The Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 Glass Countertop Air Fryer joins my countertop of what is probably one too many air fryers. With my kitchen island already housing the Ninja Foodi, 2-basket air fryer, alongside an older capsule-style cooker, I was curious to see how the Ninja Crispi Pro could compare to my existing lineup.
Included out of the box, the Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 ships with two glassware containers that double as your cooking vessels. Coming in at a 6-quart and a 2.5-quart variant, the included containers are a great starting point that will cover your needs for smaller snacks and treats as well as full-on dinners. More so than ever, the Ninja Crispi Pro emphasizes ease of use and convenience, allowing users to go directly from the fridge to the heating element and back again with any remaining leftovers.
Getting the Ninja Crispi Pro up and running is effortless, even without the well-written and illustrated quick start guide and recipe book that ships with the unit. Simply plugging and seating the included heating element within one of the three designated spots demarcates the spot for the correct container. Outside of the two glassware cooking containers included with the Ninja Crispi Pro, Ninja offers another 4-cup variant of the container from their official website.
Sticking with the two included vessels, the larger 6-quart container requires plugging in the cooking element located on the base of the Ninja Crispi Pro, while the medium-sized dish uses the uppermost slot for the heating element to slot into.
Additionally, both included glassware containers come with their own crisping trays, which neatly fit into the vessels, leaving enough clearance on the bottom for excess fat to drip down into. The crisping trays also allow for separating different types of ingredients, such as having vegetables on the bottom, which may require less heat, to cook at the same time as your protein, while imparting it with the cooking juices from above.
Plugging in and powering the Ninja Crispi Pro on and inserting your desired glassware into the correct slot are all the setup you need in terms of manual labour. From here, most recipes can be left to cook, while some do require pausing in order to flip for even browning, but more on that later. Operating the Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 Glass Countertop Air Fryer is as easy as pressing a button and turning the dial, with the latest air fryer offering bake, roast, reheat, max crisp, dehydrate, and, of course, air fry modes. For this review, I stuck to three recipes from the included recipe book to put the Ninja Crispi Pro through its paces.
“Operating the Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 Glass Countertop Air Fryer is as easy as pressing a button and turning the dial.”
I love my basket-style air fryer, but due to its inherent design, it has become my frozen vegetable crisper and French fry machine, which is why, for my first test, I wanted to see how the Ninja Crispi Pro would handle a 10-oz Ribeye steak. I enjoy the occasional steak, but having to sear the piece of meat only to have to throw it into the oven can be a pain, and I wanted to see how the Ninja Crispi Pro could handle something as temperamental as steak, which I prefer medium-rare.
To ensure things wouldn’t catch on fire or burn, I opted to use a low-smoke point oil to coat the meat in a generic Montreal Steak seasoning I had lying around, before letting the meat sit out at room temperature for several minutes. As there isn’t a dedicated steak recipe available for the Ninja Crispi Pro yet, I adapted the included skirt-steak and Brussels sprouts recipe, which calls for setting the Ninja Crispi Pro to the roast mode at 375°F (190°C) for 20 minutes, which I dialled down to 12, flipping once at the six-minute mark.
I also used frozen Brussels sprouts and broccoli, which, after 12 minutes, gave me a medium-well steak and perfectly cooked vegetables, with just the right amount of delicious Maillard goodness. Not bad for a first try, and I believe that with time, I can most likely lock in something closer to that medium-rare doneness that I prefer. Regardless, the steak was pleasantly tender and better than expected.
Of course, the ability to cook something like a whole chicken is one of the key deciding factors that sets the Ninja Crispi Pro apart from your bog-standard air frier, which is why, for the second recipe, I did just that. Deviating slightly from the included recipe, due to wanting to see how the Ninja Crispi Pro could handle a wetter marinade, and because I like a good spice to my poultry, I opted to use a dry birria rub on the chicken, before marinating it overnight using a mixture of sirracha, honey, garlic, and onions that I blended using my Ninja blender before slathering onto the chicken along with some creamer potatoes and carrots.
Instead of the 375°F (190°C) at 1 hour and 15 minutes the recipe book calls for, I opted to set it at 300°F to accommodate the sugary marinade that would likely burn at such a high temperature, while making sure to check the chicken with a meat thermometer until it reached an internal temperature of 165°F (74 °C). Despite some darkening char on the skin of the chicken, the actual flavour of the meat was excellent, tender and moist, while the vegetables were also cooked to the correct doneness, imparted with the flavours of the bird. My recommendation with the Ninja Crispi Pro is not to be afraid to play with the times, as long as you can ensure the internal cooking temperature is correct, it will be worth it to find what works for your tastes.
To test the reheating capabilities and how well the Ninja Crispi Pro’s glassware could transition from the fridge to the heating element, I tried re-crisping my leftover chicken after leaving the glassware out on the counter for a few minutes, just to discourage the sudden spike in temperature. Thankfully, the glassware didn’t shatter, and the chicken was crisp and succulent, as if I had just made it again for the first time.
Finally, I wanted to end on an easier note, as more than anything, the Ninja Crispi Pro seems to be made for convenience in the kitchen. So with that, I decided to see how well the suped-up air fryer could handle baking a few slices of grocery-store cookies, which I opted to use instead of the from-scratch recipe included in the box. Using the smaller of the two included glassware containers, after placing a piece of parchment, I placed four golf-ball-sized balls of cookie dough, which took 15 minutes to bake, resulting in 4 large and perfectly chewy chocolate chip cookies with virtually no effort, outside of having to cut the piece of parcment, ensuring it wouldn’t stick to the sides of the glass (something the book mentions to be mindful of).
The Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 Glass Countertop Air Fryer goes beyond your typical air fryer, offering the same ease of use while opening the oven door to more complex recipes that make it capable of cooking full-on meals and dinners that would otherwise require an oven or stove. The added convenience of being able to store the cooking glassware itself is also a compelling reason to opt for the Ninja Crispi Pro, even if you already have an existing air fryer or oven, making it a versatile and easy-to-use kitchen staple.
- FAMILY-SIZED COOKING SYSTEM: 6-qt and 2.5-qt glassware, storage lids, crisper plates, and modular base for any occasion.
- POWERFUL COOKING SYSTEM: 1800-watt air fryer that can cook a 7.5-lb chicken, feeding up to 10 people.
