Some initial observations about the Ninja Foodi Grill XL (DG551)

Have been watching the Ninja Foodi Grill XL (DG551), and its smaller sibling, the Ninja Foodi Grill (EG201), for a minute. The EG201 hit a Black Friday price of $159 and was tempting, but I wasn’t sure about the site; the XL doesn’t seem to dip below $219 much these days (and when it does it’s down to $199). I liked it at $219, not at $299, so when it returned to that price, with same day delivery, I pounced.

I have an old BLACK+DECKER Countertop Convection Toaster Oven (CTO6335S) and a George Foreman 4-Serving Removable Plate Electric Grill and Panini Press (GRP1060B). Both were ... Fine. The toaster oven had a habit of heating up to the point where the LCD screen turned black and was unreadable, and it was hard to clean and cooked somewhat unevenly. The George Foreman ably served me through two dying dogs (Maynard, lymphoma and chemo; Astrid, old age), where cooking up fatty frozen hamburger patties was clutch in keeping them interested in eating. But it took up a lot of counter space and was messy and dragging it out to use was a hassle.

So when idly looking at combo devices that also air fried, the Ninja caught my eye, as a 6-in-1 device that could replace not only the toaster oven, but also the George Foreman. My main questions: Would it fit, and will it make toast?

Preparation and Accessories

Before getting started, if you don’t already have silicon-tipped tongs, you’ll need some. I ordered this set of two (7" and 9") GORILLA GRIP Stainless Steel Heat Resistant Kitchen Tongs for $12. I’m also re-using this Chicago Metallic Professional 4-Piece Non-Stick Toaster Oven Set ($20); all the pieces fit inside the Grill XL with the cooking pot installed.

Also, if you don’t have canola, refined coconut, avocado, vegetable, or grapeseed oil (cooking oils with a higher smoke point), grab some; they recommend against using olive oil, butter, or margarine when grilling.

 

One item of note, that I’ve seen mentioned in reviews as a point of frustration: The marketing materials show an air fryer basket that’s ceramic coated (on the right side of this image, which is this part, I gather?):

 

The Grill XL with its accessories pictured

 

And maybe that was the case initially? But mine came with the wire basket, and according to the manual included with my Grill XL, that’s what it was supposed to come with:

The mesh fryer basket, and the manual page depicting it

So, that answers that question. I’m not sure I care enough to care, but some might.

Dimensions

Contrary to every online report I found, the Grill XL is not 16" tall when closed (and, I mean, looking at photos, it’s obvious it’s not as tall as it is wide). In point of fact, it’s about 9 3/4" tall with the lid closed, and about 16" with the lid open. It easily clears my 18"-above-the-counter cabinets:

Ninja Foodi Grill XL height with lid closed

Ninja Foodi Grill XL height with lid open

The unit is about 15.7" wide and about 11" deep, but note that with the lid open, the unit occupies almost the entirety of my 25" deep counter, making unusable the surface in front of it (at least while the lid is open). But I’d picked up a Stove Top Cover for Electric Stove - Silicone Stove Mat for Glass Top which alleviates that issue.

 

Anyway.

 

I went with the XL model because it would maximize the use of that little section of granite (and nothing else would fit next to the non-XL model), and the larger cooking size meant I could use it for baking things like cinnamon rolls, muffins, and cookies, cooking frozen pizzas, etc.

The internal cooking pot is 14.2" L x 9.9" W x 2.6" deep, which fits all my existing trays. (It’s about 17% smaller than the cooking area of the Black & Decker toaster oven, and it will limit the size of frozen pizza I can toss in, but that’s objectively probably a good thing.) 

The grilling surface is 9" x 12", which compares favorably to the George Foreman (almost double that unit’s 9.5" x 6.5" grill surface).

I also kinda wanted the thermometer to remove some guesswork when cooking protein.

 

My first meal was a couple of thin steaks from the supermarket, with some veggies. I put it on HI for the steak, and 5 minutes, and the results were great (couldn’t use the thermometer, the steaks were too thin):

 

Steaks and veggies on the grill

Finished meal with grill lines (on one side only)

Toast

I made a sandwich with toasted bread (Dave's Killer Bread Good Seed Thin-Sliced). My method, adapted from other comments online, was to put both pieces of bread in the crisper basket on top of the cooking pot, set it for Air Crisper at 350°F for 4 minutes, and skip pre-heating. I added a slice of cheese with 3 minutes remaining, and it melted perfectly:

Sandwich with melted cheese on toasted bread

(Okay, not the greatest photo, whatever.)

Now, how do I make french fries?