Take mealtimes to the MAX with the large capacity air fryer that cooks 2 foods, 2 ways, and finishes at the same time. But what makes it so good? For one, it’s absolutely bursting with features, all of which help to make the device easy to use and efficient for all cooking scenarios. There are six cooking options: air fry, max crisp air fry, bake, roast, dehydrate, and reheat. The only thing it’s missing is the option to grill. Ninja clearly wants you to buy a separate health grill for that. In my tests, each and every function has worked as expected, even when I tried dehydrating some oranges ahead of my weekend of negroni sipping. The problem with most air fryers is that once you come to love what they do and become used to them, you then have to work out how to cook different items at the same time. Last year’s Ninja Dual Zone Air Fryer AF300UK solved that issue by including two individually controlled drawers. This year, we have the larger model the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK, presenting even more cooking room.

Cooking for extra guests or feeding the whole family? Use the MATCH feature to double your serving size, with the same cooking program and time across both drawers. Cleaning all of the dual-zone air fryers I was testing on this day was pretty similar, with both baskets needing a good scrub in the sink to get rid of grease and residue, especially as the last test in the series was cooking bacon. On the day of testing itself, it was plainly obvious that the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone was by far the superior appliance. It was the nicest to program, while some of the Tower models had oppressive beeps and stiff drawers and it had by far the best cooking ability. It was the fastest and achieved an incredible crisp on nuggets and fish fingers, with the quality of the machine itself also being standout.

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Food cooks best in air fryers if you give it a shake mid-cooking, resulting in an even finish. With many models, you’ll need to dig out a pair of oven gloves to do this. The AF400UK makes this simple by including handles on the outside of its drawers. Pull one out and the air fryer stops (both drawers stop in Sync or Match modes), so you can shake away and reinsert. If you want to use the two drawers together, you have a choice of two modes: Match and Sync. Match applies the same settings to both drawers, letting you double-up portions. Sync allows individual settings, but the AF400UK ensures that both drawers complete cooking at the same time.

To give the Max Crisp function a go, I used it to cook frozen hash browns – which all too often come out of a regular oven slightly soggy. Although they’re supposed to be cooked in the oven for around 20 minutes, I set the cooking time to 11 minutes because of the high 240ºC temperature. To accompany the chips, I cooked some sausages. Using spray oil to give them a light coating fat, I placed them in the AF400UK at 180ºC with the timer reduced by 20% compared to the cooking instructions. After the time had elapsed, the sausages were perfectly cooked: crisp and browned evenly all over. Due to not having the oven on the kitchen is not overheated so I imagine cooking in the Summer will be so much more comfortable too!

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Cooking for two different dietary requirements? Cater for everyone by cooking vegetarian food in one drawer and meat in the other. There’s no getting around the fact that the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK is a beast of a model. Measuring 325 x 415 x 270mm and weighing 8.8kg, you’re going to need a fair amount of space to store it.

testing and calculations based on recommended cook time for sausages, using air fry function versus conventional ovens When it comes to cooking, timing is everything. Withtwo independent zones,you can mix and match cooking programmes, times, and temperatures across both drawers to create delicious meals in moments. With the SYNC feature you can cook two different foods using different times, temperatures and programs – both are ready to serve at the same time! Reheat – Restore leftovers to that delicious fresh-out-of-the-oven finish, perfect for reviving leftover pizza, quiche, spring rolls and more. Everything here can be cleaned in the dishwasher once you’re done, meaning there’s very little clearing up to deal with. PerformanceWe were impressed by the Sync feature, which allows you to cook two different foods with different cooking modes, temperature,s and durations, to be ready at the same time. Alternatively, you can set one zone with a cooking mode, temperature, and duration, and press the Match button to duplicate the settings in both zones, doing away with fiddling with the controls again. The holy grail of air fryer food, the humble nuggets and chips combo was our first test with the mighty Ninja dual-zone air fryer. Straight out of the freezer, the nuggets were supposed to take 15 minutes in the oven, while the sweet potato fries should've taken 20.