Ninja CRISPi PRO AS101UK Air Fryer

Summary

If you want an air fryer that also stores, serves and cleans up without turning your kitchen upside down, the Ninja CRISPi PRO is probably the closest you’ll get to that idea. The concept is simple and it works: you cook in glass containers that go from the fridge straight into the air fryer, and from there to the table or the dishwasher. No decanting, no extra dishes, none of the usual chaos when you have guests. On Amazon.co.uk it’s sold as the AS101UK (AS101UKGY, Ash Grey); the unit we reviewed was the European AS101EUCY, the same air fryer.

It comes with two PFAS-free glass containers, one of 5.7 litres and one of 2.3 litres, so you can cook a main course for up to six people and a side or dessert at the same time. The adjustable base accommodates both sizes, and the seven programmes cover everything from air frying to proving dough or dehydrating food. With 2,050 W of power, it heats up quickly and the results are consistent.

What wins us over most is the container system, not so much for the capacity itself as for the convenience of cooking something you prepped the day before without touching anything else. You do have to accept that handling glass containers with side handles is different from pulling out a plastic basket: they’re heavier, need both hands and take a bit more thought every time you want to turn something over.

This isn’t an air fryer for anyone after the simplest or cheapest option. It’s a deliberate bet on glass, on looks and on a prep-ahead way of cooking. If that suits the way you cook, it’s a purchase that will pay its way. If you’d rather have something quick and straightforward for everyday use, a conventional basket air fryer will give you fewer headaches.

Analysis and verdict

Cooking results – Score: 7.5/10

The airflow is powerful and the results are consistent with most foods: well-browned chicken, evenly baked biscuits, vegetables with some bite. The flip side of that power is that in the large container, the top layers of food get more heat than the bottom ones, so you need to keep an eye on things and turn the food more often than you’d expect. It’s not an unusual flaw, and it’s common in air fryers with strong airflow, but bear it in mind if you load a lot at once.

The small 2.3-litre container sits closer to the heating element, so it browns faster and more intensely. It’s great for wings or small pieces you want really crisp, but watch the timings, because the gap between ‘nicely browned’ and ‘overdone’ gets smaller.

Ergonomics and everyday use

Handling glass containers with side handles always takes both hands. You can’t do a quick one-handed check as you would with a plastic basket, so you have to take the whole container out, put it down somewhere and slide it back in. It’s not a serious problem, but the small annoyances add up over time. Also, when cooking moist food, heat escapes from the top and can cause some condensation on the cupboards above, which is worth considering if there’s little space between the air fryer and your wall units.

The handles let you take the container straight to the table, which is handy when you have guests. The appliance weighs 5.17 kg and measures 29.97 × 30.99 × 27.94 cm, so it’s manageable on a standard worktop, though it’s not exactly small.

Pros

• PFAS-free glass containers that go from the fridge to the air fryer and then to the table or dishwasher, which hugely reduces the number of dirty dishes.
• 5.7 litres of capacity with real room for a whole chicken plus vegetables, enough to cook for six people in one batch.
• Seven functions ranging from air frying to proving dough or dehydrating, which broadens the kind of recipes you can make.
• Two container sizes with storage lids included, so you can cook a main and a side at the same time and keep leftovers in the same dish.

Cons

• Handling the glass containers always takes both hands and more care than a conventional basket, which can get tedious with dishes that need a lot of attention.
• The 3.8-litre container, which owners who use all three sizes find the most practical for everyday cooking, is sold separately and isn’t included in this pack.
• With bulky food in layers, the top browns before the bottom, so you need to rotate and check more than you’d expect.

Capacity – Score: 8.3/10

The large 5.7-litre container has room for a 2 kg chicken with vegetables around it, which in practice means a complete meal for four to six people in a single container. The 2.3-litre container works well for sides, snacks or a dessert while the main dish cooks.

The adjustable base sets the height according to the container you use, and it’s more than a cosmetic detail: the high position brings the food closer to the heating element and gives more browning, while the low position gives more vertical space for large pieces.

What’s worth knowing is that the cooking surface is practically the same across all container sizes. What changes is the available height, not the area exposed to the hot air. So if you want to cook more flat food at once, the large container won’t give you the jump you might expect. Where it does make a difference is with bulky pieces or dishes that benefit from vertical space, such as a whole chicken or something cooked in layers.

Cleaning – Score: 8.9/10

The tempered glass resists thermal shock, which means you can take the container from the freezer straight into the air fryer without any problem. In practice, that lets you prepare a meal the day before, keep it covered in the fridge and cook it the next day without even getting a chopping board out. The containers and lids are dishwasher safe, although the large container can be tricky to handle when it’s slippery with soapy water.

The absence of PFAS in the containers is an argument that carries more and more weight with buyers. That’s because glass doesn’t absorb smells or get scratched by utensils, and it raises no doubts about what might migrate into food at high temperatures. The crisper plates have a ceramic coating and are no trouble to wash by hand.

Our test

Test 1: Cooking results – layered chicken and biscuits side by side

We tested the CRISPi PRO in Spain, and it’s the same air fryer you’ll find on Amazon.co.uk. There’s no basket to shake halfway through here, so we adapted our protocol to what the appliance actually offers: two glass containers with adjustable height instead of a flat tray. We put a 1.8 kg jointed chicken with potatoes and onion in the large container on the roast programme at 200 °C for 55 minutes, turning the pieces halfway. Meanwhile, as it can cook two different foods at once, we used the small 2.3-litre container to bake oat biscuits at 160 °C for 12 minutes.

The chicken came out juicy inside with nicely browned skin, but the vegetables on the top layer toasted more than we wanted; when we repeated the batch and swapped their position, the result improved. The biscuits, on the other hand, came out golden outside and soft inside in two consecutive batches while the large container kept working. What we can’t confirm is that results stay the same with food you can’t turn halfway through, and we don’t have an internal temperature probe reading: our assessment is visual and based on texture, not instrumental.

Test 2: Capacity – one container per real meal, not litres on paper

Instead of filling a basket to the stated maximum, we loaded the large container with a complete meal (the same 1.8 kg jointed chicken with potatoes and onion) to see whether pieces had to overlap, and at the same time used the small container to work out how many biscuits fit in a batch while the large one kept going. We also looked at the adjustable base, which changes height depending on the container you fit.

The chicken and vegetables fitted in the 5.7-litre container without piling up, in line with what Ninja promises for a chicken of up to 2 kg: in practice, a meal for four to six people in one container. The 2.3-litre container doesn’t compete on volume but on height and closeness to the heating element, and it let us bake two batches of biscuits without touching the large container. What we can’t guarantee is exactly how many portions would fit with flatter food, because the contact surface barely changes between sizes: what the large container gains is vertical space, not surface area.

Test 3: Cleaning – chicken fat and a warning about slippery glass

After the chicken batch, we let the large container cool and washed it by hand with a non-abrasive sponge, and we also checked the dishwasher with the lid and the crisper plates from the small container, which have a ceramic coating.

The PFAS-free glass didn’t hold on to smells or stuck-on grease: the residue came off with the first pass of the sponge. The crisper plates cleaned easily by hand. The important warning is a different one: with soap and water the large container gets slippery and it’s fairly heavy, so we always handled it with both hands and avoided moving it one-handed while wet, which is worth remembering to avoid a knock or a drop. We don’t have a timed dishwasher cycle to publish, only confirmation that the dishwasher-safe parts come out clean and the advice to handle the large container carefully when it’s soapy.

If you’d like to know more about what to look for, take a look at our air fryer buying guide, where you’ll find the best models we’ve tested and help choosing the right one for you.