I Was an Air Fryer Skeptic Until I Tried My Ninja Foodi

I'm pretty frugal (read: cheap), so it's pretty easy for me to resist new kitchen appliances. That includes the ever-popular electric pressure cooker. The internet has made its case for the electric pressure cooker over and over, but I resisted. Then came the air fryer. More resistance. But when I was presented with the Ninja Foodi, I caved. And I don't regret it one bit.

If you're wondering what the Ninja Foodi is, it's a multicooker that has both a pressure cooker and air fryer function. It's basically a convection oven, but it does a lot more than swirl hot air around your food with its instant vortex. The size is impressive—it's like having a spaceship on your counter—but it makes getting dinner on the tables so easy that it's worth the kitchen real estate sacrifice.

I've done a lot of experimenting with it—it's super easy to use, easy to clean, very reliable and extremely sturdy. My first experiment is what made me a believer: It returned my cold french fries to their original crisp-tender glory. Then I tried making air-fryer chicken wings. Making chicken wings at home always seemed too daunting, but with the Ninja Foodi, I had restaurant-quality wings in 20 minutes without heating up any oil. Then I tried roasting a chicken. It was perfectly cooked with crispy skin in 40 minutes, saving me about 20 minutes.

I now use it every day. I don't make chicken every day, but I do use it to roast vegetables, heat up leftovers, cook frozen vegetables, make sourdough bread, mini casseroles, mini cakes, single-serving bread pudding… I could go on. And that's just using the air fryer function.