Review: Ninja Foodi

I will preface this by saying this post is not for everyone. Maybe not the coolest topic. Maybe not the youngest topic. But I am excited about it nonetheless. 

My Instant Pot recently tapped out and stopped working out. I tried everything to get it working again but alas, it was dead. I had planned on just replacing it and getting the same Instant Pot again (because I cant live without it) but the Amazon gods had something else in mind. When I searched Instant Pot, the Ninja Foodi also came up. I was so intrigued by an appliance that is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, air fryer and dehydrator all in one. It's not cheap but if I can simplify down to just one machine that does all of that instead of the 4 different machines taking up space in my kitchen then it seems worth it to me.

Now this thing is big. And heavy. But damn it is amazing. I have been using my Instant Pot for a while so the learning curve was very minimal for me on how to use it and I've already made so much in it in the little over a week I have had it. 

A breakdown of what I've cooked in it so far:

  • Pressure cooked then air crisped chicken thighs
  • Air fried buffalo chicken wings
  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Multiple batches of beef jerky
  • Air fried chicken nuggets
  • Slow cooker pork carnitas
  • Pressure cooker Oatmeal

Everything has tasted INCREDIBLE but by far my favorite has been the chicken wings and the beef jerky.

Chicken Wings

  • I used a 2 lb bag of frozen chicken wings from Trader Joes
  • Pressure cooked (from frozen) for 5 minutes in the crisper basket insert with ½ cup of water in the bottom and then did a quick release of the steam after cooking
  • Removed the wings and patted them dry with a paper towel and dumped out the water in the bottom of the pot
  • Put the wings back in the crisper basket and used the air fryer lid for 15 minutes (tossing them once halfway)
  • When there was about 3 minutes left on the timer I removed the wings, tossed them in Franks Red hot sauce and 1 tbsp of butter and then put them back in the crisper basket to finish cooking with the sauce on them

They were absolutely AMAZING and arguably better than most wings I have had at restaurants in the area (I'm kind of a wing snob). 

Beef Jerky

  • For the beef jerky I bought a strip steak from Trader Joes and sliced it into ¼ inch slices
  • I marinated the sliced steak over night in: ½ cup soy sauce, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, and then generous shakes of salt, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder and onion powder
  • In the morning I placed the steak in an even layer with space in between on the 5 layers of the dehydrator rack insert (I purchased this separately)
  • I turned on the dehydrator setting to 150 degrees for 7 hours as the recipe called for, however, at 5 hours I checked and it looked done to me so I removed it then. But if your slices are a little on the thicker side, check at 5 hours and assess if it needs longer.

The beef jerky turned out so amazing and I love knowing exactly what kind of meat was used and exactly what seasoning is in it. For the brown sugar I substituted Swerve brown sugar anti-glycemic substitute - which I highly recommend because it tastes exactly like brown sugar to me. 

All in all I am super happy with the purchase and if you are looking for a kitchen appliance that does it all and will easily replace 5 other appliances, I'd definitely recommend checking out the Ninja Foodi*

*Unfortunately not sponsored...help me I'm poor! haha


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