Ninja FG551 Foodi Smart Xl 6-In-1 Indoor Grill Review

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Ninja FG551 Foodi Smart Xl 6-In-1 Indoor Grill is one of the newest addition to the Ninja’s Foodi Collections. And ever since its appearance Ninja FG551 is dominating the market with its fantastic features and top-notch performance. Needless to say, like many other Ninja Foodi Kitchen Appliances Ninja FG551 is also a 5-star item too. 

Indeed, it is one of the best indoor grills on the market. However, what really sets the Ninja FG551 grill apart is that it is not just an indoor grill, but a truly amazing all-in-all kitchen appliance. 

With the ability to grill, dehydrate, broil, air frying, roast, and bake, you can really do it all, and from the comfort of your own kitchen! Even if you don’t need all these functions and just want to grill all year round without being outside in bad or cold weather, Ninja FG551 serves that purpose well. 

To know more about the Ninja Foodi FG551 6-in-1 Smart XL Grill, read this full Ninja FG551 review and find out if it’s really worth the hype. 

Now let’s read about what Ninja FG551 offers you and what is not so good about it. 

Things We Love About Ninja Fg551

  • Modern design with black and stainless steel finish
  • Offers 6 preset functions
  • Easy to use touchscreen display
  • Offers smart thermometer with magnetic storage
  • 4 smart protein cooking settings
  • XL size allows cooking 6 steaks at a time
  • Smokeless indoor grill
  • Works great with frozen foods
  • Temperature can reach up to 510ºF (265ºC)
  • Includes a programmable timer
  • Offers cool to touch handles
  • Offers non-stick ceramic coating on every accessory
  • Accessories are dishwasher safe
  • 1-year warranty

Things To Consider About Ninja FG551

  • It’s a premium quality indoor grill so comparatively high priced than its competitions
  • The unit is a bit large so you need dedicated counter space for it
  • Features indirect heating operation
  • No auto-warm function
  • Does not provide the traditional grill marks

Features of Ninja FG551 Smart Indoor Grill

Ninja FG551 Smart Indoor Grill comes at a premium price, so it doesn’t forget to impress you with lots of amazing features.  

For starters, the most amazing thing about this appliance is, it’s not just an indoor grill, it can bake, grill, dehydrate, air fry crisp, broil as well as roast food items with ease. So if you buy this wonderful grill you can replace most of your kitchen appliances like a toaster oven, air fryer, dehydrator, or even your outdoor grill.

After that, as part of Ninja FG551’s smart feature, it comes with a smart thermometer that allows you to make perfectly cooked meat without manually monitoring the temperature. 

You can insert the thermometer in any type of protein like beef, pork, or chicken breasts and set a preferred temperature from rare to well done. 

Whenever the meat reached the selected temperature the grill will tell you to “GET FOOD” right before it reaches the doneness you selected. So there will be no more overcooked or undercooked food.

Besides, Ninja FG551 features a CYCLONIC GRILLING TECHNOLOGY. It means the grill uses 500°F cyclonic air to perfectly cook or chargrill food items. Also, with this technology, you don’t need to defrost any food item before cooking. You can directly cook it on the grill without any problem.

Moreover, unlike its siblings, Ninja FG551 offers a larger cooking area. You can easily grill 6 pieces of steaks or up to 24 hot dogs.

Lastly, let’s finish it with the most important feature and that is, Ninja FG551 is totally smokeless. It means you can enjoy the grilling experience all year long in a safe and healthy environment and without any fire hazards. 

Is Ninja FG551 Easy to Use?

In short, yes, Ninja FG551 Foodi Smart XL 6-in-1 Indoor Grill is really easy to use. 

The main reason behind its ultimate convenience is its straightforward design. It has a clear touchscreen display with 6 preset functions, time and temperature control and their settings, a preheat function, and also a manual function. So whenever you lay eyes on it, you know what to do without having any confusion. 

You can easily assemble this appliance as you only have to swap between the 3 accessories such as the grill grate, crisper basket, and cooking pot. 

After that, the Ninja FG551 grill only takes about 10 minutes to preheat which is less than any outdoor grill. And after the preheating is done, it will show you the “ADD FOOD” sign on the display. 

But if you want to skip the preheating process, you can press the preheat button on the lower left. However, be sure not to skip the preheating while cooking your first batch as it will take more time to cook. But in case if you are cooking the second batch and the appliance is still hot enough then you can skip the preheating process. 

You already know about the smart thermometer. It will ensure you get the perfect doneness in any meat recipe. All you have to do is just sit back and relax while waiting for your food to grill. And to make sure you don’t lose this little thing anywhere in the kitchen, Ninja did a nice thing by providing a magnetic smart thermometer case. You can easily attach it to the Ninja Grill’s stainless steel body. 

However, if you don’t want to use the thermometer, you can just set the time and temperature using the manual option and still, you will be able to get a perfectly cooked meal. 

And as for easy cleaning, all the accessories like the grill grate, crisper basket, cooking pot, and splatter shield are all dishwasher safe. Note that, the smart thermometer that comes with the appliance is not dishwasher safe.

Check out this quick video from Ninja Brand and find out how to use the Ninja FG551 Foodi Indoor Grill.

Accessories of Ninja FG551 Indoor Grill

Ninja FG551

Ninja FG551 comes with 5 different accessories like the grill grate, crisper basket, cooking pot, splatter shield, and smart thermometer.

Obviously, the grill grate is used for grilling. It is made of iron and creates nice chargrilled marks on food items. But the marks are quite different than the traditional chargrilled marks like the stripes. So if you are aiming for that traditional marks unfortunately it won’t happen. 

After that, the  4 quarts crisper basket is for making crispy air-fried food. This crisper basket is able to make up to 2 lb of guilt-free fried food so that you can enjoy a healthy snack.

Then, there’s the cooking pot. It comes with a ceramic coating so it is easy to clean and easy to use. You can roast, bake, broil or dehydrate different types of food items in it. 

Also, it comes in handy while you air fry or grill. While cooking if you place the grill grate or crisper basket on the cooking pot then it will catch all the grease dripping and prevent a mess inside the grill. 

Besides, the splatter shield that comes with this indoor grill is really useful. It will help you to have a virtually smoke-free experience while grilling by keeping the grease splatter out of the heating element. 

And lastly, the appliance comes with a smart thermometer that you already know about. In short, it helps you to achieve the perfect doneness in protein items from rare to well done. 

Note that, except for the smart thermometer all other accessories are dishwasher safe, so cleaning won’t be a hassle with this appliance. 

Moreover, the appliance also comes with a recipe inspiration guide to start your cooking journey with this wonderful appliance. 

FAQ About Ninja FG551 Smart Indoor Grill

What Can I Make With Ninja FG551 Smart Indoor Grill?

With a traditional indoor grill, you can only grill meats and veggies but this is not the case with NINJA FG551 Foodi Smart XL Grill. As it is a multipurpose appliance, no wonder you can make countless recipes with Ninja FG551. So let’s read about what Ninja FG551 can make for you with its 6 different cooking functions. 

Grill

The Ninja FG551 provides perfectly grilled food with a cooking temperature of around 500F. It uses cyclonic roasting technology to ensure you get evenly grilled food with perfect doneness. Moreover, you can use this indoor grill with peace of mind because Ninja Foodi gets the least amount of smoke while cooking.

Using Ninja FG551’s grill function you make grilled fish fillets, chickens, burgers, fish, steaks, pork chops, hamburgers, sausages, kebabs, as well as different types of grilled veggies. 

Even this efficient grill function can turn frozen foods into absolutely charcoal grilled. And the whole process will take around 20-30 minutes, depending on thickness, fat content, etc. This will really help if you don’t remember to thaw things until you are in the middle of cooking!

Air Fry

Although you can buy a more dedicated Ninja air fryer to make guilt-free fried food, why bother when you can do so much in one? With Ninja’s air fry function, you can easily make crispy french fries, chicken wings, and nuggets, tater tots, chicken tenders, bacon, steaks, fried veggies, and much more. 

Roast

You will be happy to hear that this indoor grill offers a roast function too. However, it is not fit for making big size whole roast like a thanksgiving turkey but it can fit a small size chicken and that is often enough meat for any average-sized dinner! 

Bake

If you own an oven, you’re probably not going to whip large batches of cookies or baked goods with Ninja FG551. However, you’ll definitely love to make small-batch cookies here, without the need to use your full-size countertop oven.

Dehydrate

Maybe it is the most unique cooking function to find on an indoor grill, but yes Ninja FG551 offers you a dehydrate function. It is so much appreciable, as it can make chunks of dried fruits for a good bite on the go.

How to Clean Ninja Foodi FG551 Indoor Grill Properly?

Comparatively, Ninja FG551 is easy to clean than an outdoor grill. As it comes with a spatter shield, the heating element takes barely any food residue. Besides, its ceramic-coated accessories are dishwasher safe and also easy to clean manually. 

However, you can use some pro tips to clean this indoor grill. Like every time you cook a recipe you can place the air fry basket or grill grate on top of the cooking pot. So the cooking pot will catch all the dripping and there will be no mess at the bottom of the grill. 

Even better, you can line the cooking pot with foil paper for more quick cleanup later on.

Also, use silicone or plastic tongs to handle food to avoid any scratch on the accessories while cooking. This will help the ceramic coating intact for a long time. 

And for the manual cleaning tip, soak the accessories after use for a couple of hours or overnight. It will soften the food residue. And then use a soft soapy sponge to scrub them properly, then rinse them off with clean water. 

But if you don’t feel like doing all these you can always load them into the dishwasher. However, manual cleaning is more appreciated as the accessories come with a ceramic coating. 

As for the housing, wipe it off with a soft damp cloth, and it will be good to go. 

Note that, the smart thermometer is not dishwasher safe, also don’t soak the full thermometer, you need to clean only the pointy probe that goes into the meat. 

Is Ninja FG551 Smart Indoor Grill Worth Buying?

If you love indoor grilling, you will immediately fall in love with the Ninja FG551 Foodi Indoor Grill because of its efficiency and superior cooking abilities.

Also, you get a 6 in 1 appliance to use multiple cooking methods. It offers excellent flexibility for almost any kitchen and you will surely get your money’s worth investing in the Ninja FG551.

For a perfect year-round grilling experience with your family and friends, you can’t go wrong with purchasing this NINJA FG551 Foodi Smart XL 6-in-1 Indoor Grill.  

Technical Specification Of Ninja FG551 Indoor Grill

Type: Indoor Grill, Electric Grill

Brand: Ninja

Series: The Ninja Foodi Collection

Model:  FG551

Price: Check Here

Smokeless: Yes

Wattage: 1760-watt

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Cooking Capacity: 9×12 inches grill grate (6 steaks at once), 4-qt crisper basket, a 4-qt cooking pot

Dimensions: (WxDxH) 15.7 x 16.54 x 11.05 inches (39.88 x 42.01 x 28.1 cm)

Item Weight: 22.4 pounds

Cord Length: 3 ft. (91.4 cm)

Application: Personal Use

Warranty: 1 Year