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We have been huge fans of the Ninja Woodfire electric BBQ for the past few years. My husband was so obsessed with it that we drove down to Puglia, in Italy, stopping off in Santa Margherite to cook T-bone steaks while looking down at the sea view.
So when we saw that Ninja had brought out an all singing and all dancing FlexFlame BBQ with gas and electric options including a pizza stone to, yes, cook pizza, we just had to have it. Ninja also had a dedicated Ninja Artisan outdoor pizza oven, which the Daily Mail has also reviewed. But this is a full BBQ and outdoor cooking system, unlike anything you’ve seen before.
When the enormous boxes arrived, my husband was a little daunted but decided the gain of the FlexFlame outweighed the two trips to the tip to dispose of all the packaging. His main recommendation is have to have two of you to build it.
Find our full verdict and review of the Ninja FlexFlame Gas BBQ below.
I LOVED the Ninja FlexFlame, there is nothing this BBQ can’t do
Ninja FlexFlame Gas BBQ & Outdoor Cooking System
Product Specs
- FunctionsGrill, Smoke, Roast, Griddle, Pizza
- Min/max temp95/315 degrees C
What we love
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VersatileYou can cook just about anything on this
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PerformanceCooks everything quickly and to perfection
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SmokerThe wood chips add a subtle but delicious fire flavour to food
Verdict
There is NOTHING this BBQ can’t do. If we had no gas in the house this machine would take care of all the cooking no problem. It can take a pan, it can take a pizza.
The clever design enables you to be able to maintain a very clean BBQ too, as it can all be removed for washing. Most pieces can go in the dishwasher but some are too large though still clean up beautifully.
My Italian husband said the pizza we made on this BBQ was one of the best he had ever eaten – I don’t even think he was joking! Something about the cooking stone, the wood chips, the perfectly browned pizza and eating outdoors was incredible.
What Ninja has done with the instruction guide is genius too. It guides you through every step, from building it to cooking on it, explaining which items to cook where, on what setting and for how long. This will transform lives as nothing will burn or be cooked too long and everything will be ready when it says it will.
Yes it’s expensive but I think the Ninja FlexFlame BBQ worth every penny and a real investment if you’re a serious BBQer with a large garden.
This is an expensive bit of kit, so we really put it through its paces with pizza, meats and spuds!
How we test
We wanted to test every single thing the FlexFlame could do for this review. From cooking jacket potatoes in the smoking area to pizzas and traditional BBQ meats.
This is an expensive bit of kit, so we really put it through its paces. As well testing the performance we also looked at how easy it was to set up (it requires two people ideally) and how easy it was to use and clean.
We’ve previously used the Ninja Electric BBQ, so wanted to see how it stacked up to that. All of this allowed us to get a really good feel of this multi purpose BBQ.
Read more about how we test home and garden appliances.
Ninja FlexFlame Gas BBQ & Outdoor Cooking System Review
First impressions
The Ninja FlexFlame leaves you needing nothing to add. It thinks of everything. Even the pizza peel, which loads the pizza on and off.
It has an American feel about it too,, which I like. Gorgeous red burner dials and the temperature dials has a real Sub Zero expensive feel to it.
There is so much you can do with this BBQ station that it was hard to know what to start cooking first.
We decided to start easy with jacket potatoes and a sweet potato, as they take the longest. We placed them on the back burner on the Roast Bake setting in foil and added wood chips (they supply a little starter pack) for the woodfire flavour, then put the lid down.
There’s a fan noise you’ll notice while cooking, which becomes quiet after a while. The smell of the wood chips makes you feel like you are eating outside on a campfire.
This BBQ is going to elevate every garden party I host – it leaves nothing to chance
The dials are so gorgeous and the stainless steel lid gleams in the sunshine. There’s also a heatproof handle that never seems to get hot – the whole thing just feels perfect for a busy party. I wondered if David Beckham had anything to do with it’s design as he is to Ninja what George Clooney is to Nespresso.
I could tell instantly that this BBQ would elevate any garden party, as there is literally nothing it can’t do apart from serve you a cocktail – the Ninja team are probably already on that as I type.
The instructions are easy to follow and beautifully illustrated, so it makes the putting together easy – though it might need two of you as it’s so large.
Performance
It was really important that we tried all the options the BBQ offered us. So the bread dough was made for the pizzas, which we cooked with pepperoni and mozzarella. We added the stone and set the dial for grill/pizza and let it warm up for ten minutes. We then set the Grill/Pizza dial to 315 degrees.
The smoked ham came out perfectly cooked with a nice BBQ crisp
I loaded it onto the pizza peel, which made putting it on to the pizza stone SO easy and down went the lid. The pizza looked golden after five to ten minutes – it was the most perfect looking pizza I’ve seen in a while.
We cooked the potatoes, sweet potato and garlic bread ALL in foil and they seemed very happy up there cooking away on the top shelf. They do take time though, so always bear that in mind. We cooked the potatoes for an hour while we used the other parts of the grill and they were probably the nicest jacket potatoes my daughter and I had ever eaten. She thought it might be the wood chips giving it that gorgeous flavour, even through the foil.
It’s easy to make pizza on the Ninja FlexFlame too
Alongside this, we smoked a cooked ham with honey mustard glaze in a cast iron pan on the grill, and left it with the lid down for around 15 minutes. Oh my gosh was it delicious! The honey mustard glaze had a gorgeous hickory smoked taste to it. Really recommend this and my next job after this review will be to BBQ spare ribs, as I feel they would be incredible to cook on here.
Enjoying the fruits of my labour – perfect glazed ham and succulent jacket spuds.
Of course, no BBQ is complete without burgers and hot dogs for the troops and these simple tests are usually the best way to find out how good it is. Believe me when I say, they could pass for smashed restaurant burgers and hot dogs. Although we bought the Deluxe burgers from Lidl, they tasted like they had come from top butchers HG Walters in Barons Court (we moved out of London and we miss it everyday). Pair that with the most delicious hot dog with a corn on the cob side, it was the perfect end to a gorgeous sunny Sunday.
Design
When did cooking outside become so easy? This beautiful machine just does what it says on the packet.
The layout and tools are wonderful and makes you very self-sufficient, even when you are cooking outside away from the kitchen with all the plates and tools.
This is everything in the looks department too, even the pizza peel is black and sleek and hangs beautifully on the side with all the other tools.
On the left, the FlexFlame cover (optional) and pictured right, taking it apart to clean
Ninja FlexFlame Gas BBQ & Outdoor Cooking System
How does it compare to similar products?
Compared to conventional BBQs this is a clear winner in my eyes, as it has a convection oven. And with the lid down, it comes into its own – no hanging around waiting for the food to be cooked, everything cooks so thoroughly and quickly.
I’m not sure there is anything out there that actually compares to the FlexFlame at the time of writing if I’m totally honest.
I can imagine people who have a BBQ with a pizza oven on the side will be gutted when they see this all-in-one number.
It knocks the other BBQs out of the park as it does everything, all in one package.
It would be hard to not feel jealous of anyone with one of these BBQ stations, as it actually makes cooking everything so easy. I’m already planning next week’s BBQ meals, weather permitting of course.
How does it rate online?
Early reviews of the Ninja FlexFlame seem to be positive. It currently has a rating of 4.7/5 on the Ninja website. Positive reviews mainly talk about how well the this BBQ cooks and how many features it has. Negative reviews seem to focus on the fact it can be a steep learning curve for beginners who might not be used to such a multifunctional gadget.
FAQs
What’s the difference between the Ninja FlexFlame and Ninja Woodfire Grill?
The Ninja FlexFlame is a full gas and BBQ cooking system. It can grill, bake, make pizza, oven foods and more. It also has the price tag to match and isn’t suited to those on a budget.
The Ninja Woodfire grill, on the other hand, is a smaller cooking gadget that is fully electric. It’s more reasonably priced at £299.99 and is well suited to smaller gardens and balconies. You can read our full Ninja Woodfire review for more details.
What type of gas does the Ninja FlexFlame use?
The Ninja FlexFlame uses a combination of propane gas for the standard BBQ burners and convection cooking (like an oven) for other settings like baking.
