Regarding a one-stop solution for most of your cooking needs, the Ninja Foodi vs Instant Pot is a very interesting debate, and both probably feature at the top of your list. These two goliaths have revolutionized cooking and kitchens worldwide while constantly battling head-to-head for the top position.
From pot roasts to stir-fries to healthy air-fried or steamed food to broiled, grilled, slow-cooked, and pressure-cooked treats, both are amazing multi-cookers and have proved their efficiency, as their respective large market shares attest. However, how do these multifaceted devices fare when you pit the two against each other?
Read on for a detailed breakdown of the Ninja Foodi vs Instant Pot.
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Ninja Foodi And The Instant Pot: In Brief
To the untrained eye, the Ninja Foodi and the Instant Pot may seem the same, and differences may seem minute, but both brands found fame at different times and with different products.
Instant Pot is the original player, largely responsible for bringing pressure cookers into the limelight. The brand’s first product was launched in 2008 but realized its true potential only nearly a decade later, finding fame among both cooks by choice and cooks by necessity.
While Instant Pot was enjoying its newfound fame, Ninja, one among the fresh multi-cooker brands that sprung up, made its way to the opposite corner, hitherto a fancy blender brand. Its claim to fame? The Ninja Foodi—an air-fryer-cum-pressure-cooker.
With an Instant Pot, cooks had to purchase separate air-frying lids, which the Foodi did away with by combining air frying and pressure cooking.
Not one to be satisfied with second place, Instant Pot soon came out with its own air-fryers-cum-pressure-cookers. It took things up a notch by inventing different models specifically engineered for different budgets.
This strong, competitive back and forth between the two brands is a much-talked-about topic in the internet world, but the amount of conversation can also leave you confused if you’re wondering which multi-cooker to invest in.
To simplify it, here’s a clear comparison of both cookers’ best and worst!
Ninja Foodi Vs Instant Pot: The Better Choice
With many products and constant new releases, it can seem like there can never be a clear answer to which of the two contenders is the better choice.
Both companies employ cutting-edge technology in their products, with each new iteration featuring new/advanced specifics, ranging from multiple pressure settings to LCD screens. It’s safe to say that with these two brands in the market, multi-cookers have surely come a long way!
Both Ninja Foodi and Instant Pot offer a range of appliances that can perform a range of cooking tasks, as mentioned earlier. However, in this article, we compare the brands’ multi-cookers.
Here’s a feature-by-feature comparison of both brands.
Pricing
Instant Pot’s products start at around £77 and cost a maximum of around £250. Ninja Foodi multi-cookers, on the other hand, start at around £145 and go up to £240.
However, both brands have a range of products between their price limits that cater to a range of budgets.
Despite this, it’s clear that Ninja is the more expensive brand, at least when it comes to starting models, particularly these models. Beginners will more easily find cheaper Instant Pots than Ninja Foodi’s.
Cleaning
The Ninja Foodi and the Instant Pot are dishwasher-friendly, making them easy to clean.
The non-stick coating on the inside of the Ninja Foodi makes it even easier to clean the pot, ensuring that dried-up food bits aren’t stuck and are difficult to get off. However, this also means you can’t use any metal spoons or ladles with this pot for fear of scratching off the coating.
On the other hand, the Instant Pot features stainless steel pots, which are both easy to clean and metal-friendly.
Features
The Ninja Foodi can pressure cook, slow cook, sous vide, steam, air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate, warm, and broil various foods. The Instant Pot, specifically its latest model, the Duo Crisp, can do all that the Foodi can.
However, the Ninja Foodi can also make yoghurt—a feature that the Instant Pot doesn’t come with.
When it comes to capacity, though, the Duo Crisp wins, with a 7.6-litre capacity compared to its competitor’s 6.1-litre capacity.
The Instant Pot is also more powerful, even if only slightly, with a 1,500-watt heating element, compared to the Foodi’s 1,460-watt element.
Both weigh around 10 kilograms and can take up quite a bit of countertop space, though they save you quite a bit of space in retrospect, negating the need for multiple utensils.
The Foodi and the Instant Pot also come with a range of standard accessories. The former features a pressure-cooking lid, a crisper lid, a non-stick cooking plate, a non-stick cooking pot (dishwasher safe), and a recipe book.
The latter features a steam rack, a protective pad, an additional air frying lid, a broiling tray, and an air fryer basket.
Pressure Cooking
When compared to the Instant Pot, the Ninja Foodi takes more time for sufficient pressure to build up inside the pot when pressure cooking. The Instant Pot is also the better rice cooker, and meat is also more moist, tender, and shreddable when cooked in this cooker.
However, there’s not too much difference between the cooking time that both pressure cookers take, and the differences in the results are subtle to most palettes.
What Makes The Ninja Foodi Stand Out
The Ninja Foodi stands out regarding technology, with its TenderCrisp system that makes food evenly crisp and cooked. For those wanting a multi-cooker that roasts excellently, some models of the Foodi come with a Smark Cook system, which features nine levels of doneness and four protein settings, along with built-in thermometers.
The Ninja Foodi is also the more sleek, better-looking appliance—far from their initial bulky days that unnecessarily ate up counter space. However, the new variants feature attached lids, which can be rigid (Instant Pot’s lids are completely detachable).
What Makes The Instant Pot Stand Out
The Instant Pot has been around longer, so it only makes sense that it would have a more versatile, varied line-up of products, ranging from seven features to eleven and different sizes of the same model.
There are so many options in the Instant Pot family that you’d think they were customized just for you!
Every model can cook, slow cook, saute, pressure cook, steam, and warm; all high-end models include these basic and advanced functions.
You can also add other features to some Instant Pot models. For example, if your Instant Pot doesn’t have a built-in air-frying feature, you can still incorporate air frying into the Pot with a separate lid for air frying in most models.
However, the Instant Pot is a hit because it makes even the most challenging recipes seem like a breeze. Additionally, it introduces the consistency in the results that are otherwise hard to nail.
Rice, eggs, meat, vegetables, you name it—perfectly cooked every time! The Instant Pot is especially great with liquid-based recipes like stews, soups, sauces, and dips. It even features built-in programs that can cook specific recipes with preset temperatures and times that will give you the best results.
The brand also offers more sous vide options than Ninja.
What The Ninja Foodi Lacks
Though Ninja has a range of product offerings, the number of pressure-cooker models is quite low. Most models don’t have a scaled-up version; even if there is, the scaling-up isn’t much, whether it’s the size or the function we’re talking about.
Additionally, as mentioned earlier, the Foodi is a more substantial investment than the Instant Pot. Considering the price you’re paying for a Foodi, it’s disappointing that the device doesn’t feature something as basic as a stainless steel insert.
There have also been reports of the nonstick coating chipping when the unit’s metal rack is pulled out or inserted, which can contaminate the food.
What The Instant Pot Lacks
Though Instant Pot Duo Crisp is a fitting reply to the Ninja Foodi, the latter is still the better choice for crisping and air frying, especially when cooking in large quantities.
The Instant Pot’s structure doesn’t afford as much space for an air fryer basket as the Ninja Foodi’s does. A spacious air fryer basket is necessary for good air frying since hot air needs to pass evenly around and through the food, which the Foodi has.
This makes it better at air frying. With the Instant Pot, insufficient space will leave you making multiple batches or overcrowding food and getting an improperly cooked result, though the appliance is the larger.
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Ninja Foodi vs Instant Pot: And The Winner Is!
Both cookers are excellent options, with their respective advantages and drawbacks. They share more similarities than differences, so you can substitute one in most recipes.
However, the Instant Pot is the winner if you’re particular about a few points, such as price, more models and features, and better pressure cooking. On the other hand, if you’re particular about air-frying, roasting, advanced features, and crisping, the Ninja Foodi is it.
Who the winner is comes down to your needs and preferences. Sometimes, with experience, you may even be able to tweak certain settings and features on your Foodi to get the textural results that an Instant Pot can give you and vice versa.
Considering your budget, the available space on your countertop and the major functions you’ll use your multi-cooker for may help you zero in on your final choice.
