After seeing the new Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL, I’m ready to enter my grillmaster era
I’m not much of an outdoor cook; After all, living in the city does not exactly offer much outdoor space. But beyond that, the level of attention required with traditional barbecues makes them feel distinctly no fun for a lazy cook like me.
However, this week I got the chance to see the latest addition to the range, the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker, and it’s a machine that might finally convince me to start my grillmaster journey.
With its connected app giving you the freedom to let the grill do its thing and its enormous capacity, the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker is an excellent addition to your patio.
If it’s hands-free, it’s for me
If I’m hosting any kind of outdoor soiree, I’d much rather enjoy the company of my friends and family than be glued to my grill while searching for perfectly cooked hot dogs. Let’s face it: unless you’re really passionate about the craft, you’re just going to get a bad case of FOMO.
So when I first heard about the original Ninja Woodfire, I was a little unconvinced. Sure, the idea of ββan open-air fryer was cool and I admired the wood-smoking technology, but ultimately it just felt like an electric grill with a few frills, and certainly not enough to convert me to a bona fide barbecue fangirl.
In part, I still feel that way about some of the older models – although I’ve tried a number of dishes cooked in a Woodfire this week, I’d definitely say I underestimated the flavor level of Ninja’s wood chips. However, it’s Ninja’s latest model, the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker (say that five times, fast) that has really converted me.
The Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker is the largest model of Ninja’s outdoor cooker and offers 30% more capacity than the original model. According to Ninja, that’s about 10 burgers at a time, or 6.8 kg of brisket.
That’s a pretty impressive spec, but it also offers some cool extra features that make it a particularly attractive option.
When paired with the Ninja Pro Connect app, the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric Barbecue Grill and Smoker is the first smart Ninja Woodfire, allowing you to remotely control your grill and provide real-time cooking status notifications. Plus, there’s plenty of educational material and instructions, courtesy of Ninja.
It offers seven cooking functions; grilling, smoking, frying, roasting, baking, reheating and drying, and has a built-in thermometer that allows users to cook and program two different types of meat at the same time at different cooking levels.
The Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker uses the same, 100% real wood-fired pellets to deliver beautiful smoky flavors, all without the use of charcoal, gas or flames, and in our review of the original Ninja Woodfire we were among the impression of how few were needed to deliver impactful flavor.
We don’t have pricing and availability information for the UK yet, but the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker is already available in the US for $449.75 direct from Ninja and third party retailers such as Amazon.