Ninja Kitchen, known for its innovative kitchen appliances, has launched its first full-sized outdoor grill, the Ninja FlexFlame.

Marketed as a 5-in-1 cooking system that can replace your grill, smoker, and pizza oven, it promises versatility like never before. After three months of testing, I’m breaking down its features and performance to see if it lives up to the hype.

Ninja Kitchen sent me this grill for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Ninja FlexFlame Overview and First Impressions

I was invited to Nashville to participate in a pre-launch event with Ninja Kitchen, so I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to try the new Ninja FlexFlame. I’ve also been cooking on it at home for a few months leading up to its release.

The FlexFlame is not Ninja Kitchen’s first foray into outdoor cooking.

I was impressed by the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Woodfire Outdoor Oven. Now, they are ready to tackle the full-sized grill market.

The Ninja FlexFlame is a propane grill at its core, but I hesitate to lump it in with most propane grills because its 5-in-1 cooking system allows for faster, more flavorful grilling, smoking, roasting, griddling, and pizza making – all under one hood.

Specifications

The Ninja FlexFlame comes in two models: the classic stainless steel and the Home Depot Exclusive in dark charcoal.

Both are identical in performance, but the Home Depot version includes a 12” pizza stone and a fold-out roast and smoke rack as bonus accessories. I tested both models and can confirm the only differences are the color and included extras.

What does 5-in-1 really mean?

In all of their marketing, Ninja is quick to point out that the FlexFlame is “more” than just a regular propane grill.

Here’s what that actually means:

• Grill: High-powered propane cooking with fast preheating (up to 600°F in 7 minutes) and an integrated Cyclonic Heat IQ fan for even cooking and crispier results.
• Smoker: A built-in wood pellet smoke box lets you infuse smoky flavor without needing a full smoker setup.
• Roaster: Acts like a convection oven, using air circulation for faster, crispier roasting.
• Pizza Maker: Mimics a wood-fired oven, reaching high temps quickly and circulating heat for even cooking.
• Griddle: Swap out the grill grates for a full or half flat-top griddle to cook everything from pancakes to smash burgers.

The fan makes a huge difference

The biggest difference between the Ninja FlexFlame and a traditional propane grill is what they call the CyclonicHeat-IQ function. In normal words, this is an integrated fan.

The fan sits on the right side of the grill body, and it circulates air during cooking. This allows you to get convection-style cooking and crispy food on all sides without the need to flip the food during the cooking process.

The air circulation also helps food cook a lot faster than you would see on a traditional gas grill because it cooks all sides of the food at once. Our barbecue ribs test certainly backed these claims up!

The integrated smoke box allows for real woodfire flavor

The other major feature that sets the FlexFlame apart from a regular grill is that it lets you get woodfire flavor on your food with just two cups of pellets.

The smoke box is attached to the side of the grill body and burns wood pellets to flavor the food. The pellets are not the fuel source for the smoker; they are just there to add smoky flavor.

Even if you’re not cooking on the smoker setting, you can add woodfire flavor to any cook by filling the smoke box with pellets and pressing the Woodfire Flavor button. Whether you’re cooking low and slow or hot and fast, you can add smoke flavor to anything – even your pizzas to mimic that classic wood-fired pizza flavor of a wood-burning pizza oven.

Assembling the Ninja FlexFlame

I found that Ninja did a good job making the assembly process as user-friendly as possible.

The hardware kit is divided into step-by-step components, so you can simply rip open the little plastic bag containing the nuts and bolts you need for each step in the assembly process.

I liked this because I didn’t need to sit there and decipher how many nuts or bolts I needed to set aside for each step.

They also include the tools you need to assemble the grill, including a long-barrel screwdriver and a wrench. They also provide a handy QR code inside of the instruction manual that will take you to a set of 3D instructions.

Since the body is already one unit, you just need to assemble the undercabinet, which houses the propane cylinder, along with the legs, wheels, and side tables.

Overall, assembling the Ninja FlexFlame took about one hour, and the step-by-step instructions were very easy to follow.

The hardest part was assembling the right side table because that is where the control panel attaches to the grill, so you have to get on the ground and do some stretching to get under there.

Overall build quality is solid, with some potential concerns

Every time I assemble a new grill, I take a moment to assess the build quality. Overall, I’d rate the Ninja FlexFlame a 4 out of 5—good, but with some areas that could be better.

The lid and undercabinet doors feel lighter than expected, and while that’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, I do worry about long-term durability compared to sturdier grills like the Weber Genesis and Napoleon Prestige.

That said, the interior components shine—the enameled cast iron grates and smoke box feel well-made, and I appreciate the choice of grates that are easier to clean and maintain.

One frustrating design choice? The power cord is ridiculously short—just 6 inches. When I first set it up, I thought I had misplaced part of it, but no—it really is that short. So unless your outlet is right next to your grill, you’ll need an extension cord just to power it up.

Cooking on the Ninja FlexFlame

I really wanted to test all the different cooking functions of the FlexFlame so I’ve done a lot of cooking on it over the last few months.

Smoked Chicken Wings

The first thing I cooked was a batch of wings. Wings are my go-to when I’m cooking on a propane grill, so they seemed like a good starting point when testing the FlexFlame.

I set the grill to the Low & Slow function at 300°F and added two cups of pellets for smoke flavor.

I expected the wings to take an hour, but thanks to the CyclonicHeat-IQ fan, they cooked in just 30 minutes—crispy on all sides without flipping. They had the crunch of fried wings with a noticeable smoky flavor in the meat.

Smoked St. Louis Ribs ribs

I smoked three racks of St. Louis ribs on the Ninja FlexFlame using the Low & Slow mode at 250°F.

With the expandable smoke rack, there was enough space to fit the ribs, and the Cyclonic Heat IQ fan kept the heat even, so I didn’t have to flip them. At 45 minutes, I added more pellets and spritzed. After three hours, the ribs hit 195°F—perfect for wrapping.

I braised them in a sauce for 15 minutes, then put them back on the grill to set the glaze. The result? Tender, smoky ribs with a clean bite. For more smoke, six cups of pellets would’ve been even better.

Smoked Mexican Street Corn Dip

I love smoked dips for parties and tailgates, so I was curious if the FlexFlame’s smoke box could deliver the same flavor as my pellet grill.

Using the Low & Slow function at 250°F, my dip cooked twice as fast as usual—just an hour instead of two.

The smoke flavor really came through, especially in the cream cheese. While it wasn’t as intense as an offset smoker, it definitely matched the smoky profile of a pellet grill.

Grilled Chicken Tacos

I made Grilled Chicken Tacos using the FlexFlame’s Grill/Pizza function at 500°F. The chicken developed a great char in 10 minutes, flipping every few minutes.

I also used the top rack to toast tortillas and grill jalapeños, which worked well.

The grill function performs like any other gas grill, but the integrated fan circulates heat, so be careful. If the lid is closed, anything on the top rack will keep cooking, not just stay warm.

Mexican Chicken Pizza

I cooked an artisan pizza on the Ninja FlexFlame at 550°F, using the optional pizza stone (not included). After a 10-15-minute preheat, the pizza cooked in about 7 minutes—a solid time for a backyard setup.

One standout feature was even cooking without rotation, thanks to the integrated fan. Traditional pizza ovens require turning, but the FlexFlame’s air circulation eliminates that need.

I also used the 16” Artisan Pizza Peel (sold separately), which made transferring the pizza quick and easy.

Cold-smoking (No Heat, Just Smoke)

This is not technically a function on the FlexFlame control panel, but it’s a fun added feature.

You can use the smoke box that is attached to the Ninja FlexFlame to cold-smoke food without adding any heat.

All you have to do is fill the smoke box with two cups of pellets and press the Woodfire Flavor button to start burning the pellets & generating smoke. This is great for cold-smoking cheese and dried meats, or you can even smoke a pan of water to make smoky ice cubes for your favorite cocktails!

No temperature monitoring or smart controls

I was surprised to find that the Ninja FlexFlame does not include built-in meat probes or a wireless connection to the Ninja app.

Since there’s already a digital controller I would have thought it would be simple to add a temperature probe.

They do offer the Ninja ProChef wireless Bluetooth thermometer that integrates into the Ninja app and can be used while cooking on the Ninja FlexFlame, but the grill itself does not have connectivity.

I hope if they launch a future model, they will choose to integrate some connectivity features. 

Accessories

There is a full suite of accessories you can get to enhance your cooking experience on the FlexFlame.

I always recommend picking up a cover as a minimum if your grill with be uncovered. I would also highly recommend grabbing a full or half griddle for the added versatility.

• Premium Grill Cover – helps protect your grill from the elements year-round.
• Premium Full Griddle – transforms your grill into a full-sized griddle to cook things like pancakes, hibachi-style fried rice, Philly cheesesteaks, and more.

• Premium Half Griddle – transforms half your grill into a griddle so that you can grill and griddle at the same time.
• 16” Artisan Pizza Stone – create handcrafted-style pizzas to feed a crowd.
• Grease Tray Liners – make cleanup a breeze with a 10-pack of liners that fit perfectly into the included grease tray.
• Grill Basket – ideal for cooking more delicate foods like vegetables and seafood.
• Expandable Roast & Smoke Rack – double your top-rack cooking space by swapping out the included top rack for this folding rack with increased capacity.
• Deluxe Tool Set – includes premium stainless steel tongs and spatula.
• 16” Artisan Pizza Peel – easily add and remove pizza from your pizza stone for hassle-free pizza making.
• Ninja Woodfire Pellets – the FlexFlame comes with 2 bags of pellets to get you started, but you can purchase additional pellets in two flavor blends: Robust and All-Purpose.

Does the Ninja FlexFlame live up to the hype? 

Overall, I’ve been extremely impressed by the Ninja FlexFlame. I would even venture to say that it is the most advanced propane grill on the market today.

Will it replace your offset smoker or pellet smoker? It depends.

The smoke box does put off a good amount of smoke, and you can definitely taste the smoky flavor in your food. That said, two cups of pellets only last about an hour. You can always add more pellets during the cooking process, but on larger cuts of meat like briskets and pork shoulders you just won’t get the same level of smoke flavor that you can get on a smoker.

What you give up in smoking performance you gain in versatility. The 5-in-1 cooking system can potentially replace a lot of the grills/cookers that you have in your backyard (or WANT to have in your backyard!).

If you’re in the market for a new propane grill, I think the Ninja FlexFlame is a no-brainer. While there are some high-end propane grills that have additional functions like rotisseries and side burners, the Ninja FlexFlame gives you the most bang for your buck at this price point.

All in all, I’m impressed with the FlexFlame, and it’s definitely earned a permanent spot in my backyard arsenal of cookers.

What do you think? Are you going to check out the Ninja FlexFlame next time you’re grill shopping? Let us know if you’ve got any questions about this grill and we’ll reply to you in the comments below.