Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer Review: Best Ninja Air Fryer

In one look

Expert rating

Benefits

Huge cooking space for pastries and roasts
Flexible kitchen
Crispy and uniform results
Robust and easy to use

The inconvenients

No shaking alert
No viewing window or option to open a single drawer to check food

Our Verdict

This is simply one of the best air fryers we have ever tested. It’s easy to use and powerful, which means fast cooking. And it cooks evenly without the need to pause and shake your food. But its main advantages are its flexibility and large capacity, which you can use for baking and roasting.

Best prices today: Ninja Foodi DualZone FlexDrawer

$149.99

The FlexDrawer isn’t Ninja’s newest double-drawer air fryer (that’s the Double Stack XL), but it East one of the best models of the brand. I could say that this is the best model that the brand has produced.

This is a unique take on a dual basket air fryer, in that you can remove the divider separating the two cooking spaces to create a “mega zone” of cooking.

You will benefit from all the flexibility of a traditional model, since you can use the two 5.2 L cooking zones independently and program separate cooking modes in each.

But you can also use the entire 10.4L space to cook large roasts and bake cakes and breads.

If you are in the United States, a slightly different model is available. Instead of the FlexDrawer, you can purchase the FlexBasket. This is a smaller 7 QT model and does not have the test setting of the UK model, which you can use to make fresh bread. It also has slightly different controls to the UK model: it’s button-only operation, while the UK model has a dial to choose the cooking mode. Apart from these differences, it is designed and works the same, so you can read this review to get an idea if it would be right for you.

Design and build

Temperature range from 35°C to 240°C
7 cooking modes
Easy-to-use digital display

The FlexBasket is largely made of matte black plastic, and thanks to its size, it’s really quite expansive. It certainly won’t be the prettiest device on your counter. With its curved corners and simple exterior, it resembles a giant lidded bathtub. But it is sturdy in construction and its simple exterior makes it easy to clean.

It’s also a large device, with dimensions of 32.7 cm high, 31.6 cm deep and 49.6 cm wide. It will take up a lot of space along your countertop, but since it’s not very deep, you’ll have plenty of space in front to prepare meals and open the drawer.

The FlexDrawer’s controls are intuitive and simple and you are unlikely to need to refer to the manual

Although I have a small kitchen and had to rearrange my countertop to find space for it, I found that it actually seemed to overwhelm the available space less than the Double Stack, which is a deep fryer. much deeper air that protrudes from the line of other counters. Appliances.

There is a single sliding drawer with a removable divider. It has two dishwasher-safe non-stick crisper plates (although you can’t put the drawer itself in the dishwasher). The cooking space is huge (10.4 L) and can hold a piece of meat, chicken or a cake.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The FlexDrawer has seven cooking modes: maximum crisp (for frozen foods), air fry, roast, bake, reheat (for leftovers), dehydrate (for dried and dried fruits), and proof ( for the dough). Choose one and a suggested time and temperature will appear on the easy-to-read digital display. You can then adjust it as you wish. The controls are intuitive and simple and you are unlikely to need to refer to the manual.

Nonetheless, the included manual is comprehensive and includes a number of recipes and an air fryer cooking chart with suggested times and temperatures for popular foods.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

There are no settings for specific food types, like chips, that you might find on other air fryers. But the cooking method is easy to choose. Your best bet then is to use the time and temperature suggested by the mode and change them if necessary.

Time and temperature are adjustable for each cooking setting (within limits – for example, if you set the temperature too high, you won’t dehydrate fruit or meat, you’ll roast them).

The FlexDrawer has a minimum temperature of 35°C and a maximum temperature of 240°C and the cooking time is between 1 minute and six hours, always depending on the cooking method. This means you can cook almost anything in it, except dishes like stews, pasta, and rice, which won’t come out brilliantly even if you use a silicone coating. If this is the kind of food you cook often, we recommend the Ninja Speedi or the ProCook Air Fryer Health Grill.

The FlexDrawer has all the features you expect to make cooking simple with a two-basket air fryer. There is a match function, which allows you to copy the cooking program from one drawer to another, as well as a sync function. Sync lets you set two separate cooking programs but guarantees that they will finish at the same time, so you don’t need to keep one dish warm while you wait for the other to finish cooking.

It is also worth saying that this is a very civilized kind of air fryer. Like all new Ninja models, it will greet you with a “Hello” on the screen when you turn it on and a “Goodbye” when you turn it off. Plus, its alert sounds are loud enough to be heard from the next room (but probably not over the sound of the TV), without being piercing or prolonged.

Performance and Features

Powerful model (2,470 W)
No tremor alert – but we didn’t miss it
Big enough for a loaf of bread but not for a supermarket pizza

The FlexDrawer is a powerful air fryer. This is a 2,470W device, which means it will be more expensive to run than an average air fryer. You can use an online energy calculator to find out how much it will cost. You will get the most accurate reading if you know your rate.

But what I will say about the FlexDrawer is that it is SO powerful that you’ll use it for shorter periods of time and at a lower setting than your competitors, which will somewhat offset the cost. And if you can avoid using your oven for most of your cooking, you’ll definitely save money.

The real revelation with the FlexDrawer is baking

When I first used the FlexDrawer, I had a tendency to overcook everything. My advice for using it would be to lower the temperature 10°C below your usual air fryer setting and see how it performs. However, once I got used to its power, everything I cooked turned out well: crispy toast with gooey melted cheese, crispy fries and potatoes, soft gnocchi.

I loved its larger size and ditched my oven almost immediately. Its capacity allowed me to roast a whole butternut squash for soup.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

I thought the lack of shake alert would be a problem, which I found with the Double Stack, but if you place the food on the crisper plates and make sure not to clutter the drawer, cooking is so uniform that you won’t. need this.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

However, there is one thing that even the FlexDrawer can’t find room for: a pizza from a major supermarket. You’ll only be able to cook half at a time, although there will probably be enough room for two mini pizzas.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The real revelation with the FlexDrawer was baking. I’d never really mastered cooking with an air fryer before, but since the FlexDrawer has more than enough space for a full-size loaf pan, I thought I’d give it a try. On a first attempt, the cake failed to rise properly because its exterior was baked before its interior and covered with a crust. So even though it was edible, it was dense.

The secret turned out to be lowering the temperature to just 140°C (the recipe called for 160°C in a fan oven or 180°C in a regular oven). With no need to preheat, I had a perfect lemon cake in 25 minutes – it takes 40 minutes in my oven.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Pricing and availability

The FlexDrawer has an RRP of £269.99, but is now widely available for £219. You can buy it from AO.com, Argos, Amazon or directly from Ninja. At the time of writing, it’s £50 less than the Double Stack. However, if you don’t think you’ll be using the “megazone”, Ninja’s latest Foodi double drawer model is a better buy.

In the United States, the smaller FlexBasket 7QT is available at Ninja, Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon for $149.99, down from $180. Again, this makes it an attractive option compared to other new Ninja models, although its cooking capacity is significantly lower than the UK version.

Verdict

The FlexDrawer is easily one of the best air fryers I’ve tested. It won’t give you as many cooking options per food type as combo models like the Ninja Speedi or ProCook Air Fryer Health Grill, which can grill and cook pasta and rice, but its capacity and flexibility in make the best oven replacement among double ovens. -drawer models.

If you’re looking for even larger capacity, take a look at our roundup of the best air fryer ovens we’ve tested, and if you’re not sure which Ninja model is best for you, check out our roundup . of the best Ninja air fryers. All the best air fryers we’ve tested, from all brands and types, are in our pick of the best air fryers.