Have you seen those ‘once you’re young and wild, the next you’re excited about an air fryer’ memes? Well, I’m not ashamed to admit that’s me… I recently looked at the Ninja CRISPi 4-in-1 vs Salter Crisp & Go, to find which affordable, portable glass air fryer is best. The Ninja came out on top and got me excited to test the much bigger, newly released Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone, which costs $380/£300 and has two 3.8-litre CleanCrisp glass zones – perfect for family meals.
Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone 8-in-1 Glass Air Fryer: Design
It’s rare that I test a kitchen appliance that I think improves the look of my kitchen, but the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone did just that. It’s the most aesthetically pleasing air fryer I’ve ever seen and hopefully it’s set a trend in small kitchen appliances because Smeg’s new MultiGrill is a looker, too.
I’ve tested a lot of air fryers and find that for the most part they just look bulky, but despite it’s large 7.6-litre capacity, the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone looks sleek and modern with its non-toxic CleanCrisp Glassware, that’s PFAS and PTFE-free. Coming in Cyberspace (dark grey), Rose Quartz (pink) and Bone (cream) which I had on test, I feel there’s colourway to please most people, although less options than Ninja has provided for other CRISPi models.
Unlike the design of the original CRISPi, which uses a detachable PowerPod that clips to the glass cookware, the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone 8-in-1 uses a traditional air fryer design, with the CleanCrisp glass zones replacing traditional drawers. The thermal-shock-resistant glassware is fully detachable and dishwasher-safe (music to my ears) and also comes with lids so you can get organised with meal prep and store leftovers without making additional cleaning for yourself.
Another thing that really impressed me with the physical design of the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone is that you can serve from it too – the glassware can be taken straight to your table, thanks to heat-safe handles and feet.
Settings and features
As you may expect from an 8-in-1, there are eight cooking modes. These are air fry, max crisp, roast, bake, prove, keep warm, re-crisp and dehydrate – everything you could possibly want to do with an air fryer. These cooking modes are identical over each glass cooking container, and both have separate controls, which saves any confusion. Unlike the original CRISPi, this model allows you to adjust cooking temperatures with a maximum of 240C, which is a real plus point. I was pleased to see the dedicated +1 minute, too.
The Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone has Smart Finish and Match Cook settings, which both have their own, easy to access, buttons on the front of the unit. Match cook allows you to easily match setting across both baskets, something I found useful when I had guests and was using my Gozney Arc Lite pizza oven outside and cooking copious amounts of fries inside.
Smart Finish is the setting I have used most though – it allows you to ensure both zones are due to finish at the same time. This is great in a household, like mine, where little people prefer different foods, but you all want to eat together. It takes any maths out of the equation, which is no bad thing after a long day!
Cooking with the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone 8-in-1 Glass Air Fryer
I tested all eight modes on the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone – air fry, max crisp, roast, bake, prove, keep warm, re-crisp and dehydrate. I don’t generally dehydrate many foods, but I did make some tasty apple chips! All the other settings were well used, with air fry, keep warm and re-crisp getting the most use.
Air fry seemed to get even better results that the original CRISPi I tested, with food seeming to crisp quicker and better, with a reliable crunchy golden finish on my foods. Max crisp, 240C was most used for jacket potatoes in my house, but was useful for melting cheese and crisping off other dishes I cooked on different settings.
I used the bake and roast settings at lot for staple foods like chicken breast and sausages and honestly there was no need to turn my conventional oven on – meat was succulent and juicy and I like that you’re in control of the cooking temperature so if you want to go a bit more low and slow, you can.
I used recrisp a lot of leftovers and found it to be effective in getting my leftovers hot again, without blasting them into mush (it’s happened before). Keep warm was very useful too and I appreciated how quiet it was.
Cooking in a glass air fryer is definitely my preference – it’s game changing to be able to see how your food is cooking, and adjust settings if needed, without interfering by opening drawers.
The Clean Test
I’m obsessed with how easy things are to clean. As a busy working mum, I can think of nothing worse than an appliance that needs a lot of manual cleaning to stay in good shape. The good news is that the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone’s glass containers are dish washer safe, which saves so much time, especially when you’ve cooked meals that have left a lot of residue. I tested how easy the glassware is to wash by hand too and I was pleasantly surprised – so much so in fact that after cooking everyday foods, like chicken nuggets and chips, I did take to washing them quickly by hand. Shocker.
Would I buy the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone 8-in-1 Glass Air Fryer?
At $380/£300 the Ninja CRISPi Dual Zone is certainly not a cheap air fryer but for a family I feel like it’s a great investment and I would spend my own money on one. It looks great, cooks in a multiple of ways with consistently great results, is easy to use and makes cleanup a cinch – I love it! And yes, I did just declare my love for an air fryer (yikes).
