Ninja Crispi DualZone review: Ninja's glass air fryer gets even better

The original Ninja Crispi has been one of the more unusual air fryers we've tested at T3, mainly because it swaps the usual metal baskets for glass cooking containers. The new Ninja Crispi DualZone takes that same idea and adds a second cooking zone, which happens to be one of my favourite air fryer designs, so I was keen to give it a whirl.

You'll find my full thoughts below, including whether the new model is worth the upgrade.

Price and availability

The Ninja Crispi DualZone 8-in-1 is priced at £299.99/€349/$379.99 and is available from SharkNinja, John Lewis, AO and Currys.

It comes in a range of colours, including Bone, Cyberspace and Rose Quartz, with the latter being the version I've been testing. There's also a 6-in-1 version available in Vista Green or Mocha, which is priced the same but omits the Keep Warm and Prove functions.

Design and features

The biggest change from the original Crispi is, unsurprisingly, the move to two cooking zones. Rather than traditional metal drawers, the DualZone uses two 3.8-litre CleanCrisp glass cooking containers, giving you 7.6 litres of total capacity.

They're also PFAS-free, thermal-shock resistant and designed with heat protection on the base, so you can take them from the air fryer straight to a suitable worktop or the table. They also have easy-grip handles and come with storage lids, which means you can prep food, cook it, serve it and put leftovers in the fridge using the same container.

The two containers sit side by side on a self-aligning track system, with the main control unit sitting between them. A precision dial lets you set the temperature up to 240°C, whilst the controls allow each side to have its own cooking time, temperature and function.

The DualZone cooking means you can put completely different foods in each side and give them their own settings, rather than trying to find a temperature and cooking time that works for everything. Smart Finish coordinates the cooking so both sides finish at the same time even when they've been given different settings. There's also Match Cook, which copies the same settings across both zones when you simply want to double up a recipe.

There are eight cooking functions in total – Air Fry, Max Crisp, Bake, Roast, Recrisp, Dehydrate, Keep Warm and Prove. Each container comes with its own crisper plate, which raises the food off the bottom and allows hot air to circulate underneath.

The glass containers, crisper plates and lids are also dishwasher-safe, making it easier to clean up after cooking.

Performance

Apart from the fact that it looks great (my partner has slowly got used to the idea of having a pink air fryer in the kitchen), the thing that's taken me most by surprise is the amount of food you can actually fit inside it. When I first unboxed it, I wasn't convinced the two glass containers would be big enough for proper family meals, but I've been pleasantly proven wrong.

Examples include a whole 700g pork joint for a roast, as well as two large pieces of cod and four jacket potatoes. When you're cooking something like chips where you need to stack the food up, the crisper plates make a strong difference by lifting everything away from the bottom. This allows the hot air to circulate underneath rather than leaving the food sitting in any grease, which makes the results more enjoyable too.

I'll pop a TikTok below so you can see how it works.

The controls are easy to use, particularly if you're already familiar with Ninja's air fryers. Smart Finish and Match Cook quickly became second nature, and I've found myself using Match Cook regularly, mainly because it saves me from entering the same settings twice.

I also liked how the Crispi DualZone tells you to turn or shake your food half way through cooking, but it doesn't immediately stop whilst you get around to doing it. This meant if I was doing something else, I don't have to sprint back to the kitchen because the air fryer has decided it won't continue without me.

The glass containers have also been a bigger selling point for me than I expected. They're easy to pick up using their built-in handles, and because they sit on heat-protective bases, I don't have to worry about where I'm putting them straight after cooking. I've found myself taking the whole container over to the kitchen island and plating up there, rather than carrying plates back and forth to the air fryer.

It's important to know that the glass does show every smear of oil, but as they're dishwasher-safe, I've been taking full advantage of that. They fit into my dishwasher neatly too, which is a welcome change after using the Philips MegaBasket recently and finding it takes up the entire top rack.

However, the feature that's perhaps made the biggest difference is the plastic storage lids. They've become an unexpected favourite in my house because, if there's food left over, I just have to let the container cool, put the lid on and transfer to the fridge. There's no need to move leftovers into another tub, which means one less container to wash up later.

Verdict

The Ninja Crispi DualZone has a surprisingly generous capacity, a useful dual-zone setup and easy-to-handle cooking containers, making it a firm favourite in my kitchen. Alongside its excellent cooking results, the storage lids are a brilliant touch, whilst the dishwasher-friendly parts make cleaning up easy. It's not the cheapest or smallest air fryer around, but after weeks of use, I can see why you'd pay a little more.

Alternatives to consider

As the DualZone's combination of glass containers and two-zone cooking is still fairly unusual, there aren't many direct alternatives. If you like the Crispi concept but don't need two cooking zones, the original Ninja Crispi is still a good option, particularly if you have a smaller budget or would like something portable.

If it's specifically the dual-zone side you're after, I strongly recommend the Philips 5000 Air Fryer & Steamer as well. However, it cooks food a little more fiercely than the Crispi DualZone, so I'd recommend doing a few test runs before relying on its timings completely.