Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK review: Faster cooking with more flexibility than most

In a sea of air fryers, Ninja has established a great reputation for its appliances (many of which have made our best air fryers roundup), with the Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK being no exception. 

That’s because it effectively sticks to the same winning formula: it’s easy to use with named buttons and a simple control panel, quick to heat up and has a wide temperature range, so you can both cook food quickly and dehydrate it slowly. 

The Max Pro has another clever feature too – a crisper plate that can be mounted high in the drawer. Combined with its 240°C Max Crisp programme, it will crisp up food from the freezer in 10 minutes flat, which is ideal for those with busy lifestyles. Let’s not forget the price either. While it’s more expensive than some similarly sized air fryers, it’s one of Ninja’s cheapest models, making it a great option if you’re trying to keep costs down but want that reliable Ninja technology.

Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK review: What do you get for the money? 

When you can buy a similarly sized air fryer for under £100, such as Salter’s EK5876 Digital Air Fryer 6.5l and the Tower Vortx 5L Digital, you might wonder why you should stretch to the £150 price tag of the Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro. 

The main reason to do so is its fantastic flexibility. While there’s only a single crisper plate that sits in the air fryer’s 6.2l drawer, you can adjust this so it’s able to sit in different positions. For the majority of functions, it’s best in the usual low position. However, when rotated 90-degrees the crisper plate sits higher, which puts frozen food nearer the element and fan. This offers faster results, especially when combined with the 240°C Max Crisp function. 

I used this method to cook hash browns from the freezer and found that the 10 minute default time was more than enough. After nine minutes, the hash browns had begun to singe slightly at the corners and had the programme run its course, they would have been a tad overdone.

The amount of flat space inside for cooking is also impressive. The crisper plate measures 21 x 21cm (WD), with enough space for up to four chicken breasts. Despite its generous capacity, the air fryer itself isn’t huge. Its dimensions of 28 x 36 x 30.5cm (WDH) allow it to sit comfortably below wall units or in a cupboard when not in use; it only weighs 5.8kg, so it can be moved around easily. It’s not unattractive, but its mainly matte exterior, physical buttons and squat shape does have more of a practical feel than previous glossy incarnations, such as Ninja’s AF100UK.

The controls have the same simplicity of most of Ninja’s appliances. It has a digital display and there are six named programmes along the bottom of the panel – Air Fry, Max Crisp, Bake, Roast, Dehydrate and Reheat. You’ll also find up and down buttons for toggling time and temperature, as well as buttons to turn on and start the air fryer. You also get a recipe booklet in the box with basic recipes. It has a two-year guarantee, for extra peace of mind. 

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Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK review: What’s good about it?

If you hate waiting around for your oven, the Ninja Max Pro is a great appliance to add to your kitchen. There’s no shortage of power, as it allows you to cook at a toasty 240°C, which is significantly hotter than the average 200ºC maximum supported by most other air fryer brands.

The Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK offers up to 2,000W of power, which is more than the similarly sized 1,600W Salter EK5876 Digital Air Fryer 6.5l. Yet side-by-side, the Ninja isn’t more expensive to run over a long period and cooks faster. In my tests, one hour’s usage of the Ninja Max Pro at 200°C consumed 0.624 kWh of electricity, which at a rate of 29p per unit would cost around 18p – the same cost as the Salter.

The versatility continues at the other end of the temperature spectrum. Its range can be reduced to as low as 40°C using the Dehydrate setting and runs for up to 12 hours at a time, which is ideal for drying fruit or meat to make jerky. Another function I enjoyed using is the reheat programme, which makes cooking up leftover pizza a breeze.

Even the drawer is well-designed. It is dishwasher-safe, with a robust feel and plenty of flat space for cooking food evenly. I used it to make a batch of fresh chips using rinsed then dried-off potatoes tossed in a small amount of oil, on the Air Fry setting. Its default time is 20 minutes for 500g – as I was cooking slightly more than that, I increased the duration to 24 minutes. However, after 20 minutes, the chips were visibly done. 

The results were mixed: thinner chips were completely brown and crisp, while larger ones were crisp and browned at the ends but less so in the middle. I had shaken the drawer several times during cooking, however flipping them with tongs, as suggested in the instructions, would be a better way to achieve cooking consistency. If you’ve got the time, cutting your potatoes into similarly sized shapes would also improve the results. I liked that it was faster than some air fryers to make chips, though – an example of slower cooking can be found in our Tefal Actifry Genius XL 2in1 review, where chips can take up to 30 minutes. I also found it handy that the temperature could be nudged up to 210°C on the air fryer setting if you are really in a hurry.

I also used the air fryer to roast chicken legs. The default time for this programme is 15 minutes at 190°C. However, I felt this was a little quick and increased it to 30 minutes, using the Ninja booklets stated time of 45 minutes for a 1.6kg whole chicken in the instructions as a guide. I turned them over halfway through and once cooking time had elapsed, the legs were thoroughly done through to the bone, with golden crispy skin.

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Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK review: What could be better?

The only element I really disliked about the Ninja Max Pro is its controls. Rather than being a touchscreen panel, it has physical buttons. They’re tactile, but could be a dirt trap over time, especially when you’re cooking fatty foods that spit as they emerge from the drawer. The digital display they surround isn’t particularly bright either – on a sunny day I struggled to read it from the other side of my kitchen.

You might also get caught out by the higher temperatures this air fryer offers, especially if you’ve previously been cooking with one that only reaches 200°C. As there’s no window to check on progress, it’s best to use the maximum heat with caution and check regularly. Food can go from beautifully browned to burnt far faster than they would in a conventional oven or some other air fryers.

Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro 6.2l AF180UK review: Should you buy it? 

If you’re tired of the flaws in your current air fryer, such as slow heat up times, confusing programmes or them just being a headache to clean, this will be a breath of fresh air. The Ninja Air Fryer Max Pro is ideal for those looking for a speedy mealtime solution and while it might not have the space inside to cater for larger families, it should easily provide enough capacity for small to medium-sized households. If you need something bigger, I also think it’s worth considering the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer AF300UK. 

Overall, the Max Pro 6.2l is a pretty perfect package. It’s good value for money, an efficient performer, has versatile cooking functions and is convenient to use – everything an air fryer should be.