At the end of the cooking time, the hash browns were super-crispy on the outside, yet evenly cooked and still fluffy on the inside. This is a vast improvement over cooking them in the oven. Effectively, this model delivers all the great features of last year’s model, only with a 9.5-litre total capacity. For larger families, or simply for cooking bigger items, this is a great fryer – provided you have the room to store it. Design and Features Cooking for extra guests or feeding the whole family? Use the MATCH feature to double your serving size, with the same cooking program and time across both drawers.

In my opinion it’s way too big for single person households unless you host a lot. And if you have a teeny kitchen, you’ll need to be prepared to find space for it, since it’s quite wide and tall. Furthermore, it’s one of the most expensive Ninja air fryers - a fact that can’t be ignored in your decision about whether to buy. That said, despite having quite a big, deep butler style sink it only just fits in my sink. If you’ve got a small sink you might struggle to fit it in. Although since it just needs some warm soapy water in it - you don’t really need to be able to fit the whole thing into your sink to give it a good clean.

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Cook everything from fries and crisps to vegetables and beef jerky thanks to the Ninja AF400UK Air Fryer. Using little to no oil, this handy appliance lets you create your favourite meals and sides just the way you like them with up to 75% less fat than traditional frying methods. I started by cooking some chips in the air fryer, using the 200ºC setting. Although I had to shake the contents of the drawer two or three times during cooking, it’s all the interaction the AF400UK required.

Everything here can be cleaned in the dishwasher once you’re done, meaning there’s very little clearing up to deal with. Performance On the day of testing itself, it was plainly obvious that the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone was by far the superior appliance. It was the nicest to program, while some of the Tower models had oppressive beeps and stiff drawers and it had by far the best cooking ability. It was the fastest and achieved an incredible crisp on nuggets and fish fingers, with the quality of the machine itself also being standout.

We were impressed by the Sync feature, which allows you to cook two different foods with different cooking modes, temperature,s and durations, to be ready at the same time. Alternatively, you can set one zone with a cooking mode, temperature, and duration, and press the Match button to duplicate the settings in both zones, doing away with fiddling with the controls again. At the end of cooking time, my chips were perfectly cooked – evenly crisp throughout, without any sign of being burnt or overcooked. Food cooks best in air fryers if you give it a shake mid-cooking, resulting in an even finish. With many models, you’ll need to dig out a pair of oven gloves to do this. The AF400UK makes this simple by including handles on the outside of its drawers. Pull one out and the air fryer stops (both drawers stop in Sync or Match modes), so you can shake away and reinsert.

If you want to use the two drawers together, you have a choice of two modes: Match and Sync. Match applies the same settings to both drawers, letting you double-up portions. Sync allows individual settings, but the AF400UK ensures that both drawers complete cooking at the same time. When it comes to cooking, timing is everything. Perfect for families and large households, the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone 9.5L Air Fryer does the thinking and timing for you. Cook 2 different foods with different temperatures, times and settings in 2 separate cooking drawers – and have both ready to serve at exactly the same time using the SYNC feature! More people to feed? MATCH settings across both zones to make double the amount of food in the same amount of time! The easy-to-use digital control panel with a countdown timer makes it easy to see how much cooking time is left. If you’re looking for an air fryer that can do it all, I truly think you’re not going to get any better than the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF451UK. This appliance is easily one of the best in its class. Not only do you have a choice of six different cooking methods – from air fry and roast to bake and even dehydrate – but there’s a super smart dual cook feature that can ensure two different foods are correctly cooked, simultaneously, and are ready to eat at the same time. The addition of the Digital Cooking Probe is also a game changer for those who regularly cook meat dishes, especially big roast joints of beef or lamb, as it cooks the meat to your desired level without needing your constant attention.

Cook two different foods at the same time with this large-capacity air fryer

There’s no getting around the fact that the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK is a beast of a model. Measuring 325 x 415 x 270mm and weighing 8.8kg, you’re going to need a fair amount of space to store it. Cleaning all of the dual-zone air fryers I was testing on this day was pretty similar, with both baskets needing a good scrub in the sink to get rid of grease and residue, especially as the last test in the series was cooking bacon. As with the older model, the AF400UK excels for cooking options. Each drawer can be controlled individually, with a choice of Max Crisp (240ºC heat for crisping up chips, for example), Air Fry, Roast, Bake, Dehydrate (perfect for saving herbs) and Reheat. You can control the temperature for each mode and select a cooking time. Cook the same food in both zones to make twice the amount of food in the same amount of time! Or easily cook two different foods with the same cooking instructions. There are several great reasons to buy this air fryer. Namely, its huge capacity makes it the perfect choice for families or people who like to entertain a lot. And then there’s the undeniably useful flexibility of being able to switch between one larger cooking zone and two smaller ones. At this point it goes without saying that it’s simple to use and cooks superbly.