be some inevitable splatter. Air frying mode is intense, with high convection heat circulated at a fast pace. Do this in a toaster oven, which is markedly more difficult to clean, and you’ll be dealing with some serious caked-on gunk after the first few dozen uses.
Air frying toaster ovens have advantages but they typically take longer to cook and the inner cavity can be tricky to clean if food splatters.
Pod air fryers, on the other hand, take very little effort to get clean. Most air fryer baskets are now thicker and also nonstick. But beware of thin wire baskets, which can be tougher to clean. Both types can be removed to soak in the sink and some can be run through the dishwasher. The same can’t be said for the inside walls of a countertop oven.
If you’re buying a toaster oven, however, there’s no reason not to get one with an air fryer function. It can still be used for less splatter-prone foods such as potatoes, frozen empanadas and filets of salmon with too much risk of making a mess.
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The Dn401 Has A 10 Quart Capacity
The 10 quart capacity is huge if you think about it. We are talking about 2.5 gallons of food you could cook at once.
While not all foods can be cooked like this, 10 quart is enough capacity to hold 8 pounds of chicken wings or lots of french fries.
Since this capacity is the combination of two 5 quart baskets each, you still can cook your wings on one side of this foodi air fryer and the french fries on the other.
This air fryer is a true time saver and efficiency booster for someone cooking for a large family or a big crowd.
When Shouldn’t You Use An Air Fryer
Air fryers are great for crisping foods, but there are certain scenarios when you shouldn’t use one.
- You shouldn’t use an air fryer for liquids, as they can easily spill and splatter, even when heated in a heat-resistant vessel. You also shouldn’t use an air fryer for foods that require a wet batter, like tempura, because the coating doesn’t set quickly enough to stick, which can cause drips and smoking as well as failing to produce a crispy food.
- We wouldn’t recommend an air fryer for many baking tasks: Most can’t actually bake because they have heating elements only on the top of the unit versus the top and the bottom like a toaster oven or oven. The basket or shelf design also generally restricts the size of your baked goods. Air fryers are, however, great for desserts that benefit from browning like a baked apple or an individual sized crumble.
- You should avoid cooking greasy foods in an air fryer. If air frying something greasy, use a lower temperature to help reduce splattering, which can cause grease to hit the elements and create smoke.
- Beware of lightweight food, such as bread, as well some air fryers with a powerful fan can cause it fly around.
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Ninja Dz201 Foodi 8 Quart 6
Ninja Foodi 6-in-1 8-quart. A 2-basket air fryer with dual zone technology. The first air fryer with 2 separate baskets that allow you to cook 2 foods at once instead of back to back like traditional single basket air fryers. Dual Zone Technology’s Smart Finish feature intelligently manages cooking so that both foods are done at the same time.XL 8 quarts. Air Fryer capacity allows you to install both the mains and sides for quick family meals, or up to 4 lbs. French fries or chicken wings.
