Ninja vs Instant Pot: Which Multi-Cooker Reigns Supreme in UK Kitchens?

Here’s the thing nobody tells you before you buy: the Ninja vs Instant Pot debate is basically settled the moment you answer one question about how you cook. Everything else — price, size, button layout — follows from that. I’ll get to the question shortly, but first it’s worth understanding why these two brands swallowed the entire multi-cooker conversation.

Instant Pot arrived in 2010 and made pressure cooking feel safe. That sounds like a small thing, but it wasn’t. Traditional stovetop pressure cookers had spent decades scaring people, hissing and rattling on the hob like they might take a wall out. Instant Pot replaced all that anxiety with a locking lid, automatic pressure release, and a display that told you exactly what was happening. Facebook groups dedicated purely to Instant Pot recipes still have hundreds of thousands of active members, which tells you something about how deeply the brand embedded itself in home cooking culture.

Ninja came later with a different bet.

Rather than competing head-on with Instant Pot at pressure cooking, Ninja built the Foodi — a multi-cooker that also air fries. Suddenly you could pressure cook a whole chicken in 25 minutes and then blast it under the air fryer lid for another 10 to get crispy skin. Two appliances, one box. It was bulkier and pricier, but for people who’d been eyeing both a pressure cooker and an air fryer, it made obvious sense.

What Instant Pot Actually Does Well

Pressure cooking is genuinely fast. A beef and ale stew that normally needs three hours on the hob takes roughly 40 minutes in an Instant Pot, and the result is tender rather than stewed-to-mush. Most UK models — the 3-litre and 5.7-litre sizes are the most common — also include slow cook, steam, sauté, and rice modes, plus a yogurt function that sounds gimmicky until you realise it works surprisingly well. Controls are physical buttons and a dial. No touchscreen, no firmware updates, nothing that requires reading a manual twice.

Pricing runs from around £60 to £150 depending on size and which version you pick up. That’s the affordable end of the multi-cooker market. The community around Instant Pot is enormous, which matters more than it sounds: if something goes wrong or you can’t figure out why your lentil soup came out watery, someone in an online group has already posted the fix.

The weaknesses are real, though. The sauté function works for softening onions or browning mince before you seal the lid, but it’s not a replacement for a proper pan — the heat distribution is uneven and you can’t get things properly caramelised. And the stainless steel exterior picks up fingerprints like it’s been specifically engineered to do so. (Actually, that second complaint sounds petty, but when the thing lives on your counter you notice.)

So What Does the Ninja Foodi Add?

The air fryer lid is the whole point. When I first started looking at Ninja Foodi models, I assumed the air frying would be a token feature — the kind of thing that gets listed on the box but doesn’t really work. It’s not. The results are genuinely crispy in a way that matters: chicken thighs come out with proper skin, not the slightly steamed texture you get from oven cooking at lower temperatures. You pressure cook the meat first to get it cooked through fast, then flip to air fry mode for the last 8–10 minutes to finish it. One pot, one cleanup, dinner on the table in under an hour.

The tradeoff is size. A 6-litre Ninja Foodi is considerably taller than a comparable Instant Pot, especially with the air fryer lid attached, and it has a wider base too. In a small British kitchen where every centimetre of worktop is contested territory, that matters. Prices run from around £150 at the lower end up to £300 or more for the larger SmartLid models, so you’re spending roughly double what you’d pay for a mid-range Instant Pot.

The transition between cooking modes is also slightly fiddlier than Ninja’s marketing makes it look. You have to swap out the pressure cooking pot for the air fryer basket, which takes about 30 seconds but requires handling hot equipment. Not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing before you assume it’s all seamless.

Function by Function: Where Each One Wins

Pressure cooking is roughly equal. Both reach pressure quickly, hold it reliably, and release safely. Instant Pot is optimised specifically for it, so it might be marginally faster to come to pressure, but in practice — cooking a curry on a Tuesday night — you won’t notice. Slow cooking is also comparable in quality, though the Instant Pot’s smaller size makes it more practical to leave on the counter for an all-day cook. Steaming: both do it, neither does it exceptionally.

Air frying is not even close. Instant Pot doesn’t have it. Full stop.

Sautéing on both machines is serviceable but limited — good enough to brown mince or sweat onions before sealing the lid, not good enough to replace a proper frying pan for anything that needs real heat or even browning across the whole surface. If someone tells you they use the sauté mode for serious cooking, they’ve lowered their standards or they’re very patient.

Be Honest About Your Kitchen Before You Buy

The question I mentioned at the top: do you want an air fryer? Not “would it be nice” — do you actually want one, badly enough to spend an extra £100 and give up an extra 15cm of worktop?

If yes, get the Ninja Foodi. It does everything the Instant Pot does for pressure and slow cooking, and then it also air fries well. The higher price and larger footprint are real costs, but you’re getting a genuinely capable second function, not a gimmick. The people who get the most out of a Ninja Foodi tend to be those who cook varied meals across the week — some batch cooking, some quick weeknight dinners, some “I want something that tastes fried without deep-frying” evenings.

If no, get the Instant Pot. It’s cheaper, smaller, simpler to learn, and it will pressure cook your stews, curries, soups, and risottos just as well as the Ninja. The massive online recipe community means you’ll never run out of things to make with it. I know people who’ve had the same 5.7-litre Instant Pot for five years and use it three times a week without issues. That’s a good appliance.

Both brands have solid warranties and reliability records. Neither is a bad purchase. But if you’re the sort of cook who mostly wants fast weeknight dinners with minimal fuss, the Instant Pot is the smarter buy — paying an extra £100 for an air fryer you use twice a month doesn’t make sense when a dedicated air fryer costs £50 on its own. Get the Ninja Foodi only if the combined appliance genuinely replaces two things you’d otherwise own separately.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Ninja Foodi better than an Instant Pot for everyday cooking?

It depends on what ‘everyday’ looks like for you. If you mostly make stews, curries, and batch-cooked grains, an Instant Pot handles all of that more affordably and takes up less space. If you want to air fry chicken or crisp up leftovers on the same night, the Ninja Foodi earns its larger footprint.

Can an Instant Pot replace an air fryer?

No. Standard Instant Pot models have no air frying function. Ninja has released some Instant Pot-branded air fryer lids as accessories in the US, but these are not widely available in the UK. If air frying matters to you, the Ninja Foodi is the clearer choice.

How much counter space does a Ninja Foodi take up compared to an Instant Pot?

A 5.7-litre Instant Pot has a footprint of roughly 33cm x 33cm. A 6-litre Ninja Foodi is closer to 38cm x 38cm and is considerably taller when the air frying lid is attached. In a small UK kitchen, that difference is noticeable.

Which is cheaper to run — Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot?

Both are energy-efficient compared to an oven. Pressure cookers in general use less electricity than conventional cooking because they reach high temperatures fast. The Instant Pot typically draws 1,000–1,200W; Ninja Foodi models are similar for pressure cooking but draw more when air frying. Neither will spike your energy bill significantly.

Are Instant Pot and Ninja Foodi accessories interchangeable?

No. The pots, baskets, and lids are brand-specific and not cross-compatible. Replacement sealing rings, steamer baskets, and inner pots need to match your exact model number. Both brands sell accessories directly and through major UK retailers.