Ninja Air Fryer Max XL vs Ninja Foodi: Which One is Best for You?

When it comes to air fryers, Ninja has made a name for itself in creating some of the highest quality and efficient kitchen appliances. So, there are two main models which are the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL and the Ninja Foodi. 

Both are good options for anyone who wants to start using an air fryer for cooking but they satisfy different requirements. This article explains the differences of the two models closely to enable you to identify which model is more appropriate for your kitchen.

Brief Key Differences Between Ninja Air Fryer Max XL VS. Ninja Foodi

Best Performance Ninja Air Fryer Max XL Best for those looking for a high-performance, simple air fryer with a large capacity and quick cooking. Quick Summary Capacity: 5.5 quarts, ideal for medium to large families. Functions: 7-in-1, including air frying, baking, roasting, dehydrating, broiling, and reheating. Design: Compact, easy-to-use, and sleek design. Price: Mid-range, offering excellent value for its performance. Technology: Max Crisp Technology for faster and more even cooking results. View More Info

Best Value Ninja Foodi Known for combining multiple cooking functions into one appliance, great for families that need versatility in cooking. Quick Summary Capacity: 6.5-8 quarts, good for small to mid-sized families. Functions: 12-in-1, including air frying, pressure cooking, steaming, baking, and more. Design: Compact, requires two lids for different functions. Price: Higher price point but offers great versatility. Technology: TenderCrisp Technology allows you to air fry and pressure cook in one pot. View More Info

Overview of Each Model

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL is for anyone who enjoys his or her foods well done with less oil. It has many features such as air fry, roast, broil, bake, reheat and dehydrator. Max Crisp Technology is for high velocity hot air which allows up to 30% faster cooking than a conventional air fry system for a crispy finish inside and out.

• Functions: Fry with air, roast, broil, bake, reheat and dehydrate.
• Capacity: 5.5 quarts, perfect for large families or making large quantities of food at one time.
• Max Crisp Technology for rapid heat transfer for even browning at high temperatures up to 450 F.

Ninja Foodi
The Ninja Foodi air fryer is a versatile cooker that uses the functions of an air fryer, pressure cooker and slow cooker. TenderCrisp Technology lets the user pressure cook the food until it absorbs moisture before finishing it with a crisp air fry. This makes it ideal for people who would like to enjoy the versatility of the kitchen in terms of food preparation.

• Functions: Boil, fry with little oil, stew, steam, grill, braise.
• Capacity: Up to 8 quarts giving you the best capacity for large families or occasions that involve cooking.
• An appliance to cook pressure and air fry in the same unit – TenderCrisp Technology.

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL VS. Ninja Foodi Feature Comparison Table

Design and Build Quality

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL has a sleek and compact design to accommodate most of the kitchen spaces.. Stovetop is convenient since it is easy to store and light and therefore easy to maneuver, particularly great for those with little counter space. The 5.5-quart Ohio is suitable for large families, or if the person likes to prepare meals in advance.

• Compact, space-saving design.
• High-quality, durable materials.
• 5.5-quart capacity suitable for families.

Ninja Foodi
The Ninja Foodi is quite large and heavier than the Instant Pot because it can do much more than just pressure cook.

The construction of the Ninja Foodi is excellent. It comes as a multi-purpose pressure cooker that can also operate like an air fryer, so it is slightly bigger and heavier than the Max XL. Nonetheless, if you have the additional counter space, the Foodi can serve as the substitute for several home appliances.

• These designs appear to be somewhat larger than the related devices due to the integration of multiple functions.
• Stylish and durable stainless-steel use on the exterior of the products.
• This model has an 8-quart capability which makes it suitable for large families and serving guests.

Performance (Cooking Capabilities)

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL

The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL is a particularly optimized appliance for air fry technology, and it does so exceptionally well. The Max Crisp Technology provides fast and uniform crisping and, therefore, gives you crunchy fries, wings or roasted vegetables without oil.

• Ideal for use in air frying with MAX CRISP technology.
• With modern air fryers able to cook 30 percent faster than their traditional counterparts.
• Perfect for crispy, fried finish type of results only without the oil.

Ninja Foodi

It is a multi-cooker that functions efficiently in several ways. With the technology known as TenderCrisp, it offers the features of pressure cooking and air frying, enabling consumers to cook meals in little time but get a crispy feel. This is the best for products such as chickens or ribs, that should be soft inside but crunchy on the outside.

• Multifunctional usage with TenderCrisp Technology.
• Review of Zwilling Fresh & Easy-Steam Pressure Cooker & Air Fryer Toaster Oven for fast and tender meals.
• It is suitable for preparing bigger and more complicated food meals.

Temperature Range

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL features a temperature control setting that ranges from 105°F to 450°F and this allows the formulation of different cooking methods including; dehydrating, baking among others. The preheat temperature is also a bit higher which is perfect when you want to get accessories done quickly and get that crispy texture.

• Temperature range: 105°F to 450°F.
• Especially for Air Fry, Roast and Dehydrate.
• Ideal for use when targeting high temperatures in order to achieve good crispness.

Ninja Foodi
The Ninja Foodi has additional settings for temperature which includes air fry, slow cook and pressure cook, the temperature range of the Ninja Foodi is 105°F – 400°F. Nevertheless, it is not oriented towards max meat heating and the use of the air fryer; instead, it concentrates on a great variety of possible cookery techniques and the appliance of two methods at the same time.

• Temperature range: 105°F to 400°F.
• Made for pressure cooking, air frying, roasting, and slow cooking.
• Little less durable than Max XL but more versatile for the usage of several cooking methods at once due to a lower maximum temperature.

Cooking Speed

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
The large capacity Ninja Air Fryer Max XL is one of the fastest air fryers, which also roasts and bakes with help of Max Crisp Technology. It has a high temperature that makes food to be cooked uniformly and under a short span of time, thus suitable for use by busy people.

• Ready in minutes with Max Crisp Technology.
• Ideal for short time air frying and roasting.
• Can suit families with only limited time to spend in the kitchen preparing meals.

Ninja Foodi
They are the pioneer of pressure cooking with air frying making it one of the fastest multi-cooker on the market. Some foods took longer to prep, especially considering the longer time taken in pressure cooking but once it is done, the foods take a considerably shorter time in the air fry and they retain all the moisture therein. This pair is perfect for roasting a whole chicken, a roast or ribs.

• The appliance that uses the technique of fast pressure cooking along with the practice of air frying.
• Suitable for big meals with many dishes in particular evening foods.
• Excellent for foods that have to be seared on the outside, and still be juicy and succulent on the inside.

User Experience

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
Another benefit of the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL is its simplicity – it is relatively basic, with few buttons and knobs and a dedicated range of buttons for the air fry, roast, and dehydrate options. It’s a great appliance for anyone who doesn’t want to spend hours learning how to use the air fryer or invest in a highly expensive machine.

• Easy to control the appliance and well designed and equipped.
• There many pre-set cooking functions that are set depending on the type of meal to be cooked.
• Suitable for those who do not have too much time, or it’s their first time to live on their own.

Ninja Foodi
Although the Ninja Foodi has more features hence more flexibility, the user learning curve is slightly steep because of its multiple ingenious options. But after using them, consumers enjoy the versatility that comes with the air fryer because it combines the features found in a normal fryer, pressure cooker, and slow cooker.

• Effective yet does take more time in mastering compared to others.
• This is great for experienced chefs who will need diversification of the cooking process.
• Dishwashing tailored for the people who prefer to have lots of things in one place.

Capacity

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
There is even the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL which has a large 5.5 Quart size, that would suit large families or bulk cooking. It is also possible to cook for 4 persons or more in case you need and prepare snacks and side dishes in great amounts.

• Capacity: 5.5 quarts.
• Excellent for large groups, for example, for a family or when preparing food portions for several meals in one go.
• Ideal for snacks or light meals, or additions to your dinner table.

Ninja Foodi
The Ninja Foodi has more capacity, and some of the models have a 8-quart capacity. This makes it suitable for big families, or when they are many people to feed and they can cook whole chickens at once.

• Capacity: Up to 8 quarts.
• Good for preparing lunch for a large family or if you’ll be packing your lunch for work among other things, among them are the following Which are;
• Ideal for preparing entire meals, or more portions at once.

Technology and Features

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
Also built into the Max XL is the Max Crisp Technology which employs super heated air for fast and very high heat cooking. It also has multiple cooking features like air frying, roasting, baking and dehydrating, so it is very suitable for lovers of air frying.

• Max Crisp Technology for fast and crispy faster.
• Various operations concerning preparation of foods that can be served at different parts of the day.
• Suitable for persons who desire easy and fast meals and low in oil content.

Ninja Foodi
They are featured with a unique technology called TenderCrisp Technology that combines the pressure cooking function with the air fryer to give you a tender meal with the crisp exterior. It is one machine that will act as a pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, oven, steamer and much more to mention.

• TenderCrisp Technology for pressure cooking along with an air fryer.
• Multifunctional food preparation using pressure cooking, air frying along with slow cooking.
• Good for those who wish to have multifunctional appliances in their kitchen.

Energy Efficiency

Ninja Air Fryer Max XL
The Ninja Air Fryer Max XL is energy efficient primarily when air frying and roasting foods. Due to short cooking periods, this appliance uses less electricity than other technologies hence being environmentally friendly.

• Fast cooking saves energy, which has been clearly demonstrated by Cobob’s experience of doubling the cooking time to 200 seconds.
• The energy they use is efficient for a day to day use by individuals while going about their activities.
• Ideal for using often without the need to run up the electric bills.

Ninja Foodi
In spite of this it can accommodate more food and possesses many cooking options, still the Ninja Foodi will not consume a lot of energy. Versus other similar kitchen appliances, pressure and air fryer meals take less time to cook, at least for bigger portions.

• When cooking large meals, the appliance is not very energy consuming.
• Is both a pressure cooker and an air fryer for faster, healthy, and environmentally friendly cooking.
• Perfect for people who prepare large meals more often than not.

Conclusion

So if you want a pressure cooker for one-pot recipes, you should opt for the Ninja Foodi, over the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL. For the comfort of an air fryer that is simple, quick and easy to use I would recommend the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL . It is most suitable for users who want to air fry and roast foods frequently and have little desire in baking. 

On the other hand, if you’re seeking an appliance that can air fry and also pressure cook, and slow cook, among other things, then the Ninja Foodi is hard to beat. It’s good for usage by families or anyone who wants to try out various ways of preparing food.

If you’re interested in more air fryer comparisons, you might also like this detailed guide on the Ninja AF300UK vs Instant Vortex Plus: Read the full comparison here.