Ninja Crispi Pro review: A meal prep marvel

Ninja changed the air fryer game when it released the Crispi in 2025, but can the new Crispi Pro do the same? A larger, more permanent addition to your countertops, this modular glass cooking system can accommodate food for up to 10 people.

The new Crispi Pro also resolves one of my main gripes with the original Crispi and offers precise temperature controls instead of a range of preset cooking modes. This air fryer can cook from 80 to 450°F, which is pretty versatile, and the timer can run up to one hour.

After using the Crispi Pro to make everything from a roast chicken to frozen french fries, my only real gripe is the price tag. $279 is hard to justify, even for the very best air fryers.

If you're happy to pay, though, the Ninja Crispi Pro is a worthy addition to any kitchen countertop. I was impressed by its build quality, which felt sturdy and expensive, and its cooking performance is hard to fault. Here's what you need to know.

Ninja Crispi Pro review: Price and availability

The Ninja Crispi Pro is astoundingly expensive, and once you've invested, you'll pay handsomely to upgrade your cooking system further. At $279, you could buy two of my top-rated Ninja Pro air fryers, and have a little pocket money to spare.

What's more, you only get two cooking containers included with your Crispi Pro: the 2.5 quart and 6 quart containers. Want to try the 4-quart container? You'll need to spend an extra $50 at SharkNinja to get your hands on it.

It does look fantastic on a kitchen countertop, and I enjoy the range of colors to choose from. I tried it in the shade Cyberspace, but if I were buying it for my home, I'd definitely opt for Rose Quartz. Mark my words: one of these days, I'll get my hands on a pink air fryer.

Ninja Crispi: Design

Both glass containers included with the Crispi Pro have a removable nonstick plate insert and a lid that can be used to store leftovers or meal prep directly inside the containers.

They also come on plastic bases, which allow you to lift your hot cooking container and place it straight on your dining table for serving up family-style meals.

To cook with the different sized containers you'll need to move your stand up or down to accommodate. The middle setting is effectively defunct until you buy a 4-quart container, so you'll be using the top height for your 2.5-quart container and the base for your 6-quart container.

The settings are clearly marked on the display of the Crispi Pro: there's Air Fry, Max Crisp, ReCrisp, Roast, Bake/Proof and Dehydrate. That's two more than the original Crispi, which just had Max Crisp, Bake, Air Fry, and Recrisp.

You're also able to toggle the temperature and timer using a dial on the front of the display. It feels great to use, with a tactile clicking sensation as you twist it and a button finish to start and stop cooking.

I found that the Crispi Pro automatically paused cooking when I took out the cooking container, meaning you can stir or shake food mid-cook, just like you would with a regular air fryer.

Ninja Crispi review: Performance

Air frying frozen food

I can't remember the last time I cooked frozen food in the oven. That's my air fryer's job! When I tested the original Crispi, I found that it was a worthy competitor to most traditional air fryers, and the Crispi Pro is no different. It cooked some tasty gochujang chicken wings from frozen to juicy and sizzling in just 18 minutes, which was 7 minutes less time than the packaging instructions.

Halfway through cooking I added some frozen french fries in with my chicken wings, and they came out golden and crunchy — perhaps a little overcooked!

This is largely down to the fact I was cooking in the smaller 2.5-quart container, which meant my frozen food was very close to the heating element. Because of this, the pre-heat time needed was minimal, and the crisper plate allowed air to circulate both above and underneath the food, resulting in an even finish without having to flip my food.

Roasting chicken and potatoes

Ninja boasts that the Crispi Pro can cook an entire chicken, but considering I was just cooking dinner for two, I decided to test this theory with half a chicken sat atop some potato wedges.

I first cut some potatoes into thick wedges and tossed them in oil and seasoning before sitting my criper plate and my peri-peri half chicken on top. You'd struggle to fit a large chicken on a crisper plate, but if you removed it, there's no reason why you couldn't cook an entire bird in the Crispi Pro.

The results were impressive. Yes, the seasoning on top of the chicken skin browned a little faster than I'd have liked on the Roast setting, but it was sat very close to the heating element. I didn't flip the chicken midway like I usually would, but the finished meat was still very juicy and well-cooked, and after 40 minutes it was ready to serve.

What wasn't ready were my potato wedges. In the oven, these would typically take 45 minutes, but because they were sat under the crisper plate and removed from the heating element, they were almost-cooked and not very crisp after the chicken was removed. I removed them from the glass container and slotted them on top of the crisper plate, where it only took an extra 10 minutes to take them from pale and soft to brown and crispy.

Reheating mac and cheese

One of my favorite uses of the Ninja Crispi is to reheat or add a crispy top layer to sauce-based dishes. Because the crisper plate is removable, it means you can cook directly on the glass base, just like a typical baking dish. To test this in the Crispi Pro, I reheated some mac and cheese and topped it with panko and parmesan to give it a new lease of life.

I was surprised at just how much mac and cheese fit into the 2.5-quart container. It was easily enough to feed two as a main, or four as a side dish. Using the Max Crisp setting, I was left with a browned and bubbling pasta dish in just 8 minutes.

How does the Ninja Crispi Pro compare?

While they're both part of the same line, the Crispi and Crispi Pro are very different air fryers. You'll have to make the Crispi Pro a permanent feature on your kitchen counters, whereas the original Crispi is compact and ideal for storing in kitchen cupboards when not in use. For usability and versatility, I'd opt for the Pro over the original every time, but if you're short on space, the Crispi is a great choice.

At half the price of the Crispi Pro, you might enjoy the Ninja Air Fryer Pro 4-in-1 if you want a countertop fryer. It's not got the glass aesthetics or modular design, but it's a fantastic drawer-style air fryer that aced every test I put it through, and currently sits at the top of our best air fryer guide.

Should you buy the Ninja Crispi Pro?

If money were no object, I'd be giving the Crispi Pro five stars. But it's so hard to recommend a $279 air fryer that doesn't outperform the cheaper options I've tested. If all you want is a great air fryer and you don't mind about nonstick interiors or the lack of modular storage, you could save yourself a lot of money by picking up another one of Ninja's excellent fryers.

That's not to say that the Crispi Pro is bad, because it's not. This is a fantastic air fryer — it did a brilliant job of cooking my chicken evenly, left me with a bubbling, crisp mac and cheese and would also be a fantastic option if you love to meal prep. I also love how it looks, and can't fault the user experience. If you can stomach the price tag, you'll enjoy everything else about the Crispi Pro.

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