Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker Review

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The Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker is the most popular multi-cooker from Ninja. You will love this multi-functional 12-in-1 appliance because of its amazing versatility as well as performance. Indeed, from pressure cooking to air frying, sautéing to slow cooking Ninja FD401 does it all. 

And with its 8-quart capacity, you can make big batches of meals for the whole family in one go. No wonder, it will save a lot of time and effort.

But that’s not all, to make quick and easy homemade meals, sides, snacks, and desserts Ninja FD401 offer 70% faster cooking than any other traditional pressure cooker. 

Furthermore, it features Ninja’s exclusive TenderCrisp Technology. This means it pressure cook to tender meals and then crisp to give your food a perfect golden finish. 

However, unlike Ninja’s recent flagship pressure cooker Ninja OL701 Foodi Smart XL, this model does not provide any Smart Features like a Smart Thermometer, Smart Cook System, or even an all-in-all SmartLid. Instead, it comes with 2 different lids, one is used for pressure cooking and the other is for air fraying. 

Although, if you have enough storage space, two lids won’t be any problem. And Ninja FD401’s price is way less than the new model. Yes, it provides a great price-value ratio. 

So if you want a mid-range priced pressure cooker with lots of possibilities  Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker is one of the best appliances for your modern kitchen. 

Things We Love About Ninja FD401

  • The modern design adapts to any kitchen decor
  • Large 8 quarts cooking capacity
  • 5 quarts air frying capacity
  • Features a 1760-watts powerful motor
  • Offers 70% Faster cooking than the traditional methods
  • Offers ceramic-coated pot, ceramic coated cook & crisp basket, and stainless steel deluxe reversible rack
  • Comes with 2 different lids- crisping lid, and pressure lid
  • Offers 12 different cooking functions: : pressure cook, air fry/air crisp, steam, slow cook, yogurt, sear/sauté, bake, roast, broil, dehydrate, sous vide & keep warm
  • Comes with a 45+ recipe book
  • Offers amazing safety features
  • Offer TenderCrisp technology
  • Dishwasher safe
  • 1-year warranty

Things To Consider About Ninja FD401

  • The appliance is huge and bulky, therefore it needs a significant space in your kitchen.
  • Two different lids may seem difficult to handle or store at first. 
  • Does not offer any smart features like Ninja OL70. 
  • Non-stick ceramic coating can chip off easily if you don’t use it carefully.  

Design and Capacity of Ninja FD401

Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker features a classic Ninja Pressure cooker design with a black and stainless steel finish. Although the material is made with plastic it feels very sturdy.  And the control panel looks remarkably clean and concise with a turn dial, so it is really easy to use. 

Talking about the size, Ninja Ninja FD401 Foodi is a large appliance with an 8-quart cooking capacity. It measures 16.1 x 14.57 x 14.2 inches (LxWxH).

Note that, before buying this device, don’t forget to measure the place where you want to keep it. Because with the machine closed, it is 14 INCHES HIGH but you will need 28 INCHES OF top area FOR LID BEING OPEN. 

Surely, it’s a large appliance but it is totally considerable as you can make family-size meals in one go. You can make 7-lb. chicken, or 5-qt of guilt-free fried food to feed your whole family.

Furthermore, the Ninja FD401 weighs around 26.04 Pounds which means you won’t want to move it regularly. So it’s best if you can find a permanent space for it on the countertop.

Features of Ninja FD401 Pressure Cooker

Currently, Ninja Foodi Pressure Cookers are considered to be the best alternative to Instant Pots. To keep up with the competition, Ninja offers lots of innovative functions to please its users. And same goes for this Ninja FD401 Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker.

Ninja FD401 features exclusive TenderCrisp Technology. Which helps to keep the meals juicer inside yet crispier outside. It pressures cook to tender meals up to 70% faster than traditional cooking methods. And then crisps the outside to give your food a perfect golden finish.

And here’s more, this versatile cooking appliance offers 12 different cooking functions, Pressure Cook, Air Fry/Air Crisp, Steam, Slow Cook, Yogurt, Sear/Sauté, Bake, Roast, Broil, Dehydrate, Sous Vide & Keep Warm. Using all these functions you can make countless recipes just with the touch of a button. 

So yes Ninja FD401 offers you amazing features, but is it easy to use! To know more about that let’s head out to the next section.

Is Ninja FD401 Pressure Cooker Easy to Use?

To be honest every new appliance has a learning curve especially if you are new to multi-cookers. But the good news is Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker comes with a very intuitive control panel. So it means you only need 1 or 2 tries to completely get used to it.  

The unit features 5 different buttons with a turn dial, making the control panel look simpler and very easy to use. You can change the cooking functions, time, and temperature just with the turn dial. This is way more convenient than pressing a button again and again just to change a time or temp settings.  

Furthermore, it comes with two different lids one is for pressure cooking, another is for air frying or crisping. Pressure, Steam, Slow Cook, Yogurt, functions are used with the pressure lid. 

On the other hand, the Air fry, Bake, Roast, Broil, and Dehydrate function is used with the crisping lid which is attached to the appliance. And the Sear and Sauté function can be used with the lid open just like a stovetop. 

In addition, maintaining Ninja FD401 is quite easy as all the accessories are dishwasher safe. 

See Ninja FD401 in action in the following video. 

* Video Courtesy ninjakitchen.com

Accessories of Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker

There are plenty of wonderful accessories to love about the Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe Pressure Cooker. In addition to the main 8-quart cooking pot, it comes with a two-tier reversible cooking rack and a 5-quart crisping basket. 

And another good thing is all of them are dishwasher safe so cleanup is a breeze. Besides, the cooking pot is non-stick which makes it very easy to clean even if you don’t have a dishwasher. 

What Can I Make With Ninja FD401?

You already know Ninja comes with 12 different cooking functions. With all these functions you can make pretty much anything.

Like you can air fry crisp chicken, veggies, and different types of snacks with little or no oil at all. 

After that, you can tenderize meat with the pressure cook function. And then use the crisp function to give it a nice golden brown finish.

Bake function is for making various baked goods like cakes, cookies, or bread. And the roast function allows you to cook roasted meat, fish, or chicken. 

Using the dehydrate function you can make dried fruits, chips, or even beef jerky.

And the steam function allows you to make various steamed food like steamed bread, veggies, dim sum, momos, or dumplings.

Use the slow cook functions to slow and low cooking for beef stew, chilli con carne, or pulled pork.

Yogurt function is great for making delicious homemade yogurt. Besides the keep-warm function keeps the food warm before serving. 

And last but not least, the broil function finishes off your meals with a nice golden brown finish. 

How to Clean Ninja FD401 Pressure Cooker Properly?

Ninja Foodi FD401 accessories are super easy to clean as they come with a nonstick coating. After each use clean them with a soft soapy sponge and rinse them in the running water and you are done.

Note that, while cleaning them don’t use any harsh sponge as the accessories are nonstick coated. 

And if you feel lazy and don’t want to do all these tasks just load them into the dishwasher to get cleaned.

However, cleaning the air frying lid may take some time as it has a heating element covered by a grate. To clean it properly you need to use a brush. After each uses soap up the brush and then clean the lids grate properly. Don’t unscrew the lid as you may risk breaking it.

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

Is Ninja FD401 Pressure Cooker Worth Buying?

Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker is a fantastic mid-range priced appliance, that offers amazing versatility and excellent performance. It can replace several small kitchen appliances and is perfect for making almost all types of meals. With all these things considered we can say, it is a worthwhile investment, better yet, you’ll get more than what you pay for.

Technical Specification Of Ninja FD401 Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker

Type: Multi-cooker

Brand: Ninja

Series: The Ninja Foodi Collection

Model: FD401

Price: Check Here

Wattage: 1760-watt

Related Products: Ninja OL701 Foodi Smart XL

Functions: 12 functions – Pressure Cook, Air Fry/Air Crisp, Steam, Slow Cook, Yogurt, Sear/Sauté, Bake, Roast, Broil, Dehydrate, Sous Vide & Keep Warm

Capacity: 8 quarts cooking pot, 5 quarts crisp basket

Non-stick ceramic coated: Yes