Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker 7.5L OL650UKDBCP Review
A versatile pressure cooker, air fryer and more
Verdict
A pressure cooker, steamer, air fryer and more, the Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker 7.5L OL650UKDBCP is a versatile addition to any kitchen. This model is excellent value and cooks brilliantly delivering the best air fryer chips thanks to its combination steam mode. The crisp plate included isn’t quite as useful as the standard crisp basket, but that’s a minor complaint.
Pros
- Huge cooking space
- Excellent steam cooking
- Straightforward to use
Cons
- Crisp plate not as good as crisp basket
- Bulky
Availability
- UKRRP: £249.99
Key Features
- CapacityThis air fryer has a huge 7.5-litre cooking bowl.
Introduction
Rather than cluttering up a kitchen with lots of gadgets, it makes sense to have one gadget that does a lot of things, such as the Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker 7.5L OL650UKDBCP.
A Black Friday special model, this version comes in a fetching copper colour, has a silicone sling and is cheaper than the standard model. Ninja has ditched the normal crisper basket, which is a bit of shame, though.
Design and Features
- Very large
- Lots of cooking options
- crisp plage not as good as the basket
Externally, the Ninja OL650UKDBCP is very similar to the Ninja OL750UK with only one real difference: this model doesn’t have a temperature probe for automated cooking. If you’re not going to cook a lot of meat in this, or you’re happy to check on progress manually, then this shouldn’t be a problem.
Otherwise, the OL650UKDBCP is the ultimate cooking machine, with three main cooking modes, selectable via the slider on the front. There’s Pressure Cook, Combi-Steam and Air Fry/Hob. As with the OL750UK, this model doesn’t need you to change lids when using the pressure cooker, reducing storage needs: always handy when you’ve got a sizeable 11kg machine.
With each mode, there are different cooking programmes. For example, Combi-Steam gives you a choice of just steam or a combination of steam, air frying, roasting, baking and bread. Air Fry/Hob mode gives you air fry, grill, bake, dehydrate, prove, sear/sauté, steam, slow cook and yoghurt making. The sear/sauté option can be used with the lid open, which is great for browning meat and frying onions before using a slow cook recipe.
That’s a lot of cooking modes, although the size of the device. The bread option, for example, is limited by the internal size of the pot: it’s big enough to make round loaves but not longer ones, such as baguettes. I found it easier to cook loves in an oven, such as the Hotpoint SI9 S8C1 SH IX H, which has a steam option.
Once you’ve selected the mode, the controls on the front make it easy to select the temperature (or pressure level for pressure cooking) and time to cook. There’s an excellent guide that ships with the OL650UKDBCP that gives you ideal settings and cooking times for lots of different types of food, from whole chickens and fresh vegetables to frozen chips and sausages.
I always advise taking those cooking instructions as a guide, and adjusting them as you go to get the right results for your food. I found that as I got used to the air fryer, I could adjust the settings more easily.
There’s a huge 7.5-litre bowl with this model, which provides lots of room for ingredients, including anything up to the size of a whole chicken. This bowl has clear markings on the side for liquid levels, both in steam and pressure cooker modes.
The normal model, the OL650UK, and the more expensive OL750UK ship with a 4.7-litre crisp basket for air frying. This model ships with a crisp plage instead which drops into the bottom of the bowl, leaving a gap for hot air to circulate.
I have to say that I prefer the crisper basket. While the basket is a little fiddly to get out when hot, it at least has handles, so a pair of oven gloves is all you need to give food a shake during cooking.
With the crisp plate, there’s nothing to grab. I found that it was best to get a pair of long tongs for tossing food, and for removing food when cooking was done. If you really don’t get on with the crisp plate, then you can buy the crisper basket from Ninja for £21.
Buying the crisp basket may make the OL650UKDBCP more expensive than the standard model, which ships with the basket anyway, but this model comes with extras that make it a good buy anyway. There’s a black apron (always useful), but the main extra is the multi-purpose silicone sling (normally £14.99).
This sling is really handy for lifting large joints or whole chickens out of the main bowl, with its easy-grip handles.
As with the standard model, there’s also the two-tier reversible rack, which you can use for multi-level cooking. Again, there are plenty of multi-level cooking ideas provided in the box.
All items are dishwasher safe, so cleaning up is easy. Just wait until they’ve cooled down before removing them.
Performance
- Steam makes food crisp
- Doesn’t have the highest heat settings
- Pressure cooker automatically releases the valve
Steam cooking is an exceptionally brilliant way of cooking: it keeps food crunchy on the outside and crisp on the inside. I cooked chips using the steam air fry option, cooking for 20-minutes at 200°C using 125ml of water. At the end of the cooking time, after shaking the food, I had some of the best chips that I’ve ever had from an air fryer: moist on the inside with a delicious crunch on the outside.
The OL650UKDBCP tops out at 210°C, which is a little lower than the best standalone air fryers. Cooking hash browns, I got good results, but without the maximum temperatures, I didn’t get quite as crispy a finish.
I used the TenderCrisp guide to cook a chicken in just 40-minutes, checking the internal temperature manually to make sure it was cooked through. With this mode, I used the pressure cooking with 250ml of water for 20-minutes, quick releasing the pressure at the end (normally, the OL650UKDBCP can release pressure automatically, keeping the contents warm), and then I finished off with air frying for another 19-minutes.
At the end, the chicken had a fine crispy skin, but the inside was still perfectly moist. Not bad, considering the cooking time is far less than in an oven.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a versatile appliance that can cook in multiple ways, there are few better than this.
If you want automated cooking via a temperature probe, try the OL750UK model instead.
Final Thoughts
If you want more than an air fryer, the Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker 7.5L OL650UKDBCP makes a lot of sense. It’s a pressure cooker, a multi-level steamer and an air-fryer all-in-one. Its steam mode, in particular, is phenomenal, creating the best chips that I’ve made in an air fryer.
My one complaint is that the crisp plate provided isn’t quite as useful as the regular crisp basket, although I found using tongues to move food around largely goes around any limitations that the plate introduced.
For the money, the Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker 7.5L OL650UKDBCP is hard to beat, but if you fancy something a bit different, check out my guide to the best air fryers.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every air fryer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main air fryer for the review period
We cook real food in each air fryer, making chips, frying sausages and cooking frozen hash browns. This lets us compare quality between each air fryer that we test.
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FAQs
The two devices are identical, except the OL750UK has a temperature probe for automated cooking.
It has pressure, steam, steam air fry, steam bake, steam bread, air fry, grill, bake, dehydrate, prove, sear/saute, slow cook, yoghurt, keep warm
Full specs
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
