The MultiPot XL is cleverly designed to maximize flexibility without taking up too much cupboard or counter space Carrie Marshall | usagoldmines.com

• The Ninja MultiPo XL can prepare two different dishes with different settings at the same time
• It comes with a seven-liter ‘MegaZone’ pot, plus two 3.1-liter pots
• It’s available now for £259.99 (about $350 / AU$490)

My kitchen already contains more Ninjas than a bad kung-fu movie, all of which I’ve bought with my own money: Ninja has become my go-to brand thanks to clever design and decent pricing. So I’m intrigued by the launch of yet another multi-cooker, because it combines ideas from two of my favourite kitchen helpers: my multicooker and my dual-drawer air fryer.

The new multicooker is called the Ninja MultiPot XL and it comes with three pots: a seven-liter one for making big meals, and a pair of 3.1-liter ones so you can make two different things at two different settings. I thought dual-pot designs were a gimmick until I bought my air fryer, and now I’m like what’s inside it: a big fan.

I’ve been buying multicookers since the early days of the Instant Pot, and my current multicooker model is the Ninja Foodi Max 15-in-1. It’s on as I write this, making soup for the family dinner.

I love the convenience of the Max, but it’s awfully big and I don’t use the air fryer function. So I’m really interested in whether this new model can do what I need it to do without needing what looks like a very large Darth Vader helmet on my countertop. So let’s see what this MultiPot XL can do.

What kinds of cooking does the Ninja MultiPot XL do?

The 11 different cooking functions of the Ninja MultiPot XL are:

• Slow cook
• Sear / sauté
• Bake
• Sauce
• Rice
• Pasta
• Mixed Rice
• Sous Vide
• Simmer
• Hotpot
• Keep warm

You’ll notice the absence of air frying here, but that’s definitely not a deal-breaker for me. It’s one of the reasons this Ninja is so much smaller than my Foodi XL despite having almost the same maximum capacity.

Looking at what I usually cook, I reckon this could easily replace my Foodi Max. I typically use mine to sear or brown meat before slow cooking it, to sauté veg before adding stock for soup, and to make pasta. The keep warm feature is something I’m used to with the Foodi Max and I use it all the time, and the presence of a sous vide option is really attractive: I’ve tried stand-alone sous vide gadgets before and found them too much of a fuss but I’d be tempted to experiment with sous vide salmon and steaks here.

According to Ninja the pots are oven-safe up to 428F / 220C, they’re dishwasher safe (as are the lids) and they can be nested for easy storage. The glass lids are a nice touch — I can’t see what i’m cooking when I close the lid of my Foodi Max — and the small size makes this really tempting to me. It’s small enough to carry over to the table, too.

There are only two obvious downsides to me. The first is the lack of pressure cooking, which is something I like to use from to time, and the second is that it will almost certainly have the infamous Ninja beep alert that all my Ninjas make. But those are minor issues. If you’re big on cooking ideas but short of space this looks like it could be an excellent kitchen companion.

The Ninja MultiPot XL is available now direct from SharkNinja and major retailers. The list price is £259.99 (about $350 / AU$490).