The Ninja DualZone DZ801 is an 8.5-quart dual-chamber air fryer, with enough capacity to serve about four people at a time. Six cooking method presets let you air fry, broil, bake, dehydrate, roast, and reheat. There's also a feature that coordinates both zones to finish cooking at the same time, while another mirrors the same settings across both baskets for larger batches.
Our Verdict
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 makes mostly crispy French fries. It's best suited to frozen fries, tater tots, and hash browns, which cook very quickly and quite evenly, so when you pull them out, they're crispy and golden brown, with just a small portion still mushy or burnt. Homemade fries still cook decently fast, but they don't crisp up as evenly. Most of the batch comes out at least partially crispy, but a few pieces don't crisp up at all, instead coming out pale and mushy. This air fryer has plenty of capacity for large batches and enough space to arrange food in a single layer when using both baskets, but the flip side of this benefit is its large size; it takes up a fair amount of counter space.
Cooks frozen fried foods pretty evenly.
Finishes cooking small, fried foods quickly.
Cooks moist foods decently fast.
Using both baskets gives you enough room to spread food out.
Doesn't crisp batches of thicker moist foods uniformly.
May be too large if you have limited counter space.
Each basket has limited surface area to arrange food in.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801's performance for wings depends on what kind you're making. You get the best outcome with precooked wings. They cook quickly and come out evenly crisped, with just a couple of pieces that are not browned enough or burnt. However, fresh wings don't cook as evenly. Most of the batch still crisps on at least one side, but a few pieces don't brown at all. They still cook decently fast, though, and the baskets give you lots of capacity and enough room to spread wings out in one layer, as long as you use both baskets.
Cooks frozen fried foods pretty evenly.
Finishes cooking small, fried foods quickly.
Cooks moist foods decently fast.
Using both baskets gives you enough room to spread food out.
Doesn't crisp batches of thicker moist foods uniformly.
Leaves proteins somewhat dry.
Each basket has limited surface area to arrange food in.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 provides alright air frying performance. It works best for frozen fried foods, like French fries, spring rolls, and precooked breaded wings. They come out mostly crispy, with just a small portion remaining undercooked or burning early. That being said, it doesn't work as well for fresh vegetables or proteins, which tend to be bulkier and have a higher moisture content. It has a high maximum temperature and tends to overshoot the set point a bit, but it still can't fully crisp fatty cuts of meat, like wings, lamb chops, or steak. Most of the batch still comes out somewhat crispy, but a few pieces don't crisp up at all and lose too much fat during cooking, leaving you with a final product that's a bit dry. These issues are an even bigger problem for lean cuts of meat that dry out more easily. On the bright side, this is quite a versatile air fryer. It offers a wide range of fan speeds and temperature settings for dehydrating, baking, roasting, and more.
Cooks frozen fried foods pretty evenly.
Cooks moist foods decently fast.
Wide range of settings provides versatility for other cooking methods.
Doesn't crisp batches of thicker moist foods uniformly.
Runs hotter than the set temperature, which risks drying out leaner foods.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 has 8.5 quarts of capacity between its two baskets, which is slightly higher than Ninja advertises and enough to feed up to four people. While they have a decent amount of surface area between them, each basket has very little space to spread food out. You have to be careful not to overload them if you want the crispiest possible results, as layering items limits airflow.
Large capacity can make about four servings at once.
Using both baskets gives you enough room to spread food out.
Each basket has limited surface area to arrange food in.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 preheats very quickly and cooks fried food fast, so frozen fries, spring rolls, and chicken nuggets are ready in a flash. While bulkier foods or those with a higher water content, like cauliflower florets, wings, and steak, take longer, they still cook within a decent timeframe.
Preheats faster than most other models.
Finishes cooking small, fried foods quickly.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 is a reasonably sized air fryer, considering its large capacity. So, while it won't take up too much space on your counter, it's also not the most compact model available.
Reasonable footprint considering its capacity.
May be too large if you have limited counter space.
Performance Usages
Changelog
- Updated Oct 15, 2026: We've updated this review to Test Bench 1.1, which adds a new test for Meat and Poultry and renames the Frying Quality box to Fried Foods. We also separated the Cooking Chamber box into Cooking Chamber and Cooking Surface boxes, and changed the components of the Cooking Speed box to reflect cook times for both fried foods and meat and poultry. Finally, we updated the usages to account for the new tests. To read more about the updates, see the Changelog.
- Updated Jun 04, 2026: Review published.
- Updated Jun 01, 2026: Early access published.
- Updated May 21, 2026: Our testers have started testing this product.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 comes in one color, grey, which we bought and tested. See the label for our unit.
If you come across another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Air Fryer Comparisons
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 is an 8-quart dual-basket air fryer that sits in the middle of Ninja's lineup. Ninja's air fryers are quite versatile, and the DZ801 is no exception. It can reach a higher temperature than the Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket NA350/00, another dual-basket model. It also has a variable fan speed, while the Philips is fixed at a single speed. The wider range of temperature and fan speed settings makes this air fryer a great choice for dehydrating, baking, roasting, and more. When it comes to cooking evenness, however, the DZ801 lags behind some of Ninja's other dual-basket models. No matter what you're making, it cooks less evenly than the Ninja Foodi DZ550 or the Ninja Crispi DualZone DD101, an air fryer with two glass cooking chambers. That said, it preheats and cooks faster than either of these models.
If you're looking for more alternatives, check out our picks for the best air fryers, the best small air fryers, and the best affordable air fryers.
The Ninja Foodi DZ550 is a better air fryer than the Ninja DualZone DZ801. Whether you're making something simple, like frozen fries or chicken nuggets, or something trickier, like wings, pork chops, or steak, it cooks more evenly and leaves your food crispier. It also offers more versatility, making it a better choice for alternative cooking methods, like baking and dehydrating. While the DualZone cooks a little faster, it's not a big enough difference to warrant impacting your decision.
The Ninja DualZone Pro DZ950 and Ninja DualZone DZ801 share the same core dual-chamber design, but the DZ950 is the stronger performer across the board. It has a larger combined cooking capacity, produces crisper food more consistently, and maintains its set temperature accurately rather than running hot like the DZ801, so you won't need to make the same recipe adjustments. The DZ950's built-in probe also lets you automatically cook food to a specific doneness, something the DZ801 doesn't offer. The DZ801's advantages are that it preheats faster and is more compact if counter or storage space is tight.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 and the Ninja Foodi DZ201 are both 8-quart dual-basket air fryers with very similar feature sets, so the differences between them are more about practical trade-offs than fundamentally different designs. The DZ201 has a larger cooking surface area in each basket, giving you more room to spread food out in a single layer, and it offers a wider range of fan speeds for different cooking methods. The DZ801 preheats faster and cooks food slightly more quickly, but it consistently runs hotter than its set temperature, meaning you'll often need to adjust recipes to compensate. For most people, the DZ201 is the stronger value given its larger basket surface and broader versatility. The DZ801 makes more sense if preheat speed is a priority, and you don't mind making minor temperature adjustments when cooking.
The Ninja DualZone DZ801 and the Ninja Foodi DZ401 are both dual-basket air fryers, but the DZ401 has a significantly larger 10-quart capacity, more cooking surface area per basket, and a wider range of fan speeds, making it the stronger choice if you regularly cook for larger groups. Where the DZ801 has the edge is in frying consistency. The DZ401 tends to burn portions of each batch, resulting in more uneven results. The DZ801 produces more evenly cooked food overall and preheats faster, though its tendency to run hotter than its set temperature means you'll still need to make some recipe adjustments.
Test Results
Each basket has a very small amount of surface area, making it difficult to arrange food in a single layer when you cook with a single basket. This limits airflow in the chamber, so your food doesn't crisp up as evenly. Using both baskets gives you a decent amount of space, but you still have to limit batch sizes to spread food out for better results. The crisper plate has a ceramic coating, which you may prefer if you avoid PTFE non-stick coatings.
The combined cooking capacity of both baskets is great and slightly exceeds the advertised 8 quarts, so you get a little more usable space than the spec sheet suggests. Unlike the crisper plates, the baskets have a PTFE non-stick coating, so it's easy to clean.
This air fryer offers a lot of cooking versatility. It covers six cooking method presets spanning a wide temperature range, allowing you to dehydrate, broil, roast, and air fry. The dual cooking chambers also let you run two different modes simultaneously at different temperatures.
The six cooking method presets are:
- Air Broil: 400 °F–450 °F
- Air Fry: 300 °F–400 °F
- Roast: 250 °F–400 °F
- Bake: 250 °F–400 °F
- Reheat: 300 °F–400 °F
- Dehydrate: 105 °F–195 °F
The Ninja DZ801 produces mostly crispy fried food. A smaller portion of each batch of frozen fries, chicken nuggets, and precooked wings also undercooks, and a couple of pieces burn, but overall, your food comes out evenly cooked and golden brown.
This air fryer is a mediocre choice for cooking meat and poultry. Although the air fryer overshoots the set point, it doesn't crisp food enough for optimal results. Fatty cuts of meat, like wings or lamb chops, that need high heat to quickly crisp the exterior come out partially crisp, with most of the batch at least one side crispy. However, very few pieces crisp up completely, and a few pieces also come out too soft and rubbery throughout. They also dry out somewhat, since a bit too much fat renders during cooking. Excess heat and fat loss also pose a problem for leaner proteins that do best at lower temperatures, such as chicken breast or pork chops.
Fried foods, like frozen onion rings or chicken nuggets, cook very quickly. While thicker, moist foods, like Brussels sprouts or pork chops, take longer to cook, they're still ready in a decent amount of time.
This air fryer recovers quickly after you open the basket to add or check food, returning to cooking temperature in just a couple of minutes. Once it's at temperature, it doesn't fluctuate much, but it does run hotter than its set temperature, so food may cook faster or brown more aggressively than you'd expect.