Ninja is everywhere. In a relatively short time, the brand has positioned itself to take over just about every corner of your countertop. Air-frying? Check. Ice cream making? You bet. And now Ninja is trying to bring the outside in with its Foodi Smart XL Grill, which claims to give you backyard barbecue results without the smoke or mosquitoes.
I used the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill to feed my family of four for a week. Here’s my honest review.
What is the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill, and how does it work?
The Ninja Foodi XL Grill is a (slightly) larger-format countertop grill that aims to give you juicy, seared results without firing up any propane or charcoal. But in practice, with its integrated fan and electric coil heating element, this grill is more of an air fryer or convection toaster oven reoriented to operate like something you’d have on the back patio. The top lid even pivots up and down just like many outdoor barbecue grills. But unlike an outdoor grill, this vented grill has a built-in mesh filter that controls splatters and keeps smoke to a minimum.
In Grill mode, a bottom heating element heats the nonstick grill grate while the top coil and fan circulate the air. The result is a consistent and contained high-heat cooking environment (up to 500ºF) that mimics what you’d get from a moderately priced propane grill. In all other modes—Air Crisp (air-fry), Bake, Broil, Roast, and Dehydrate—the top heating element and fan are the main source of heat and can handle everything from charring chicken to gently baking cakes.
The “smart” part of this system is an integrated probe thermometer attachment, which communicates with the appliance’s preprogrammed settings to automatically shut off based on your chosen meat type and doneness level. It even accounts for carryover cooking once the food’s removed. You can also use it to manually check the internal temperature of whatever you’re cooking when not using a preset function.
What can you make with the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill?
A quick glance through the user manual and recipe booklet shows a wide range of possibilities beyond burgers and steaks. Because the grill also operates as an air fryer, it is, in many respects, no different than any other small convection oven you might put on your counter, just configured a little differently. So, in addition to chicken skewers or fish fillets, the grill can tackle roast pork tenderloins and vegetables in the same batch.
You can also use it to bake. I made cookies, but because the upper heating coil and grease filter limit the clearance, I would be worried about any baked goods that might rise a little too much and top out, so bread bakers beware.
What I made
I used both the preset and manual cooking options for a variety of dishes to test how flexible the grill really was.
For a rib-eye steak and chicken breasts, I used the probe thermometer with the Beef and Chicken presets (medium-well for steak, 165°F for chicken). The steak came out perfectly, but the chicken—compared to what I’m used to making with an immersion circulator—was too dry. The grill guides you with beeps and onscreen messages, and I suspect I missed the “flip” instruction halfway through my chicken cook, which may have been why it was overdone. For the steak, I was much more attentive. I imagine the single 165°F doneness setting exists to avoid undercooking poultry, but the combination of the “remove food” beep and carryover cooking pushed my chicken past perfectly moist.
I went rogue on quarter-pound beef burgers and air-fried green beans, opting to use the HI grill setting or manual temperature controls on the Air Crisp setting (though I did refer to the cooking times guide chart in the back of the recipe booklet). I dialed in my desired doneness on both items pretty well by checking the internal temperature of the burgers or browning on the beans and closing the lid to keep cooking a bit longer as needed, much like an outdoor grill or regular air fryer. I also freewheeled a bit with some turkey meatballs on Broil, and with a small batch of cookies baked on Bake mode, laying a small sheet of parchment on the bottom of the cooking pan. Even though there was limited space for the cookies to spread, they cooked in the same time as in my convection oven.
Finally, I followed a couple of recipes from the included booklet, including a zucchini flatbread. I started with raw pizza dough on the slotted grill insert, and after just three minutes on HI, it puffed up enough to flip, then cooked for another minute before adding toppings and closing the lid to finish cooking. Although some of my lighter toppings got blown around by the circulation fan, it did work. I also used the Dehydrate mode to turn some apple slices into chips, which proved this appliance has more than a few handy uses, depending on whether or not you remember/have reason to use them.
What I liked
After getting past the learning curve of both the presets and manual functions, the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill is easy to use. If you’re new to the cooking techniques it can handle, it walks you through each step. But if you already know what you’re doing in the kitchen, it’s a little jarring, because you’re asked to trust the machine over your own instincts. Once you get that, though, you might start thinking of “grilling season” as a year-round event.
Considering you can air-fry, dehydrate, and use this grill as a small secondary oven, I liked that it brought some versatility to my meal prep. However, head-to-head with my gas oven, I found the preheating to be a little all over the place in terms of beating or matching that speed. In many instances, I would say the preheat cycle on the Ninja was faster, but that seemed to depend on the desired temperature and which preset function I was using. But once cooking, it was generally quicker and more efficient than if I had used the oven or cooktop for the same kind of dish. And it’s relatively quiet, about the noise level of a microwave oven.
Cleanup of the components can be a bit annoying, but it’s much easier because everything is dishwasher-safe, including the splatter guard–slash–grease filter, which is essential for smoke-free cooking. The only part that isn’t dishwasher-safe is the probe thermometer, which is easy to clean by hand.
What I didn’t like
If you’re relying on the preset cooking programs of The Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill, you have to follow the beeps and prompts closely. While the more manual cooking methods employ a countdown timer, the “smart” grill settings are based on internal temperature measurements, which can vary widely depending on the cut of meat. So waiting for the machine to tell you to “flip” the food or pull it out for a resting period before serving can feel a bit like babysitting.
As mentioned, yes, you need to (ideally) wash everything after every use, per the instructions. The instructions do advise that a simple wiping down of the grease filter is enough if you’re doing back-to-back cooking. The only way this really felt limiting was, say, if I wanted to grill steaks and then also air-fry some green beans. While both methods use different inserts, they utilize the same cooking pan on the bottom, which needs to be removed and wiped down. This risks one dish getting cold or resting too long while the other is cooking. However, it helps that the grill and pan both have a nonstick coating, making a quick rinse possible.
Despite offering multiple cooking modes, I couldn’t help but wonder if an air fryer–toaster oven might be more worth the counter space, plus either a cast-iron skillet, a dedicated cooktop grill pan, or a countertop grill–slash–griddle for when you need it.
Is it smokeless?
If used as suggested, yes, my experience was almost totally smoke-free. Included with the grill is a guide as to what temperature setting (LO, MED, HI, MAX) to grill certain foods in order to minimize the risk of burning and smoke when not using the “smart” presets.
Ninja has two main recommendations for keeping this a smokeless operation. First: Use higher smoke point oils (canola, grapeseed, vegetable, etc.), not more easily burnable fats like olive oil or butter. Second: Clean the upper splatter guard insert of any grease after every use. Yes, every use. Luckily, it is dishwasher-safe, so that clean up can be easy.
Should you buy a Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill?
It comes down to how often you want grilled food and how comfortable you are using your existing stove and oven.
Any appliance that “does the same thing but differently” has finicky processes to learn. But with presets, a probe thermometer, and the included manual and recipe book, the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill makes basic protein and vegetable cooking straightforward. Could you accomplish most of the same things with the tools you already own? There’s a good chance the answer is yes, especially if you have an air fryer. But it also puts all those features, plus a no-fuss grill, in one easy-to-clean place.
In the end, the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Grill is a solid little (mostly) smokeless grill for indoor spaces, and my only hesitation with recommending it for apartments would be its substantial footprint. So if you plan to have it out all the time, it behooves you to learn all of its tricks to make it worth the real estate.
Get to cookin’
- For the same crispy results in a smaller package, these are the air fryers we recommend.
- If you prefer the real deal (and a little fresh air), fire up one of these top-rated gas grills.
- Not ready to commit to a grill? Try one of these versatile toaster ovens instead.