Labo Ninja Foodi Flex — Is the large modular drawer of the air fryer better than two small drawers?

This was the big news in the Ninja air fryer section at the end of last year: the Air Fryer Foodi Flex and its 10.4 L drawer. The company has never offered such a capacity. But in addition to being large, this drawer is also modular. Thanks to a divider, it is possible to move from one large cooking zone to two smaller ones, each of 5.2 liters. We then find a configuration similar to those of the AF300EU and AF400EU, practical for cooking meat and a side dish with their two drawers, but a little limited for cooking large poultry for example. That shouldn’t be a problem with this new model, but is its Flex technology really uncompromising? We carried out some tests to make sure.

The Foodi Flex Air Fryer has indeed arrived in our laboratory recently. It will of course be the subject of a complete test, but we have initially decided to focus on its modular drawer, or Flex. From an ergonomic point of view, first of all, switching from one to two cooking zones is extremely simple; a metal plate slides into the grooves provided in the center of the drawer. It is then possible to cook up to 500 g of fries on one side while a small chicken browns quietly on the other, but it is better to use the MegaZone for more than 3 place settings; understand the drawer without separation. Ninja also offers a short guide to quickly improvise a meal from a protein and a vegetable with the MegaZone in his recipe booklet, a bit like he did for the Speedi, but it obviously doesn’t work. not with the fries; they must be cooked separately to prevent the meat juices from softening them.

This large drawer also has the advantage of being able to accommodate a cake mold. Manufacturers like to promote the possibility of cooking cakes in oil-free fryers, but you generally have to make do with individual formats or buy a suitable mold, which may still be difficult to remove from the hot drawer. . With the Foodi Flex, it finally becomes easy to cook a cake in an air fryer.

However, Ninja’s solution is far from perfect. Having interlocking zones means stopping both cooking operations to check if the chicken is ready on one side, or to mix the fries on the other. This shouldn’t be a big problem in most cases, but it could be if you’re making muffins for dessert on one side. This large drawer is also less practical than separate drawers when it comes to mixing foods, especially if it is separated to cook a large piece on one side. It is then impossible to shake it and you must use tongs or a spoon to mix the fries, otherwise you risk crushing them. We can still point out that it’s a little simpler with the MegaZone. Ninja thought of extending the handle on each side of the drawer and it is thus possible to grab it on each side for a firm grip. Shaking the fries is therefore easier in this case, but always with two hands rather than one as a vertical handle allows.

Its large size of course also makes the Flex drawer impractical to clean in the sink or put in the dishwasher, and we may finally regret that only one position has been provided for the separation plate. We would have liked it to be possible to opt for a larger zone on the left or right if necessary, but it would then have been necessary to add resistors to offer the same modularity in heating, and just as many fans. It still seems complicated to us. Maybe for a future model?

Synchronization of cooking possible

The one we are testing includes two resistors, each accompanied by a fan and covering half of the drawer. To allow different cooking, they are obviously independent. It is also possible to use only one, or simply to opt for different settings on the right and left. As on these double drawer models, Ninja allows in this case to synchronize cooking so that they finish at the same time, but be careful of heat transfer. The removable wall does not insulate as well as the separation of the two drawers of the AF300EU, which even allows “cooking” to be maintained at 40°C in one drawer when the temperature is set to 240°C in the other. With the same settings, we observe that the temperature ends up exceeding 100°C in the 40°C zone on the Foodi Flex.

We will therefore avoid throwing a roast on the right if we have started to rise a brioche dough for the snack on the left. Without going to such extremes, however, the separation is still effective. Using different temperatures on the left and right rarely results in overheating more than 10°C on the colder side when setting cooking temperatures within 100°C of each other. In most cases, we can therefore get away with slightly reducing the cooking time if the preparation is not too sensitive to heatstroke. You can also anticipate the rise by setting the temperature 10 to 20°C lower in case of doubt.

There is obviously no problem using identical temperatures on both sides, and this model therefore also allows the separation to be removed to take advantage of a large 10.4 l drawer. To facilitate its use, Ninja then speaks of MegaZone and offers a dedicated button which synchronizes the settings of the two resistances, just like the Match function ultimately. So we didn’t really need it, but it’s a little more intuitive. We of course carried out our measurements to see how the heat was distributed in this large volume, and in particular to check that there was no “cold” zone in the middle, as can often be observed between the inductors of a twin hob zone.

The MegaZone for rapid and even heating

Good news, the fans do their job very well and the temperature even seems more uniform than when using separation. We also discover a faster rise in temperature with the MegaZone. It only takes 4 minutes to reach 240°C in the MegaZone, whereas it takes one more minute using the separation. Ninja perhaps “bridle” his fryer to avoid heating the separation plate too quickly? It therefore ultimately seems more interesting to us to use the MegaZone than the separation plate.

The latter obviously offers appreciable modularity, but the double drawer models are perhaps more interesting if you do not need to cook in large quantities. The separate drawers also heat up more quickly than the AF500EU’s split drawer, and they are more convenient to handle and clean.

We are of course continuing our tests on Ninja’s latest fryer in order to offer you a complete test. It will be available in a few days.