Ninja CRISPi

One might immediately assume that, since the air fryer as a concept has not been around for very long, we would still be in the "wild west" of design, where manufacturers continue to disagree on the key aspects of the user experience and therefore offer significantly different solutions. But that is not the case. Already, 95% of all air fryers look virtually identical, the same black boxes with a small handle and simple buttons on top.

That is why it's so exciting to present the Ninja CRISPi, an air fryer that really does not resemble any other air fryer on the market. The heat is generated by a kind of lid that you place on a glass container, of which there are several, and the idea is that the bowl that the food is already in can be used to serve the food at the table or even put directly in the refrigerator using the lid that is also included.

It's an attempt to create a kind of all-in-one solution, and Ninja has repeatedly thought outside the box to come up with innovative solutions, so for that reason alone, CRISPi deserves applause. More technically, it has 1700W of power in a container that is either 3.8 or 1.4 litres. It has all the most basic cooking settings, such as air fry, roast, keep warm, and recrisp, and is operated using the same small buttons on the top.

The power CRISPi delivers is textbook, where the food becomes crispy and is cooked evenly. There is a small platform that can be placed at the bottom of each bowl to ensure that the airflow is circular, and if you use it, the result is what you would expect from a good air fryer.

But there are, of course, limitations here, and quite significant ones at that. First and foremost, 3.8 litres is not enough for a family that would appreciate not having to transfer the food to a dish or something similar. By comparison, most larger air fryers offer 10 litres, so it doesn't take much to fill the CRISPi completely. Because it's always so full, it also removes the advantage of it being made of glass, i.e. that you can see the food being cooked from the side. Furthermore, it's a hassle to keep this glass dish really clean.

Yes, it's all PFAS-free, and yes, there is no need for the non-stick coating you might see elsewhere, but you could also argue that with traditional air fryers, you don't necessarily have to clean after a single cooking session. But with glass? Yes, you do.

It should also be said that Ninja, for some inexplicable reason, does not allow you to adjust the time or temperature, as you have to use the predefined settings to cook, which seems like a strange, arbitrary limitation when Ninja itself offers this feature in its other air fryers.

CRISPi offers functionality and versatility that is truly commendable, and I think I do. But this time, they have arrived at a product that needs to go through the think tank one more time to arrive at a final result that is not only clever, but also delivers competitive, uncompromising performance. The idea of saving on serving dishes and bowls is solid, and the idea of being able to pop a lid on a CRISPi bowl and take it with you for lunch at work, well... it just works. But there are too many drawbacks right now, that's just the way it is.