Talk to me about alternatives to my big oven….airfryers etc? Very confused

[Poppyliveshere]

As many have, I use a main built in fan oven with smaller non fan oven/grill above. I have a slow cooker and also a micro / combi oven. Looking at Ninja but there is a bewildering choice. They seem to cook quite small lots at once. And the new Ninja Max you can only cook one thing at a time? So today I have a chicken in the slow cooker rather than roast, but would love roast potatoes but don’t want to put my main oven on. Which air fryer type of gadget would work best? Thank you 🤗

@Poppyliveshere i’m tempted by the Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker, but scared by the cost!

Inspired by this thread I decided on the AF 400 and it's out of stock everywhere!

Took the plunge this morning and ordered the Multicook 7 in 1.

Chose that one because I’m hoping it can replace my slow cooker and steamer. Hope I’ve made the right choice 🫣

9 in 1, not 7 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have the Ninja AF 400. It’s the biggest two drawer one available. If you can get it in the drawers you can do anything an oven does. It can airfry, bake, roast, dehydrate, reheat . I have made scones using two drawers. I made cakes by dividing the mixture between two 1 lb tins. I roast pork chops in one drawer and potatoes in another. Sausages are the best I have cooked as cooked all the way through with a nice crispy outside. The crispy plates collect any excess fat. You can use one drawer or two, synchronise two things to finish together, match two to use the sam setting. I love this Ninja with a passion. Facebook is full of ideas. Basically if you usually put something in the oven you should be able to do the same in the Ninja.No preheating and often lower heating and shorter time. You can pull outs drawer and see how things are going anytime.

@HappydaysArehere How long for sausages and which setting ?

Hello, my sausages are the full size ones so not the smaller thinner ones. I use air fry and 180 or 190. I tend to set at about 20 mins but look and shake them up a bit about half way through, so decide how I like them. You can always remove them earlier or extend the time. I like them nice and well cooked outside and inside with a nice brown look.

How do they work where, say, I wanted to cook a piece of salmon and also do chips / roast potatoes? In the oven I'd put the salmon in foil and put it in 10 mins after the chips, but I can't work out how it would work if it all goes in a drawer!

@HappydaysArehere brilliant, thanks.

@blackberrybat - some - The Ninja AF300 and AF400 have 2 drawers so you can do two completely different things and even ask it to sync them to finish at the same time.

I after reading this thread bought the AF400 and have just done Roast Beef joint, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire puddings (ok they were frozen ones but you get the gist) , ratatouille and bread and butter pudding for 3 adults in mine. - and the beef was only a cheapo joint from the supermarket but was the juiciest ever. - Early days for me, but I am converted.

@blackberrybat can I ask where you bought it? I've been going back and forth deciding which to buy for months now, and they seem to be sold out everywhere😭

I also tend to make everything from scratch, which is why it's taking me so long to decide. I presume you can't fit lasagne/shepherd's pie dishes (family sized), casserole dishes etc in the dual one?

@Missmarps - you can either make it straight in the drawer or you can get liners like this from Amazon which some people make their lasagnes and casseroles in

I was a bit put off that air fryers are plastic. Do they give off any plastic smells or anything?

@BluOcty Ours isn't plastic it's like a frying pan material very strong and it's actually very easy to clean. I have the Ninja duel we are a family of 6 and we can do a roast, enchiladas, fajitas, curry whatever you want really in there, to feed us all. Some people make bread and loaf cakes from there's. It's been a great investment. I think I paid £179.99 from AO.Com but the prices are going up for them now.

Cooked a medium sized chicken tonight in the AF300 and was so impressed, it was delicious, much nicer than cooked in the oven. My favourite bit was having just one drawer to clean! It's the way forward for me.

Thanks @VanillaIce1 I think I need to pop into the shops to have a look at some different models 👍

I've got a halogen oven, I only use my proper oven for pizzas & my halogen for everything else.

@BluOcty I hope you find one you like. They honestly are so much cheaper to run than the oven. I even do my green beans in them and asparagus with one tsp of oil and some salt. Really happy with it.

I was all for buying an air fryer. (Energy costs of course!) Think folk are going bonkers over them at the mo! I went from the Ninja max one, to a mini oven air fryer thing to a combination microwave. My microwave (standard) needed replacing so I finally bit the bullet and bought a De’Longhi combo. So like yours it has a convection oven. Have you cooked much using that op? Before you shell out for an air fryer?

Surely roast potatoes would be perfect in a convection oven thing? 🤞🤞🤞 That’s what I’m hoping….