Ninja Woodfire Pro 7-in-1 Grill & Smoker with Thermometer, Air Fryer, BBQ, Bake, Roast, Broil - Portable Electric Outdoor Grill, Grey

I have been a Ninja fan for awhile now. I have a slow cooker and an air fryer and both have been excellent and I love the modern design and cooking technology.I recently needed to move to an apartment and instead of having a deck, I now have a patio on the 21st floor. Gas grills are forbidden but I was told an electric grill is fine. With the summer now here I started looking for a solid electric grill. The advantage of a gas grill is the flame and that smoky flavor you get, plus the charring. I honestly thought that an outdoor electric grill would be vastly disappointing in comparison because you won't get the same flavors. I found two options, one being this Ninja Woodfire and the other a standard electric grill with no frills. The latter is around $120 cheaper. What brought me to the Ninja was my trust in the products but also the addition of the smoker and the ability to circulate wood pellet smoke around the food. This is a game changer for me.Setting it up was as easy as removing it from the box and assembling the two side handles. That's it. It comes with instructions and recipes plus two bags of food grade wood pellets. I literally could not wait to try it out so marinaded some chicken and picked up some burgers, hot dogs, asparagus and corn on the cob.I filled the side pellet compartment as instructed but that was a mistake! You do not need to fill it all the way up. I would say half is more than adequate. My patio was smoking like crazy and the smell was overwhelming. Maybe if you were to use this on a yard it would be fine but for an apartment patio, hell no. My apartment smelled of burning wood for a good few hours! Not sure my neighbors would be happy either. I now limit the wood pellets and smoker.Everything has cooked brilliantly well. The chicken was moist and tender but flavorful, the burgers charred and smoky, the asparagus was fantastic! Much better than on a frying pan. The corn I decided to smoke and it was delightful. It really added depth to corn. I was worried about charring or lack thereof but it does a great job.The only thing I do not like about this is the clean down. As the top has a fan, you can expect oil and grease to travel everywhere and it does. Luckily there is a oil tray at the back that can be removed and cleaned. The grill plate can be removed and had washed. You just need to wait a good while for it to cool down first. The rest just needs wiped down with a sponge or cloth. The upper inside of the lid is a mess and can't really be cleaned but I guess that's the same for all grills or barbecues and probably adds to the flavor over time. I also wish the power cable was a foot longer. It's pretty short but an extension cord will remedy that.In all, I'm super happy with this purchase. It's not cheap but an excellent product if you are unable to have a gas grill at home.

A couple of my friends have a Ninja grill…not the smoker version. They swear by it. Since I already have an electric smoker, a portable pizza oven, an Oklahoma Joe Longhorn combo (offset smoker, charcoal grill, propane grill, and side burner), and a 28” Blackstone flat top griddle, I couldn't imagine that this little grill would be of any use to me. However, I decided to purchase the Ninja OG701 7-in-1 Outdoor Electric Grill & Smoker. Why not? Amazon has a very simple return policy if I decide it's not for me.I've had it almost a week and grilled/smoked a Ribeye steak. I'll be honest, as much as I love to cook, and have been told I’m very good at it, I have never been able to get a steak just right. Consequently, decades ago I resigned myself to only getting steak at a reputable steakhouse. After reading recipes and watching several videos I took the leap and grilled a ribeye. I'll be darned if it didn't turn out to be a perfect medium rare with slight char and handsome grill marks. Oh, And a warm smokey flavor I didn't think was possible in such a short cook time.To prepare the steak, I added pellets to the hopper, turned the dial to grill, set it for only 10 minutes (the pamphlet suggests 20, but many, many reviews complain that cook times in the pamphlet are much too long), and waited until it told me to Add Food (I only seasoned with salt and pepper). I placed the steak in the grill and when Ninja told me to Flip, I flipped. When the time was up I used my trusty Thermapen and the internal temp was 122F. I knew the temp would end up somewhere between 125 and 130 after the steak rested for a few minutes while I made my salad. I was eating outside, but decided to take it inside since my moaning over how delicious this was could have been interpreted as “something else.”Next was Balsamic Glazed Grilled Zucchini and Squash. No smoke, just simple grilling. Delicious and so easy. I followed this up with Air Crisped Chicken Wings. Again, opted not to get too fancy because I wanted to see how good they were without any glaze, sauce, or highly seasoned rub. I set the grill, on Air Crisp, preheated it, put the wings in the air crisper basket when it told me to Add Food. At the halfway point it reminded me to flip, but all I did was shake them up a bit. Once the time was up I was rewarded with super juicy wings with crispy skin. Every bit as good as what I've had at a local wings restaurant known for their good wings.Cleanup is as easy as they claim. The grill plate is a ceramic coated nonstick composite. The burned foods bits practically slide off. After each use I squirted it with the faucet's spray function and gently sponged it with warm soapy water. If only my Blackstone were that easy to clean! I lined the drip pan with foil so cleaning it was a matter of tossing out the tin foil.I watched a video by Dad Got This called How the Heck Do You Deep Clean Your Ninja Woodfire Grill. His secret weapon for cleaning the interior of the lid is Easy Off Degreaser…NOT the oven cleaner! Spray the inside of the lid but have your paper towels ready because it will immediately run and bring the gunk with it. This is like watching a miracle in real time. I plan on doing this after every few cooks. I used my hair dryer on Low Heat to dry it off after toweling it dry.Since I live alone I felt the smaller size would be plenty for me. The big (pardon the pun) advantage of the XL is the 33% more cooking surface. I also did not want the temperature probe offered on the Pro or Pro XL because for all of my other griddles, smokers, etc. I use either a ThermaPro digital, wireless, infrared, or Temp Spike. Plus I always double check the final cook temp with my ThermaPro Instant Read thermometer. And after reading numerous reviews, it seems the included Ninja probe isn't as accurate as a ThermaPro.I'll be retiring in 3 months and am looking forward to preparing breakfast outside as well as most of my other meals. In the snowy and rainy season I will wheel it into my oversized garage, open the garage door and BBQ like it's summertime.Now for the one SERIOUS PROBLEM with the Ninja OG701 7-in-1 Outdoor Electric Grill & Smoker. Drum roll please -One of these isn't enough!!! I am probably going to buy a second one so I can cook two things at once using different cook methods. Perhaps the non-smoking indoor grill. Crazy, huh? But that's how much I love this grill. I may never use my kitchen range ever again. And I'm pretty sure my Blackstone will get jealous now that I've purchased the griddle plate accessory. Even my large electric smoker will get a much needed rest. As far as the Oklahoma Joe's Longhorn Combo…well, I gave it away to my handyman yesterday. I knew I'd never use it again.

First cook out of the way. Works as advertised. Preheat/ignition was fast. Some minor items: it couldn't go from smoke to crisp directly without stopping the existing cycle, and then it wanted a preheat before starting the fan; there is no need to delay the fan if trying to increase the crisp temp from a prior mode to get a sear equivalent. Also along the same line, I determined I wanted to drop in a few more pellets around the time I changed to crisp; just after the fan had finally started after already adding the crisp preheat, I pressed the ignite button... this stopped the fan and started another preheat (or ignition) cycle. This part I can adjust with my procedure in the future (didn't need another ignite when just dropping in a few new pellets). Finally, why are there no rubber feet included? I know they'd like you buy their overpriced cart, but I already have one and the unit can slide (on stainless) with the vibration of moving the cart even a short distance without rubber feet... at least offer some feet as an accessory for those just planning to sit it on a flat surface. I guess best solution for now is a non-slip rubber mat. Overall the first cook went well and food tasted good, though I did use separate temp probe to determine proper sear (air crisp) and stop times; without that, I suspect the experience would be more variable. I got the smaller unit since it will go along to campsites that offer power; a fairly recent experience saw me carry a charcoal grill that never reached a proper cook temperature, so I wanted to avoid that again. This system is faster and easier to clean up.