Ninja brands this product ‘more than a grill’, and it truly is given that it has six functions including air fry, bake, roast, reheat, dehydrate and grill. But it’s probably the last one of these that’s the piece de resistance.
Thanks to what it calls its ‘Smart Cook System’ including a built-in digital cooking probe that monitors your food’s temperature while it cooks and tells you exactly when to take it out, and how long to rest it for.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it could be a game-changer versatile iteration of the best air fryers for amateurs among us, holding your hand to make sure you manage a rare steak or don’t overcook meat again.
Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UK
- Function: Air fryer & grill
- Measurements: H:27 x W:39 x D:41 cm
- Weight: 10.18kg
- Maximum temperature: 260C
- Wattage: 2460V
- Colour: Grey & silver
Who reviewed this product?
Unboxing the product
There’s something exciting about unpackaging a hallowed Ninja product, especially if you’ve never had one before. They’re the name that’s synonymous with all things air fryer, and are showing no sign of stepping aside, so it’s exciting to see how they’re trying to stay on top and the new things they’re introducing.
oven-styleThe Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer has a bit of an air of the old-school George Foreman grills about it, combining all the state-of-the-art 2024 air fryer design with a classic flip-top oven style cooking gadget. The packaging is as you’d expect from Ninja, all sleek pictures and design, combined with sustainable packaging that’s refreshing to see.
The machine itself feels quite heavy when you take it out of the box, which is unsurprising when you see it tops the 10kg mark. But despite being a chunky bit of kit, it looks quite sleek thanks to the design and swanky digital display. It comes with a fair few bits, including cleaning brush, various instruction manuals and all sorts of trays for its many cooking functions.
The added extra compared to some air fryers is the digital cooking probe, which is carefully hidden away in a little compartment that might be hard to find unless you read the instructions. There’s even a removable splatter guard that’s quite a nice touch, and makes it easy to clean.
While it’s only a grill and air fryer, it still has six different modes so you can do your roasting, baking and dehydrating too. There’s comprehensive instructions with it, plus various reminders stuck to the gadget itself, as well as a book of recommended marinades and sauces, suggesting that Ninja really do want you to be maximising the grilling capability of this gadget.
Cooking
Chicken & steak
Given the Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer comes with a built-in temperature probe so you can check the exact temperature of your food rather than just nuking it, it seems to make sense to test it out on meat that you might want at a very specific temperature.
I figure if I can grill a piece of chicken to exactly the right temperature without having to worry, this could save me a lifetime of overcooked or undercooked chicken. Maybe I can even nail a rare steak super easily.
I start with a chicken breast - that way I won’t waste an expensive steak. As well as using the temperature probe manually, you can pop it into the meat and shut the lid on it, then set the grill to a preset for rare steak and lo and behold, it should cook it perfectly.
It takes me a while to work out how to get it all set up. These days, we’re used to gadgets being fairly intuitive, but this is a bit more complex so I find myself resorting to the instruction manual.
I pop it in, think I have it set up right, though it doesn’t quite seem as the instructions suggest but on I plough. Twenty minutes later I open the lid to a shrivelled, dry piece of chicken but when I cut it open, it’s raw inside.. Epic fail, but somehow I think it’s user error.
I try again later, and this time pay attention. It turns out I hadn’t quite plugged the probe in properly so the preset option hadn’t actually activated. As I do it right properly the second time, my mistake becomes obvious and it’s actually quite easy to set up.
Find the meat you want to cook, and it does it for you. On the air fryer goes, whizzing into preheat mode before instructing me to add the meat. One thing I do notice is it’s loud - louder than some other air fryers I’ve tried. When I measure the decibels it’s around 65dB, compared to the last one I tried which was around 63dB. No wonder I think it’s loud.
Unlike the first time, the attempt at the chicken breast is much more successful. The probe’s in properly this time, so I can see the temperature rise on the display. And when it hits 75C - when chicken is properly cooked, the air fryer switches off. I lift the lid and it instructs me to let it rest, counting down as I go.
Yes, maybe this is less important than for a steak or joint of meat, but it’s handy to know your hand is held every step of the way. The one downfall is the metal wire connecting the probe - designed not to be damaged when the lid closes on it - gets pretty hot. I learn this the hard way as I grab it, remembering the salutary lesson that I should be more careful before touching it next time.
I’m on my way to being convinced, but decide a rare steak might be the way forward. So I test it on a simple fillet. In the probe goes, and I use the presents to set the meat type, and my cooking preference. The same goes, except this time I get too cocky and wander off, which means that although it turns itself off after the right amount of time, instead of resting in ambient temperature, it rests in high heat.
So when I finally remember and come back to retrieve it, cutting into it reveals it’s done slightly more than rare - but I’m 99% confident that had I removed it from the grill when I was meant to, and let it cool out in the kitchen, it would’ve been fine. The grill insert for the air fryer also proves itself as great for steak, giving it the same effect as searing it in a pan or on a barbecue would. The only downside is the kitchen has the same smell - whereas more classic air frying keeps things a bit less smoky and meat-smelling.
Chips
A classic creation, homemade chips would be my test of the Ninja’s normal air fryer function. I swap the grill tray for the deeper tray designed for stuff like this, chop my potatoes into chips and toss them in oil and seasoning.
I’ve already got a frozen fish fillet in for 30 minutes (see below) so wait until it’s halfway through and start with 15 minutes - on previous air fryer tests this hasn’t been quite enough, but here’s hoping. The Ninja advises you to give food a shake mid cook time, which I do, and at 15 minutes they’re cooked perfectly. Crispy on the outside, soft inside, and completely cooked. A triumph.
Bacon
The next experiment is bacon. I choose streaky, because it goes nice and crispy in an air fryer (and tastes great). In it goes into the normal air fryer pan and on I pop it at a fairly high temperature (200C) for ten minutes.
It comes out cremated - more fool me. This thing is efficient for sure. I try again, and it’s done in about four minutes. Quick and easy, but be warned, you need to keep an eye on small things because this gadget gets hot quickly and cooks things at pace.
Frozen food
As the easy answer for frozen food, it’s important to test the air fryer on something from this category. Breaded cod fillets are the ones. The instructions say to oven cook at 200C for 30 minutes, so I opt for the same time, putting the homemade chips in halfway through.
I notice at this point that the fish looks done, so give it a little check with a temperature probe. It is indeed done. In half the time the packet said. Efficient cooking indeed - and a reminder that if I’m using this I should check up on food as it may cook quicker than I think.
What's it like to clean?
I’m thrilled to find out the inserts are all dishwasher proof, though I’m not always convinced when things with meat juices glued to them.
However, these come out nice and clean, and it’s a relief compared to having to try to scrub out inaccessible air fryer insides or trays.
How does it compare to similar models and its predecessors?
Having never used a Ninja before, it’s hard to compare, but when stacked up against a basic air fryer, this definitely takes things to the next level.
The ease of putting the temperature probe in and having the wizardry do the cooking for you is quite welcoming, especially to an amateur cook like me, though the flip side is having to get used to various digital instructions and get the probe in right.
If you want a more standard simple air frying product, our Ninja FlexDrawer is our top-rated air fryer ever. Or, if you like the sound of the merits of this grill, but would like to use it outside instead, the Ninja Woodfire BBQ is a great shout.
Should you buy the Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer?
As a newcomer to the world of Ninja, I was pretty impressed by this product. Basic air frying is pretty easy, and seems super efficient, with clear instructions on preheating, when to add food and when to turn it.
But the real bonus is in the grilling function, which holds your hand through exactly how to cook a piece of meat, using the temperature probe to remove any guesswork and stopping the grill at the right moment, even reminding you to leave it to rest.
That said, like any space-age creation, it takes a bit of getting used to, and you might actually have to follow the instructions to nail it.
It took me a few goes to work out the best way to use the Smart Cook System, but persistence paid off and I’ll confess to being a convert. There’s scope for more experimentation too, including bigger joints of meat.
