Ninja Air Fryer AF100UK

Verdict

Simple and straightforward to use, the Ninja Air Fryer AF100UK delivers crispy foods fast. Its recommended manual pre-heat is a bit of a faff, but overall, the simple controls and brilliant results make this a great air fryer for smaller families.

Introduction

While Ninja has a full range of air fryers with fancy extra features, such as grilling and steaming, the Ninja Air Fryer AF100UK is a pure and simple air fryer.

It has a decent 3.8-litre capacity, dishwasher-safe parts, a low price and is really easy to use. What’s not to like?

Design and features

• Compact body
• Round drawer with 3.8-litre capacity
• Simple controls

At 360 x 250 x 320mm, the Ninja Air Fryer AF100UK is one of the more compact air fryers available. It’s small enough to tuck away in a kitchen cupboard, but if you do leave it out, it won’t take up much kitchen surface.

There’s a single drawer on this model, which pulls out simply from the front. Inside is the crisper plate, which keeps food off the drawer’s base, allowing air to circulate. Its 3.8-litre capacity is pretty good: that’s enough space for a small family or couple, able to handle a decent amount of chips.

I like air fryers with handles, as the drawers are easy to remove and shake partway through cooking.

All Ninja Air Fryers, including the double-basket Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK, are straightforward to use, and the AF100UK is no exception. On the front are the four modes: Air Fry, Roast, Reheat (great for pizzas) and Dehydrate.

Once a mode is selected, you can select the temperature (up to 210°C for air frying) and the cooking time. Hit Start, and the air fryer kicks into action.

Ninja recommends a three-minute warm-up time, which has to be applied manually, before adding food. On the more expensive products, such as the Ninja Foodi MAX Health Grill & Air Fryer AG551UKDBCP, there’s an automatic preheat.

With this manual process, the Ninja Air Fryer AF100UK doesn’t pause when it’s time to add food. To avoid forgetting to add food, if you’re going to use pre-heat, set the timer for three minutes; when the air fryer beeps to let you know it’s ready, just reset your cooking mode and temperature, drop your food in and start cooking.

Heat comes out of the vent at the top, which should be left uncovered.

At the end of a cook, the drawer and crisper plate can be put in the dishwasher, making this air fryer easy to clean up after.

Performance

• Cooks fast and evenly
• Capable of crispy results

I started off by cooking chips in the Ninja Air Fryer AF100UK, starting with a three-minute warm up. I found that this air fryer cooked very fast. It’s worth bearing this in mind while cooking, and reducing cooking times as required.

At the end of the cooking time, with a few shakes of the chips in the middle of cooking, my chips were very evenly cooked, with a nice crispy exterior and soft inside.

I then upped the temperature to 210°C and tried cooking hash browns. The best air fryers can do these quickly at 240°C , giving a crispy coating and soft interior. Here, the results were a little more standard. I found the outside crispy, but lacking that definitive crunch, and the inside was a little soft.

Results were better than in an oven, but high-temperature air fryers can do a better job, although you’ll have to pay a lot more for the privilege.

Dehydrate is a useful tool to have, running between 40C and 90C. I found it useful for drying out herbs in the garden before the cold weather could kill them off.

I reheated pizza on the Reheat setting, fitting in a couple of slices at a time. Restoring the crispy base while warming the top, my day-old pizza was almost as good as the day it was cooked.

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