This review is for the OP101 5qt model purchased from Amazon before Xmas. The assessment took
several months.
After slogging through dozens of articles and descriptions of air fryers of different makes and designs
and watching you tube videos, I decided on the Ninja Foodi. It appealed to me for several reasons.
1. It combines oven and stove top functions (dry heat and wet heat) in a clever and compact design.
2. It is round. Round cookers are easier to clean than those with corners such as air fryer ovens.
3. Controls are simple and well laid out. The membrane buttons are easy to clean.
4. It is designed with safety in mind. The unit has handles on the base and a lip on the attached lid that
are heat resistant. The burner/fan assembly is recessed enough that it would take some effort to get
burned on it. The burner gets plenty hot but does not glow. The lower element is shielded by a large
switch plate as on a slow cooker and the non-stick pot hides that when in use. The pot has a lip that can
be grabbed with mitts or potholders and a wide channel around the cooker collects and send
condensation to a cup on the side of the cooker away from the electronics. The pressure cooker lid fits
in a specific way and there are clear instructions on purging the pressure and removing the lid. The
whole unit is stable on the counter top and does not tip easily.
5. It is ample. The compact model I have can make several servings of food and fit three or four 3”
bowls. While it cannot do stacked cooking like the deeper models can, its wide area allows side-by-side
cooking. It certainly has enough room for me.
I ordered one that was refurbished. I settled on the “entry level” model. It was the first time I bought
anything “used” from Amazon and it probably won’t be the last time. As a “used” model, I did not
expect it to be perfect and it wasn’t. It had its fair share of dents and dings and a sizable crack near the
name plate but none of these imperfections seem to compromise its integrity. However, either during
shipment or when I manhandled the massive heavy box upstairs, the condensation cup was crushed and
broken in three places despite it being taped to the unit. If that piece had been put inside the pot it might
have escaped damage. I glued it back together but this is a temporary repair and I will eventually have
to get another one. On the crisping lid, a single strut holds the burner/fan assembly but a set of empty
brackets indicate there were originally two. However it is holding the assembly quite well. The fan is a
bit noisy on startup—a bathroom fan becoming an airplane—but once the unit was warmed up and the
fan reached its programmed rpm, it ran smoothly with minimal vibration. Other than these issues, the
cooker was in great condition and very clean when I received it.
Using it
Multifunction cookers seemed to be designed for apartment kitchens as they can combine a number of
different appliances in a limited space. This begs the question how well all the functions work in the
real world. My Foodi came with a small recipe book which I consider a rough guide. I found the
guidelines for steaming, pressure cooking and crisping/roasting far more useful than the recipes.
Air Crisping
The big selling point of the Foodi pressure cookers is that they can pressure cook meat to juicy
tenderness and then crisp up the skin for texture and deeper flavor. The concept works! I tried this in
my old Fagor Futuro before I got the Foodi with boneless pork ribs and my gas oven and the pork came
out delectable but I had to use both stove and oven. In the Foodi I used chicken thighs with fresh thyme
and used the recipe for herbed chicken as a guide. They came out very tasty and everything was
contained in one cooker.
Air frying
The next thing I tried were frozen sweet potato and root vegetable fries. Here I learned there is
something of a learning curve to air frying. It is a balance of temp and time. Fortunately, Ninja makes
checking on the food very easy. Lift the lid; shake or toss the fries and place the lid down and the
cooker will resume where it left off. Still I managed to burn a few. It takes practice.
Next were chicken wings. I pressure crisped a batch and they tasted good but not as flavorful as the
batch I air roasted and this brings up another point. There is really little difference in the air crisping
and roasting/baking functions in this model except maybe for temp range and fan speed. It is all
convection. I found myself using the roasting/baking function more than the air crisping especially
when cooking vegetables like sweet potatoes and carrots. I use the air crisp preset a lot for preheating.
Baking
I baked beer bread (from a flavored pre-proofed batter) directly in the nonstick inner pot and the
kitchen not only filled with a wonderful aroma, the results were better than when I baked in the gas
oven. The wide pot lends itself well to cakes and pies and will accommodate an 8” round pan. I have
not tried cookies because the cooking area may be too limited for that. However it might work for
small batches.
Pressure Cooking
I am no stranger to pressure cooking but this is the first time I have owned and used an electric pressure
cooker. The valving is different from a stove top pot. The non removable valve is weighted and is
protected from starchy goop by a removable filter cap. This cap is easy to clean but also easy to lose so
I am careful to keep it in sight while washing the lid. Like my Fagor, the lid has a removable silicone
ring to provide the seal. Operation is simple and straightforward. There is high and low. During
cooking it seems the Foodi took longer to come to pressure than the stove top cooker but once the
count down timer appeared, it was fairly quick and quiet, venting only at the beginning of the cycle.
Golden potatoes for mashing cooked quickly (under 15 minutes) as did cauliflower (0 minutes—the
pressure building cycle was enough.) Rice and Farro were a little hit-or-miss. I may have not allowed
enough time. Quinoa came out nearly perfect in the time window suggested by the guide. I got a dozen
perfect hard boiled eggs in 4 minutes.
Steaming
Steaming in the Foodi is similar to pressure cooking except the valve is left open and consequently it is
the noisiest function—so loud it actually startled me when I started using it. It is for cooking delicate
foods that require only a short time such as cruciferous vegetables and fish. I cooked broccoli for 1
minute. It came out vibrant green with a little crunch—another minute it would have been overcooked.
Denser foods like potatoes needed a longer cooking time but they came out great. I have since acquired
a glass lid and the steam function is a lot quieter now.
Sear/Saute
This is the stove top function and like a stove, it has high, medium and low settings. It also does not
require a lid. This function has proved to be really useful for me not only for what it was designed but
for helping with keeping the unit clean.
Slow cook/yogurt.
The slow cook function is simple; just high or low with time up to twelve hours. I cooked chili on the
high setting at four hours and cooked pork stew at six hours on the low setting and both came out pretty
well. The cooker also has a yogurt function. It came with a sheet for a vanilla yogurt recipe that seemed
almost like an afterthought. I tried my hand at making a small batch of plain yogurt using whole milk
Greek yogurt as a starter and low fat milk as the base. I followed the clear instructions on the sheet
provided except that I used my glass lid instead of the pressure lid. I did my first batch at 8 hours and
my second at 9 hours. Yogurt making is a lengthy process and this was my first time, but Ninja has
made it almost foolproof with that preset. The cooker lets me know what is happening and when to add
the starter on its display and it alerts with its distinctive beep. The 8 hour yogurt came out looking a
little like somewhat gritty creamy cottage cheese with a creamy slightly tart taste. I was impressed.
Increasing the incubation time by one hour resulted in yogurt with fatter curds, more whey and a
sharper flavor closer to the Greek-style yogurt I prefer. Both batches had to be drained as condensation
dripped into the pot when I lifted the lid. During the resting period in the refrigerator both thickened up
and became smoother in texture. I can now look forward to creating my own keffer, Persian soup and
sour cream substitute. It is a nice feature to have.
Cleaning
Ease of cleaning can often make or break a kitchen appliance. The Foodi has has its liner pot and
crisping basket coated with a nonstick ceramic layer as does the burner shield on the crisper lid. This
coating is thin and prone to scratching so it needs to be handled with some care and not have metal
utensils on it. Generally the pots are easy to clean—they only need warm soapy water and a wipe. The
removable trivet on the cooker basket sometimes requires some hard scrubbing as it can collect food
particles in its grooves but because it is removable, it is fairly easy to wash.
The large grooved switch plate covering the lower burner is prone to getting particles in its grooves but
thoroughly washing and drying the liner pot before re-seating will prevent this problem.
The crisping lid can be a challenge to clean but this is true for all convection cookers, particularly those
with partially or fully exposed fixed elements. I have only one element to deal with versus the four or
five in a typical table top convection oven and I can see where I am scrubbing despite the somewhat
awkward position of the lid. I don’t mind the lid being hinged. It makes it easy to “check the oven”.
Still, it would have been more convenient if Ninja could design the unit so that the heat shield could be
removed and the burner and bowl accessed like on a stove. The convection fan probably makes that
impossible. On my model, the heat shield is integrated into the lid itself. It cannot be removed without
taking out a lot of screws and disturbing the finely balanced fan so I leave it alone. Fortunately the
openings around the shield are large enough to push an S.O.S. pad into the burner bowl. I scrub and
wipe it with dish soap and water or a soap/water/vinegar spray. For tougher jobs, I use steam from
boiling water in the main pot. I found three areas that tend to collect grime: the strut, the area where the
burner attaches and inside the exhaust vent. I use pressurized steam against those tough spots. The
point is to clean after each use and not let grime build up. An important note: I unplug before cleaning.
Some other considerations
One reason I chose the Foodi Compact is because I was not sure whether I would have enough physical
and electrical room for the taller models. It turns out that I do have room for the far more popular 6.5
quart model so that might be a future upgrade. In conclusion, the Foodi is a versatile machine. It does
everything pretty well but I see it as a supplement not a replacement for my gas range. It is most useful
for those times when I do not want to heat up the kitchen with the oven, particularly during the warm
months when I hardly use my range at all. It is a good companion to my microwave and induction
cooker and may eventually replace my toaster oven.
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Reviews with images
Best Purchase I have made for the Kitchen!!!
My Ninja Foodi paid for itself in less than a week. We are a family that used to eat outside of the house most nights during the work week out of convenience and in order to eat dinner at a decent time. Not anymore. I bought this pot of gold on a Black Friday special and have been using it daily ever since. It's a huge time saver and I can have a great home cooked meal on the table most nights in less than 30 minutes.I've made things like Chuck Roast with Potatoes & Carrots in 30 minutes, I used to roast this in the oven for 2-3 hours. Home made Spaghetti Sauce in 30 minutes, I used to simmer my sauce for a few hours on the stove. Fresh Mashed Potatoes, not instant, in 6 minutes! I've even pressure cooked a cheesecake in 30 minutes! But in addition to pressure cooking, this machine also bakes, sears, sautes, slow cooks, steams and air frys.I LOVE my Ninja! And so does my family. This has been a tremendous time saver. And even better, it cleans up in just a few minutes time!
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Hate cooking but love cooking with this.
Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2020
