REASONS TO BUY
Relatively easy to use and clean
Good air cooking performance
Toaster oven functionality
Flips up for easy storage
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Ninja Foodi Digital Oven Review
An ideal model for those wanting to add both a toaster oven and air fryer to their kitchen collection
Credit: Ninja
RELATED: Best Air Fryers of 2023
Our Verdict
In our tests, the Ninja Foodi Digital Oven managed to perform quite well as both a toaster oven and an air fryer. It also costs less than buying a top notch air fryer and toaster oven separately. If your kitchen is in need of both of these devices, the Digital Oven is both a space and money saving option. In fact, it takes up less space on a counter than a normal toaster oven, as it can be flipped up when not in use. Yes, having to remove the fry basket form inside the oven requires using pot holders and is less convenient than just grabbing the handle of the fry basket of a dedicated air fryer. However, like most high-quality multifunction devices, we think this small downside is outweighed by the overall performance and versatility of the Digital Oven.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Ninja Foodi Digital Oven | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  |  | |  | |
| Price | $230 List $149.99 at Amazon | $140 List $129.95 at Amazon | $120 List $89.95 at Amazon | $100 List $57.76 at Amazon | $230 List $169.95 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Relatively easy to use and clean, good air cooking performance, toaster oven functionality, flips up for easy storage | Fantastic cooking performance, easy to clean, easy to use, great temperature accuracy, multiple cooking functions | Great cooking performance, user friendly, excellent temperature accuracy | Accurate temperature, great for potato products, easy to clean | Viewing window, interior lights, two separate baskets, user friendly, straightforward cleaning, preheat function |
| Cons | Expensive | Cost | Not the easiest to clean, cost | Leaves meat dry, difficult to open, buttons are not always responsive | Unevenly cooks potatoes, does not provide proper potato crisp, large footprint |
| Bottom Line | An ideal model for those wanting to add both a toaster oven and air fryer to their kitchen collection | Exceptional frying performance and an easy to clean design makes this one of the best options on the market | This high performing, four quart model offers some of the most consistent quality | This accurate, budget friendly air fryer is the perfect option for casual side dishes like tater tots | A duo basket air fryer for simultaneous cooking, with high temperature accuracy and user friendly controls |
| Rating Categories | Ninja Foodi Digital... | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja Air Fryer | GoWISE USA Digital | Instant Vortex Plus XL |
| Cooking Performance (35%) | |||||
| User Friendliness (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Cleaning (20%) | |||||
| Temperature Accuracy (20%) | |||||
| Specs | Ninja Foodi Digital... | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja Air Fryer | GoWISE USA Digital | Instant Vortex Plus XL |
| Measured Dimensions (L x H x D) | 19.7" x 7.6" x 15" | 11.5" x 13.3" x 12.8" | 13.6" x 11" x 13.3" | 13.5" x 12.5" x 11.5" | 15.9" x 12.5" x 15.1" |
| Capacity | 4 qt | 6 qt | 4 qt | 5.8 qt | 8 qt |
| Accessories | Wire rack, air fry basket, sheet pan | None | Multi-layer rack for dehydrating | None | None |
| Power Consumption | 1800 watt | 1700 watt | 1550 watt | 1700 watt | 1700 watt |
Show full specification detailsHide full specification details
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven is one of the most effective air fryer/toaster oven combos that we've ever come across. It can even dehydrate as well.
Performance Comparison
The Foodi earned high marks across the board and is an exceptional option.
Credit: Laura Casner
Cooking Performance
Throughout our air frying tests, the Ninja Foodi Digital Oven produced above-average results. Overall, we don't think you're making a sacrifice in using the Digital Oven to air fry over using a dedicated air fryer.
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven excelled in air frying almost every dish we threw at it. It produced field-leading results when making onion rings, chicken breast, doughnuts, and tater tots. Its only weakness in this arena was that it took a bit longer than some other fryers to get the tater tots completely crispy.
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven manages to air fry just as well as other top models on the market while also offering all the functionality of a full-sized toaster oven.
Credit: Laura Casner
We've found that getting sweet potato fries truly crispy is a big challenge for most air fryers, so we've used it as our torture test. The Digital Oven did struggle a bit in this arena, with the results tasking more like slightly crispy potato wedges than sweet potato fries.
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven was one of the top scorers in the baking tests for our toaster oven review.
User Friendliness
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven offers a great interface and some unique features that make it quite easy to use. The fry basket is a bit less convenient to handle than those of most dedicated air fryers, but we see that as a small tradeoff.
The interface on this device is simple, straightforward, and fast. A single dial lets you quickly scroll through settings. By pressing the dial you can switch between selecting cooking modes, times, and temperatures.
The digital Oven is fairly short and wide, allowing for a large cooking capacity. When not in use, you can flip the oven up on its end. In this configuration it is just under 15 inches tall, 20 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. In most kitchens this will be able to slide against the wall underneath the cabinets and almost disappear.
When flipped on its end the Ninja Foodi Digital Oven barely takes up any counter space.
Credit: Laura Casner
Like all multifunction air fryers, the Digital Oven has to make some sacrifices when it comes to air frying convenience. Namely, the air frying basket is all metal and is placed inside the oven chamber, meaning it must carefully be handled with oven mitts when shaking or removing the food. In comparison to dedicated air fryers that generally have exterior handles that don't get hot during cooking, this is a bit more challenging. However, it's well worth it if you value the machine's added functionality.
Ease of Cleaning
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven isn't particularly difficult to clean but fell behind some of the dedicated devices in our cleaning tests.
The fry basket itself is actually quite easy to clean. The square shape and lack of a handle make it easier to scrub in the sink. It is also completely dishwasher safe. The slight problem comes with the oven chamber. If an air frying recipe splatters or pops at all the interior of the oven gets dirty, requires some elbow grease to get clean, and some careful wiping to get dry.
If a dish makes a big mess there is easy access to clean off the heating elements.
Credit: Laura Casner
Temperature Accuracy
In our tests, the Ninja Foodi Digital Oven's temperature fluctuated a bit more than those of other air fryers, likely due to the much larger cooking chamber and the inherent challenge of keeping the extra space evenly heated. However, it never wavered more than 20˚ from the set temperature, and we didn't see any negative impacts of this slight fluctuation in the recipes we prepared.
Value
The Ninja Foodi Digital Oven is significantly less expensive than most competing air fryer/toaster oven devices on the market. It is more expensive than a dedicated air fryer, but as long as you plan to take advantage of its versatility, we think it is a fantastic value.
Conclusion
For those looking for a versatile and multifunction countertop appliance, it's hard to do much better. It manages to combine air frying and toaster oven capabilities into a reasonably priced and convenient device.
—
Max Mutter and Michelle Powell
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