The Ninja SP101, also called the Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Flip Mini Oven, is a great air fryer for those looking to save some space on the kitchen countertop. This digital oven is designed to slot right into smaller kitchens without taking up too much space, thanks to a unique flip feature that allows it to be folded away against your kitchen backsplash when not in use, massively reducing its footprint on your kitchen countertop.
It’s a popular choice for those living in apartments, or just anybody who needs more space to cook in their kitchen, but is the Ninja Foodi Mini Oven any good? Let’s find out in this Ninja SP101 review if it’s the ultimate must-have toaster oven for your kitchen.
Ninja SP101 Specifications
- Capacity: 13″ pizza, 9 slices of toast, or 4 lbs in an air fry basket
- Cooking programs: 8
- In the box: Cooker unit, crumb tray, air fry basket, sheet pan, wire rack
- Modes: Air fry, air broil, air roast, bake, dehydrate, toast, bagel, keep warm
- Power: 1,800 Watts
- Dimensions: 19.72 x 7.56 x 14.96 inches
Design and Unboxing
The Ninja SP101 arrives in a large, hefty box with various inserts that easily slot inside the oven. When the digital oven is not in use, you can flip it back onto a rear flip-away base, and then push it back against your kitchen backsplash. This creates lots of working space on the front of the oven, which you can use to prepare food before putting it inside the oven to cook.
When folded back, you can open the oven from underneath. This gives you easy access to clean the inside of the oven, and once you remove the crumb tray you’ll find it easy to remove any splashes or food residue.
The Ninja Foodi Mini Oven has different modes, including air frying, air roasting, air broiling, as well as baking, toasting (as well as a mode for bagels) and even dehydrating. The timer and temperature can be adjusted using the dial, and then it’s a case of pressing down on that dial to start or pause your cooking mode.
How does the Ninja SP101 Perform?
Air Frying
We’ve used some of the best air fryers on the market, and the Ninja Foodi Mini Oven isn’t one of the best, but it’s also far from the worst. The Digital Air Fry Oven fries unevenly, and food prepared from scratch is well-fried. On their website, ninja claims this appliance can air fry 4 pounds of food at once, but while you can pile up that amount of fries in the air fry basket, the loaded basket can’t fit in the oven at the rack position recommended for air frying.
Toasting
The Ninja Air Fry Oven is spacious enough to accommodate nine slices of packaged bread without pressing them, and it can toast them fairly even, too. It gives impressive results when used to toast two slices, browning exceptionally evenly. It does, however, toast the slices to a golden-brown shade on both light and medium settings. It might be a little disappointing if you like your toast only lightly browned, but it gets a special bagel toasting setting and it browns bagel halves very uniformly.
Baking
While you’re not going to bake an entire loaf with the Ninja SP101, it comes in handy for baking cake or muffins in a shallow pan, or small items like cookies right on the sheet pan. It bakes biscuits just as well as from a full-size oven.
The Ninja Air Fry Oven comes with other cooking modes including Air roasting, Air broiling, Dehydrating, and Keep Warm that are meant to elevate your cooking experience.
Ease of Use
Unlike the Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Oven or the Ninja Foodi SP351 Smart Oven, the control panel of the SP101 is located on the right side. It’s pretty much the same except for the turn dial, which functions as the function selector and a start button. One advantage over its peers is it only has two rack levels for cooking.
So, unless you’re toasting or air frying, you’ll most certainly use the bottom rack. The quick start guide has plenty of tips to maximize all of the eight cooking functions, and that’s very ideal for people using an air fry oven for the first time.
The sheet pan and the air fry basket can be cleaned in the dishwasher. In the standing position, the back opens, giving you access to the inside for cleaning.
The Ninja air fryer oven comes with a very thorough owner’s guide, as well as a booklet that contains recipes and cooking charts for air frying. There’s also a leaflet with instructions on how to build a sheet pan meal. It would be helpful if there were also charts to use as guidelines for baking, air roasting, and air-broiling.
Bottom Line
The Ninja SP101 gives you lots of functionality, and because of its innovative design and “FLIP” feature, it is one of the easiest and most flexible air fry ovens out there. The Flip feature means it will not require a chunk of countertop space, making it a great choice if you’re looking for an oven that can serve you by every means.
It does everything from baking cake and muffins, toasting and roasting perfectly. Plus, it can air fry which means you get the functionality of several appliances in one package. The Ninja SP101 will look great on your kitchen countertop and it’s affordable, making it well worth your consideration.
Our Pick
Ninja SP101 Digital Air Fry Countertop Oven with 8-in-1 Functionality, Flip Up & Away Capability for Storage Space, with Air Fry Basket, Wire Rack & Crumb Tray, Silver
$199.99 in stock
20 used from $70.34
