Ninja Max air fryer - underwhelmed. Have I made a mistake?

[ninja]

Or can you persuade me that it's fantastic and tell me what to make?

I'm veggie, my daughter likes chicken nuggets and chips type food 🙄

It's just not very wide, you can only out one type of food in at once and so far I don't think I've got the hang of it - what am I missing?

You can do nuggets and chips together. Get the thinner chips so they cook at the same rate

Yes that makes sense - is it an issue piling things on top of each other?

And can you get racks so you can have different layers of food?

I'm normally good at researching - but this got really good reviews and I was persuaded!

No need for racks.. can just put food next to each other. It cooks from all around, sides and top. Just shove it in there!

Sweet potato wedges are delicious. Cut up sweet pots, season, toss in a little oil, bung in air fryer.

Doesn't need to be a single layer like a normal oven. Mine does well up to about 2/3 full. If it's more than a single layer I take it out and zshush it a bit half way through to make sure it's evenly cooked. If you have tongs you could be more organised. Mine broke 💔

You can bake in it too. Nuggets and chips together are good. I did chicken tikka in mine this evening. You could do similar with mushrooms. Roasties are great in it too.

I'm assuming nothing with sauces though?

I do a lot of roasted veg which I often make into ratatouille or chilli

@ninja I would have thought you could only do food that you would otherwise fry in there, hence "air fryer"

I haven't bought one as I can't imagine they're a full substitute for a conventional oven. Seems a bit faddy to me! But I'm happy to be proved wrong.

We recently bought the ninja dual; underwhelmed too.

I had got the impression that they were a convection oven and I'm sure I've heard about loads of things you can do.

This one has a dehydration mode which I'll probably use as I do canoe expeditions

We made a bolognaise in ours 😊 it came out lovely!
I found everything cooks better if you have it on lower heat, so if you do 200 in oven, do 180 air fry and it cooks lovely. We use ours atleast 4-5 times a week

I'm veggie
Cubes of root vegetables work really well, the sweet potato comes out with the nice chewy caramel bit on the outside
It cooks tofu to get toasted on the outside and soft in the middle
DH does a really good soup where he roasts pepper and tomato in there first
My Mum 'boils' eggs in hers, and finds it much easier than using the hob

OP look up someone like Bored of Lunch on instagram, he does really good air fryer meals (and slow cooker ones) and it means you’ll get a better idea of the potential of the air fryer.

My kids love toasted sandwiches in it (the edges don't squish like a normal Toastie machine).
I like air fried baby potatoes - chop them into 4, drizzle with oil and black pepper then 15 mins at about 200. Some people say to soak them for a bit in water then dry them first but I'm lazy!

@EightNine2019 how do you cook your tofu? That sounds ideal

@GAW19 so you can make sauces - do you just make it in the pan or do you put a different pot in there?

Thanks @Myeyeballsareonfire that's a good recommendation - I'm not on Instagram but I bet there are other similar

people claim you can do chips in them, you can't, you can only do the horrible 'oven chips' which aren't proper chips at all.

I'm veggie and I have the dual ninja. I only use my oven for pizzas now as they don't fit in the ninja!

Tofu in the air fryer is lovely, and I do all my roast vegetables in there prior to adding to sauces or soups, it is much quicker. Gnocchi air fried is delicious too, I'll never boil it again.

I don't have a microwave so I also use it to reheat foods, but you might not need to use it for that.

I'd say it is a bit of a learning curve and I probably only did cook chips and nuggets for the first month or so. I'm not sure I'd have gotten much use if it was a dual drawer one however.

is this the one you have? I have this one although I think mine is a slightly older version.

Personally, I don't use it to replace the oven for full family meals. For me, it has three benefits:

1. Allows me to do fussy DD chicken/sausages etc with chips while the rest of us have more interesting meals.
2. Is a handy way to cook smaller things quicker and more easily (eg croissants, roasted veg for lunch etc)
3. Works brilliantly when we're all eating at different times so I'll choose things that go well in the air fryer and everyone can just do their own eg fish cakes or chicken Kiev or whatever.

If it's helpful, here's what I've done in the last week to give you a sense of how useful I find it:

Baked feta cheese (I don't have an oven dish that fits well so either use ramekins and smaller portions or take the tray out and place things in the base). 15 minutes from entering kitchen to eating.

Packet of sausages - about 12 minutes, with zero effort.

Chicken nuggets and chips - about 10 minutes, zero effort (chips are oven fries)

Croissants for breakfast - 11 minutes

Breakfast muffins - 5 mins to make batter, cook for 13 minutes.

Roasted tomatoes and onions for lunch (17 minutes)

Taco shells - this is one of those where I leave all the bits out, the mince on the stove and then as people come in and out they stick their taco shell in the air fryer for 2 minutes.

Post school jacket potato for DS.

Dh did crumbed chicken breasts (posh nuggets basically) with chips for him and DS.

Oh, and how could I forget - I made two large Yorkshire puddings in it the other day! I used large le cresseut ramekin type things so might try with my silicon muffin cases next time so I can make 4 smaller ones! They were nice. not AS good as in the oven but very edible and a lot easier seeing as it was just for DD who loves yorkies!

I also cooked two bone in chicken thighs as an experiment for future reference as they are something she likes and would be good to replace the nuggets and they came out well. Took about 15 minutes but the smaller one was less so note to self - make sure they're all about the same size in future.

I don't get how it would help me. Can you cook for a family of four in it? The thing like the tacos mentioned above you are still using the hob, I just chuck the tacos in the microwave for a couple of minutes.

I have a tiny kitchen so it needs to earn it's keep - following this with interest!

@ninja he (bored of lunch) has an air fryer cook book coming out. His slow cooker one is excellent so I expect the air fryer one is equally good!

My multicooker has an air fry setting, underwhelming sums it up. I prefer my oven as I can actually cook for 4 in one go

I did tofu in mine last night - cubed a pack, quartered sone brussels sprouts, shake of soy sauce, served with a pouch of microwave rice. My DC think anything from the air fryer is junk food!