Air Fryer Review vs Ovens

Home & Living
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I have been considering a member review on the [not included in the test] Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Fryer Oven DT-200. I bought one on sale ($350) at Costco a few weeks ago. It is a learning experience because it is neither an oven nor an air fryer, per se.

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Still a work in progress but

  • Raw chips have been pretty ordinary so far with the best effort still short of ‘almost as good’ as baking. Our point of reference is our excellent deep fried chips, soaked->boil->dry->deep fry (150)->freeze->deep fry (180) so this is not good. So far only tried slight variations on the Ninja ‘recipe’ of soak 30 minutes->dry->air fry 22 min. A work in progress.
  • Have not tried frozen chips
  • Everything (except chips, ie frozen pizzas, breaded chicken (kyivs and similar)) has come out near perfect and deliciously crispy
  • Recipes/directions fan oven time+temp is too much and air fryer time+temp too little, and few explicit guidelines so it is a guess where in the middle. On balance watching works and it responds very quickly to changes of temp, a significant plus in learning its foibles. It is faster (sometimes much faster) than a fan oven but slower than an air fryer.

Many online reviews state it is difficult to clean, some state it is easy to clean. The whole oven was easy to clean until I cooked a pork belly. The greases from the pork belly demonstrated beyond a doubt it is not difficult to clean, it is impossible to clean in a practical sense. It is a combination of the surface coating, the grill of the fan, and that the rear is not flat across from side to side. I gave up. The removable parts are easy, the rest is in the ‘why would they build it like this with this coating’ category.

BTW the pork belly cooked brilliantly well and I am a happy owner, resigned to not looking at the oven’s interior rear walls that are covered in streaks of hard baked on grease.

I would recommend this as a 10/10 if not for the misery trying to (and failing to) clean it. And for the advice givers many things including oven cleaner have been tried, none cutting through the grease and some discolouring the interior finish. One has to know when to fold and just roll with it :wink:

edit: the top of the unit, including the top edge of the door gets Very hot. One can burn oneself if not attentive, especially on the top of the door when it is opened. The sides and door handle lull one because they remain pleasantly cool.

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