The Ninja Crispi Air Fryer Is Perfect for Small Kitchens
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The Good
- Containers double as food storage
- The pull-apart design makes it portable and easy to store
- The cooking containers are clear
The Bad- The containers are too small for roasts
- Gets steamy quickly
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On a base level, the biggest draw of an air fryer is speed and convection heat. But for folks like me, air fryers have an even bigger benefit: flexibility in a small kitchen. Not all air fryers are small, but there are a wide range of portable brands and models out there. One of my favorite air fryers has always been the Instant Vortex, because I can lift it over my head and store it on top of my fridge. Now, there’s an even more stowable air fryer on the scene: the Ninja Crispi. Let’s see how it stacks up.
What makes the Ninja Crispi different
Take what you know about air fryers and deconstruct it. Air Fryers are convection ovens, so they’re composed of three parts: a fan, a heating element, and the basket or oven space where the food sits. Most air fryers have these pieces living together. The Ninja Cripsi separates them completely, leaving you with an engine “lid” and a cooking container. They’re completely independent, and only come together when you need to cook. That means you can separate them when they’re not in use, and store them wherever and however works for you. That's perfect for my kitchen, but it does come with some drawbacks.
How to use the Ninja Crispi
In the Crispi's box, you'll see small and large glass containers with grate inserts to match, a chunky lid-engine situation with a control panel, and two snap-on storage lids for the glass containers. The lid, also called the PowerPod, is the business end of the device. It has the fan, heating element, and control panel. The containers are made from a special thermal shock-proof glass, and you must use these containers with the PowerPod.
When you're ready to cook, simply fit the air fryer grate into the glass container, add the food you’re cooking, and fit the Pod on top. (If you're using the larger container, it comes with a PowerPod adapter to ensure a snug fit.) The panel will light up, and you can choose between bake, air fry, recrisp, or max crisp settings. The Crispi also comes with a sticker that tells you the temperature settings for each function to help you decide what you need. Recrisp fluctuates between 380°F and 400°F, Bake is between 375°F and 400°F, Air Fry is 400°F to 425°F, and Max Crisp is 425°F to 450°F.
The control panel is pretty limited due to space, but it includes the most important functions. Keep in mind that the function names on air fryers aren't regulated. An air fryer's functions are always dictated by fan speed and temperature. The combination of the two creates the environment needed for baking, air frying, broiling, and so on. For example, a low fan speed at 350°F to 400°F is often called the bake setting. So if an air fryer has 12 buttons, that doesn't mean it's actually doing more for you—it's just adjusting those variables for you. I found the included settings here were enough for me.
As for specific recipes, if what you're cooking comes with specific directions for air fryers, use them. If you're going rogue, I've always used the criteria listed here to determine time and temperature. When in doubt, just keep an eye on your food. Which, I might add, is easy to do with the Crispi, since the container is clear.
To get started, choose a setting and set the amount of time with the "+" and "-" buttons (it can go up to 30 minutes, which is pretty long in the world of air frying). Press Start, and let the Crispi work its magic.
The good and bad of the Ninja Crispi
The Ninja Crispi's unique setup presents a few opportunities you wouldn't get elsewhere, but it's worth keeping in mind that while you might be able to cook new types of dishes with it, or transport it more easily, you might have to sacrifice some more traditional fare to make that happen.
Exciting new uses
When flipping through the instruction manual and recipe book that came with the Crispi, I stopped at the buffalo chicken dip. Dip in the air fryer? How does that work? Truly, it is a wild time we live in when an air fryer's cooking basket can multi-task as a serving dish and a food storage container. I cooked the chicken breast in the small container. Then I removed the grate and shredded the chicken in the same vessel. Afterwards, I simply mixed in greek yogurt, cream cheese, shredded cheese, hot sauce, and scallions.
I cooked the ingredients again until it was all hot and bubbly, which didn't look very attractive, as you can see in the above photo. But after a thorough stir, it looked just like any buffalo chicken dip I've made before. I topped it with more chopped scallions and served the dip in the very same glass container I cooked it in. (Use the handles, it's hot!) The dip hit the spot, and cooking it with the Crispi Power Pod was remarkably easy and something I never would have been able to do with any other air fryer I've used, as traditional baskets just aren't built for this sort of thing. I didn’t have any leftovers, but if I had, I could have covered them with the snap-on lid that the air fryer came with. Dip in the air fryer—go figure!
Stowable and transportable
As I mentioned earlier, the Crispi is great for small spaces. The two glass containers can nest and easily fit into a cabinet or onto a low shelf. If you can’t store the Pod on top of the containers, then you can store them side by side, or somewhere else entirely. This is enormously helpful, especially when compared to most other air fryers, which are roughly the size of small microwaves.
Plus, you can transport the Crispi easily, too. You could fill the small container with dip, cover it with the lid, and toss the PowerPod into a backpack. Then, just reassemble to reheat your famous spinach-artichoke dip at your friend’s Halloween party, or crisp up your work lunch at the office. It’s a bit extra, yes, but why not let casual food put on a show?
Finally, the containers are completely clear. Many air fryers have no windows, and those that do usually only have a single panel for you to peer through. These glass containers give you a complete 365° vantage point so you can check on the progress of your food without stopping the machine.
Space and humidity
The glass containers are great for the reasons I listed above, however, there are some situations where they fall short. Literally. While the machine works well, you can’t cook tall roasts in it, as the food would get way too close to the heating element. It’s great for french fries, tots, wings, spring rolls, and other shorter morsels, though. And that sort of thing is 85% of what I air fry, anyway.
Surprisingly, the Ninja Crispi will also get steamy soon after you turn off the heat—and steam is the biggest enemy of crisp. Again, I blame the glass. As much as I love the transparency and how the glass looks as a serving dish, it doesn’t offer anything in the way of ventilation. The PowerPod only has one tiny vent in the back to eject air during cooking, and once cooking is done, then the air and steam exits very slowly. If you're making crispy, crunchy snacks, you can't go do the laundry and come back 10 minutes after cooking ends—you need to decant your food right away. This will ensure you retain the crispy edges you’ve been striving for.
How it stacks up to other air fryers
The Ninja Crispi is by far the smallest air fryer "system" I've tested so far, but the price of $179.99 is right up there with most mainstream, larger format designs. At this price range, you could have your pick from many different air fryers, including the Cuisinart air fryer toaster oven, which is one of my favorites. Read here for other notable air fryers I've reviewed.
What you're really considering with the Crispi is lifestyle. Oh yes, air frying is a lifestyle choice. And if you simply can't dedicate 12.25 inches by 15.75 inches by 13.75 inches of your countertop to a convection oven (I can't!), then the Crispi's petite eight-inch cubed PowerPod is worth the price. There's no sacrifice in power or ability with the Ninja Crispi. It simply offers you more options for storage and transporting (although there are those compromises to height to consider). If that's what you need, then this machine might actually be quite a deal for you.
Is this air fryer for you?
This is a great air fryer for folks with limited counter space, or even multi-air fryer homes. The fact that it can come apart and squeezes into small storage spaces is a helpful feature. It’s also good for anyone who lives alone or always makes small batches of food. The smaller container is the smallest air frying vessel I’ve ever used, and it’s perfect for a chicken breast, one serving of tater tots, or a single hamburger patty.
The Ninja Crispi is also great as a sometimes-air-fryer-user. If you only occasionally reheat French fries from the diner, or once in a while you like to make a batch of steak bites, then you’d love the Crispi. It’s not a big hulking air fryer that needs to live on your counter. You can just pull the PowerPod out of the closet once a month and chuck it back in after you’re done. The containers are also nice and multipurpose, and can be used for serving or storing food whether or not you’re air frying in them.
Allie has been Lifehacker’s Food Writer since 2021. She worked as a pastry chef for over a decade in New York City, honing her skills at places like Balthazar, Bien Cuit, The Chocolate Room, Billy’s Bakery, and Whole Foods.
