Ninja Foodi Max Pro is the high end of the range with focuses on a health grill, Air Fry, and Flat plate which allows many different cooking options with this Device. With their range covering multiple food types and preps how does this more “all in one” type machine work and what was the results?
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Ninja Foodi Max Pro
Air fryers in particular have risen in popularity as more brands and better machines come available, Ninja is one of those brands that has helped spearhead the rise in their success. This for us would the first Ninja unit however we have owned Grills, and Airfryers for many years, and I have always recommended them, personally, once you have one it’s difficult to go back to the oven for the many different foods.
Owning an Airfryer
If you haven’t ever owned either grill or an air fryer then there’s a couple of things to note, firstly a grill works essentially as a strong hot plate that you either have a closing double-sided, which aids the cook and cooks it very fast or one sided grill plate that you watch as it cooks, these two ways are often good for meat and some veg etc.. An air fryer is a condensed stronger heat, an Oven loses much of the heat and energy especially if they’re old, and an air fryer gives that intense heat and cooks things all around much quicker.
Out of the Box
Out of the box, the Max pro is heavy, please be aware both in your first use and storage going forward, add a grill plate etc inside and it gets even heavier. As you would expect from the normal instructions and guides accompanying it, certainly give it a wipe down on the plates etc, and expect maybe a slight smell in the first use but not really, and this is nothing no if you buy new heated electronics. In the Max pro, you get the unit, Grill, Flat plate and Airfry basket with a thermometer inside the unit.
When you use the Max pro for the first time or to be honest going forward until you are confident, the guide is really useful. It’s colourful and easily laid out with initial early instructions and what things are, while the next section talks about some recipes you can do, which gives you the idea of the versatility of the unit, but the last section is the more long-term usefull information available. This section is broken down into foods, time, temperature and way to cook, with either the grill, Aifry, or Hot plate.
The Grill Plate
Essentially the Grill plate is where you start, this clicks in with a red button in the back left to lift it back out when you need to, it doesn’t have a double plate so for some foods you may need to flip, there’s also an open door or closed door cooking option, this is because of heat etc. With meats such as steak, there is an option to choose to use a thermistor, you can find it on the side, connect it and place in the meat, this allows the system to know what level of cook you want, from rare to well-done.
When you turn it on you can choose the grill option and still have the option to change times and temps, as per the recommendations in the book, the smart cook functions are for the temperature thermometer.
The Hot Plate
The hot plate is much like the grill, this is just placed on top of the grill as the bottom of the hot plate is also a grill design to slot into the grill plate below, this is not to cook with so don’t flip it lol. However once placed on top of the grill the hot plate allows cooking other types of foods like bacon, eggs etc… these again can be cooked with the door open or closed.
I personally prefer having it open as I can see what’s happening when it’s the hot plate. Like normal you can choose with the dial and still adjust the temp and time, with all of the options it will always do a slight pre-warm before you add food.
Air fry
The Airfry much like the hot gets placed on top of the grill, so remember you place the grill in first and it will lock in, then you can place either hot plate or Airfry not both at the same time. When you use the dial and choose air-fry this allows you to again choose temp and time, for me is very important to air-fry, remember it’s a closed high temperature and will be constant and intense, so it’s important you don’t overcook or your first few times.
Likewise undercooking has the same issue and that’s why the guide is very important, it will break down meats, veg, and potatoes, fresh or frozen which is vital to know. So far I’ve used air-fry the most due to its very capable use.
Other Settings
In the guide and the dial there are a couple of other options, remember it’s like a mini intense oven, so you are also able to bake, Roast, Dehydrate and even Reheat, these are all presets that you can use and again adjust temp and time etc.. Due to the size of the unit roasting is an option but you would need to check the size of the meat, baking is also quite good but just think it’s only one size. I’ve not done Dehydrate if I’m honest as I’m unsure when I would use it, but the reheat option is a good alternative to a microwave if you wanted to.
All of the plates etc are dishwashable and after a quick cooldown is safe to pop off using the button in the corner. The Airfry basket is a good size and has plenty of airflow holes while, the plate is non-stick, this works really well, and ive found bacon very easy to cook for example with no sticking to the plate. The same for the grill, be careful with it and you will save it long-term, especially as that grill plate is important.
Overall
Ninja has a great range, like other companies there are lots of simple air fryers, or grills, you can either have multiple compartments for air-frying. However this one is an all-in-one style machine and to be honest it does it all very well, you are limited by doing one thing at a time, which is its biggest drawback, along with it being heavy for some.
It is pricey but you are looking at the top end of Airfry with the combination of smart cooking and 7 different ways to cook, with open or closed cooking…that’s a lot. It is a little daunting at first, but the guide is really useful and once you understand temps and times, which generally are pretty similar in food groups, it all becomes pretty easier to use.
The quality of food that comes out is excellent, from Chips to frozen ones, Bacon to burgers, Chicken Wings to Chicken Nuggets, this is all good and these are the simple stuff you could have this help you cook. As ever Air fryers are wonderful, and if you’re looking for that next step up from your basic Airfryer or even to compliment what you have in your kitchen then this Ninja Foodi Max pro is well worth the purchase.
