I bought my first air fryer in 2020 as a strategy to alleviate the stress of constructing each single meal at residence in the course of the early months of the pandemic. Although it will later get recalled for actually catching fireplace, the Cosori Air Fryer Max XL was all the fad in my feed, and the Instagram girlies swore it was the important thing to creating straightforward, nutritious meals. I hopped on the air fryer pattern quick. I even obtained an air fryer cookbook. However the novelty of constructing “more healthy” variations of fried meals wore off, and, extra importantly, my air fryer stopped working about six months in.
I had no plans to convey one other air fryer into my life till I obtained assigned to check three of them for Bon Appétit. The trio included the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL, and I’m glad it was within the bunch. Two years later I nonetheless use it nearly day by day. I attain for it to reheat frozen lumpia and hen nuggets, to make crispy-skinned salmon, and to roast greens. After my earlier failed interlude, I credit score this machine with morphing me right into a full-blown, loud-and-proud Air Fryer Individual.
Right here’s what I’ve realized concerning the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL after utilizing it to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner dozens and dozens of occasions.
How the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL works
The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL is a 5.5-qt. basket-style air fryer, which suggests you slide a bathtub for no matter you’re cooking into a gap within the machine, versus an oven-style air fryer which seems like a large toaster oven. Like all air fryers, it makes use of convection heating, a bit of built-in fan that circulates scorching air round your meals to prepare dinner it extra rapidly and evenly. This specific air fryer has seven cooking features, which change the stability of prime and backside heating parts. Broil makes use of the highest component, roast makes use of the underside, for instance. But it surely additionally has a really helpful temperature enhance Ninja calls Max Crisp that almost all air fryers don’t. Most basket-style air fryers prime out at 400°F, however Max Crisp jacks the Ninja’s temperature up 450°F, permitting your meals to get even crispier, sooner. Do notice that you simply shouldn’t confuse the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL with the plain outdated Ninja Air Fryer XL, which lacks this Max Crisp choice.
What I like concerning the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL produces stellar outcomes for usually fried dishes, like hen tenders, crab desserts, and spiced potato wedges. I’ve used numerous basket-style air fryers, together with the check kitchen favourite from Philips, and none of them turned out higher outcomes for hen wings or fish milanese, which got here out so crisp and golden brown from the Max XL that they appeared like they have been fried in a pan of piping scorching oil.
This air fryer is flexible too. I take advantage of it to prepare dinner burger patties, breakfast sausage, dinner sausage (they’re completely different!), in addition to roasted veggies galore. Honey-butter brussels sprouts, blistered asparagus, and garlicky inexperienced beans are amongst my faves. I additionally flip to my air fryer for simple, weeknight pollo asado and make-ahead shrimp and steak for tacos, stir-fries, and rice bowls all through the week.
Basically, I flip to this air fryer to prepare dinner something I used to prepare dinner within the oven or on the range. It makes each process much less messy, particularly once I’m cooking meat and fish. I don’t have to fret about oil splatters, fuss with flipping salmon fillets, or stress over whether or not my meals cooked evenly. I like that it solely takes a pair minutes to preheat, and that air-frying actually does pace up the cooking course of. Meals within the Ninja by no means take me greater than 20 minutes to prepare dinner.
