Ninja AG301 Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Electric Grill with Air Fry, Roast, Bake & Dehydrate - Programmable, Black/Silver

This grill is so far one of the best purchases I've ever made for kitchen use. In the hands of a relatively experienced home cook (me) it's a super tool. First of all, it makes side dishes extremely easy and fast to prepare. Most frozen casual bagged finger foods such as french fries, egg rolls, pizza rolls, chicken nuggets, et al come out of the air fry function both much faster and much more crisp than you can achieve in the oven even using wire racks. Self made side dishes such as roasted vegetables and potatoes likewise cook faster than any other appliance and with better color and crisper results. Grilling is a mixed bag. Generally, proteins such as burgers or whitefish filets finish with great marking and color fast, but you need to check the doneness diligently. Hot dogs and sausages are easy and superb on this grill. I was skeptical of the Foodi considering it excessively over engineered, but the main benefit it has over other methods is that all cooking or grilling is enclosed, so spattering of even messy foods is non existent. It also grills consistently and cleanly so I can get better results of small tender items such as fish than I can with a gas grill outdoors. I love that the control panel pretty much lets you do anything. Bypass preheating and changing time or temperature on the fly are all standard. You open the cover anytime you like to check on doneness. I will ding the Foodi on easy of cleanup of the appliance itself. The screen pops out for cleaning, but you're on your own to clean the dried grease that builds up on the underside of the top lid. That's the downside of the shielding of the rest of the kitchen from spatters. I consult Youtube videos to find out best ways to clean this thing. Overall, if you know cooking already, this grill can pretty much do anything in terms of dry heat cooking.

This unit combines a grill with a convection oven.Be realistic. There is no substitute for charcoal but I am precluded by local law and my condo association from barbecuing on my terrace. The Foodi offers a good sear and SOME of the flavor you would get from a charcoal grill.I have had excellent results with this thing. If you do not have a dishwasher, you might want to think twice. There are a lot of parts to be cleaned.I have a Cuisinart contact grill that became all but useless. The teflon coating has worn off top and bottom plates and everything sticks like crazy - usually to the top plate. Replacing the plates is about the same cost as replacing the machine. Even if there were not a sticking problem there is no comparison between the two appliances. The Foodi is far superior.The Foodi has an enamel coating that is very slick and should be far more durable than teflon.You ABSOLUTELY need a meat thermometer - the external kind with a cable or bluetooth connector to the probe. You will never have satisfactory result with a timer. Overall this cooks much quicker than an oven or a conventional grill because of the convection effect. Cooking times will vary depending upon fat content and size. The mean thermometer (around 2 bucks) takes the guesswork out of the process.I made some fennel sausage last weekend. I grilled these without the thermometer. I managed to overcook the links. I use commercial grade hog casing (my poor mother kept kosher) and the casing split.On the other hand I grilled some double rib lamb chops with the thermometer and they were done to perfection - a few degrees lower than desired and then allowed to rest for five minutes. Seared on the outside, medium rare on the inside.On the grill you are limited to four temperature zones. If you roast you can set the temperature to any point like an ordinary oven.I have not tried it but apparently you can air fry a breaded chicken cutlet. We will see. It would be a real plus.I have a sensitive, hard-wired smoke alarm and it went off when I turned the chops. Frankly it wasn't necessary to turn. As advertised is sears all around. I will turn them the next time as well but open my terrace doors first.You MIGHT want to obtain kevlar oven gloves. The reason I said that is that they enable you to remove the components while they are still hot and wipe the down with a paper towel before the D/W. No need to use the brush. Everything just slides off.There are three parts to clean: The grill, the pot and the splatter shield. My definition of clean is however, er, ... stuff comes out of the dishwasher. There was something in the manual about soaking the splatter shield for 24 hours. Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that.Overall - unless you are expecting robust charcoal barbecue taste - most people will be satisfied. As an indoor grill I would give it six stars if I could.