Ninja seems to be aiming for a new market with its Crispi air fryer. It’s unlike anything else the brand has made.
Ninja air fryers and countertop cookers are, characteristically, heavy, chunky appliances that you’ll need to clear a big space in your kitchen to house. Of course, this implies that you have a big space in your kitchen in the first place.
But that’s not the reality for a lot of people.
Enter the Crispi. It’s a compact, modular and portable air fryer. It’s not heavy, it doesn’t need dedicated counter space and its glass cooking bowls are multifunctional.
You can serve from them, stick them in the fridge when they’re full of leftovers, and even take the smaller one to work as a lunchbox.
What’s more, the Crispi is small enough that you can dump all the air fryer parts in a cupboard when not in use.
All of this makes it the ideal appliance for students, people in flat shares with limited kitchen space, or for renters who don’t want to accumulate too much heavy stuff when another move is on the horizon.
And if you doubt that this appliance has Gen Z appeal, note that one of the three available colourways is sage green. (The others are stone and grey.)
At this stage, the Crispi is only available in the US. You can buy it from Ninja for $159.99.
There’s no word yet on a UK release date. We’d love to see it arrive in time for December, giving rise to the well-known Christmas experience of being disappointed on unwrapping a ‘useful’ gift that goes on to become the most beloved item you get.
Here’s how the Crispi works. In the box, you’ll get an air frying lid, with cord and plug, a container adapter, two tempered glass dishes (a 6 cup for snacks and small portions, and a 4 quart, which is large enough to fit a small chicken) for cooking and storage, two crisper trays and two plastic food storage lids that fit the glass dishes.
It’s designed to be pretty foolproof, so it’s a good buy for novice cooks. All the parts, except for the air frying lid, are dishwasher safe and the dishes and lid have heatproof feet, so you can use the air fryer right on a countertop.
The tempered glass is shatterproof and can withstand temperature changes from 22°F-450°F, which means you can use the dishes for cooking straight from the fridge.
Using it is simple too: put the food you want to cook into one of the glass dishes, place the air frying lid on top, choose a setting and cook away. The Crispi has four cooking functions: re-crisp, bake, air fry and max crisp, and has a maximum cooking temperature of 450°F.
Boomers shouldn’t feel left out of Ninja’s latest innovation: the Crispi would also be a great appliance to take on caravanning and RV trips.
We’ll test the Crispi as soon as we get the opportunity. In the meantime, see our top product recommendations in our round-ups of the best air fryers, best Ninja air fryers, best dual drawer air fryers and best air fryer ovens.
