Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker OL650

Ninja staff took about 1 month to respond to my email asking where i can send my ninja foodi for servicing a it kept asking to add pot when the pot was already in place. I cannot find the warranty, i have mentioned that, they are taking their sweet time in sending me the service centre info. Great products, TERRIBLE and PAINFULLY SLOW Customer service

Very disappointed. The unit will not pressure up when used in pressure cooker mode. And the basket provided has started to lose its coating all along the top. On top of that the unit is by far the noisiest unit we have ever owned. Support has been absolutely pathetic with them just trying to sell me a new basket and not even answering a simple… Read more

question about how to get it replaced. Just a rubber stamp reply that I should not use metal on the basket, which I have never done due to the flimsy nature of the coatings companies use.

I’m really disappointed with the after-sales service for this product. It worked fine at first, but when I needed a replacement pot just over two years after buying it (just out of the warranty period), the experience became incredibly frustrating and disappointing - it’s impossible to buy a replacement pot. I first contacted customer service in… Read more

April after signing up to be notified when the pot was back in stock on the website months prior. After waiting a week for response, I was told the part was going to be out of stock until May. I followed up again in June, I waited two weeks for a response that it’s still unavailable - now apparently not due until maybe September, nearly five months after my first customer service enquiry. I was told I could buy the pot from Amazon for twice the price, and it is “usually delivered in 1 to 2 months” - which was both frustrating and unacceptable, but it is no longer available there either.

For an item in this price range, I expected better customer service. Under Australian Consumer Law, manufacturers are required to provide replacement parts for a reasonable time after purchase. But in this case, there’s been no urgency, no reasonable alternative offered, and no proactive or timely communication.

SharkNinja have not published my review on their product page. This demonstrates to me that the review ratings can't be trusted as an accurate representation of customer feedback.

This experience has made me doubt the reliability of both the product and the brand’s support and ethics. I won’t be purchasing from SharkNinja again unless they significantly improve their service and commitment to customers.

A good cooker but a cleaning nuisance – I bought this cooker after seeing my sister using it which was an older model. So I purchased the latest model which is very different to their 350 model. We are vegetarians and cook lots lentils, millets, quinoa and other small particle food. The cooker is great in cooking, takes lesser time to cook than my previous Panasonic multi cooker but a… Read more

great nuisance for cleaning. I know they recommend running a stem cycle after every cooking which I doing but the particle get stuck all over the coil and behind the coil in hard to clean areas. They don’t even come off after 30 min of steam cycle. I have to spend more time manually cleaning the lid than saving my time to cook in it deterring me to stay away from it for cooking the above types of food. In lower models they have separate lid for pressure cooking. That is a simple lid with pressure whistle on it. All you have to do is take the lid off and wipe it easily. Buy in this new model only have one fixed lid which has air fryer coil in it. I want to now return if and bug the older model. I expected newer model to make life easier not harder.

Update: Feb 2024

Rami 3m ago Hi team

I thought someone responsible from Ninja is going to call me but no one did. This product is definitely a cleaning nightmare. It really needs big reforms in its structure. I feel like filing a compliant in consumer court and looks like I need compensation on my time and energy I use in cleaning this equipment. Sending bhii another set of photos of mess after cooking soup.

Love. It – We’ve been testing the Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker OL650 over the past few weeks and we couldn't be more pleased with the cooker and the delicious food it has produced for us. A family of four, we’re looking for affordable, filling, tasty and easy-to-make meals, and not only does the Ninja Foodi create dishes that satisfy all those… Read more

criteria, but we were impressed at how the Ninja Foodi lifted our standard, fall-back recipes to new heights. The versatility and functionality of the Foodi is impressive, as it is capable of steaming, roasting, air-frying, slow- and pressure-cooking, or running combinations of these cooking functions. For example, we’ve never pressure-cooked before, but the Foodi makes it easy and the results are quite spectacular, producing succulent meat that retains its juiciness, and the cooking time is markedly decreased. Our corned silverside (steamed then pressure-cooked and finished with a roasting in the Ninja Foodi) was the best ever (see pics below), as was our red wine beef casserole and Hungarian goulash. But the Foodi also did a stellar job on even a plain, chocolate cake packet-mix (baked / air-fried), delivering an astonishingly moist and just-right density sponge that surprised us all; it being the equal of a sponge you’d find in a high-quality torte (see pic). We backed that effort up with a home spongecake recipe using mulberries from our fruiting trees mixed in and again, the resulting cake was truly sensational. We're gonna bake another one tomorrow for Fathers Day!

Food prepared in the Ninja Foodi simply tastes amazing. It concentrates the flavours and delivers excellent textures – moist, juicy, and intensely flavoursome – in a word: scrumptious! It’s also a simple-to-use and speedy device; quick and easy to set-up and cooks in very little time. Thankfully, the Ninja Foodi is also easy to clean and pack away, though the device be somewhat weighty and bulky: signs of quality construction and room inside for a large roast chook, which incidentally, the Foodi did very well; and in just half an hour! All we had to do was turn the chicken over after 20 minutes, and brown underneath for another 10 minutes as it’s not a rotisserie. But again, the chicken was cooked well and the meat was tender, juicy and full of flavour: we agreed it was right up there with the best roast chicken we’d ever tasted. The stock collected at the bottom of the internal pan was used to make a tasty gravy to pour over the chicken and veggies. Layering the meat on the provided top grate and vegetables below should also be done with a staggered timing; simply add the veggies when the meat is halfway cooked to avoid over-cooking them.

Thankfully, niggles are very few indeed: there’s a fan on the unit which is a bit noisy: not bothersome, but it is readily noticeable, and we would like to see some metal hooks included with the device to help with lifting-out baked items sat on the bottom in the cake pan for example. But these minor quibbles aside, we found the Ninja Foodi to be a game-changer in the kitchen with its amazing all-in-one functionality that can replace several large kitchen appliances – steamer, slow-cooker, air-frier and pressure-cooker – with just the one unit. It is big enough to cook large meals for families, and a 'wet dish' capacity that offers leftovers a-plenty, yet its rounded shape minimises its footprint on the counter-top. Ninja also offer a smaller version of this Foodi Multi Cooker that would be ideal for singles and couples, and may well be the only the cooking device they would need.

Quick and easy; fast and efficient; multi-functional versatility – and best of all, a font of delicious goodness! – we most definitely recommend the Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker.

The one pot kitchen! – Wow this thing is fantastic! If you could only have one thing in your kitchen this would be it, it does everything! After unboxing and quick read through the user manual I started out with a whole chicken using the unique steam crisp function which I personally think it's this cookers greatest asset. The steam crisp function is essentially just… Read more

what it sounds like. You place your food in the steaming basket which keeps it all above the water or stock in the bottom, the pot comes up to temp steaming the water and then the air fryer kicks in. The result is amazing. I've never cooked a chicken with such beautifully crispy skin and yet so juicy and flavourful inside, it was easily the best chook I've ever prepared. Although I've not had time to test the slow cook yet the pressure cook function works great. I'm not new to pressure cooking and the ninja definitely gets up to temp faster than my old unit and cooks beautifully and even as you would expect, it ticks all the boxes here. The air fryer is also fantastic but I would say if you're looking for an air fryer specifically you might want to consider one of the stand alone air fryer units. This is simply from a convenience stand point as although it works perfectly fine as an air fryer it can be a little awkward dealing with the flip lid and then removing the hot basket and it's contents from the unit. Compare this to the AF units where you can just easily pull the whole drawer out and tip the contents out, you'd be better off with a dedicated AF in my opinion. Cleaning is a breeze and the non stick surface does exactly that, I don't know what they make the stuff out of these days but boy is it good. Overall in the short time I've had the ninja it's somewhat transformed the way I cook. Sure, I still prefer the conventional oven for certain things but there are others (like the chook mentioned) that I can simply never go back now. Chuck out your old slow and pressure cookers and go and buy one of these. You won't regret it.

What’s Cooking? – If you’re not already familiar with the Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker - OL650 it is a 14-in-1 Multi-Cooker with 3 Modes; Pressure Cooking, Steaming & Air Frying, & 14 Features; Pressure Cook, Sear/Sauté, Steam, Slow Cook, Yoghurt, Air Fry, Bake/Roast, Grill, Dehydrate, Prove, Steam Meals, Steam Air Fry, Steam Bake, Steam Bread. Product… Read more

Details:

* Colour - Grey & Stainless Steel. * Wattage - 1760w * Temperature Range 25°C - 240°C * Capacity - 7.5 litre * Cord Length (metres) 0.8m (Non Detachable Cord) * Package Net Weight - 12.65KG * Package Gross Weight - 14.09KG * Warranty - 1 Year * R.R.P $799.99

What’s In The Box:

* 1760W Main Unit with Stainless Steel Finish * 7.5 Litre Non-Stick Ceramic Coated Cooking Pot * 4.7 Litre Non-Stick Ceramic
Coated Cook and Crisp Basket * Deluxe double layer Reversible Rack * 45-page Chef Created Cookbook with Cooking Charts * Instructions Manual

Delivery was prompt & the product arrived in a very large cardboard box & was very heavy. I pushed it along the floor down the hallway to the kitchen & began unpacking the contents. Everything was packaged well. It took two people to get the appliance out of the box & place it onto the kitchen bench top.

The product has noticeable cosmetic damage on the outer surface of the lid . (See photo included in this review) Appears as though it was damaged during the manufacturing process & not during transit.

After unpacking, all of the sticker’s were removed from the appliance. The cooking pot, 2-tier reversible racks, crisper basket & silicone ring, drip container were washed, rinsed & put aside to dry. The inner & outer of the appliance was also cleaned.

Reassembling, the silicone ring was quite difficult to place back into the inner rim of the lid. The cooking pot fits snugly into the appliance.

Once the appliance has been switched on, Navigating through the Modes & Functions via the digital screen was straightforward. As you turn the dial, left & right, it will highlight each of the 14 Functions that’s listed below each of the 3 the Modes. To switch between Modes, you simply move the SmartLid Slider across from left or right & it will highlight the Mode such as Combi-Steam. Also on the digital display screen are up & down arrows, Keep Warm Button, Power Button & a Start/Stop Button.

Throughout the testing period of the past 3-4 weeks, we cooked various types of food using all 3 of the cooking modes and the majority of the 14 cooking functions that the Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker has to offer. The only functions that we didn’t use during the testing period were the dehydrate, yogurt, prove & steam bread.

The focus during the testing period being; functionality, ease of use, quality of food results & ease of cleaning.

During the testing period, the following foods were cooked in the Ninja Foodie SmartLid Multi-Cooker: Chicken & Vegetable Soup, Roast Dinners & Lunches of Chicken, Beef, Lamb, & Vegetables. Beef & Vegetable Stew, Vegetable Curry, Steamed White Rice, Steamed & Grilled Corn Cobs, Steamed Vegetables, Hot Wings & French Fries, Tuna Mornay Bake, Steaks, Loaded Baked Potatoes, Fried Chicken & French Fries, Homemade Sausage Rolls, Pasties & Apple Turnovers. Homemade Spinach & Feta Pastries, Meat Pies, Homemade Quiche, Coconut Rice Pudding.

Almost all of the foods cooked produced great quality results. Although, the fried chicken x 2 different frozen foods brands were a disappointment as the coating became very dry, brittle and hard to chew. I was surprised by this because it doesn’t happen when using the oven.

Roasts cook exceptionally well & each that I have cooked, were crisp on the outside & very tender & juicy on the inside, even when cooking to “well done”.

Cleaning the product has been relatively easy. The silicone ring absorbs the food smells depending on what you’re cooking. To remedy this problem I have found that allowing it to soak overnight in hot soapy water helps reduce the smell & oftentimes will remove the smell completely. Repeating if necessary.

Placing plenty of water into the cooking pot along with sliced lemon & juice, then running the appliance through a steam cycle for 20-25 minutes works wonders at removing cooking smells from the silicone ring too. The silicone ring can be difficult to reinstall after removing to clean. Someone with arthritis might find it near impossible to reinstall after removal.

What I like about this appliance is that it offers all of the wonderful functions of an air fryer, pressure cooker, rice cooker, grill, oven & steamer. Potentially saving quite a bit of money by not needing so many appliances & also saving space in the kitchen because you have one appliance compared to having many.

I found that I really loved using the pressure cooker option and it produces excellent quality food. The Combi-Steam mode is the option that I have been using most often & I’m really pleased with the results.

The cooking pot has a nice smooth non stick surface & so far nothing has stuck to it. However, I’m noticing that it’s getting marks/tiny chips or scratches on the bottom inner surface & it Is possibly caused from the crisp basket & the 2-Tier racks, since they’re both metal & can scratch the non stick surface of the cooking pot. I’m concerned about continuing to use the cooking pot, as I read that you shouldn’t cook on non stick pans etc once they’re damaged. I only use heat resistant plastic utensils that are designed to be used with non stick cooking pans.

What I am really disappointed about is that there’s limited information in the cookbook guide/charts for certain foods & other foods were not included in the cookbook that I wanted to cook such as a rack of lamb, homemade sausage rolls and other pastries and I had to guess what the temperature & time’s & which mode & functions would be best.

The power cord is quite short & is not detachable.

The crisp basket is difficult to remove from inside of the cooking pot as the handle features aren’t very user friendly & I had to use cooking tongs to grab & lift the crisp basket out. The lower tier of the racks is also a bit fiddly to remove. The taller tier reversible rack has enough area to grab and lift.

Overall I am a fan of this Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker. It offers so many different options for cooking.

Hopefully future models will have improvements to the user guide food chart in the cookbook & to the crisp basket.

Based on Functionality, Ease Of Use, Ease Of Cleaning & Price, I’m giving the The Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker - OL650 an overall rating of 4/5 Stars.

Good Multi Cooker for home, however heavy and noisy – We are three people at home. This is our first multi-cooker, so we learned as much as possible before using this appliance. Product Delivery: The delivery was excellent, with no damage to the box and appliance. So, I’m confident in ordering via the Ninja Kitchen website. Pros: 1. Quick Delivery 2. The box was packed well, and no damage during… Read more

transit.

Improvements/Cons: 1. Nothing

Product Initial Setup: It was not that hard to set up.

Pros: 1. Easy setup. It took us 10 minutes to set it up. 2. It is heavier and sturdy. 3. The recipe book is good.

Improvements/Cons: 1. It is a bulk machine, so you need a big storage area to store this. 2. It is a heavy-weight cooker, and handling is difficult. My wife couldn’t even lift or move the cooker. 3. It is occupying the kitchen space when we use it. 4. This product does not have enough length wire to reach the Powerpoint.

Product First Use: The first time we tried the air fryer, the result was good. The chicken balls were cooked nicely and crispy. The second time, we tried the whole chicken grilled, and the outcome was excellent.

Pros: 1. Cooking was great. 2. Air Fryer was good. 3. Grilled chicken cooked very well. 4. Easy cleaning after cooking. 5. It looks like cooking is not hard. 6. It is quicker than oven cooking.

Improvements/Cons: 1. The cooker noise was irritating during the Air Fryer operation. It is only 10 min but too noisy. Some people may not like this noise. 2. You have to set up the cooking correctly otherwise, the food will get drier. You will learn this after using it a few times of this cooker.

Product further cooking: We used the pressure cooker to cook more food like soup, rice etc. We also tried steaming the vegetables. All these came nicely. We didn't try the slow cooker option.

Pros: 1. The cooker timer stopped and alerted us, so we opened the lid and stirred the food well. Then the cooking was continued, which was good.

Cons: 1. Lots of steaming was produced during cooking. 2. The cooker looks like commercial usage to us because of the size of the cooking pot, which is 7.5 litres. Maybe other people can be okay with this.

Conclusion: This product is a suitable replacement for a pressure cooker and air fryer. You can find the below photos of our cooking. The food taste was excellent, and cleaning was easier as well. Besides the noise and heaviness, this product is good for your kitchen. I would suggest buying this cooker with a 14-day return policy so you can return the product if you don’t like the heaviness or noise of the product. This cooker saves your cooking time as well. Also, I’m not sure Ninja has a smaller version of the range that we prefer if available. Overall, the performance and the outcome were excellent, and the food taste was great.

Fast, quiet, easy to use and great performing multi cooker, but may be too heavy and use too much kitchen space for some – I was given the opportunity to review this Ninja Foodi SmartLid MultiCooker OL650 as part of the Ambassador Program so here goes. First the Good: The Ninja seems well built and is quite stable. The cooking pot is easy to remove, clean and re-insert and is quite large with a nice non-stick surface. The LCD display is informative, and the unit is… Read more

easy to use. The outer skin/lid only got slightly warm while operating so it's touch-safe. The SmartLid function worked well for me, when the unit is under pressure it was not possible to open the lid until all the pressure was released via the valve (but see below). In terms of cooking performance – when cooking Bo Kho (Vietnamese beef stew), the unit managed to cook a pot-full in under 10 minutes (compared to 30 minutes in an older pressure cooker), was significantly quieter and (judging by the steam releasing at the end) was able to maintain a much higher steam pressure. See photos below of the ingredients and the finished product. Next - it cooked rice (we tried white, brown and black rice) as well as my wife's dedicated rice cooker, so that's another appliance Ninja can easily replace. Likewise air-frying things like chicken schnitzels, fish fillets or nuggets, Ninja is pretty quiet. So Ninja can definitely replace a dedicated air fryer. The large capacity means you can do a lot at once and the speed means it may well be more energy-efficient than using an oven. It was also good with smaller amounts (see photo). The Ninja did provide fast cooking, good results and good flexibility for me. I was particularly impressed with the pressure-cooking performance.

Now the Not-so-Good: The Ninja is heavy (nearly 12kg) and big, so unpacking and moving it around may be problematic for people with weaker hands (or back). The footprint is approximately 40cm x 40cm, with a total height (lid open) of 58cm – so it will take up a fair amount of bench space. Also, when releasing steam the “jet” is over a metre high (Puffing Billy and Thomas the Tank Engine would be proud) – so you need ample clearance above it when cooking . You definitely cannot stick it in a microwave nook or under any kitchen cabinets. The 80cm power cord is surprisingly short and not removable, so the Ninja must be within 80cm of a mains outlet, which may be a problem in some kitchens. The weight, short cord and large footprint may be a deal-breaker for some. But given that it can replace a dedicated pressure cooker, rice cooker and a dedicated air fryer – this may alter the equation, since Ninja (big as it is) will still take up less space than the three separate appliances.. Also – I was disappointed with the amount of non-recyclable Styrofoam packaging that came in the box, big pieces that had to be manually broken or cut to fit in the rubbish bin, sending bits of Styrofoam all over the garage. Surely the manufacturer can use recyclable cardboard instead of Styrofoam to provide the requisite cushioning inside the carton to make it more eco-friendly. The price may also be an entry barrier, however given the flexibility and performance it’s not unreasonable IF this becomes your main cooking appliance and provides several years of reliable performance. The potential downside is if Ninja breaks down, you've lost your primary cooking appliance.

Conclusion: I would recommend the Ninja MultiCooker for its performance and flexibility, just be aware of the weight, size and short power cord, and check if it will fit in your kitchen before buying. While I can't comment on the longevity (I’ve only been using it for about three of weeks), the unit seems very well built. If you can score one at a good price it’s a worthwhile purchase, as the RRP is a bit prohibitive - but if you're setting up a new kitchen and are thinking of buying an air fryer and a pressure cooker and a rice cooker individually, definitely consider Ninja as a realistic alternative to multiple appliances. • Hot While Cooking: No • Fast cooking: Yes • Easy to use: Yes