With so many versatile kitchen appliances on the market, even the most inexperienced home cook can prepare a meal without ever touching an oven or stovetop.
Single-purpose appliances that were once popular are quickly being surpassed by the latest innovative gadgets capable of cooking almost anything such as Ninja Air Fryer. Many people are concerned about how complicated using a Ninja Air Fryer is and whether it can produce flavorful meals.
To find out if “Is Ninja Air Fryer worth it”, keep reading this post. We decided to put it through its paces. Here’s what we discovered.
Table of Contents
What exactly is an air fryer?
Let’s start there if you’re not sure what an air fryer is or why they’ve become so popular. The popular air fryer is a simple cooking device that uses extremely hot, fast-circulating air to flash-roast food inside a contained frying basket.
While no or very little oil is usually used, the results can be similar to traditional frying in that the food comes out crispy on the outside and ideally moist on the inside.
What’s not to love about air fryers? They heat up quickly, cook quickly, and produce healthier versions of traditionally fatty fried foods, so what’s not to like? But it’s not just healthy alternatives to bar snacks.
I use my air fryer to crisp up skin-on chicken thighs, vegetables like mushrooms, pork chops, peppers, onions, and even seafood like shrimp, scallops, and filets of fish. Cleanup is often as simple as a quick spritz and wipes with a soapy sponge because most air fryer baskets are nonstick. Many are also dishwasher safe.
Do you see the allure?
Air fryers are in high demand because the results are far superior to pressure-cooked foods. That’s not surprising; after months of pandemic-related restrictions forced people to eat at home, an appliance that can quickly and easily cook up culinary favorites was bound to be popular.
These trendy ovens are also ideal for summer dinners when the desire to turn on the big hot main oven is lacking. This means that there are more air fryers on the market than ever before, but not all are created equal, and some brands have jumped into the space quickly with subpar machines in order to get a piece of the frenzy.
With so many options, there is bound to be an air fryer that fits your space, cooking habits, and budget. Personal fryers, air fryer toaster ovens, basket air fryers, large family-size models, and every size in between are available.
There are air fryers with basic mechanical dials and controls, as well as those with fancy cooking options and presets, and some even have smarts and app connections. You can also pay up to $300 for one or get a low-cost air fryer for as little as $30 or $40.
What features should an air fryer have?
Here, we’ll look at what to look for in a good air fryer if you want to try that air-fried chicken or sweet potato fries recipe you saw on Pinterest. Power, speed, and precision are three of the most important aspects of a good air fryer, and they were the qualities we weighed the most heavily.
However, we also considered counter space, cooking capacity, the ease of use of the interfaces, dials, and controls, as well as the build and durability of each air fryer.
Unlike previous air fryers we liked from Krups, T-Fal, and Black & Decker, today’s air fryers are more powerful, which means faster access to crispy fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets, or any other frozen food that you might normally make in a deep fryer or rotisserie. They also have a larger capacity for air frying, allowing you to cook more food, as well as being lighter, quieter, and easier to clean.
Is Ninja air fryer worth it?
When we first tested air fryers, the Ninja proved to be the best model for chicken wings. That remains true, but in our most recent round of air fryer testing, we discovered that this machine also cooked a variety of other foods well, propelling it to the top of our updated list.
The Ninja was the most powerful air fryer we tested, quickly frying chicken wings to crispy perfection.
Speed is a big selling point because it allows you to get that desired crispy outer layer faster while reducing the risk of drying out the inside of French fry, a chicken wing, or whatever else you’re making.
The Ninja also produced frozen mozzarella sticks that were nicely browned on the outside and bubbly on the inside. They began frozen and were transformed into crispy, crunchy, and gooey cheese bombs in less than 6 minutes.
The Ninja will not let you down if you enjoy fries. In both rounds of testing, frozen French fries were golden brown and delicious in just 10 minutes.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Ninja lacks a special cooking method or mode for vegetables, so the fresh Brussels sprouts came out a little overdone, even burnt in spots, similar to our previous testing.
This is not a difficult fix; it simply necessitates a little more caution when air frying certain foods for the first time.
In addition, the Ninja has very simple controls, whereas some air fryer interfaces were overly complicated or had buttons and dials that just didn’t make sense.
There are only four buttons on the Ninja to control the cook mode (air fry, roast, reheat, and dehydrate), as well as simple buttons to control the temperature and time.
That’s all there is to it, and to be honest, it’s all you really need. The Ninja also has a simple, solid build made of what appears to be high-quality plastic. The basket fits snugly into the base, with no wobble.
How we put the Ninja air fryer to the test
Usability
We recorded how each item was cooked with this appliance, noting occurrences such as overcooking, undercooking, burning, and so on.
We paid close attention to the labels, displays, controls, or buttons if they were present on this machine. We also took note of how loud the air fryer was when it was in use.
How does it cook?
Each test concentrated on a single food. These items included mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, Brussels sprouts, and frozen French fries.
Before we started testing this unit, we looked up relevant cooking instructions in the model’s manual. If the manual did not provide specific instructions, we used the air fryer in a consistent manner depending on the type of food we were preparing.
We heated the fryer to 380 degrees Fahrenheit for the fries. After five minutes of preheating, we cooked the fries for 12 minutes and gave them a shake in the middle.
We preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit before frying the chicken wings for 30 minutes.
We also made sure to flip them every 10 minutes with tongs. We preheated the mozzarella sticks to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cooked them for six minutes.
For the Brussels sprouts, we preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cooked them for 15 minutes. We rinsed and cut the sprouts in half before tossing them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
We looked for several criteria at the end of each test. These included how evenly each item was cooked, how well done they were, and, of course, whether they had a sufficient level of crunchy, crispy, deep-fried deliciousness.
Frequently Asked Questions:
#1. Are air fryers harmful to your health?
Air fryers are not harmful to your health. In fact, using an air fryer allows you to make foods that taste like they’ve been fried while using very little or no oil. Without using too much oil, you can make healthier chicken wings, French fries, and cheese sticks.
Some foods work best in an air fryer with a light coating of oil, but most don’t. Air fryers have grown in popularity in part because they allow people to eat snack-type foods while consuming far less fat and calories.
Air fryers use convection heat, which is similar to that of a standard oven but moves at a faster rate. There are no magnetic waves to be concerned about, nor are there any experimental heat sources to be concerned about.
#2. What is the operation of an air fryer?
Air fryers operate by circulating extremely hot convection air at a much faster rate than most other ovens. There is no frying involved, and air frying is more like roasting than anything else.
Because the hot air hits the food so quickly, it cooks the outside faster than other types of convection cooking and forms a crust that can taste and feel like fried foods.
Furthermore, because air fryers cook faster than other ovens, the inside of your food remains moist – another feature that draws comparisons to deep frying with oil.
#3. In an air fryer, what can you cook?
There are numerous foods that can be cooked in an air fryer, but some favorites include chicken wings, chicken tenders, French fries, and mozzarella sticks.
You can also cook fish in an air fryer, such as salmon, for a moist inside and a roasted outside crust.
Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, as well as certain vegetables such as mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, peppers, onions, and carrots, work well in an air fryer.
Dumplings, Hot Pockets, potato skins, and tater tots can all be made in an air fryer for a quick and easy snack or side dish.
Air fryers can also quickly reheat food, such as leftover pizza or fried chicken from the night before. Air fryers reheat food almost as quickly as microwaves and produce far superior results.
Conclusion
Is Ninja air fryer worth it? This is an unequivocal yes.
The Ninja Air Fryer is an excellent choice for many people. Those with a small kitchen that cannot accommodate multiple appliances, as well as those on a tight budget, will benefit the most from this multipurpose machine.
It will also make hot summer days more bearable because you won’t have to turn on your oven and further heat your kitchen.
