The Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer is the pride of kitchen - my oven and microwave are completely unused(Image: Tom Capon)

Amazon Prime Day's best air fryer deal: Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer plummets to lowest price

Read our expert review of the Ninja FlexDrawer as Amazon slashes it's price to the lowest ever for Big Deal Days

08 Oct 2024, 16:00 by Tom Capon · Wales Online

When air fryers came along, there was an initial worry they'd be a passing fad - now they’re so ubiquitous the Office for National Statistics uses them to measure inflation. That is to say, if you haven’t jumped aboard the air frying train, you deserve to miss your stop to Tasty Town.

Especially now that the best air fryer I’ve seen on the market - the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer - is currently at its best-ever price for Amazon Prime Day. Usually costing £269.99, the special copper and black design has plummeted to just £199.99. That's a whole £30 over what I paid - and I do not regret that purchase at all.

On Ninja, the black and silver design is £217.99, so if you prefer that look you might want to splash out. Before I moved to my shiny new flat, I originally shared a kitchen with two other men, and the demand for kitchen real estate was almost as high as, well, the demand for actual real estate.

Amazon's sale is on this gorgeous copper and black colour, which I am slightly jealous of(Image: Ninja/Amazon)

I opted for the Tiastar Air Fryer 5.5L (£43.69), which fit snugly into the corner of our crowded kitchen. It did the job we needed it to: meat is more moist, naughty beige tapas from Tesco elevated to new heights, and it made a microwave essentially redundant.

But moving into my own flat - and one not restricted by the enclosed box-like nature of your average London dump - I knew I needed an upgrade. Even as that fancy new oven looked up at me, I knew the power of a Ninja air fryer would truly welcome me in. Enter Ninja FlexDrawer, one of the biggest members of the famous brand’s family.

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Coming in at 10.4 litres, what separates this bad boy from the rest of the bigger options is the ability to split it into two separate sections using the divider. It’s an incredibly handy piece of kit and after purchasing it, the device became the most used in my kitchen by a country mile. In fact, the only time I even turn my oven on is to cook a pizza or to use the grill (after a failed attempt at whacking a pizza into my air fryer). But why’s it so great? Check out my review for the full story.

Specifications and functions

As stated, with the Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer you get the ability to split the drawer into two, meaning you can cook two different foods, two different ways. If you need the whole 10.4litres you can just remove the divider and bam, it works.

From everything I've cooked in that air fyrer, the divide works properly and I've never had the heat spill over. This is due to it having to separate fans that can be programmed, fairly simply, with the on-screen display.

One of the main drawbacks is the size. This is, however, like saying one of the drawbacks of a tank is its thick impenetrable armour: it's meant to be big, it's an oven. Coming in at H:32.7 x W:49.6 x D:31.6 cm, make sure you have room on your counter. I fit mine in the small gap between my hobs and the wall.

It has an easy-to-use display and a huge singular drawer, which can be split with a divider(Image: Tom Capon)

It boasts seven functions - Max Crisp, Air Fry, Roast, Bake, Reheat, Dehydrate, Prove. Like most air fryers, the other functions outside the first two are very use-specific. I'm not much of a baker, but the Reheat function renders the microwave sitting on my kitchen side as equally pointless as the oven.

The max temperature is 220C but pretty much everything can be cooked at the Air Fry level of 200C. Use the Max Crisp only when you want it crispy - it really is hot.

Normal ovens use between 2,000 to 3,500 watts, depending on the brand. But like its sister product the Ninja Foodi MAX, the FlexDrawer boasts a power output of 2,470 watts. This works out to 55p per hour, according to energy calculator sust-it.

However, you will be saving money on your energy bill with this air fryer. Most importantly, it heats up so quickly there is no need to pre-heat, so you end up cooking things for a significantly shorter period of time.

Cooking the food

But a piece of kit can have all the high-tech specifications it wants - if it's not cooking the food properly, it's just a futuristic tub for the tip. Luckily, then, it does its job very well.

If you are a meat eater, then this changes the game completely. You will never be able to get an oven to cook your meat as beautiful as this; lamb, chicken, beef, everything is moist and tender and calls for you to bite into it.

Even turkey is incredible. Thanks to the big drawer, you can comfortably fit a medium-sized roast joint in there: all beef, nearly all pork and a leg of turkey. I've also fit a medium-sized chicken in there, and even without oil, the skin comes off crispy.

It's also the best for cooking picky bits like tempura prawns, prawn toast, sausage rolls. You know, British tapas. It's less good with leafy greens - frozen veg, perfect, but it has the potential to singe fresh veg like broccoli and asparagus.

Cleaning

I hate cleaning more than I hate climate change or that guy who sings about sausage rolls every Christmas. So you do need to employ a few tricks to make it as stress-free as possible.

The grates will collect all the fat at the bottom, which means it will need regular soaking to stop it from getting smoky (like you would with a regular oven tray). The tray and divider are dishwasher safe.

The best purchase I've ever made other than the FlexDrawer are these silicone air fryer liners from Amazon. Currently £7.19 in the sale, they are a bit smaller than the drawers but makes cleaning a breeze. They are also dishwasher-safe too.

The Silicone trays fit perfectly into the Ninja FlexDrawer - and two pieces of duck waiting patiently to be put in(Image: Tom Capon)

I would also be aware of putting it beneath cabinets without protection, as the vents can cause discolouration.

Final Thoughts

Whether you want to upgrade your air fryer or you are in the market for your first one - get it. The Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer is so easy to use and in the test of its primary function - cooking your food well and fast - the device passes with flying colours.

A few minor cleaning niggles and its slight disdain for cooking fresh vegetables pale in comparison to its benefits. And at this price - you'd struggle to say no.

If you're looking for something a bit less powerful and smaller, Dunelm's manual 4 litre air fryer is currently £21, down from £30. Whilst it does have very favourable reviews at 4.7, it is very much a 'does the job' kind of deal - but you knew that from the price.