Ninja Foodi FD401 Review: My Eight-Quart Cooker

Cooking from scratch can involve several jobs before a meal is ready: cooking food until tender, finishing it with a different heat, and washing the cookware afterward. A multicooker is useful when a suitable recipe can stay in the same pot for more of that work. That is the value I would look for before comparing a long list of programs.

The Ninja Foodi FD401 is the eight-quart pressure cooker and slow cooker I use. Its main appeal is the combination of a removable pressure lid and an attached crisping lid. You can pressure cook a suitable recipe, release the pressure completely, let the cooker cool slightly, then change lids for a dry finish in the same cooker.^[1]

I do my cooking in the morning before my second-shift job, with homeschooling and the rest of family life in the same day. When you are choosing an appliance for that kind of cooking, it helps to look at the complete job: loading it, choosing the right lid, allowing for warm-up and pressure release, and cleaning the parts afterward. The programmed cooking time is one part of that schedule.

The FD401 is worth considering if you want both pressure cooking and a crisping or roasting function in one large appliance. The tradeoff is its size and two-lid setup. It needs a proper place on the counter, room for the hinged lid to open, and somewhere to set the separate pressure lid.

Why the Two Lids Matter

The attached lid contains the dry-heat system. It is used for Air Crisp, Bake/Roast, Broil and Dehydrate. Opening it during a crisping cycle pauses the timer and heat; closing it lets the program continue. The removable pressure lid does a different job and must be fitted for the pressure program.^[1]

That difference is useful when a recipe needs moist cooking followed by browning. The cooker can perform both parts, but changing from pressure cooking to crisping includes a real pause: finish the pressure release, wait for the float valve to drop, let the cooker cool slightly, and remove the pressure lid before closing the crisping lid. The food and any remaining liquid also need to be arranged as the recipe directs for its finishing step.^[1]

The removable cooking pot stays in the base for every function. Choose the lid and valve setup that belongs to the cooking method.^[1]

Pressure and Slow Cooking

For pressure cooking, the guide calls for at least one cup of liquid and keeping the contents below PRESSURE MAX. For foods that foam or expand, follow a Ninja Foodi recipe and its loading instructions; the guide also gives a half-full limit for expanding foods. Use the specified liquid and release method, and keep the contents within those limits.^[1]

The pressure countdown begins after the cooker reaches pressure. PRE on the display is the warm-up period, not part of the timed pressure cook. The amount and temperature of the food and liquid affect how long that stage takes. Pressure release comes afterward, so a meal with a seventy-five-minute pressure cycle needs more than seventy-five minutes from start to serving.

The guide limits quick release to recipes that call for it. Wait for complete depressurization and a lowered float valve, let the cooker cool slightly, then open the lid without forcing it. Keep hands and face away from released steam, and tilt the lid between your body and the pot so it shields you from steam.^[1]

Slow Cook uses the same removable pressure lid with its valve at VENT. The guide gives HIGH a four-to-twelve-hour range and LOW a six-to-twelve-hour range, in fifteen-minute steps. Those settings matter when you choose a recipe: LOW for six hours is a specific program, not a suggestion to leave the default HIGH setting unchanged.^[1]

At the end of pressure cooking or slow cooking, the Foodi moves into Keep Warm and starts counting upward. That tells you the cooking program has ended. Keep Warm holds already cooked food; it is not the program to use for heating a cold meal.^[1]

What Eight Quarts Means in Practice

Eight quarts describes the removable pot’s nominal size. It does not mean you can pressure cook eight quarts of food, fill an accessory to the rim, or assume that every large cut of meat fits. Check the appropriate fill line and the space needed by the actual food.

The size also changes handling. A full pot is heavy, and it needs a stable, heat-resistant place when it comes out of the cooker. The base belongs on a level, dry counter with ventilation around it and clearance above the open lid. It is not a pot to place on a stove burner.^[1]

If you intend to put the appliance away between uses, think about both pieces you will move: the base with its attached lid and the separate pressure lid. If it will stay on the counter, check the open-lid height as well as the closed cooker. That is a more useful fit check than judging only a front-facing product photograph.

Yogurt and Other Useful Programs

I also use my Ninja cooker for yogurt, while the Luvele Pure Plus is my go-to yogurt maker. The Foodi guide’s Yogurt program includes heating, cooling and adding the culture, followed by an incubation setting between eight and twelve hours.^[1]

That documented timer is different from the twenty-four-hour fermentation in my raw-milk GAPS yogurt recipe. My Luvele review explains the 110°F, twenty-four-hour setup I use for that method. Do not shorten a recipe’s fermentation because an appliance’s default yogurt cycle ends earlier.

The Foodi’s Dehydrate program adds another use for the cooker, with a documented temperature range of 80°F to 195°F and a timer up to twelve hours. The guide shows food on the reversible rack and its additional layer. That establishes the equipment setup, while the food’s preparation, drying temperature and storage method still come from the particular recipe.^[1]

For Sear/Sauté, the open crisping lid gives you access to the pot for stirring and browning. Use tools that will not scratch the cooking surface. A browning step and a pressure cycle are separate cooking stages, even when they take place in the same pot.^[1]

The Pot and Cleanup

The surface inside the cooking pot deserves as much attention as the stainless finish outside the cooker. Ninja lists its compatible eight-quart replacement pot, model 106FY400, as ceramic-coated and PTFE/PFOA-free. That replacement pot is coated, rather than an uncoated stainless-steel or solid-ceramic vessel.^[2]

Turn the cooker off and unplug it before cleaning. The guide calls for about thirty minutes of cooling before handling, removing parts, cleaning or storage. Use nonscratching utensils and cleaning tools for a coated pot. If food sticks, the guide recommends soaking before cleaning and using a nonabrasive cleanser or dish soap with a suitable soft pad or brush. Metal utensils and abrasive scouring pads can damage the coating.^[1]

Cleanup involves more than the pot. The guide allows the pressure lid, cooking pot, silicone ring, reversible rack, Cook & Crisp Basket and diffuser to go in the dishwasher. The condensation collector is hand-washed. The cooker base and cooled attached crisping lid are wiped clean; the base must not be immersed or put in the dishwasher.^[1]

Remove food residue from the silicone ring and anti-clog cap, and let the parts dry before reassembly. Before pressure cooking again, the ring should sit flat in its rack, the anti-clog cap should be correctly fitted, and the valves should be clear. Cleaning those small parts keeps the pressure lid ready for its next use.^[1]

Replacement parts need a model check. Ninja’s 101SH400 reversible rack lists FD401 compatibility, but a photograph of a fully equipped cooker does not tell you what a particular renewed offer includes. Check the actual accessories with that offer rather than assuming a separate drying stand or extra pot comes with it.^[3]

Recipes That Use the Two Cooking Methods

These Full GAPS recipes show two different uses for the Foodi. Keep each recipe’s ingredients, preparation and timing together:

• Pressure Cooker Beef Heart for Full GAPS uses the separate pressure lid and includes a natural-release period after the pressure cycle.
• Slow Cooker Baked Apples With Raisins for Full GAPS uses LOW for about six hours, with the Foodi valve at VENT.

The cooking method is part of choosing a recipe on GAPS. A dish made by pressure cooking, slow cooking or dry roasting needs its own appropriate instructions and placement; the appliance does not make those methods interchangeable. See my GAPS Kitchen Equipment guide for the other tools I use alongside the Foodi.

Who the FD401 Suits

The strongest reason to choose this Foodi is bringing several parts of a home-cooked meal into one cooker. For a suitable recipe, you can cook with moisture and then give the food a dry-heat finish without transferring it to another cooking vessel. Slow Cook gives it another useful job on days when the recipe needs a longer cooking period. Those benefits matter most when they match the meals you actually want to make and you have room for the appliance.

If your main aim is long-cultured yogurt in a glass container, I would look at my Luvele review first. If you mainly want an open pot for stovetop cooking, this is a different kind of tool. The Foodi earns its place through the combination of jobs you need, not simply the number of programs printed on a listing.

View the Renewed FD401 listing in my Amazon storefront. That exact listing showed “Currently unavailable” on October 21, 2026.

My Slow Cooker & Instant Pot Cookbook is listed in the WFLI Shop. For recipes you can use now, start with the linked Foodi dishes above and choose the one that fits the food and cooking time you have.

References

1. SharkNinja. FD400 Series Ninja Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker Owner’s Guide. Parts, lid setup, operating conditions, cooking functions and cleaning. Accessed October 21, 2026.
2. SharkNinja. Foodi Eight-Quart Nanoceramic Inner Pot, 106FY400. FD401 compatibility, ceramic coating and care information. Accessed October 21, 2026.
3. SharkNinja. Foodi Deluxe Reversible Rack, 101SH400. FD401 compatibility and rack configuration. Accessed October 21, 2026.