Ninja Max XL Air Fryer review – don’t let the age fool you, this older air fryer still packs a punch in the kitchen

The Ninja Max XL is one of the brand's earliest iterations of the air fryer – and one of the most popular models. It was all the rage in 2020, with users showing off the spaceship-style device on Instagram and TikTok, making crispy fries, breakfast bakes, and snacks.

We first tested the Ninja Max XL air fryer in 2022 and we were impressed with the performance. It did an impressive job of cooking bacon and frozen food in record times, setting the standard for the best Ninja air fryers that followed.

However, in 2025, the air fryer industry has developed in leaps and bounds, leaving older models like the Ninja Max XL air fryer in the dust. Today's designs are sleeker and more practical; take the Ninja Air Fryer Pro for example, which has since shot to the the top of our best air fryers list.

While the Ninja Max XL air fryer's circular shape feels old-fashioned and limiting now, we still think the cooking performance is commendable. The ceramic-coated materials have also earned an honorable mention in our guide to the best non-toxic air fryers. In this review, you will see how the Ninja Max XL held up in our professional tests – from French fries to roasted vegetables – with some points of direct comparison with the newer models.

Specifications

First impressions

We tried the Ninja Max XL in the UK, so there are a couple of very slight differences worth noting. In the UK it's known as the Ninja Max AF160UK air fryer, and in the US it's called the Ninja AF161 Max XL Air Fryer.

The only other difference is on the control panel. While the settings work in the exact same way, where the US air fryer has an air broil button, the UK has no alternative, and only features three cooking modes. We don't tend to broil things in the UK, so we were unable to test this setting, but we still tested against the four recipes we use in our air fryer reviews and simply adjusted the settings for timings and temperature.

The product comes in a box with mostly cardboard packaging, which meant we didn't have to feel guilty when disposing of it in the recycling. It has a removable circular tray with an insert that elevates food to allow air to circulate around it for an even cook. This also lifts away, and both this and the interior of the basket are coated in a sturdy non-stick coating.

We noted that the drawers felt secure and slid into place without any difficulty. This felt very high quality, but the silver-coated handle and top of the machine did look and feel quite cheap. Over the course of our extended testing, it has started to flake away. We preferred the matte handles on the newer Ninja Air Fryer Pro – which we tested recently. The design has clearly been updated in response to this issue.

Cooking performance

Test 1: Homemade fries

Our first standard test is making fries. We chopped potatoes into chunky wedges, soaked to remove starch, and then dried and tossed them in a little oil and some seasoning. Making fries from scratch in an air fryer will significantly reduce the amount of fat in your finished meal. We only needed a few tablespoons, and this was split between three different air fryer tests.

To see how well the air fryer can cook on a slightly lower temperature, we set it to 360°F for 18 minutes on air fry mode. Unlike models from competitor brands, like Instant, the Ninja air fryer range has no pre-heat time and no midway reminder to shake your fries when cooking. Despite this, we do recommend shaking your fries to get an even finish, but while it's nice to have a pre-heat time we do find that it is not always necessary when air frying. After all, it only takes a minute or so to pre-heat.

After 18 minutes we were disappointed that our fries were not well cooked at all. Where in some air fryers we still manage to achieve a fluffy inside and crisped outside in this time, the Ninja Max XL needed an extra 10 minutes.

After this, the fries still lacked a crisp coating but were cooked through. Some were a little more cooked than others, but for the most part our fries were even, which is impressive given the smaller basket size of this air fryer. They had a good taste, but we suspected that this is an air fryer that performs better at higher temperatures.

Test 2: Frozen chicken goujons

Air fryers are famously good at cooking food from frozen. This especially applies to breaded food, which can often take a long time in a conventional oven or even one of the best toaster ovens, and will need to be flipped halfway through cooking to prevent any sogginess. Air frying makes this a thing of the past, so we tried out the Max Crisp setting to see how well the Ninja Max XL could cook some frozen chicken goujons.

We tested this air fryer alongside another Ninja model, the Ninja Foodi Dual Basket Air Fryer. This air fryer allows you to adjust the Max Crisp temperature, whereas in the more basic Max XL you cannot change the temperature from a preset 450°F. This sure is effective, but a little overzealous, so you need to keep an eye on your food.

The chicken was done in just nine minutes, when the packaging suggested it would take 25 minutes in an oven. It was very hot all the way through, although the high temperature did overly brown the goujons in some areas. If anything, it was a little overcooked.

Test 3: Bacon

Cooking bacon in air fryer takes minutes, and it often drains out a lot of the fat that renders away from the meat as it cooks, leaving you with crispy rashers and a little less oil.

We noticed that the streaky bacon we used was a little long to fit into the air fryer basket. Square basket air fryers could happily fit 6 or more rashers in one go, but you would struggle to fit more than four in this air fryer without overlapping. This is what gives the new Ninja Air Fryer Pro the edge over its predecessor.

We put the air fryer onto 400°F and set the cooking time to five minutes. The bacon was crispy and delicious, but it would even have benefitted from a little less cooking time. Again, the cooking temperatures on this air fryer is a little overzealous, so you do need to adjust timings accordingly. This is probably due to the small cooking area which means the air fryer pre-heats very quickly.

Plus, the fan is very powerful, as evidenced by our curled bacon. It had clearly been blown around the cooking basket as it cooked, meaning it had folded in places.

Test 4: Roasted vegetables 

Most air fryers come with roasting modes. Is this any different to the air frying mode? You might ask. Fundamentally, no. Air fryers all work like a convection oven, so the main difference will be the preset cooking temperature. In this case it is lower than the air fry mode, which means food will be less crispy but will cook through in a way that is similar to traditional roasting.

We were happy with the roasting in this air fryer. After 15 minutes we were particularly impressed with the slight browning of the sweet potato, which had a lot of flavor. We didn't shake the tray around while cooking either, but due to the slats in the removable insert, the vegetables were cooked quite evenly on all sides.

While other air fryers we have tested struggle to get any browning on the zucchini, we found that the Ninja Max XL Air Fryer did a good job of this, meaning it was effective at removing the moisture from vegetables. This left them still with some crunch, but without any sogginess.

Cleaning

One big advantage of Ninja air fryers is that the removable parts are dishwasher safe. This convenience factor is partly why you'll find the brand in our guides to the best blenders and best food processors, too.

Even if you don't have a dishwasher to clean the removable insert and air fryer drawer, the non-stick coating is very easy to clean by hand. We have guidance on how to clean an air fryer if you wish to clean the heating element and control panel.

How does it compare?

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In our opinion, the newer Ninja Pro which has replaced this model in Ninja's lineup stands head-and-shoulders above the old Max XL (although it's actually much shorter and squatter). This latest model smooths out the pain points from the previous design. The cooking times are more accurate, it's sleeker and more refined, easier to use, and the square basket is much more practical. It's also better value for money, retailing at a cool $119 at Ninja Kitchen.

If you're concerned about choosing a non-toxic air fryer, you can rest assured that the newer Ninja Air fryer Pro also has a nano-ceramic coating. As does the new Ninja Crispi, which launched in early 2025 with a glass container and PFAS-free crisper plates. This is actually a good option if you're looking for a small air fryer that fits into petite kitchens. It's portable, too.

For larger families or anyone who needs big capacity, Ninja makes an XL version of the Pro air fryer for around $40 more. This can handle up to 9 lbs (6.5 QT) of wings and provides two more cooking functions (including Bake and Max-Crisp). I also have to recommend Ninja's latest and greatest, space saving design: the Ninja DoubleStack, which is basically like two Ninja Pros stacked on top of each other. It's even more slender on the counter, and you can fit up to four different ingredients on the shelves.

What do customer reviews say?

Customers are thrilled with the crispy food they can create in the Ninja Max XL air fryers. It has scored an average 4.7 stars on Amazon.com, out of a whopping 84,140 global reviews. Most customers mention recipes like French fries, roast potatoes, frozen fish fillets, fried chicken, and tater tots – praising the machine's speed and ease for their favorite comfort foods.

Other reviewers love how easy it is to clean. One customer says: 'As soon as I have finished cooking, I fill it with hot water and washing liquid and leave to cool then just wipe around and it’s clean.' Some customers were frustrated by the size and limiting shape, urging people to size up if they need to feed more than two or three people.

The lowest-scoring reviews mention that it's difficult to get food evenly cooked in the Ninja Max XL. You do have to shake the basket to flip your food and get a consistent finish, but that is no different to the majority of air fryers on the market. Perhaps Ninja's instructions booklet isn't clear enough on this point. However, if flipping frustrates you, we recommend the KitchenAid Digital Toaster Oven with Air Fry – this is one of the few 'no-flip' options out there.

Our verdict

So, should you buy the Ninja Max XL Air Fryer? Well, it still gets the four star rating from our review process. It's easy to use, simple to clean, and works especially well on high temperatures. However, it doesn't perform quite as well as other air fryers on lower temperatures, and the Max Crisp setting is not adjustable, meaning you will be somewhat limited if you want full control of the machine.

This air fryer is one of the noisiest models on the market (at 67 decibels), but it's not so loud that you couldn't speak over it. It cooked frozen food and bacon in record time, but the circular shape of the cooking basket will be best suited to side dishes or smaller servings of meat, as it will struggle to fit in food of certain sizes.

We also found that the look and feel of the air fryer is not our favorite, and it wouldn't be our first choice of air fryer to display in our kitchen. If you find the Ninja Max XL Air Fryer in the sales, it might be worth it, but otherwise, I'd always go for the newer Ninja Air Fryer Pro model instead.