I, “toasted,” an English muffin this morning in my Air fryer (Ninja Max.) They work so well. For such and offhanded purchase (when our oven broke,) it’s become such a workhorse in the house.
Many things have been regulated to, “air fryer only,” at this point as it just works for whatever it is doing so much better than the oven/stovetop.
I -just- “roasted” two chicken breasts in the air fryer in 11 minutes. No preheat, nothing: 165 degrees in one and 172 in the other. Perfect.
Then again, the unit we bought has multiple settings. I think some folks here have the flat combo toaster oven / air fryers and I guess I’m interested, but only if both functions are superb.
I am sorry if it looks like a spam. I check this thread and saw people are suggesting breville BOV800XL and BOV845BSS so I written the answer the breville BOV845BSS is better than BOV800XL and if someone has good budget then he should go for BOV900BSS model.
I have tried to explain the things I know here but that’s not everything and on that comparsion article, I have explained things a little more so I thought I should link it and people can read it.
Again sorry, if it looks like a spam to you. Thanks.
We’re a few months into use now so I can summarize what we like it for and what we don’t. The big oven is also convection so that’s an option, as is the stovetop, microwave, etc. But we tend to use our air fryer most for:
Reheat of a lot of stuff - It’s like an oven reheat but quicker. Good for items that don’t reheat well, or over cook, in the microwave.
Air fry or refry for potatoes. It’s quicker, works really well and has good results.
Air fry or refry for wings. I don’t have to break out a fryer, and this works better than the convection oven by quite a bit.
Veggie frying/drying. Less mess and decent results. The key though it using grates/trays that will keep things still if they are small.
Heating or reheating other chicken pieces. This thing is quick. I can roast a couple of pieces of chicken in half the time of the full oven, and that isn’t even counting the quick heat-up time of the thing versus the full oven.
Things it is so-so with:
Toasting - You end up with REALLY crispy, much less browned. That works for some things but not others. A toaster oven does this far, far better. It’s also hard to gauge, you’ll go from not feeling/looking toasted when you check to 15 seconds later being too crispy.
Liquids, like braises - I’ve tried it, there just isn’t enough room in the thing and the fast air movement can catch things and blow them out.
If I had it to do over I’d have considered a combo unit that is truly a toaster oven with an air frying “mode.”
My wife does All her cooking in the Ninja and probably uses the broil option the most.
We do not make a lot of toast since we are on a diet so cannot speak to the toasting part but I would think just adjust the time and temp on the toast if it is too dark
We have had several Brielle’s and they all broke after a few years (air convection fan). Too expensive to have them break.
I wasn’t trying to start this argument again, just thought it was funny watching a drunk Alton Brown yell at the thing. As he said (paraphrasing): He knows how to cook, so he doesn’t need it. :-P
If you go to their Convection Toaster Oven review page, they rank the Breville just behind this one with the only issues being that its a bit more expensive ( like $30 now ) and takes a bit longer to pre-heat to their target of 350 degrees. They also said it lacks an oven light but that is incorrect.
I have had some bad luck with Cuisinart products in the past which is why I shied away from their oven and went with the Breville. Ive had my Breville a few years now and have had zero issues with it. Its a work horse that gets used pretty much daily in my kitchen.
My brother, on the other hand, decided to go with a Ninja Foodie grill on the advice of a friend of his. He has only had it a few weeks but likes it. I am interested to see how it holds up.
I bought a blender from them that literally caught on fire. Now I do understand that this is probably an outlier but I tend to shy away from companies that sell things that spontaneously combust. Of course, I am sure that there are people who have had similar bad luck with Breville or Ninja so its not an indictment of Cuisinart, just a choice made on personal experience.
Our toaster died this week, so I am in the market, but thinking a toaster/air fryer/convection oven combo is the way to go.
I like the idea of the space-saving Ninja, but it is too low to roast a whole chicken, something my wife likes to do. I know a lot of you like Breville, but they are a bit more expensive and take up more room. The Cuisinart gets good current reviews. So I’m trying to balance factors and find the sweet spot.
As always, input appreciated.
I think it will get used quite a bit, but mostly for reheating and toasting duties.
I have the Cuisinart recommended by Wirecutter. Actually, it’s my second because the first one’s display stopped working so Cuisinart shipped me a new one free of charge.
It’s been pretty decent for the most part. Initially it heated up very quickly but over time it’s gotten slower and slower, probably due to oil buildup on the inside. I roast a lot of vegetables in it and the fan will throw oil everywhere on high speed. It’s… not easy to clean. The fan side also cooks faster so I’ve started rotating pans halfway through the cooking time.
If it fails, I probably won’t get another. It takes up a fair amount of counter space and a standard oven is good enough for my needs.
Ninja Air Fryer Toaster Oven is only 200 bucks and it is the best one we have ever owned. We used to have the Breville. The problem with the Breville is that the air conduction died twice on us (we owned two over the years). The Ninja is so much cheaper that even if it breaks we can buy another and still that is less than the cost of the Breville. That being said the Ninja is not tall so not going to cook a small Turkey in it but on the other hand the Ninja does air fry.
I got one of these a while back, and I’ve been very happy with it.
One big advantage of it is that its heating element is instant on with no pre-heating, which is nice. It was cheap, too.
Potential disadvantage is that its max temp is only 400, instead of 450… but I’ve found that it cooks things fine at 400, even if they recommend being baked at 450, probably due to it being convectionifying.
The rotisserie thing inside is a nice feature, especially with the basket thing. It does a very good job with things like wings or fries.
