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Ninja has a knack for solving frustrating kitchen challenges. Air fryers are already meal prep MVPs, but Ninja's new CRISPi Pro Glass Air Fryer tackles what happens after you cook a week's worth of lunches and dinners: the transferring, the storing, the reheating, and the dish pile-up.
I meal-prep regularly and have been relying on my dual-basket Ninja Foodi air fryer. I like having two baskets because I can cook multiple components at the same time, but the process still means shuffling food between prep bowls, the air fryer, storage containers, and reheating vessels throughout the week. It's a small annoyance that adds up. The CRISPi Pro's pitch is simple: What if you could use the same container for all of it, from marinating to storing leftovers?
After a week of air-frying turkey bacon breakfasts, salmon dinners, and multiple meal prep batches, I have thoughts. Here's my honest Ninja CRISPi Pro review: what I made, what I liked, my gripes, and my final verdict on whether you should buy it.
What is the Ninja CRISPi Pro?
The CRISPi Pro is a glass air fryer system designed to handle your entire cooking process from start to finish: prep, cook, store, reheat.
Here's what comes in the box: the air fryer base, a 2.5-quart container for single servings or smaller portions, a 6-quart container for larger meals or meal prep, storage lids for both containers, and a removable, modular base that adjusts to fit different-sized containers. The bigger the container, the lower you position it on the air fryer spine.
The CRISPi Pro has six cooking modes:
- Max Crisp: for packaged and frozen foods
- Air Fry: for fresh proteins
- Bake/Proof: for baked goods
- Roast: for large proteins and vegetables
- Recrisp: for leftovers
- Dehydrate: to remove moisture from fresh ingredients
How is it different from other air fryers?
Instead of the typical metal or plastic basket, this appliance uses glass cooking containers with storage lids. The idea is that you prep your food in the glass containers, cook it, then pop everything straight into the fridge. So no transferring food between dishes, and no extra cleanup.
The glass container system has clear advantages and one significant limitation. On the plus side, the modular design lets you swap container sizes based on what you're cooking. You can use the 2.5-quart for a single portion of salmon or the 6-quart for a week's worth of roasted vegetables. Because the containers double as storage, you're not transferring leftovers to yet another dish, which means less fridge clutter. The glass also lets you monitor your food as it cooks. That way, you can pull those potatoes before they go from golden to charred. And aesthetically, it's sleek—this actually looks nice on a counter.
The downside? At the end of the day, this is a single-basket air fryer. You're working with one container at one temperature at a time. If you're used to dual-basket models like the Ninja Foodi 2-Basket Air Fryer (my daily driver before the CRISPi Pro) that let you cook chicken at 350°F in one basket while roasting Brussels sprouts at 425°F in the other, this will feel limiting.
Before the CRISPi Pro, I relied on my Ninja Foodi for quick weeknight meals. I liked the dual baskets, but the machine came with a learning curve. The Foodi has a different button for every function—air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate—and it takes time to master setting each basket to different modes, times, and temps. The CRISPi Pro uses a dial-and-button combo that's simpler and more intuitive.
What I made (and what worked)
I put the CRISPi Pro through its paces with meal prep batches and random weeknight proteins and vegetables. Here's what I tested:
Turkey bacon: I cooked a few slices on the stovetop and in the air fryer to compare. In the Ninja, I set the turkey bacon to Max Crisp for 10 minutes but pulled it at 7 when I saw it browning through the glass (bonus points for visibility). The edges were crispier than anything I've achieved in a pan. My stovetop version was more evenly cooked, but I still preferred the crunch of the air fryer version.
Salmon: Eleven minutes at the standard air fry setting gave me perfectly tender, flaky salmon. The flesh was juicy, and the skin crisped slightly. I usually prefer cooking salmon in the air fryer anyway—no oil splatter on my stovetop, no lingering fishy smell—so this became my new go-to method.
Roasted potatoes: This is where I learned an important lesson about the Max Crisp setting. I roasted potato chunks at the regular setting, then switched to Max Crisp at the end for extra crunch. Max Crisp is aggressive. Within minutes, my potatoes went from golden to dark. It's like using a broiler—you can't walk away. You need the same instinct you'd use when broiling, where you know 20 minutes will absolutely torch your food.
Lasagna: I adapted a New York Times Cooking recipe for the air fryer, and it didn't disappoint. I layered the cheese mixture, turkey sausage, sauce, and mozzarella in the 6-quart pot and set it to Bake/Proof at 325°F for 20 minutes. The inside was still lukewarm, but the top browned beautifully, so we ate it as is. Next time, I'd cover it with foil first, then remove it at the end so the cheesy top doesn't brown before the rest cooks through. We served the lasagna straight from the glass pot, but then we transferred leftovers to a smaller container to save fridge space.
Reheating leftovers: I reheated chunks of chicken breast and Brussels sprouts using the ReCrisp setting, which defaults to 340°F for 30 minutes. That felt way too long for a small portion, so I adjusted to 15 minutes but pulled it around the 7-minute mark. Everything was heated through, the chicken was juicy, and the Brussels sprouts weren't dried out. It tasted closer to the original than most reheated leftovers.
The next day, I reheated chicken breast, asparagus, broccoli, and rice that I'd meal prepped earlier in the week. I set it to ReCrisp for 10 minutes—a bit too long again—but the results were impressive. The rice had a satisfying crunch with a tahdig-like texture, and the chicken and veggies were juicy with crispy exteriors. This is definitely my favorite setting. I served the leftovers straight from the glass pot and ate out of it.
What I liked
Unlike my Ninja Foodi, the learning curve is short. The dial-and-button interface makes sense immediately—I was cooking within minutes. It's also faster than my oven since there's no preheating, which saves up to 15 minutes of wait time. When you're cooking multiple times a week, that adds up.
The 2.5-quart glass pot is sized perfectly for personal portions. Though I mostly used the 2.5-quart container, I appreciated the 6-quart for meal prepping—cook, snap on the lid, store in the fridge. Being able to serve food in the same pot it's cooked in when you're not in the mood to plate (and deal with extra dishes) is genuinely nifty.
The glass is the main selling point. Being able to see your food cook without opening the fryer means less guessing and no heat loss. The glass containers and compact footprint also make this appliance way better looking than any other air fryer I've used. For now, the CRISPi Pro has officially replaced my Ninja Foodi, which is living in the cabinet under the sink.
What I didn't like
I'm happy to report that I didn't have any major qualms with this appliance. One minor inconvenience: sometimes I have to remove the glass container and reinsert it for it to start cooking.
The glass pots have permanent feet and handles, which make them safe to handle when hot but also mean they take up more fridge space than a standard storage container. And while the containers are designed to go straight from cooking to storage, they're still fairly large. When I was only saving a piece of salmon or a small portion of lasagna, I would end up transferring it to a smaller container anyway, which defeats the whole cook-and-store pitch.
There's also a space between the handle and the glass pot that hasn't caused cleaning issues yet, but I imagine it will trap gunk eventually. It feels like a design oversight waiting to become annoying after a few months of regular use. (However, the whole container is dishwasher-safe if you have one.)
The single-pot limitation is worth noting. It didn't bother me personally, but if you're meal-prepping multiple dishes or cooking a full dinner with sides, you're stuck working sequentially. You can swap pot sizes, but you're still working with one temperature and one timer at a time.
Should you buy the Ninja CRISPi Pro?
If you're a single person or a couple who meal preps and wants to streamline your kitchen routine, this air fryer delivers. The glass container system makes sense for that lifestyle (cook once, store, reheat), and the compact footprint won't dominate your counter.
But if you're cooking for a family or like to cook multiple components simultaneously at different temperatures, the single-pot limitation will frustrate you. It's designed to make weeknight dinners easier for small households, not to replace your oven and stovetop. The CRISPi Pro is thoughtfully designed for a specific use case—meal prepping, cooking for one or two, wanting less cleanup—and it nails it.