Initially, the idea of cooking a dinner big enough for five in the Ninja Foodi Max Multi-Cooker was met with a lot of doubt. We’re talking five adults with massive appetites.
For simplicity’s sake, we chose an easy, hearty family meal: the shepherd’s pie.
How much could we keep our prep confined to the Foodi’s cooking pot, and could we make enough to satisfy five bottomless stomachs?
Preparing the potatoes and mince
With our spuds peeled, quartered, and washed off, they were added to the cooking pot and submerged in cold, salted water.
To boil, we selected Sear/Saute on High. This process would have possibly been quicker using Steam or Pressure, however we weren’t in possession of the pressure lid at the time of testing. If you want to see how the pressure lid works, then read our ‘Ninja Foodi Max: Testing the slow cook function‘ article instead.
Potatoes boiled, we removed the cooking pot from the Foodi, strained the spuds in the sink, rinsed the pot round, then placed it back in the air fryer. Time for the mince!
Our shepherd’s pie is light on the vegetable front (one of the family is fairly picky), but we do add carrots. Our shepherd’s pie mince contains: 500g pack of turkey thigh mince, three grated carrots, a good squeeze of brown sauce,pinch of pepper, table spoon of mixed herbs and a shake of chicken gravy granules. An extra shake of granules to thicken the gravy, as necessary. Similar to the potatoes, we fried the mince using the Sear/Saute setting on High.
Once the mince was fried off, carrots had softened, and the gravy was the right thickness, we turned off the Sear/Saute then topped off the mince with the mashed potatoes.
Baking the shepherd’s pie
As we were unsure about using the Foodi Max in the first place, we decided to pick the settings that closely replicated how we’d cook it in the oven.
We selected the Bake/Roast setting at 180C for 30 minutes.
15 minutes in
It was looking good! Not too much longer for our desired crispy top.
Full time: First impressions
No leakage – in the oven, the gravy in the mince bubbles over the side and pools on the mash. Not in the Foodi pot – most probably because of its incredibly steep sides and how the mash could be pushed into the high sides to seal the edges. A shallow oven dish doesn’t provide such luxuries.
The hefty portions initially created much excitement. This excitement was dampened somewhat when the first spoonfuls were eaten: while the mash was piping hot, the mince wasn’t. Considering the mince wasn’t cooled before being baked – the only time off the heat was the time it took to layer the mash – it was disappointing for the mince to be so lukewarm.
A similar hot top, cool bottom problem occured when we cooked a pasta bake in the Ninja Crispi – maybe it’s a general air fryer issue?
Would we use the Ninja Foodi Max to cook for a family of five again?
The shepherd’s pie didn’t take anywhere near as long to bake as it would’ve in the oven, the construction, however, was a faff. The deep cooking pot was the main culprit when it came to faff. For less faff, we’d probably boil the potatoes separately on the stove instead.
But ultimately, we would use the Foodi Max again. The portions were sizeable: each person got a hefty serving. At least three of the plates had a two-person serving, and if we were portioning to NHS recommended guidelines, our Foodi Max shepherd’s pie could’ve served at least eight adults.
Alongside the faff, it’s important to point out that the Foodi only cooked the shepherd’s pie: we had to prepare all of our sides separately. While perfectly capable of handling our main, it couldn’t cook the whole dinner – our cauliflower and green beans still needed to be boiled on the stove.
But ultimately, we probably wouldn’t cook a shepherd’s pie in it again. This opinion might change after cooking a second family meal in the Ninja Foodi Max, so watch out for our next family dinner cooking test.
