I don’t think much about my microwave. I mainly use it to defrost bread, soften butter and heat up hot drinks that have gone cold. But since I’ve been testing Ninja’s Crispi Microwave, which combines reheating with air fry technology, I’ve changed my mind.
All I need to do is convince my husband it’s worth the real estate on my kitchen countertop, and the $449 price tag.
I’m currently testing Ninja’s first-ever microwave with an air frying function, and I’m impressed so far. The No. 1 selling point is the FusionCrisp feature. It lets you heat food in microwave mode, then switch to air fry so your meal doesn't turn out soggy.
You’ll have to wait a little longer for my full review, where I’ll get hands-on with cooking a whole chicken and other dishes. But for now, here are my first impressions of Ninja’s Crispi Microwave.
Make some room...
My current microwave sits quite innocently on my countertop and measures 17 (W) x 12.5 (D) x 10 (H). However, the Ninja is over three inches wider, five inches deeper and four inches taller. You can’t help but notice it.
If you lack countertop space in your kitchen, I recommend checking your measurements before investing. You also need to think about clearance space. SharkNinja recommends six inches on the sides and 12 inches on the top.
The appliance I’m testing is currently sitting below a wall cabinet, with only five inches of clearance. I think I can get away with it, since I'm not using the appliance long-term, but do make sure you've got enough surrounding space for safe operation.
The controls look complicated, but they're not
At first, I was a bit concerned that the appliance seemed complicated to use. You can choose FusionCrisp — a combo of microwaving and air frying — or use the microwave and air fryer separately.
You’ll need to sit down for a few minutes with the instructions, or watch the setup guide that you can find by scanning the QR code on the appliance.
It walks you through reheating pizza, cooking baked potatoes and using the controls.
After using the appliance just once, I felt confident and have only referred to the Quick Start Guide to check timings. That can be an issue when using FusionCrisp. Unless I followed a recipe, I wasn’t sure how long to microwave and then air-fry the food. I expect this will get easier with time.
Cooking a fruit crumble using FusionCrisp
For me, the main attraction of Ninja’s Crispi Microwave is the FusionCrisp function. It lets you heat food in microwave mode, then switch to air fry to get a crisp texture.
The appliance comes with a fairly comprehensive Quick Start Guide, including recipes. I was instantly drawn to the classic apple berry crumble recipe — one of my favorite cozy-season puddings.
I used the recipe in the guide, swapped the apples and berries for plums, and made my first crumble in the appliance.
Using the glass basket
You need to use the accompanying glass basket with the FusionCrisp function, and place it on either the bottom or top shelf of the appliance. If you’re cooking something of height, such as a whole chicken, place the basket in the base, but since my crumble had a low profile, it was fine to put it on the top shelf.
I did find that the glass basket was really heavy; you’ll need two hands to hold it. What’s more, it’s also substantial. If you’re using it to make a recipe for one or two, you’ll end up with a huge portion. My family is still eating its way through the crumble!
And there lies another problem. If you’ve got leftovers and don’t want to transfer them out of the glass basket (some meals are messy), you’ll need a spare if you want to cook again before you finish everything.
It ditches the turntable
You’ll notice when you look inside the appliance that it ditches the turntable. This gives you even more space for cooking. Ninja claims it offers 40% more space than a standard microwave, and that it will fit an 8lb chicken. That’s ½ lb larger than the maximum size chicken that you can fit in the Ninja Crispi Pro air fryer, with a 6-quart container.
I already regularly cook whole chicken in my Corsori TurboBlaze air fryer, and will try it out in the Ninja Crispi Microwave over the coming days.
It can microwave and air fry too
Besides using the FusionCrisp function, don’t forget this appliance still offers a separate microwave and air fry function.
I tested it out by using the microwave to heat chicken soup. It has a handy preset function that ran for 2 ⅕ minutes. The soup came out piping hot, and I didn’t even pause and stir it halfway through.
I then used the air fry function to make a grilled cheese sandwich. I placed the crisper plate in the glass dish and positioned it on the top shelf. To save guessing the time and temperature I had a look online, before choosing the Max Crisp setting, at 240°C for 8 minutes. I paused the appliance and turned the sandwich over halfway through.
I was pretty pleased with the result, well my son was, and the bread was crispy, and the cheese was beautifully melted.
I’ve since played around with more grilled cheese toasties and have used the Air Grill Air Fryer setting, which needed a little less time.
My verdict so far
I’m enjoying using the Ninja Crispi Microwave and discovering what it can do. I’m still not sure whether it’s worth ditching your current microwave and air fryer for one appliance, so I’d love to know your thoughts if you’ve already made the investment (you can leave your comments below).
It is a large appliance, so if you are looking to save space, don’t underestimate the real estate it will take up.
For now, I'm going to get back to testing, and hopefully convince my family that it's one to keep.
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