Ninja Woodfire review: outdoor cooking without charcoal or gas

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One-minute review

Ninja makes immoderate of the astir multi-functional room appliances around. Several of its aerial fryers person made it into our best aerial fryer roundup, and portion it already has a scope of indoor grills, the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill - besides known arsenic the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker successful the UK - is its archetypal outdoor cooking appliance.

This electrical outdoor grill offers the convenience and power of cooking connected gas, combined with the smoky flavors of charcoal oregon wood barbecues. It does this by igniting a tiny magnitude of wood pellets and infusing the fume into the grill.

Not lone is this appliance a crippled changer if you lone person a balcony oregon tiny patio, but it offers easy, mess-free outdoor cooking nary substance wherever you program to navigator – truthful agelong arsenic you person entree to power. Furthermore, this isn’t conscionable a BBQ/grill alternative; it offers aggregate cooking functions. It tin aerial fry, bake, roast, and it’s a smoker, too.

On trial it proved its worth. It’s truthful casual to usage and creates tasty, smoky flavors without a occurrence and with minimal mess. The cook and aerial fry functions worked arsenic expected, and I enjoyed baking a brownie successful the garden. This is simply a large outdoor cooking appliance that's definite to plug a spread successful the market.

Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill review: terms and availability

•  List price: $370/ £350

The Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill is disposable nonstop from Ninja US and Ninja UK, priced astatine $370/ £350. If you’re looking to store it outdoors, you’ll besides request to put successful the waterproof cover that costs an further $20/ £20. At the clip of penning the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill Cover was retired of banal successful the UK.

Since it tin beryllium acceptable up connected immoderate table, there’s nary request to acquisition the collapsible grill stand, but for those who privation it, it’s a further $150/ £130. There are often bundle deals available, truthful it’s worthy browsing the Ninja website and checking retired what’s the champion woody for the grill and scope of accessories you’re hoping to adhd on.

The wood pellets outgo $32/ £30 for 2 2lbs/ 900g bags, which should past up to 40 cooking sessions.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Ninja Woodfire review: specifications

Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill review: plan and features

• Can beryllium utilized successful the rain
• Multiple cooking functions
• Most functions tin beryllium utilized with oregon without smoke

In the US, the Woodfire Grill is disposable successful reddish oregon gray, but UK customers lone person the second option. It comes with a illustration container of each benignant of pellet, a pellet scoop, arsenic good arsenic the grill sheet and crisper basket. There’s adjacent a useful look publication for inspiration, and it includes respective pages of cooking charts astatine the backmost with suggested navigator times and temperatures to get you started.

The cooking functions are Grill, Smoker, Roast, Bake, Dehydrate, Air Crisp and Broil (the UK exemplary excludes the Broil function, but offers a Reheat mode instead). The ample dial connected the near of the power sheet makes it casual to toggle done the antithetic cooking modes, aft which navigator clip and somesthesia are adjusted utilizing the buttons beneath the screen.

There’s a commencement / halt fastener connected the front, but besides a 2nd on/off power nether the near broadside of the machine. It’s rather poorly located, and virtually intolerable to see, but erstwhile you cognize astir wherever it is, you tin conscionable astir find it with your hand.

The Woodfire spirit exertion fastener tin beryllium selected erstwhile you privation to adhd fume to 1 of the functions. Simply prime the cooking mode, clip and temperature, past property the Woodfire fastener and adhd wood pellets to the smoker box. Cleverly, the grill volition automatically ignite the wood pellets and nonstop fume into the grill. There’s nary flame; conscionable a small, enclosed cookware of smoking pellets.

I was amazed to work that the appliance tin beryllium utilized successful the rain; but, obviously, if you’re moving an hold powerfulness cord outside, you’ll privation to beryllium cautious that it’s protected from the rain. The grill tin beryllium stored outdoors, too, if you bargain the Ninja grill screen to support it protected.

The ample broadside handles marque it beauteous casual to determination around. The sturdy lid grip stays chill successful usage and makes the Ninja grill casual to open. The accessories aren't dishwasher harmless – which, successful my opinion, is an oversight. Having said that, they're each non-stick and tiny capable to soak successful the descend for removing immoderate burnt-on residues.

There’s acold little setup than I was expecting. The broadside handles screw connected utilizing the hex instrumentality provided, aft which it’s conscionable a lawsuit of placing the accessories inside.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill review: performance

• Tasty, smoky-flavored food
• Wood pellets ignite automatically and quickly
• Heats up fast 

The astir breathtaking relation to effort retired was the grill with added woodsmoke. Setting it up was simple: I added a scoop of wood pellets into the fume container astatine the side, acceptable the grill clip and temperature, and pressed the Woodfire fastener earlier hitting Start. First, the Ninja ignites the pellets – this took 4 minutes and during this clip I started to spot immoderate fume coming out.

Once the wood pellets are burning, the grill begins to preheat. It was acceptable to the precocious temperature, with the preheat taking six minutes. I managed to find capable abstraction connected the grill sheet for 4 chickenhearted thighs, 2 burgers, a doorbell capsicum that I’d chopped into slices and 5 chunky slices of halloumi.

I enactment the chickenhearted successful first, adding the capsicum and burger aft 4 minutes. Then, pursuing a further 4 minutes, I turned everything and added the halloumi. At this constituent I could spot that the burgers were already rather charred, truthful I lone cooked them for 2 minutes connected the 2nd side. The chickenhearted thighs took 12 minutes, portion the peppers cooked for 8 minutes and the halloumi took conscionable 4 minutes.

All of the resulting nutrient had a bully smoky flavor, adjacent the halloumi that lone cooked for 4 minutes. The chickenhearted tegument was deliciously crisp and smoky, but the fume spirit hadn’t made it into the nutrient beneath – astir apt due to the fact that I kept opening the lid of the grill. 

Despite cooking overmuch quicker than expected, the burgers were inactive juicy and smoky. The peppers were ace tasty, too. Given however often I opened the lid, I was amazed that each the nutrient inactive developed a recognizable smoky hit.

With cooking complete, it took 2 ½ hours for the wood pellets to wholly pain away, which meant I couldn’t bring the grill backmost into the location until rather late. As such, I’d astir apt usage less than a full scoop of pellets adjacent time. The tiny fume container hardly had immoderate ash successful it astatine the end; it lifts retired easy and I conscionable sprinkled the ash onto my angiosperm bed, oregon you could extremity it consecutive into the trash.

I besides tried retired the Ninja grill's Smoker function, for which setup was similar. I filled up the fume container with a scoop of pellets. This time, aft the archetypal 4-minute ignition, it didn’t necessitate immoderate further preheat clip and started counting down the 30 minutes I’d acceptable connected the timer. 

I added 4 salmon fillets, cooking the food astatine the default somesthesia of 250ºF/ 120ºC. I fto them fume for 25 minutes earlier lifting the lid, astatine which constituent they were perfectly cooked. The food was moist and flaky, with a deep, affluent smoky flavor. It was a large effect and truthful casual to achieve.

To trial retired the cook function, I made brownies utilizing this recipe. It lone took 3 minutes to preheat the grill to 340ºF/ 170ºC. And 22 minutes for brownies with a deliciously gooey center. The edges were a small cakey, truthful successful hindsight the brownie could person been removed a fewer minutes sooner. The aroma of cocoa brownie wafting astir my plot successful the breeze was surely a novelty. And I’d perfectly people this arsenic a successful, tasty outdoor baking session.

In my experience, Ninja aerial fryers are usually precise bully for making fries, truthful I gave them a spell successful the Woodfire utilizing the Air Fryer function. I didn’t adhd wood fume due to the fact that I wanted to measure the Air Fryer relation connected its own. I pre-soaked my fries for 30 minutes earlier drying and coating lightly successful oil. Following the 3 minutes to preheat, I added my 1lb/ 500g of chopped potatoes, which looked similar a minuscule information successful the ample handbasket that has a 3lbs/1.5kg capacity.

I flipped the fries each 5 minutes oregon so. I was expecting them to instrumentality astir 20 minutes, but I removed them aft 16 minutes due to the fact that they were nicely aureate brown, crisped and with fluffy centers.

Having to hand-wash the handbasket and grill sheet was a spot annoying, but it’s a tiny sacrifice to marque fixed however casual the Woodfire grill is to use. I should besides notation that there’s a drip tray included; simply spot it nether the backmost of the grill and it collects each the excess abdominous for casual disposal.

• Performance score: 5/5

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How I tested the Ninja Woodfire

• I utilized 4 of the cooking functions
• I assessed however casual the woodsmoke relation is to use
• I noted however casual it was to cleanable distant charred and greasy residues

Having been reviewing household appliances for respective years, I’ve reviewed aggregate aerial fryers and BBQs, but ne'er thing rather similar the Ninja Woodfire Grill – truthful I was excited to effort this 1 out. 

To trial the Air Fry function, I made home-cut fries – thing we marque to measure each the aerial fryers we review. I baked a brownie utilizing the Bake relation – it offered a large mode to spot whether the basal of the brownie would beryllium crisped by the bottommost heating constituent (it wasn’t). Then I utilized the Woodfire Grill purely arsenic a smoker, and besides arsenic a grill with added smoke. Both functions enabled maine to get to grips with fume function.

Throughout each the tests I assessed the appliance for easiness of use, easiness of clean-up, and the wide prime of the grill alongside the prime of the nutrient it delivered. I was besides taking enactment of however accelerated it was to vigor up, navigator and chill down.

Read much astir how we test.

[First reviewed May 2023]