I tried Ninja's 8-in-1 toaster oven - here's how it works and how it might help a cluttered worktop

The Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Flip Mini Oven is less air fryer, and more mini oven. Yes, it has an air fryer setting, but most of its modes like roast, grill, bake and the options for toast or bagels just feel more like you're using an oven than an air fryer.

That said, with the promise of less energy use, and the handy flip-up innovation that means it doesn’t take up too much space on the counter, this could be a good option for people who don’t already have a built-in oven or are looking to save on energy bills.

It also has a special selling point of being all about the traybake which might be appealing to those in search of a one-pot wonder cooked quickly and efficiently. I tried it to see whether it's a great hybrid of one of the best toasters and the best air fryers, or if it's best left on the shelf.

Ninja Flip Oven Product Specs

• Type: 8-in-1 mini oven
• Dimensions: 14.96 x 19.72 x 7.56 cm
• Weight: 8.5kg
• Temperature: 240C
• Functions: 8 cooking modes
• Power: 2400W,
• Capacity: 3.8L

Who tested this product?

Ellen Manning

Ellen Manning is a freelance journalist specialising in food and drink, as well as an award-winning food blogger and there’s nothing she loves more than exploring the world through food and writing about her experiences. Over the years she’s tested all sorts of kitchen gadgets from air fryers to microwaves, and coffee grinders to barbecues, trying to cut through all the hype and see if after extensive testing, something really is a must-have, or just another cupboard-cluttering waste of space and money.

Unboxing the product

The Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven has the same swanky Ninja packaging as its siblings, including a focus on sustainability. No plastic or polystyrene here, just the protective cardboard shell and recyclable bag to keep it safe.

It’s a big bit of kit, but the big selling point is the ‘flip’ element which means that while it looks pretty bulky on your counter-top, it flips up to take up less space. A clever idea though I’m keen to see whether it’s as simple and easy as it claims.

Its silver finish feels quite industrial, and it’s not quite as sleek and space-age as some other gadgets in this category, but it’s still got a nice digital display and feels pretty high end.

I’m delighted to find a super easy guide for using it, rather than the biblical books of instructions that come with some ovens and air fryers. And after a quiet peruse - as well as a leaf through the recipe book that comes with it, I definitely come away with the feeling that while one of the eight functions of the Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven is to air fry, this is more mini oven than all-encompassing cooking gadget.

As well as air frying, it roasts, bakes, grills, dehydrates, toasts, cooks bagels and has a keep warm setting. All things the oven in my kitchen could do to be fair, so it’s just a case of whether this does it more cheaply and easily.

According to the marketing blurb, it will save up to 55% on my energy bill, so maybe this is where the real use is. It also claims to be up to 50% faster than fan ovens, which could be great for families in a hurry, or someone who simply doesn’t want to wait.

Cooking

Chicken breast

The simplest thing to cook in an air fryer - and the original reason I bought an air fryer in the first place - a chicken breast is my first test. While some air fryers or ovens have presets for chicken, this is arguably simpler (some might say more basic), so it’s a case of setting the temperature and time and then testing as you go.

This is fine by me. I’ve never owned an air fryer with a built-in temperature probe, and don’t tend to blindly trust presets on gadgets either, so I’m used to guessing the time and temperature then checking if something's cooked. No big deal.

I go 180C for 20 minutes which is my standard go-to time. There’s a light you can put on to take a look at progress without opening the door, which is quite handy to see how it’s doing. At 20 mins they look close, so I take them out, but the probe reveals the bigger of the breasts is not quite cooked. It’s only a few minutes more, though, and it’s perfect.

The easy instructions include a section on which of the several pans and racks I should use for what purpose. For air frying I can apparently use the tray, with the air fryer basket on top.

Which I do, and it’s great as the tray catches any juices from the chicken. But I also realise that because the trays are separate it’s a bit of a faff pulling them out of the oven. User error perhaps, but I think it could be a bit simpler with a tweak to the design.

Homemade chips

Homemade chips are always a good measure of an air fryer. According to Ninja, the Foodi Flip Mini Oven needs up to 75% less fat than traditional frying, using Digital Crisp Control Technology for a perfectly-cooked inside and crispy outside.

Which means, technically, this should make great chips. I chop my potatoes up into thick-ish chips, fairly uniform in size, season them and toss in oil. Then pop in the oven at 180C for 15 minutes in the air fryer basket sitting over the tray.

On it goes, and fairly quietly too, with the sound only getting up to 54dB - much quieter than some other air fryers. It’s quiet, but my chips aren’t done after 15 minutes, so I leave them in and put a breaded fish fillet in for the 30 minutes it needs, and figure that will be enough time for them to be cooked.

It seems slow going for the next 15 minutes, so I nudge the temperature up to 200C to crisp them up and after a total of 40 minutes they’re done. Brown and crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. I’m not sure how much different or more efficient this is than putting them in the oven though to be honest.

Frozen food

The breaded cod is my test of the Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven’s ability to do frozen food. The instructions say 180C for 30 minutes, and the fish is done before that, confirmed thanks to my trusty temperature probe, and plenty hot enough inside when I try it, with a decent crunch to the breadcrumbs.

This gadget might not have been great for chips, but for stuff like this it works well.

Bacon

Bacon provides me with another test subject for the air fryer function. It cooks quickly, crisping up nicely and ready to eat in about five minutes. But again, having to juggle two trays that aren’t attached but need to be removed in tandem to prevent dripping isn’t easy.

It all feels a bit clumsy. I can’t help but feel that the basket could do with an integral catcher, as I find the bacon fat dripping on the front door as I remove it - leaving me with something else to clean.

Bagel

Two of the Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven’s cooking modes are ‘toast’ and ‘bagel’, so I decide to try a bagel. It’s fairly simple and easy to operate in bagel mode, with the option to choose how many slices - which I assume to be bagel halves - I’ve put in, as well as how ‘dark’ I want it toasted.

In the bagel goes, set to two slices and toasting to a midway setting, and it’s done within a few minutes. Great, though I can’t help but think I could have toasted it in my toaster in this time and didn’t necessarily need a new gadget for something this simple.

Traybake

The Ninja Foodi Flip claims to have been purposefully designed for traybake meals, and even comes with a recipe book dedicated to them, from – lemon and herb chicken breasts to nachos and roast vegetables. As well as specific recipes, there’s an idiots guide to how to assemble a traybake - starting with protein, adding veg, then some kind of seasoning or marinade then simply cook.

I’m no stranger to traybakes so decide to do my own thing, mixing vegetables like aubergine, onion, courgette, peppers and leek, tossing in olive oil and curry powder, then adding a chicken breast cut into four manageable chunks - mainly because I’m a bit worried the veg might get frazzled before the chicken’s cooked through.

The guide recommends roasting at 200C for 10-20 minutes for fish, and 20-30 minutes for poultry, so I go with 25 minutes at 200C. By 20 minutes in the chicken is definitely cooked (thanks, trusty temperature probe), but I think the veg could be a bit crispier so I leave it for the final five and it comes out perfectly.

What's it like to clean?

The Ninja Foodi Flip not only flips up, but its back also flips down to apparently make it easier to clean. It’s a good idea, and makes it easy to access. The trays are easy to remove, but I’m a bit disheartened to see that some aren’t dishwasher proof so need washing by hand.

Not the end of the world, but also not ideal compared to some gadgets that are easy to sling in the dishwasher and forget about. There’s also the issue mentioned above of meat juices dripping onto the door - again creating mess.

How does it compare to similar models and predeccesors?

The Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven is a beefy bit of kit, and does feel a bit more industrial than some of its sleeker alternatives, like the Ninja MAX PRO. It very much feels more oven than air fryer, though the fact you’ve got the versatility of both, with multiple functions, puts it up there alongside other similar gadgets like the Sage Smart Oven Air Fryer.

The fact it can be flipped up helps with storage, and might make it preferable to some other models, though the £219.99 price tag could be off putting to some other cheaper models. It’s also not quite as easy to clean as some other models

Should you buy the Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven?

The Ninja Foodi Flip Mini Oven is a decent bit of kit - as you’d expect with Ninja’s reputation. The fact you can do all sorts with it from roasting meat to air frying chips, baking cookies, and even toasting bagels and toast means it’s a versatile gadget, and the traybake selling point will most likely be a winner with families or time-starved people eager for a one-tray meal.

That said, we’ve been cooking tray bakes in our ovens for years, and most households have a toaster that’s probably a bit easier than using this to toast a bagel or make your breakfast. The space-saving idea is pretty good, which leads me to wonder if this is a gadget for someone who is tight on space and perhaps doesn’t have a built-in oven in their kitchen - or maybe doesn’t want to use it for a specific reason, whether that’s cost-cutting or something else.

However, if saving money is on the agenda, it’s not the cheapest gadget of its type out there, so you’ve got to speculate to accumulate, so to speak. It’s pretty intuitive to use, which is always appealing, but equally not the easiest thing to clean compared to some, which might be frustrating for those of us who like to be able to throw as much as possible in the dishwasher. One for people with a specific requirement, perhaps, though not necessarily the go-to for all of us.