Ninja Foodi MAX PRO Health Grill, Flat Plate & Air Fryer [AG651UK] 7 Cooking Functions, 2 Grill Plates, 3.8L, Silver/Black

Product Information

There’s no getting away from how expensive this is, especially when you can pick up more basic health grills for so little. The recipe booklet provided also gives you a visual indication of rareness for steak, which can be used alongside the probe to find your perfect level of doneness.

It has a double grill and flat plate, as well as adjustable time and temperature settings, much like the Foodi Max Pro. Both the flat grill and the griddle grill can comfortably hold up to ten normal-sized sausages, five small chicken breasts or three small to medium-sized steaks, while the air fryer comfortably holds 600g of regular-sized chips. If this seems a bit too big, your choices are a tad limited – you won’t find grills much smaller than this without having to forgo all the features and plate space. Not only does it record the temperature of your meat in real time, but you can also tell the grill which type of meat you’re cooking, prompting it to display the optimum temperature you should be aiming for.For example, in testing it comfortably held enough eggs, bacon, sausage and mushroom for two average-sized breakfasts. All the plates can go in the dishwasher too, so if you have that option available to you, it makes clean-up even easier. The non-stick is excellent, and even sticky, caramelised fat and sugar came off without too much elbow grease required. You could probably squeeze more on if you had to, but if you want good colour and an even cook, it’s best not to overcrowd it.

Add to that adjustable cook times and temperatures, excellent non-stick, easy cleaning and a premium design, and you’ve got yourself an excellent all-round multi-cooker. The griddle is ideal for achieving that chargrilled look and flavour and has a generously sized cavity at one end for oil run-off. It’s as beautiful as it is big, though, with a slick, high-end black and brushed-steel finish and a simple control panel at the front. Again, though, this doesn’t have quite the same versatility as the Ninja, as it can’t air fry, bake or dehydrate.Another useful feature of the Foodi Max Pro is the included heatproof meat probe, which can be inserted into your food of choice with the lid both up and down. It got there eventually, but as other settings on the grill go up to 240ºC, it would be helpful if this one did too. With seven different cooking modes, interchangeable plates and dishwasher-safe parts, Ninja is hoping to transform the simple tabletop grill into a health-focused multi-cooker. The probe itself is also quite thick, meaning it leaves a large hole in your food and, in turn, can easily fall out if knocked.

The Ninja Foodi Max Pro is a big, beefy tabletop grill designed to make healthy, low-fat cooking easier. Nonetheless, if you’re primarily looking for a simple health grill, all those extras simply might not be worth shelling out for. It had to be inserted into the side of the meat for the best results, but this wasn’t always as simple as it sounds. Another small niggle is that the temperature doesn’t go quite high enough on the flat plate setting.You can choose from seven preset cooking modes: grill, bake, air fry, roast, flat plate, dehydrate and reheat, and each allows you to manually adjust the cooking time and the temperature accordingly. WDH), the George Foreman compactis a good budget alternative, ideal for single or small double portions of meat and vegetables.

The result is an appliance that’s suitable for cooking everything from chicken and steak to fry-ups, cake and frozen oven food. All of the cooking plates are non-stick, removable and dishwasher-safe, and there’s also a removable splatter guard inside to protect the heating element from mess. Whether you’re grilling, cooking on the flat plate, baking or air frying, there are plenty of ways to make your everyday meals lower in fat. Even at 200ºC things such as bacon and sausages took far longer to cook to a nice crispy consistency than they would in a traditional pan.I had better luck getting an accurate temperature with my own meat thermometer, which had a thinner tip, so it’s probably best not to rely on this too much until you’ve got the hang of using it. However, there’s no flat plate and no additional functions such as air frying or baking – it’s just a small, no-frills health grill. Of course, most cheaper models are missing crucial additional features such as easy-to-clean grilling plates, variable temperature controls and capacity.