I love my Ninja Foodi Max, but there are 9 things I hate about it. However, I feel the need to preface this post by saying that the pros certainly outweigh the cons. I always think it’s wise to weigh up all the pros and cons of something pricey before you take the plunge and buy it.
Things I Hate About The Ninja Foodi Max
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can read my Ninja Foodi Max 9-in-1 Multi Cooker Review here.
- This is my own fault, but I chose the colour red, which isn’t something I’d normally buy. However I bought this on a Black Friday deal and the red one came with lots of free accessories. Annoyingly, none of which I have used! I went back and forth on this quite a lot and regret not buying the black one as I find that the burgundy red shade is a bit of an eyesore in my kitchen.
- The Ninja Foodi Max comes with two lids – one that isn’t detachable and one that is. It’s a shame that the attached lid which is used for grilling, baking and air frying is the one that gets the dirtiest and is harder to clean. I believe you’d void your warranty if you tried to pull the grill off to clean around the lid, so it’s just a bit of a pain. I used a Method disinfectant as it’s non-toxic to get rid of any grease after each use and every so often, I deep clean it. To do this, I boil some lemon slices in the pot with the pressure cooking lid on. Once the water has boiled, I turn it off and swap the lid. The steam from the lemon water helps break down the grease and grime and I can then go over it with a non-abrasive sponge to clean it better.
- Personally, I find it a bit challenging to see inside the pot when I’m cooking as I’m vertically challenged at about 5’3.5″! The Foodi is huge, so I have to stand on tip toes if I’m sautéing something, just to be able to see what I’m cooking – such a first world problem, but there we go!
- There’s no delay timer on the Ninja Foodi which I think is a massive let down for those who have a busy life, work long hours or don’t have a lot of time to cook. It’d be a nice additional feature for people to prep their food in advance, set a timer for the Ninja to start cooking at 5pm for example, so dinner could be ready for when they get home at 7pm. I have a feeling this will be a feature with future upgrades, you heard it here first!
- Cooking is all trial and error with the Ninja Foodi and for rice, personally, I find it easier to cook it the traditional way in a pan. I know each culture has their own (often, very strong) opinions on how rice should be cooked, which is great – but with the Instant Pot, there’s a function that just says rice which does all the hard work for you. This may or may not be a good thing, as like I said, everyone cooks their rice differently. I’ve tried a few different ways in my Foodi and I just find it to be a faff that creates more washing up.
- People often ask me whether they ‘need’ a Ninja in their life, and I honestly don’t think it’s for everyone. If you’re the sort of person that always preheats an oven and likes to follow recipes word for word (I don’t. I just throw stuff in and hope for the best most of the time, ha!) then I don’t think this beast is for you. I find a lot of Ninja Foodi cooking can be quite experimental and you have to find the timings and ways of cooking things that work for you, so I think this is for everyone.
- Ninja Foodi recipes are virtually non-existent so if you’re used to following recipes, you may struggle, especially if you’ve never owned a slow cooker or pressure cooker before.. There is a booklet that comes with the Foodi, however the measurements are all off and so it’s a bit pointless. It’s quite an intimidating piece of kit when it first arrives and so many people are apprehensive about using it for fear of ruining it/their dinner. Once you get to grips with it, it’s super easy to use but some good recipes or guidelines would be helpful for first time users.
- There are so many accessories that come with the Ninja Foodi and storing them can be difficult if you don’t have a lot of room in your kitchen, especially because they don’t all fit inside the main pot. The pressure cooker lid is one to watch out for as it’s so easy to melt – I accidentally left mine on the hob which hadn’t cooled down properly and the plastic has melted. Thankfully it’s just cosmetic and it functions properly, but I was devastated considering I’d only had my machine for around 3 months at the time. I know this is common sense, but it’s so easy to do – as I know a lot of people store these lids in their oven, forget it’s in there and then turn the oven on!
- I think the grilling racks that come with the Foodi are a bad design. Instead of straight lines, I think they should be a criss cross pattern with more surface area. The air would still be able to circulate, but with it’s current design, I find that small items tend to fall through and then just burn on the bottom of the pot. I have multiple hacks I use for my Ninja which work really well for me – I’ll link the video down below.
As I said, I think it’s always good to weigh up the pros and cons when splurging on something pricey, so I hope you found this post helpful. Let me know in the comments below.
If you’re on the fence about buying this beast of a machine, you can watch my review and demo of it below.
