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Head-to-head · Best Smokeless Indoor Grills

Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill AG301 vs Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill comes out ahead by a clear margin (4.1 vs 4.4). The gap is mostly about Cooks who want the closest thing to an outdoor grill's open surface indoors, and who will take longer cook times in exchange for better sear marks and less smoke. Its lack of sides makes it the pick for skewers, bone-in cuts and anything too long for a lidded grill. — read the strengths below before deciding.

Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill AG301
Ranked #5 in Best Smokeless Indoor Grills
Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill AG301
4 sources2 derived$219.99

The AG301 grills by blowing 500°F air down onto a hot grate rather than by heating it from below, and reviewers split on whether that counts. Reviewed tested burgers, chicken, salmon and strip steak and was "very impressed," reporting it "entirely smokeless throughout." Real Homes scored it 4 out of 5 and found very little smoke or cooking smell. Serious Eats, testing eight smokeless grills, concluded it behaved more like an air fryer than a grill and did not produce good grill marks. All three agree it is bulky and slow to preheat.

Strengths
  • — Three separate testers reported essentially no smoke — Reviewed called it "entirely smokeless throughout" its grilling tests
  • — 1760 watts driving a 10-by-10-inch ceramic-coated grate, with LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH and MAX settings running 400°F, 450°F, 500°F and up to 510°F
  • — The air fryer is genuinely good and preheats in about three minutes, against roughly eight for the grill
Watch-outs
  • — Serious Eats disagrees with the other testers outright, finding that on the grill setting "it just didn't provide good grill marks"
  • — The grate leaves curved grill marks rather than straight lines, and because the lid does not press down it only marks one side at a time
  • — Preheat is long — Reviewed measured about eight minutes, Real Homes seven to eight, The Spruce Eats five to eight depending on setting
$219.99 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill
Higher ratedRanked #2 in Best Smokeless Indoor Grills
Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill
3 sourcesall derived$95.99

The Zojirushi EB-CC15 won two separate indoor-grill tests by being the least clever machine in each. Serious Eats put it first out of eight smokeless grills, finding that its perforated grate and open base did more to cut smoke than any of the smoke-reduction technology on rival units. Grillseeker's thermometer recorded the grate above 520°F, more than 100 degrees past Zojirushi's own rating, with sear marks they compared to a stoked charcoal grill. It is slower than a contact grill and the plate cannot go in the dishwasher.

Strengths
  • — Serious Eats' top pick out of eight smokeless grills tested, and Reviewed's best open-facing grill out of nine — the only unit here that won two independent tests
  • — Grillseeker measured the grate at 400°F in five minutes flat and above 520°F between eight and ten minutes, well past Zojirushi's own 410°F rating
  • — Its grate is perforated all over, which Serious Eats identified as the single most effective smoke-reduction feature of anything she tested
Watch-outs
  • — The grill plate is not dishwasher safe and cannot be submerged, because the heating element is embedded in it — only the base and drip tray go in the machine
  • — Slow: Reviewed took 10 minutes to cook six burgers and 20 minutes for salmon, "more than twice the time most of the closed grills needed"
  • — No lid at all, so nothing contains cooking odours in an apartment the way the Hamilton Beach's removable cover does
$95.99 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →

Derived means the reviewer published no score, so one was inferred from their written verdict. Everything else is a number the publisher printed. How we rank.

How they stack up

Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill AG301

The AG301 is the multi-function outlier here and the Ninja Sizzle Smokeless Indoor Grill & Griddle GR101 is Ninja's own answer to its biggest problems — no eight-minute preheat, a fraction of the bulk, and grill marks nobody disputes. Against the Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill and the Hamilton Beach Searing Grill with Lid Window 25361 it costs two to three times as much and cooks by circulating air rather than by direct contact heat. The Breville BGR820XL The Smart Grill is the alternative if you want one appliance doing several jobs but want real contact grilling.

Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill

Serious Eats ranked this first and the Hamilton Beach Searing Grill with Lid Window 25361 second, and the deciding detail was the coating: the Zojirushi's grate is nonstick on both faces, the Hamilton Beach's only on top. The Hamilton Beach has the lid this one lacks, which matters for odours. Against the Ninja Sizzle Smokeless Indoor Grill & Griddle GR101 it gives up a griddle plate and a mesh lid but has a far bigger open surface; against the Breville BGR820XL The Smart Grill it cannot press a sandwich; and against the Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill AG301 it does one job with no preheat wait.

Specs side-by-side

SpecNinja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill AG301Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill
Grill Type5-in-1 indoor grill, air fryer, roaster, baker and dehydratorOpen electric indoor grill, no lid
ModelAG301EB-CC15
Power1760W1300W
Voltage120V120V
Grill Temperature SettingsLOW 400°F, MEDIUM 450°F, HIGH 500°F, MAX up to 510°F—
Grill Grate10 × 10 in ceramic-coated, PTFE and PFOA free—
Crisper Basket4 qt—
Cooking Pot6 qt—
Smoke ReductionCyclonic Grilling Technology — 500°F circulating air with a lid-mounted splatter shieldPerforated grate over a drip pan on an open, high-airflow base
Dishwasher SafeGrate, pot, basket and splatter shieldPlastic base and drip tray only; grill plate must be hand washed
Warranty1 year limited1 year
Temperature Range—176–410°F rated (Grillseeker measured over 520°F on the grate)
Plate Type—Titanium and ceramic enhanced dual-layer nonstick, coated both faces
Cord—Detachable, with the heat-control knob integrated into the plug
Dimensions—18.1 W × 12.2 D × 3.2 H in
Weight—7.7 lb
← See the full ranking of best smokeless indoor grills