Ninja AF101 Air Fryer Review

Ninja AF101 Air Fryer is the first basket air fryer of the Ninja brand. Ninja AF101 allows you to make crispy, crunchy, hot, and delicious, fried foods just with a touch of a button.

Moreover, the Ninja AF101 is the most affordable air fryer among Ninja’s line of basket air fryers. And also, it comes with a compact design, therefore it takes up less space on your countertop.

However, if you want a larger size air fryer, you can try out the Ninja DZ201 Foodi 2-Basket Air Fryer or the Ninja AF161 Max XL Air Fryer. Both of them have a great capacity for making a larger portion of meals at one go.

Back to the Ninja AF101. With 4 different cooking presets Ninja AF101 is not just an air fryer. It can also roast, reheat as well as dehydrate different kinds of food items.

With that said, let’s dive into the full review of Ninja AF101 Air Fryer and find why this five-star appliance is so popular among users.

Things We Love About Ninja AF101

Sleek design
Affordable price
Easy to use basket air fryer design
Only 3-minute preheat time
Offers 4 quarts capacity, fits 2 lbs of french fries or wings
Wide temperature range (105-450ºF)

Offers 4 different cooking functions: Air fry, roast, dehydrate, reheat
Comes with a multi-layer rack
Dishwasher safe parts
BPA-free
1-year warranty

Things To Consider About Ninja AF101

According to users, a rectangular-shaped design would have been better
Unit is quite tall, measure your cabinet and counter distance before buying this air fryer
Doesn’t offer any Auto-Pause feature
Does not provide the capacity for making the whole roast

Features of Ninja AF101 Air Fryer

The Ninja AF101 is an efficient appliance with useful features. However, if you compare these features with its newer siblings like the Ninja DZ201 or AF161 you may get disappointed.

Because compared to them it comes with fewer cooking preset functions. Yes, with Ninja Af101 you get only 4 cooking presets- Air fry, Roast, Rehat, and Dehydrate.

But this shouldn’t be a problem if you are looking for a dedicated air fryer. Because Ninja AF101 does that job perfectly. You can easily air fry crisp different food items with the shortest possible time, even faster than your countertop oven.

After that, unlike the Ninja AF161, this air fryer comes with default temp settings with each preset mode. And to help you out, Ninja also includes a getting started guide with AF101 where you can find the required temperature for different kinds of foods.

Apart from 4 preset functions Ninja AF101 Air Fryer’s control panel also includes a start/pause button. Make sure to press the start/pause button whenever you take the basket out for shaking or flipping the food. Otherwise, you have to enter the time and temp settings once again.

Then, you already know Ninja AF101 is a compact appliance. It offers only a 4-quart capacity where you can make 2 pounds of french fries at a time.

In addition, just like any other Ninja Air Fryers this appliance also offers wide temperature ranges for even cooking.

Lastly, Ninja AF101 features only 3 minutes preset time, which is way less than any other countertop oven. It is really helpful if you prefer quick meals every time.

Is Ninja AF101 Air Fryer Easy to Use?

Ninja AF101 Air Freyer is a pretty neat device and with its fewer cooking functions, we can say it is the most easy-to-use Ninja Air Fryer out there.

Let’s start with its control panel. Ninja AF101 features a simple control panel, with 4 cooking preset buttons, time and temp settings buttons, and start/pause buttons. You can understand, they are all pretty intuitive so there is no room for confusion with this appliance.

Therefore, you can easily make a batch of fried food with a little amount of time and effort. All you need to do is, prep the food with little or no oil at all, preheat the air fryer, place the food into the fryer basket, load the basket into the fryer, select the required functions, and done! After a few times later you will end up with a delicious meal.

And you don’t need to worry about the cleaning tasks at all. Because the fryer basket and the crisper plate are all dishwasher safe. And even if you want to hand wash them that is super easy too. Because both accessories are nonstick coated, therefore, really easy to clean manually.

Accessories of Ninja AF101 Air Fryer

Ninja AF101 Air Fryer comes with limited accessories. With this appliance, you get a fryer basket, crisper plate, and multi-layer rack.

The fryer basket is for making different kinds of fried recipes. And the multi-layer rack is used for dehydrating foods.

Except for the multi-layer rack, the other two appliances are nonstick coated. And all the accessories are dishwasher safe.

*Video Courtesy ninjakitchen.com

What Can I Make With Ninja AF101 Air Fryer?

Ninja AF101 Air Fryer is a nice appliance that lets you enjoy delicious fried food with minimal effort. Also, the air-fried food contains less or no oil so that you can eat healthily. But with this appliance, you do much more than just air frying. So let’s take a look at Ninja’s different cooking functions and how they help you to make different kinds of delicious recipes.

Air Fry

Obviously, it is an air fryer, so you can make lots of air-fried recipes like air-fried french fries, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, vegetable tots, chicken lollipops, and the list goes on.

Besides, when making all these recipes, you don’t need to use any oil, so no matter what you are making they will always be healthy.

Roast

This appliance also has a roast function. It is great for roasting any kind of meat, fish, or veggies. However, because of its 4-quart capacity, you can only make a small portion of roasted recipes in it. You can not make a whole roast in it, as you can do in your countertop oven.

Dehydrate

Ninja AF101 also includes a dehydrate function. Although it is not great for making large batches of dried foods in it at once, it is still great to have a dehydrate function in your air fryer. You can dehydrate different kinds of fruits in it and enjoy them as healthy snacks.

How to Clean Ninja AF101 Foodi Air Fryer Properly?

Cleaning this appliance is super easy. First of all, it includes only limited accessories – the air fryer basket and the crisper plate. Both of them are nonstick coated so you can easily hand wash them.

After cooking let the basket and the crisper plate cool down completely. Clean them with a soft soapy sponge then rinse them under rugging water. Make sure to use a soft sponge otherwise the nonstick acting may rip off easily.

However, you can make the cleaning task easier if you line up the air fryer basket with aluminum foil paper. Because the foil paper will catch most of the food residue and there will be less residue to clean from the basket.

On the other hand, if you don’t feel like doing the cleaning work at all then you can load them into the dishwasher as both of them are dishwasher safe.

And for the main unit, just wipe it with a damp cloth after each use.

Is Ninja AF101 Air Fryer Worth Buying?

Ninja AF101 is the most affordable air fryer from Ninja, yet surprisingly it is one of the best performing air fryers of the brand. And considering its price and performance Ninja AF101 offers great value for your money. So if you need a compact air fryer that offers all the necessary features yet comes at an affordable price tag then Ninja AF101 Air Fryer is the best appliance for you.