At a lookProfessional’s Ranking
Execs
- Enormous cooking space for baking and roasts
- Versatile cooking
- Crispy, even outcomes
- Sturdy and straightforward to make use of
Cons
- No shake alert
- No viewing window or choice to open a single drawer to examine on meals
Our Verdict
That is, fairly merely, probably the greatest air fryers we’ve ever examined. It’s simple to make use of and highly effective – which suggests fast cooking. And it cooks evenly with out the necessity to pause and shake up your meals. However its key benefits are its flexibility and big capability, which you should utilize for baking and roasting.
Finest Costs Right now: Ninja Foodi DualZone FlexDrawer
422,73 €
The FlexDrawer isn’t Ninja’s newest dual-drawer air fryer (that’s the Double Stack XL) nevertheless it is one of many model’s finest fashions. I would say it’s the perfect mannequin the model has produced.
It’s a singular twist on a dual-basket air fryer, in which you could take away the divider separating the 2 cooking areas to create one cooking “megazone”.
You’ll get all the pliability of a conventional mannequin, as you should utilize the 2 5.2L cooking areas independently and programme separate cooking modes in every.
However you may as well use your entire 10.4L house to prepare dinner giant joints and bake muffins and bread.
In the event you’re within the US, a barely totally different mannequin is out there. As a substitute of the FlexDrawer, you should purchase the FlexBasket. It’s a smaller, 7QT mannequin and lacks the UK mannequin’s proving setting, which you should utilize when making recent bread. It additionally has barely totally different controls to the UK mannequin: it’s button operation solely, whereas the UK mannequin has a dial to decide on the cooking mode. Aside from these variations, it’s designed and works in the identical manner, so you’ll be able to learn this evaluation to get an concept of whether or not it’d be an excellent match for you.
Design and Construct
- 35°C-240°C temperature vary
- 7 cooking modes
- Simple to make use of digital show
The FlexBasket is essentially made from plain, matt black plastic and due to its dimension, there’s actually fairly an expanse of it. It actually received’t be the prettiest equipment in your countertop. With its curved corners and plain exterior, it appears like an enormous, lidded tub. Nevertheless it’s sturdily constructed and its unfussy exterior makes it simple to maintain clear.
It’s an enormous equipment as nicely, with dimensions of 32.7cm excessive, 31.6cm deep and a whopping 49.6cm broad. It’ll take up an enormous quantity of house alongside your countertop, though because it’s not very deep, you’ll have loads of room in entrance of it for meals preparation and to tug out the drawer.
The FlexDrawer’s controls are intuitive and easy and it’s unlikely you’ll have to discuss with the handbook
Though I’ve a tiny kitchen and wanted to rearrange my counter to search out room for it, I discovered that it really appeared to overwhelm the out there house lower than the Double Stack, which is a a lot deeper air fryer that protrudes past the road of different countertop home equipment.
There’s a single, pull-out drawer with a detachable divider. It’s fitted with two non-stick, dishwasher-safe crisper plates (though you’ll be able to’t put the drawer itself within the dishwasher). The cooking house is big at 10.4L and might match a joint of meat, hen or loaf cake.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The FlexDrawer has seven cooking modes: max crisp (for frozen meals), air fry, roast, bake, reheat (for leftovers), dehydrate (for jerky and dried fruit) and show (for dough). Select one and a prompt time and temperature will seem on the easy-to-read digital show. You may then regulate it as you would like. The controls are intuitive and easy and it’s unlikely you’ll have to discuss with the handbook.
Nonetheless, the equipped handbook is complete and consists of plenty of recipes and an air fryer cooking chart with prompt instances and temperatures for common meals.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
There are not any settings for particular meals sorts, like chips, which you would possibly discover on different air fryers. However the cooking mode is simple to resolve on. Your finest guess is then to make use of the mode’s prompt time and temperature and tweak it as wanted.
Time and temperature are adjustable for every cooking setting (inside sure boundaries – ie, when you set too excessive a temperature, you received’t be dehydrating fruit or meat, you’ll be roasting it).
The FlexDrawer has a minimal temperature of 35°C and a most temperature of 240°C and the cooking time is between 1 minute and 6 hours, once more relying on the cooking mode. This implies which you could prepare dinner nearly something in it, apart from dishes like stews, pasta and rice, which received’t come out brilliantly even when you use a silicone liner. If that’s the sort of meals you prepare dinner typically, we’d suggest the Ninja Speedi or the ProCook Air Fryer Well being Grill.
The FlexDrawer has all of the options you’d count on to make two-basket air fryer cooking easy. There’s a match operate, which lets you copy the cooking programme from one drawer to the opposite, plus a sync operate. Sync allows you to set two separate cooking programmes however ensures they’ll end on the identical time, so there’s no have to preserve one dish heat when you look forward to the opposite to complete cooking.
It’s additionally value saying that it’s a really civilised form of air fryer. Like all newer Ninja fashions, it’ll greet you with a ‘Hi there’ on the display once you swap it on, and a ‘Goodbye’ once you flip it off. Plus, its alert sounds are loud sufficient to be heard from the following room (though in all probability not over the sound of the TV), with out being piercing or extended.
Efficiency and Options
- Highly effective mannequin (2,470W)
- No shake alert – however we didn’t miss it
- Massive sufficient for a loaf however not a grocery store pizza
The FlexDrawer is a robust air fryer. It’s a 2,470W equipment, which signifies that it’ll be pricier to run than your common air fryer. You need to use a web-based vitality calculator to search out out what it’ll value. You’ll get essentially the most correct studying if you realize your tariff.
However what I’d say concerning the FlexDrawer is that it’s so highly effective that you just’ll be utilizing it for shorter durations of time and on a decrease setting than you’ll rivals, which can offset the price considerably. And when you can keep away from utilizing your oven for many of your cooking, you’ll actually get monetary savings.
The true revelation with the FlexDrawer is baking
When first utilizing the FlexDrawer, I tended to overcook every thing. My tip for utilizing it might be to show down the temperature 10°C under your standard air fryer setting and see the way it performs. As soon as I received used to its energy, nonetheless, every thing I cooked got here out nicely: crunchy toasties with gooey melted cheese, crispy fries and potatoes, chewy gnocchi.
I liked its bigger dimension and deserted my oven nearly instantly. Its capability meant I might roast a complete butternut squash for soup.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
I believed the shortage of a shake alert can be a difficulty, which was one thing I discovered with the Double Stack, however when you place meals on the crisper plates and ensure to not crowd the drawer, it cooks so evenly that you just received’t want it.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Nonetheless, there’s one factor that even the FlexDrawer can’t discover house for: a big grocery store pizza. You’ll solely have the ability to prepare dinner one half at a time, though there would in all probability be sufficient room for 2 mini pizzas.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The true revelation with the FlexDrawer was baking. I’d by no means fairly mastered air fryer baking earlier than however because the FlexDrawer has greater than sufficient house for a full-sized loaf tin, I believed I’d give it a go. A primary try noticed the cake fail to rise correctly as its exterior cooked earlier than its inside and crusted over, so though it was edible, it was dense.
The key turned out to be dropping the temperature to simply 140°C (the recipe referred to as for 160°C in a fan-assisted oven or 180°C in a daily oven). Without having to preheat, I had an ideal lemon drizzle cake in 25 minutes – it takes 40 minutes in my oven.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Worth and Availability
The FlexDrawer has an RRP of £269.99 nevertheless it’s now extensively out there for £219. You should purchase it from AO.com, Argos, Amazon, or direct from Ninja. On the time of writing, it’s £50 lower than the Double Stack. Nonetheless, when you don’t assume you’ll make use of the ‘megazone’, Ninja’s newest Foodi dual-drawer mannequin is a greater purchase.
Within the US, the smaller, 7QT FlexBasket is out there from Ninja, Finest Purchase, Walmart and Amazon for $149.99, down from $180. Once more, this makes it a beautiful choice when in comparison with different new Ninja fashions, though its cooking capability is considerably lower than that of the UK model.
Verdict
The FlexDrawer is well probably the greatest air fryers I’ve examined. It received’t offer you as many cooking choices by meals sort as mixture fashions just like the Ninja Speedi or the ProCook Air Fryer Well being Grill, which may grill and prepare dinner pasta and rice, however its capability and suppleness makes it the perfect oven substitute amongst dual-drawer fashions.
In the event you’re on the lookout for a fair bigger capability, take a look at our round-up of the perfect air fryer ovens we’ve examined, and when you’re unsure which Ninja mannequin is best for you, see our round-up of the perfect Ninja air fryers. All the perfect air fryers we’ve examined, throughout all manufacturers and kinds, are in our greatest air fryers round-up.
