The best Ninja air fryers for every type of cook, tested

Score: 95/100

This was a real hit with our experts, hardly dropping a point in our tests. Cakes were evenly baked and ready in 15 minutes (just how we like them!) and it achieved a perfect score for its golden, crispy chicken kievs, which were ready to serve in 25 minutes. Our chips were the right balance of crispy and fluffy too.

It's chunky, so not ideal for small kitchens, but it's great for families because of its dual drawers that can be synced so your meat and sides are ready at the same time.

Score: 95/100

It's billed as the first portable air fryer and while we're not sure you'll be carting it into the office every day, we'd certainly consider taking it on our next staycation. It features two containers for cooking (3.8L and 1.4L), along with leak-proof lids, so you can keep any leftovers to stash in the fridge. To cook, you simply add a crisper plate to the container, pop the Powder Pod 'hat' on top and adjust the settings based on what you're making. In other words, it's a cinch, and it scored near full marks for ease of use in the lab.

It performed brilliantly in our cooking tests too, delivering fluffy chips, and making golden, juicy chicken Kyivs in just 10 minutes. The glass containers also make it easy to keep an eye on your food as it cooks. It can get quite hot on the outside during use, so keep away from curious little fingers, and it didn't quite fit the 1.2kg chicken promised by Ninja, but those were our only quibbles (and it did manage a small whole chicken, which cooked beautifully).

Score: 91/100

This is our best value Ninja air fryer at just under £80 with the 21% saving. It also delivered delicious chicken Kyivs and chips (although we recommend not packing the machine too full and cooking in batches for the best results).

It's lightweight and the compact design makes it a great buy for one to two people. You will need oven gloves to lift the basket out as there's no handle, but it comes with lots of recipes and food charts to inspire you, making it ideal for beginners as well.

Score: 91/100

This not only air fries, but also performed strongly as a slow cooker, retaining 99% of the moisture in our dishes. So, whether you want fast or slow cooked meals, this will deliver.

It was a consistent high scorer with clear instructions and impressive energy efficiency. It will also feed a crowd (of six), thanks to its 7.5L capacity. This does, however, make it bulky and the cooking pot is heavy to lift out.

But with an accompanying recipe book and nine cooking functions, this is a great multitasking machine.

Score: 90/100

Like the multi-cooker above, but don't need that much space? This mini version can also pressure cook, slow cook, air fry, bake, roast, sauté, sear and steam, and has capacity for four people.

It was a high scorer across all our tests, air frying delicious chicken and chips. It was also came top for efficiency when using the air fryer mode – making chips cost just pennies of electricity.

Plus, the design is nice and compact, making storage easier. This is a solid all-rounder.

Score: 90/100

This innovative Ninja combines a generous 9.5L capacity (like our top-rated model) with a slimmer double-stacked design to save on counter space, making it a good choice for families with busy kitchens. And proving it can feed a crowd, our testers were able to cook a deliciously juicy roast chicken in each drawer in under an hour using the Match and Sync function. Perfect for Sunday lunch for all the family.

For added versatility, you can also divide the drawers up to create four cooking sections and use the Double Stack feature to cook all four components of your meal at the same time. However, we found this was a little hit and miss, leaving us with unevenly cooked fish and chips.

We had no issues with our frozen chips though, which emerged deliciously crispy, and our cupcakes were a success. The pre-set functions worked well, too.

Score: 88/100

Another model that's more multi-cooker than air fryer, the Ninja Speedi has 10 different cooking modes. In fact, we're not sure there's anything it can't do, except lay the table and serve the dinner.

This model's USP is its 'Speedi Meals' function, which means you can cook every part of your dish at once using your preferred method – grains, meat, veg – and it will all be ready in super quick time.

It performed consistently well across all our cooking tests and the controls are intuitive, making this another great pick for families who want quick, easy and nutritious mid-week meals.

Score: 84/100

This is an investment but it does have 15 different cooking modes, making it the ultimate do-it-all machine. It is an excellent air fryer, turning out perfectly cooked chicken wings and roast potatoes. It also delivered “melt-in-the-mouth” beef brisket with its slow cooker mode.

Thanks to the 'combi-steam' tech, you can prepare multiple items at once and the integrated smart meat probe cooks your protein just the way you like it.

It's a big machine, so tricky to move around, but a good option for serious chefs.

Score: 83/100

What makes this model unique is that it's a health grill, hot plate and an air fryer, all in one, so if you're looking to give your oven a few nights off, this is a great pick. You can air fry, bake, roast, reheat, dehydrate, grill and sear.

In our tests, it only dropped one mark for cooking chicken (we managed to cook a whole one to mouthwatering near-perfection, although we had to spatchcock it to fit it in).

It is a bulky machine so you'll need decent counter and storage space, but it's easy to use and comes with lots of handy cooking charts to help you prepare different foods.