Breville The Smart Grill vs Ninja Foodi Smart XL 6-in-1 Indoor Grill and Air Fryer

The Ninja Foodi hits 500°F — among the highest of any indoor grill tested. That's the difference between a real sear with crust and Maillard reaction versus a gray, steamed-looking piece of meat. The Breville has precise temperature control, but 'precise' at a lower ceiling is still a lower ceiling. If you're cooking steak indoors, the Ninja's temperature advantage is the single most important spec on this sheet.

The Ninja Foodi grills, air fries, roasts, broils, bakes, and dehydrates. That's not marketing fluff — Reddit users are cooking whole roast ducks in it. The Breville is a grill, full stop. If counter space is finite and you're choosing between buying a grill and an air fryer separately, the Ninja makes that a non-decision. The Breville asks you to spend $350 for a single function.

The tilted plate design is the Breville's signature feature and it's legitimately clever: grease channels away from the heating element before it can burn and smoke. The Ninja, by contrast, gets noticeably smoky with high-fat foods like burgers and hot dogs — Good Housekeeping flagged this directly. If smoke is your primary concern, the Breville has a real engineering advantage. Just know that even Serious Eats noted the drainage hole is a bit small, so it's better, not smoke-free.

The Ninja's built-in probe thermometer means you set a target internal temperature and the grill tells you when you're done. No separate thermometer, no cutting into meat to check, no guessing. The Breville has no such feature — you're on your own for doneness. For anyone cooking chicken or pork where undercooking is a food safety issue, this is a meaningful quality-of-life difference that the Breville's $350 price tag doesn't address.