Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK Review
Perfect wood-smoked food made easy
Verdict
Thanks to its clever self-ignition and smoker box, the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK delivers beautiful wood-smoked-flavoured food in a convenient, safe and easy way. Great for adding variety to your cooking or for quick mid-week BBQ-style food, this grill works brilliantly in pretty much every home.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Simple to use smoker
- Flexible cooking modes
Cons
- A little bulky
Availability
- UKRRP: £349.99
Key Features
- CapacityHas a 3.8-litre capacity for air frying, and a flat grill plate.
- SmokingWorks with Ninja’s wood pellets to create smoke for cooking.
Introduction
If you’ve ever wanted the simplicity of a Ninja air fryer and grill, combined with the great outdoors and wood-smoke, the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK is for you. This outdoor grill can give your food that smokey taste and is far more convenient and easy to use than a BBQ.
Design and features
- Large plug
- As easy to use as an air fryer
- Clever smoker box
Externally, the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK looks much like the Ninja AG651UK. Both share a similar DNA and set of features, but the Woodfire is a touch chunkier, a little more robustly built and it has side handles that must be screwed into place.
The handles make the grill a little easier to move around and store, which is handy given it will need to be carried outside to be used, as this is not an indoor product at all. Trying to work out where to place it is a little tricky. I sat mine on my patio, but it’s a little low to use comfortably. A metal table would work if you have one, but Ninja also sells a custom stand (£129.99), which is expensive but it does put the grill at a usable height.
As this is an outdoor product, there are some differences such as the RCD plug. A large and chunky device, I could get this into my outdoor plug, although I couldn’t then shut the waterproof cover. Still, having the protection built in does make sense.
There’s also a physical power button, with a waterproof rubber cover. This is hidden under the front of the air fryer, cutting power completely.
I found the controls more familiar. Here, there’s the familiar grill, air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate and reheat options that many other Ninja products have. These all work in the same way that you’d expect: select the function, choose the temperature (Low, Med, Hi for grill, up to 260°C for the other functions), and set the time you want.
There’s a pre-heat phase (which can be skipped), after which the grill will pause until the lid is opened and closed before counting down the timer.
As this is an outdoor grill, it has two new modes that you don’t get elsewhere: the smoker option and the woodfire flavour button. Both use the smoker on the side to ignite wood chips and infuse food with a smoky flavour.
The Woodfire Flavour button can be hit to add smoke to any of the regular modes; the smoker mode automatically uses smoke and cooks food at low temperatures for long periods.
Ninja includes a woodfire scoop, which gives you the exact amount of pellets to fill up the smoker on the side of the grill. There’s a sample box of all-purpose blend pellets (a more delicate flavour) and the robust blend (a more intense flavour, ideal for red meats). Replacement 900g bags cost £14.99.
A full scoop doesn’t contain main pellets, but they’re designed to burn for a long time, so you don’t need many. For longer cooks, such as smoking for hours, the smoker can be refilled up to two times.
Once pellets are in place, the grill automatically runs an ignite phase (this takes a few minutes), which lights them up and starts the smoking process. The Woodfire button can be pressed and held to start the process again when replenishing the supply.
For all cooks, the grill plate has to be installed. This has grooves for searing lines into food. In grill mode, the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK can be used with the lid open or closed. Closed is best for thicker cuts; open for more delicate food that can be easily overcooked.
This grill has a cut-out to let fat drain into the collection basket underneath. This must be installed to prevent mess from dripping out.
For air fryer modes, there’s a 3.8-litre crisper basket that sits on top of the grill. It’s a good size, and wide enough to take chips for around four people. As it’s entirely covered, I needed oven gloves to pick it up and shake the contents while frying. An air fryer with drawers, such as the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone 7.6L Air Fryer, are easier to shake.
This model does not have dishwasher safe components, so once the grill plate and basket have cooled, you’ll need to wash them by hand. They’re easy to get clean.
Performance
- Incredible smokey flavours
- Can be hard to set cooking times
- Excellent air fryer
Using the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK is simple, but I think that it could do with a simpler on/off mode. For example, when using the OG701UK in place of a BBQ, I had to keep upping the time to keep the grill on, particularly when batch cooking multiple ingredients. It’s a minor issue and one that’s easy to deal with.
Cooking results are excellent. First, I started by making some pineapple salsa, which is always best when using chargrilled pineapple. I usually do this over charcoal to get that smokey flavour, but the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK made this job easier. I used the Robust blend to get a deeper flavour.
After ignition and pre-heating (this took about 15 minutes), the grill was hot and ready to cook on. I closed the lid for most of the cook to get the smoke to circulate better, opening occasionally to turn the pineapple. The end result was nicely seared slices of pineapple.
These slices were finely chopped and blended with herbs and spices to create my final salsa, which could then sit and infuse. I found the end result beautifully smoky.
For my next cook, I used the smoker with some marinated cod loin, so that I could make some fish tacos. Going for a slightly longer cook with the all-purpose blend, I found the grill easy to cook on: the non-stick grill made the fish easy to turn and any bits that broke off stayed on the plate as there were no gaps to fall through.
The end result was incredible: beautifully tender on the inside, a nice crisp coating and a fine smokey taste running through the fish.
For the other modes, the air fryer is good. On its maximum temperature, hash browns cook to crispy perfection, and chips come out nice and crisp. However, the results aren’t as good as with a model that has a steam air fry option, such as the Ninja Speedi.
But although it’s nice to have multiple functions, I would prefer to use a regular air fryer indoors for standard foods, while using the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK in place of a BBQ or smoker.
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Should you buy it?
You want smoky flavours in your grilled food: Exceptionally easy to set up and use, this grill delivers beautiful wood-grilled flavours fast.
You need more room to cook: The grill surface is good for two to four people, but if you want to cook for more or have more space a traditional-style BBQ may suit better.
Final Thoughts
Although it is an air fryer, it’s better to think of the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker OG701UK as a BBQ or smoker replacement. Providing more precise temperature control than a manual BBQ, but delivering mouthwatering smoky results, this grill is great for convenience: it can just be fired up mid-week to blast out a quick cook.
If you’re after a way to vary your cooking styles, it’s a great addition to any house; those that need to cook for more may prefer a larger electric BBQ, such as the Char-broil Smart-E.
How we test
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
It uses electricity to heat the elements, but has a smoker box to ignite wood pellets to add flavour.
No, this is an outdoor product only.
No, it is designed to be used with Ninja wood pellets only.
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.
