Cooking with the Ninja Foodi PossibleCooker

[Maison Rustique]

I posted elsewhere that I got the Ninja Foodi PossibleCooker Pro 8.5 qt. a couple of months ago. I wanted to replace the huge heavy slow cooker I had. I finally tried this yesterday with a variety of things, mostly just to see what it could do and to use up some stuff that needed to get used.

 

I sauteed some Italian sausage and it turned out great. Got plenty hot--I used the saute/sear setting on HI. Best of all, the pot I'd deep so I didn't get grease splatters all over. I took out the sausage and l left the grease/drippings. Put in some potatoes that were at the use it or lose it stage. I added some water and salt with them. and just continued to cook them on the same setting uncovered so most of the water would cook off. When the potatoes were done, I took them out, added a bit of oil and threw in a handful of baby tomatoes that were also use it or lose it stage. I covered and let them cook to bursting. Removed those, added a little more oil, some onion and garlic and sauteed those. Then put in some Rancho Gordo Ayocote Morados that I' had soaked for a very long time. Added water, covered and once it got to boiling, I changed to slow cook HI, covered and let them simmer until done, about 3 hours. I did turn the temp down to LO a a couple of times when I thought it might be getting too hot, but I didn't want to fiddle with it all night, so wanted them to cook as quickly as possible for dried beans. 

 

I did not wash the pan in-between uses which was so nice and easy!! Figure whatever drippings there were would just flavor the next thing I tossed in.

 

I ate some of the sausage with some cauliflower rice and some of the "roasted" tomatoes for supper and have all the rest in the fridge to figure out what I'm going to do with all of it. But, I love this cooker!! I see me using it a lot!!

 

Couple of notes: I've been reading tips/pros/cons in some of the FB groups and a common complaint seemed to be the non-stick surface chipping and scratching. I bought a different wire rack on Amazon that has silicone feet to prevent scratching the bottom of the pan. And rather than use the hard plastic spoon that comes with it, I used wooden utensils.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

I'm glad you started this topic. How is it for weight? Is it something that you will need to leave on the counter or is it something that you can carry and put away. The reason that I ask is that I have limited counter space but I can't carry heavy appliances.

[Maison Rustique]

20 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I'm glad you started this topic. How is it for weight? Is it something that you will need to leave on the counter or is it something that you can carry and put away. The reason that I ask is that I have limited counter space but I can't carry heavy appliances.

 

It isn't quite as light as I'd have liked, but it is definitely something I can pick up and carry easily enough. I got the 8.5 qt. because that is what Costco carries and had a good price on it, but think they also make a 6 or 6.5 qt. model which would have been fine for me and lighter. But, it is definitely lighter than my crockpot! And when it is full of food, you just lift the lightweight pan out of the base and it isn't heavy at all. I could barely lift my crockpot when it was empty and not at all when it was full of food.

[Tropicalsenior]

Deb,

You definitely have me interested in this but I think I'm going to try and hold out for the 6.5 quart size. According to the product details it is 4 lb lighter than the one you have and I definitely don't need the larger size. I'll see if my grandson can bring me one on his next trip down. Please keep posting when you use it. It looks fascinating.

[Smithy]

@Maison Rustique, you have me interested also. Can you please tell how this is different in function from an Instant Pot? How, if at all, would this be superior?

[rotuts]

Id like to chime in , 

 

and , of course , with no personal experience 

 

nor reliable information :

 

the iPot does very poorly w saute .  its not designed for that

 

and have very uneven heat on the bottom when used for that purpose.

 

Ive had some remodeling folks in my house for a bit.

 

One asked about the ' more than  one ' iPot I have , and said they got rid of theirs

 

as it ' burnt out ' .  I though about this , and asked it they used the saute Fx much 

 

and they did.  this confirmed for me the iPot ' boils water . and then creates pressure '

 

this is does very well   .

 

Id say , if this unit is well designed for saute , at those temps 

 

then its a consideration .

 

My several cents.   the iPot is not designed for saute.   it might do it 

 

but it does it very badly , and , based on recent info 

 

might burn itself out.

 

looking forward to more eG user input.

[Tropicalsenior]

To me, comparing the instant pot to the cooker is like comparing apples and oranges. The instant pot is a pressure cooker. I like that feature and I use it all the time as a pressure cooker. True, it doesn't sear things well because it doesn't have enough surface area and it doesn't get hot enough to suit me. So I brown everything in a large skillet and transfer it to the instant pot. One Step more but it works.

What I am interested in in the cooker is the many features that would replace stove top cooking such as one pot meals, brazing, and probably the rice features. As it is, I cook rice in the instant pot but the only rice that I find that works well in that is the long grain rice. It seems to me that the cooker would be very versatile in cooking all types of rice.

I would also like to know how it works as an oven. To be perfectly truthful, I would just as soon get rid of my stove alltogether but I can't because I need the oven to store my skillets.

[TdeV]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

To be perfectly truthful, I would just as soon get rid of my stove alltogether but I can't because I need the oven to store my skillets.

 

Yvonne, you're priceless!

[rotuts]

@Tropicalsenior

 

''   need the oven to store my skillets  ''

 

interesting.

 

Ive used my dishwasher , thre old one , and eventuakky the new one

 

ton store  my Pyrex ( original  ) collection 

 

along  w various lids.

 

I plan to use the new one to wash all the plates and things 

 

twice a year or so.

[Maison Rustique]

What Tropical Senior said. This is nothing at all like an IP, which I have and don't really use. I got this mostly to replace my slow cooker which was really heavy, but the appeal was the saute/sear function, which I am completely in love with. The pot is deep enough that I can fry something without all the splatter on the stove top. You can also sous vide which I have not done, proof dough, etc. So many functions!! Again, I haven't tried all of them, but so far, so good!

[Smithy]

1 minute ago, Maison Rustique said:

What Tropical Senior said. This is nothing at all like an IP, which I have and don't really use. I got this mostly to replace my slow cooker which was really heavy, but the appeal was the saute/sear function, which I am completely in love with. The pot is deep enough that I can fry something without all the splatter on the stove top. You can also sous vide which I have not done, proof dough, etc. So many functions!! Again, I haven't tried all of them, but so far, so good!

 

You're tempting me. I like my IP's but have found them not all that great as slow cookers because the heat only comes up from the bottom, instead of all around as in a crock pot style slow cooker. What is the heat distribution like with this Possible Cooker?

[Tropicalsenior]

13 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

You can also sous vide

That's a function that I would really be interested in trying. As for proofing dough, living in the Tropics that's a feature I really don't need at all.

Edited 11 hours ago by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Maison Rustique]

@Smithy, it is great as far as I can tell. For a light-weight pan, it gets HOT and stays hot all the way through the pan for a long while after you turn it off! Some users (There are several user groups on FB.) say they don't like the slow-cook function because it takes too long. But others say to start it on slow-cook HI and then switch it to LO when it comes to a simmer. And there is also a braise function. At any rate, I had no trouble cooking my beans in it the other day. I was very happy with the outcome.

 

Just copied this from their website: "This go-to cooker can replace 14 cooking tools and appliances, offering cooker-to-oven-to-table functionality. Cook up to 30% faster than a conventional oven* with Triple Fusion Heat®, which combines bottom, side, and steam heating elements to unlock even more cooking options."

[Tropicalsenior]

8 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

This go-to cooker can replace 14 cooking tools and appliances,

I've read through their 14 replacement items and to me this is pretty much an advertising ploy. It is interesting that the 6.5 size cooker only claims to replace 10 items, and except for their size they seem to have all the same features.

[Tropicalsenior]

I was just reading through the Ninja 6.5 Kettle specifications and they do not mention sous vide. They say that it has eight functions yet they don't list them. On the 8.5 specifications they call it an eight in one Appliance implying that it has eight functions. It looks to me like someone needs to edit and rewrite their product information.

[DesertTinker]

2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I've read through their 14 replacement items and to me this is pretty much an advertising ploy. It is interesting that the 6.5 size cooker only claims to replace 10 items, and except for their size they seem to have all the same features.

I looked at both also, one major difference that I noticed is that the 8.5 qt has “bottom and side heat” where the 6.5 qt doesn’t mention side heat, and from the pictures, is very low sided, so even if it does, it would have a minimal meaningful impact. On the plus side, both appear to have replacement/additional pots and lids available at an apparently reasonable price, unlike most slow cookers where the replacement ceramic costs nearly the same as a total replacement unit.

Edited 8 hours ago by DesertTinker
Corrected size (log)

[DesertTinker]

3 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I've read through their 14 replacement items and to me this is pretty much an advertising ploy. It is interesting that the 6.5 size cooker only claims to replace 10 items, and except for their size they seem to have all the same features.

I just have to say that I’ve had two Instant Pots, the 8 qt and 3 qt Duo, since 2017. No appliances or pans have been replaced by them, they’re just additions to the cast of possibilities when I want to cook something. (And they’ve dragged along their respective “must have” accessories). 🙄