Ninja Crispi (FN101UK) review: a glass air fryer you can put away

Verdict

What it is

The glass idea

Drawer air fryers make you decant: food comes out of a non-stick basket into a bowl, and the basket goes to the sink. The Crispi cooks in the dish you eat from, and the dish takes a lid and goes into the fridge with the leftovers. Ninja’s rules on that are specific and worth knowing before you buy: the lids are for the microwave and storage only, never the air fryer; do not seal a lid on a glass container straight after cooking; and in the microwave the lid must sit unsealed. The glass containers are dishwasher-safe, as are the crisper plates, adaptor and lids (top rack) — the pod is wiped, never washed.

Two containers

The 3.8 L container is the same volume as Ninja’s classic single-drawer AF100UK and, by Ninja’s own description, takes a 1.2 kg chicken — dinner for two in one round. The 1.4 L container is the one-person size: a portion of chips, a reheated lunch, two chicken thighs. The adaptor is used with the 3.8 L container and not with the 1.4 L, which is the one operating rule people forget. Two containers also means the natural workflow for one person: cook in the small one, store in the large one, or vice versa, without the machine occupying either.

Size, weight and storage

Ninja gives the weight as 5.08 kg, without saying whether that is the whole set or the pod alone. Either way it is not a light appliance — the Philips 3000 Series L in our roundup is 4.55 kg as a complete machine — but the point is that no single piece of the Crispi weighs that: you lift a pod and a glass dish separately.

On size Ninja’s pages disagree. The 2025 UK product page and the retail listing say 34.5 cm high, 30.4 cm wide and 34 cm deep; SharkNinja’s current page says 24.84 × 29.74 × 29.26 cm. Neither says which container is fitted, and the two figures are consistent with the pod on the large and small container respectively. Planning for the larger set, the Crispi in use is the size of a compact drawer air fryer, and the owner’s guide asks for 15 cm of space on all sides while it runs. Ninja does not claim the pod nests inside a container for storage; it has feet so it stands on the worktop after cooking. In a cupboard, allow for a pod and two dishes rather than one box.

Controls and functions

Four presets — Air Fry, ReCrisp, Roast, Keep Warm — chosen on the pod. The UK model has Keep Warm where the US version has Max Crisp. Ninja’s documents give default times but no temperature values, and the owner’s guide does not describe a temperature control; if you want to set 180 °C for 14 minutes because a packet says so, this is not that kind of machine. If you cook the same things and let a preset handle them, it is.

Cleaning and guarantee

Glass in the dishwasher is the Crispi’s best argument against non-stick baskets: nothing to scratch, nothing to wear through. The crisper plates are nano-ceramic coated and dishwasher-safe. Two years’ guarantee on registration within 28 days, the same as Ninja’s drawer machines.

Before you buy

Two practical notes. The retail listing we imported carried the wrong product name in its title at the time of writing — it read as a Double Stack — while every photo, bullet and specification was the Crispi; check the photos show a pod on a glass dish. And Ninja sells a three-container variant (FN103UK) and a seven-function Crispi Pro (AS101UK); this review is the four-function, two-container FN101UK.

Who should buy it

• One or two people who put appliances away after every use.
• Anyone who hates decanting from basket to bowl and washing both.
• A student room or second home where a glass dish doubles as a serving dish.

Who should not

• A household that cooks two things at once — two drawers.
• Anyone who wants a temperature dial and a timer they set themselves.
• A kitchen with a permanent air-fryer spot: a drawer machine is simpler to live with and lighter to handle.

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