Ninja OL701 Foodi 14-in-1 SMART XL 8 Qt. Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid & Thermometer + Auto-Steam Release, that Air Fries, Proofs & More, 3-Layer Capacity, 5 Qt. Crisp Basket, Silver/Black

OK, first: if you don't know it yet, you NEED a pressure cooker. It makes SO many things SO much easier to cook.And this one is a top-of-the-line quality brand and model. Most particularly: it has the temperature thermometer, which is great for roasts. (Does better than my air fryer).I use it almost daily and it just keeps working. Highly recommended for reliability. It is my most-used kitchen appliance other than refrigerator and microwave. Used even more than air fryer and toaster oven.Pros:- Makes cooking so many things a one-step process. For example: many rice dishes, many soups, some stews. For example: mac and spaghetti sauce. I throw in a box of 100% whole wheat macaroni, a jar of spaghetti sauce, salt and water (the correct amount of water learned by experimenting - use 1-3/4 cups water with 1 lb of mac and a 24 oz jar of sauce), turn it on, and...voila - done in about 20 minutes, perfectly al dente every time. No straining. No waiting for a boil. No stirring. No pot-watching. No sticking. No burning. No undercooking or overcooking.(Warning: but if you try to do a double or triple batch, it can burn the mac slightly.)- The built-in thermometer means that it will turn itself off when your roast is at just the right internal temp. I get great results with pork loin, though with a whole pork-loin (which is huge) you'll have to cut your loin into 3 or 4 sections and cook one section after another.- Just tons of settings. Set the temperature when using the thermometer. Set the pressure and the time to pressure cook. Set the time for it to "stand" at pressure, without additional heat, after cooking. Set for immediate release of pressure, delayed release (time-settable), or "natural" release. etc. etc.- Also does air frying, and even does a dual-mode "steam crisp" where it pressure cooks and then air-fries. (I use the steam crisp mode for pork loin with great results.) (I still use my air fryer for food that only needs air-frying.)- Mostly easy to clean. (See cons below for exceptions.)- Goes a long way to make it safe for pressure-cooker newbs like I was when I got it. You can't open the lid while the compartment is pressurized. If pressure is set to automatically release, three quite loud beeps sound about 30 seconds before the steam starts coming out of the release valve. The release valve itself has a "stay cool" handle, so you can safely adjust the valve (if you're just a little bit careful to avoid the spray of steam) even while steam is coming out.Cons:- Cleaning...- - The fan behind the air fryer heating element at the top of the lid is very difficult to clean. You'll want a small-ish pipe cleaner for the job.- - The plastic/rubber seal is a LITTLE tricky to get out and put in. Not terribly difficult, but not super-easy, either. Cleans easily once removed. No stains yet.- The pot...- - Scratches surprisingly easy.- - Sometimes needs soaking despite the coating (I think it's ceramic coating). However: resists staining very well, and even with tons of scratches I hardly ever have food sticking (not yet, anyway). Macaroni, rice - no sticking.- - Personally, I wish a stainless pot were available as an accessory, or even as the main pot. Then I could have my choice between delicate-but-no-stick or sturdy-but-don't-cook-sticky-things.- The controls...Every once in a great while the gizmo shuts itself off before it's finished. Now: this will happen if what you're cooking runs out of liquid, and that's good (because it prevents burning). But it also happens on very rare occasion when there's plenty of liquid, and I'm not sure why.- The heat...for some full-pot pressure-cook dishes, the heat is too much and stuff on the bottom gets burned while heating, and of course there's no way to stir (while pressure is building up) to prevent burning. I wish there was a low-heat setting, that might prevent burning. One partially-successful solution is to cook all the liquids to boiling first (low pressure, 0 minutes), and then (in a second step) add remaining items and cook under pressure as normal.Conclusion: pressure cooking is a great concept, and this particular model is a great choice for pressure cooking. If you don't do roasts, get the cheaper model without the thermometer.

What can I say, it does everything it advertises. The food we have made has been delicious. There are so many options . This appliance replaces and compliments other appliances in the kitchen so well. We purchased this mostly to replace our slow cooker and rice cooker. It is spacious and easily fits a 6-8lb rotisserie chicken.One of my favorite personal recipes is my potato soup. I loved to use a slow cooker to cook the potatoes for 12 hours and they would come out so soft and moist, that they would melt in your mouth, but they still retained their cubed shape (did not turn to mush). Using the pressure cooker on this Ninja Foodi has cut that time down imensly to about an hour.The thermometer that is included is simply a great accessory and allows it to cook to a specific temperature. When not in use, it has convenient storage on the side of the appliance. It is quite hefty and does not take up a lot of room considering what appliances it is replacing. The smart lid on this model is so convenient.I wonder if they might have included a splatter shield for the smart lid, Perhaps that could not be used on this smart lid because of the pressure cooker. if it could, that would be a nice addition. The appliance has been easy to clean so far, especially if you clean it immediately.I would like to see more accesories and cook books for this particular model. One accesory I found difficult to find that was specific to the Ninja Foodi, were magnetic charts with large fonts to show the tables for cooking that are in the book that is included with the appliance. My eyesight is not as good as it used to be and I need to use a magnifying glass to read the tables. There are lots of charts for Instapot and generic. But I notice the temperature and times are different than the tables in the Ninja Foodi included recipe book. I did manage to find ONE magnetic chart that seem to have the temperatures for the Ninja, but it is always nice to have variety that might have better fonts or layouts or additional information.Overall though, I am amazed by this appliance and believe it is one of the best investments we have made.Thank you Ninja Foodi!

I picked this brand/model for a few reasons. 1) modern design, especially the controls. 2) Air fryer capability. 3) capacity is larger than leasing competitor in the smaller size models.Had it awhile now, and my reactions are: 1) controls look nice, but not quite as intuitive as the “other brand (I have their 10 quart). 2) steam release/pressure capture knob feels cheap and is a bit finicky to get right. 3) the heating element is closer to the food than competition. Is it designed with less clearance, or is it a thinner-bottom pot? No idea. But the result is clear - food is often close to being over cooked or burned. The way these things work is they are 100% on, then 100% off, alternating. Lower or higher temps are achieved by adjusting the time of each. That means, when it is on, it’s all the way on, and the blast of heat is enough to turn rice a bit brown. We often like to brown our rice, for example in Latin dishes. There are times when I just want it pure white and simple, such as in Asian dishes, and that’s hard to do in this machine.Also, even though it holds much less than our “big one,” it is externally almost as large. This thing is definitely an investment in counter space.All that said, it does what it says it does. The ability to pressure cook, air fry and slow cook - all without swapping out lids - is kinda cool. On the other hand, the design of this lid does contribute to a blast of steam hitting your hand/arm when opening it:Would I buy it again, or not? Well, I probably would go buy the other major brand if I had it to do over, but I am not unhappy with this one at all. I think it just comes down to preference or what is familiar, so this is a fine machine for many people, and the size is pretty great.