So congratulations, you have just bought a Ninja Dual Zone Max Air Fryer. They are the market leaders in the US, and if this is your first air fryer, your life is about to change forever. But what on earth do all the different settings on the front of it do? This article is your quick Ninja Dual Zone Max Air Fryer Settings guide to get you started and on the road to making amazing, speedy dishes.
Table of Contents
Dehydrate Setting
Let’s start with Dehydrate. Now this seems like a really obvious setting, but it is actually more versatile than you might think. Dehydrate has the slowest fan speed of all the settings and a low temperature range, which is cooler even than a slow cooker.
When you select Dehydrate, the timings shown on the display are in hours, not minutes. And if the thought of running it for that long makes you worried about your electricity bill, do not be. These appliances use very little power on low settings, so it is quite economical to run them on Dehydrate, even for a full eight hours.
You can obviously use Dehydrate to dry out things like herbs and fruit, but it might surprise you to discover it is also great for a long, slow cook of a beef roasting joint. They actually end up really juicy, not dried out at all. You can also use the Dehydrate setting to prove bread.
If you have the Tefal Easy Fry Dual Zone Flexi Draw, that model does have its own proof setting, but if you have the 300 or the 400, use Dehydrate and it will achieve the same thing. You can even use Dehydrate to make yogurt or clotted cream. And if you are wondering why you would bother making clotted cream instead of buying it, well, there are loads of places around the world where you simply cannot get it.
Dehydrate
Fan Speed: Low
Low temperature
Good For
Reheat Setting
Next up is Reheat. This also runs on a low fan speed and it is great for warming things that you want to stay crisp. When you reheat food in the microwave, as we all know, it tends to go a little bit limp and floppy.
But if you use Reheat in the air fryer, your food will crisp up as it warms through. It works really well for things like slices of pizza, sausage rolls, fish and chips, leftover roast potatoes, and already cooked pastries. To be clear though, it is not a microwave and will not replace one.
Reheat
Good For
Bake Setting
Bake is the closest setting to a conventional oven and runs on a medium fan speed. It is intended for baking and works well for the obvious things like cakes, bread, meringues, scones, and flapjacks. Basically, anything you might see made on the Great British Bake Off. But you can also use it for pasta bakes and pies.
If you are feeling nervous about using your air fryer for the first couple of times, just put it on Bake. It behaves the closest to a regular oven and it will not mess anything up. As you grow more and more confident, you can then start exploring the faster fan speed settings and the hotter temperatures.
Bake
Fan Speed : Medium
Good For
Roast Setting
Now we enter the territory of the high fan speed settings. First up is Roast, which is probably the least confusing setting on the Ninja Air Fryer. It has a default temperature of 190 degrees Celsius and is intended for cooking meat, not just roast chicken, but also sausages and any other joints of meat.
Roast
Fan Speed : High
Good For
Air Fry Settings
The next two settings, Air Fry and Max Crisp, are probably the two that cause the most confusion. So let’s clear that up once and for all. Both settings work at the highest fan speed. Air Fry has a slightly lower temperature range than Max Crisp and is designed for things you might consider putting in a standard deep fat fryer, like churros, donuts, scotch eggs, breaded fish, or homemade fries.
It is the ideal setting for anything that is raw and needs to be both crispy on the outside and properly cooked through on the inside.
Air Fry
Fan Speed : High
Good For
Max Crisp
Max Crisp, on the other hand, is the fastest and hottest setting on the air fryer. Its default temperature is 240 degrees Celsius. It is mainly used for two purposes. The first is for small shop bought frozen items like chips and chicken nuggets, because those items are already partially cooked and just need heating through.
The second and main purpose of Max Crisp is to finish food off at the end of cooking, much like a grill. In fact, if you buy a Dual Draw Ninja Air Fryer in the US or Canada, the Max Crisp setting is actually called Air Broil, with broil being the equivalent of a grill. You do not want to use this setting for anything large or uncooked, because the danger is it will cook the outside to a crisp while the inside remains completely raw.
Max Crisp
Fan Speed : High
Good For
One Final Tip on Temperature
If you are ever unsure about what temperature to cook at, Ninja Air Fryer advises using 10 degrees less than you would in a fan oven, and cooking time is usually about 20 percent less, although this can vary. So keep an eye on it and learn as you go. You are going to have a lot of fun with your air fryer. If you are wondering about which accessories to buy and which ones are not worth bothering with, be sure to check out the accessories guide as well.
Read More: Tefal Easy Fry Dual Zone Air Fryer Review
