Ninja Speedi review: A seriously speedy multi cooker
The Ninja Speedi multi cooker is a versatile, good-looking appliance that excels at fast, fresh cooking
Pros
- Versatile
- Excellent, fast results
- Attractive new design
Cons
- No pressure cooker function
- Footprint still large
- Expensive
The Ninja Speedi is an all-new design that promises turbo-charged cooking times. The new Speedi function allows you to cook full meals in as little as 15 minutes, plus preheating time, and without using any additional pans or appliances. It achieves this by sandwiching the grill plate between a bed of steam on the bottom and air frying on top.
As well as this new feature, the Speedi brings with it some of Ninja’s most loved multi cooker functions, including air frying, classic steaming, steam baking, sauteing, grilling and more. It’s a good-looking appliance, and its sheer versatility more than justifies the high price.
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Ninja Speedi review: What do you get for the money?
At £250, the Speedi is up there with some of Ninja’s priciest multi cookers, so what do you get for the money? As far as accessories go, you only get an adjustable grill plate and the main cooking pot – but you don’t really need anything else.
The grill plate has small adjustable feet, meaning you’re able to split the cooking pot into two sections. You can also move it to the bottom for classic air frying and baking or remove it completely for sautéing, slow cooking and other recipes.
There’s also a very detailed infographic and recipe booklet included, which shows you how to effectively stack ingredients using the Speedi meals setting, as well as giving you recipes and portion guidelines to make best use of the Speed’s various functions.
Versatility is a big selling point for the Speedi. In addition to the new Speedi meals function, there are nine other settings for cooking pretty much anything you can think of. These include steam, steam air fry, steam bake, air fry, grill, bake/roast, slow cook, sauté/sear and dehydrate. You switch between the steam/rapid cooking modes and the air fry/hob mode using a lever on the lid and, from there, you can use the button on the front to move between specific cooking functions. You can also manually control the time and temperature of your selected mode here.
READ NEXT: Ninja Foodi SmartLid 15-in-1 review
The design is striking: it’s a huge move away from the rounded black and stainless steel designs of Ninja’s previous multi cookers. The stylish blueish-grey lid looks great and the robust, squared-off design fits perfectly into worktop corners. Its 33 x 35 x 31cm (WDH) dimensions still take up a fair chunk of worktop space, but, at 6.5kg, it weighs considerably less than most of Ninja’s older models.
Despite the new design, it has fairly similar functions and retails at a similar price to the Foodi 11-in-1 with SmartLid (£230) and the Foodi 15-in-1 with SmartLid (£299). The biggest difference, however, is that the Foodi multi cookers don’t offer the Speedi meals function, though they do have a pressure cooking setting, which you won’t find on the Speedi.
Ninja Speedi review: What’s good about it?
The design of the Speedi is incredibly well thought out. While I liked the design of Ninja’s previous multi cookers, the Speedi is a lot easier on the eye and, in my opinion, more suited to a variety of kitchens. Moreover, despite the similar worktop footprint, the shorter height and square design fits better on countertops, meaning that even if space is at a premium, the Speedi can tuck nicely into a corner without causing too much trouble.
Design aside, the new Speedi meals function is what really sets this appliance apart from both its predecessors and its competitors. For example, I was able to cook 200g of rice, vegetables and two chicken breasts at 180ºC in 15 minutes using this setting, though there was a three-minute pre-heat time to build steam. Steam building can add anywhere from two to ten minutes onto the cooking time, depending on how full the Speedi is. You can add up to four chicken breasts or similar-sized items in the top section of the pot if you want to cook a meal for more people, but I found these needed to be quite small in order to achieve the best results in as little time as possible.
The results are fast and impressive, though, with evenly cooked meats and perfectly al dente pasta and rice. Once you stray away from the recommended ratios in the booklet there’s a little more trial and error involved, but I still found it supremely easy to cook using the Speedi meals setting.
That’s not all the Speedi is good at, either. In testing, I also achieved excellent results using the air fryer setting, which produced 500g of homemade chips at 180ºC in around 25-30 minutes – perhaps unsurprising given Ninja’s track record. Similarly, the steam and steam air fryer settings are just as good as when I tested them on the Ninja Foodi MultiLid 15-in-1. In fact, pretty much all of the Speedi’s functions perform as effectively as previous models.
Ninja Speedi review: What could be better?
One function I found performed less well than expected was sautéing. There are five heat settings in total and, while attempting to brown meat, I found that even on its highest setting I couldn’t get the sear I wanted. It was perfectly adequate for other sautéing and hob-based jobs, such as cooking out onion and garlic or making a risotto, however.
The Speedi has also ditched the pressure cooker, which may be an attempt to cut weight and size compared to its stablemates. If, like me, you’re a bit of a pressure-cooking enthusiast, then you’ll be better off with either the Foodi 11-in-1 or 15-in-1 multi cooker. For everyone else, though, the Speedi has plenty to offer without pressure cooking.
Another thing some people might take issue with is the size. If you have a particularly small kitchen, there’s no getting around the fact that the Speedi is still quite big. That being said, the Speedi does cram a lot of functionality into one appliance, so it’s a sensible way of combining multiple appliances into just one.
Ninja Speedi review: Should you buy it?
There’s a lot to love about the Speedi. As well as that classic Ninja versatility, the new Speedi meals function makes it refreshingly quick and easy to cook full meals. It’s genuinely refreshing to review a multi cooker that does more than rehash the same eight functions in another identikit shell.
It’s a shame that pressure cooking has fallen by the wayside, but you can hardly criticise the Speedi for lacking versatility. Combining a top-notch air fryer, slow cooker, steamer and more into one classy, well-designed appliance is no mean feat, and the Ninja Speedi serves up a truly five-star performance.