I’m Buying the Ninja Crispi Pro Air Fryer for My Dad

My dad is the smartest man I know. He can recite Shakespeare plays (almost) verbatim, list Habsburgs by order of their rule, and remember the name of every teacher he’s ever had. And yet, he labors under the delusion that he can beat me in tennis — he can’t — and struggles with simple tasks, like cooking. He’s also remarkably set in his ways. Not only does he own the same workout shirt in no less than 10 colors, but he also refuses to take typing classes despite only being able to punch out 12 words a minute.

I love him very much, but shopping for him isn’t easy. For years, my sister and I have resorted to loading money onto gift cards because we can never decide what to get him. We know it’s a boring holiday present, but we reason that he’s at least guaranteed to get something he likes. This holiday season, however, we’re changing it up and getting him the Ninja Crispi Pro air fryer instead.

Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 Glass Air Fryer

For a picky person who likes their food extra crispy but has no patience or, dare I say, skill in the kitchen, the Crispi Pro is the ultimate present. With its simple but effective design, all our dad has to do is load day-old chicken fingers inside the bowl, attach the top, set the temperature, and press a button. He can even monitor the progress of his chicken through its see-through glass container and stop the cooking when he deems it’s ready.

Since he’ll likely only pull it out to reheat food, we were originally thinking about getting him the first-generation Ninja Crispi. It’s a great option that’s more compact and less expensive than the new model, but we decided that our mom will appreciate the larger size and greater versatility of the Crispi Pro. With six settings — including air fry, bake/proof, roast, recrisp, reheat, and dehydrate — we can see her bringing new life to sad vegetables, cooking salmon in mere minutes, and roasting a whole chicken before guests come over. We also know that she’ll appreciate being able to set a specific temperature when following a recipe, which is a feature available only on the updated model.

Ninja Crispi 4-in-1 Air Fryer

Of course, our dad might fall so deeply in love with the Crispi Pro that he’ll use it for more than its crisping technology. One Amazon shopper procured the original Crispi when it first dropped because they wanted an easier way to reheat food. With time, they realized how useful it was beyond this one function, to the point that it “earned its place on the counter” because they cooked with it so much. After buying the Pro the minute it was released, they now use both air fryers to make entire meals from start to finish. 

My sister and I could see our parents, particularly our dad, following a similar path. We might even help him break in his new gift because we’re just that generous.

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At the time of publishing, the price was $280.