It’s no secret that the Kismile Roasti is a Ninja Crispi dupe, even down to the “i” at the end of its name. The Roasti has the same portable glass container and air fryer lid. But, strangely enough, the two battling air fryers are exactly the same price. This is a little bizarre, as I’d assume most customers would opt for the big-name Crispi over the more niche Roasti, but let’s see how well the Roasti performs. Could it be one of the best air fryers?
Yes and no. The Roasti cooks most types of food evenly, preheats quickly, and is easy to clean. However, it doesn’t fare well with things prone to soggy bottoms like pastries, and if you’re cooking for more than a few people, you might be sorely disappointed. I would only recommend the Roasti for small households — people who live alone, or couples at a push.
My biggest issue with the Roasti is that I’m just not sure who it’s for. If you’re interested in finding out how well this Crispi dupe works, then keep reading this Kismile Roasti review.
Kismile Roasti: Cheat sheet
- Who is it for? Small households
- What does it do well? It cooks really well and is easy to store and clean
- What are its weaknesses? It’s weirdly expensive
- What should you use it for? Cooking for one or two people
Kismile Roasti: Specs
Price |
|
Size |
9.4 x 11.6 x 11.2 inches |
Weight |
16.7 pounds |
Power |
1500W |
Capacity |
4.7 quarts |
Controls |
Touchscreen |
Modes |
Air fry, roast |
Smart home |
No |
Dishwasher safe |
Yes |
Max temperature |
365°F |
Kismile Roasti review: Price & availability
The Kismile Roasti is available for $179 on Amazon U.S., although it’s often on sale for around $120. This is the same price as competitor Ninja Crispi, which is also $179 on Amazon U.S.. As I’ve mentioned before, I think it’s a bit bizarre that the Kismile Roasti has been priced the same as the Ninja Crispi.
At an identical price point, I feel most customers are more likely to go for a big-name brand (i.e., Ninja) over a smaller-name brand (i.e., Kismile). Kismile could have undercut Ninja with a price of $120-$150 and taken some of the less-loyal customer base.
If you can grab the Roasti at a discount, then it’s a better deal. However, there are much better air fryers out there for cheaper. My favorite air fryer in the world is the Philips 2000 Series, which is just $99. Unless you seriously want an all-glass air fryer, I will always recommend the Philips 2000 Series over any pricier competition.
Kismile Roasti review: Design
I’ll start by establishing that this is not just a Kismile Roasti qualm, it’s a Ninja Crispi qualm, too. One of the main marketing points of the Crispi — and, consequently, the Roasti — is the “portability”. However, it’s not portable in an off-the-grid sort of way — it’s portable in that you can technically plug it in anywhere and get air frying.
But… you can also technically plug in any air fryer anywhere and get air frying. I could take my Philips 2000 Series on vacation and it would be “portable”.
I suppose the Roasti (and the Crispi) are smaller than the average air fryer, but not small enough to be classed as a “portable” air fryer.
Anyway, I suppose if you want to take your Roasti (or Crispi) on trips, then be my guest. I would never take mine on vacation, but that’s just me.
In terms of aesthetics, the Roasti is a lovely air fryer. As I’ve mentioned many times already, it looks basically identical to the Ninja Crispi.
The Roasti works a little differently than other air fryers: the air frying component is the lid (heating pod). You plug in the lid, secure it to the glass cooking container, and then input temperature and time settings from the touch controls on the lid itself.
I found the touch controls mostly reliable, but there were a few times when I had to tap the screen more than once. I prefer the standard controls you’d find on air fryers like the Ultenic K10 and the Laura Ashley Air Fryer, but the Roasti is still very usable.
What isn’t very usable is the glass containers. There are two glass containers, each with a grill insert. The larger glass container is 4.7 quarts and the smaller one is 2.6 quarts. Even though 4.7 quarts sounds like a decently well-sized container, it’s still a bit tricky to cook enough for more than a few people. As the containers are deep rather than wide, getting food crispy is a bit of a challenge. When I made sausage rolls, the bottom of the pastry was soggy.
As a result, I only used the larger container for baking muffins, as I found the smaller container better for air frying and roasting food.
I wish the containers were wider rather than deeper, but perhaps Kismile can make a wide “Roasti XL” or something for bigger families.
Kismile Roasti review: Cooking performance
The Roasti operates at just 50dB, which is the quietest air fryer I’ve tested thus far. It beats the Laura Ashley Air Fryer (51dB) and the Philips 2000 Series (67dB). If you need an ultra-quiet air fryer, the Roasti is a great option.
The Roasti has two cooking modes: auto and DIY. DIY mode is where you can manually select temperature and time; auto mode is where the machine selects temperature for you (well, you choose ‘Air fry’, ‘Roast’ ‘Bake’ etc) and you adjust the time.
Pastries & tater tots
I made a British classic using the Roasti: sausage rolls. I bought pre-made rolls from the grocery store and cooked using the ‘Air fry’ mode for 30 minutes, as advised on the package. Here’s a photo of the cooked pastries. The first photo is the top, and the second photo is the bottom.
As you can see, the pastries are beautifully golden-brown on the top, but soggy on the bottom. This was majorly disappointing, as I used the crisper grill and hoped that the air would circulate to the bottom of the pastries.
As a result, I wouldn’t recommend using the Roasti for pastry.
Next, I cooked tater tots using ‘Air fry’. These were delicious, crispy, and evenly cooked — much better than the disappointing sausage rolls.
You can see how even the crisp is, and that’s without shaking halfway through. It’s quite difficult to shake in the cooking container, so I’d recommend just mixing with a spatula, but you may not even need to shake.
These tater tots were delicious and got eaten in about 0.3 seconds in the office.
Vegetables
After the pastries, I cooked Mediterranean vegetables according to package instructions. I cooked for 20 minutes, then mixed, and added sauce. I then cooked for an additional 10 minutes at a lower temperature in DIY mode.
As you can see, the onions are very crispy, and the zucchini are pleasantly moist. There were no overly charred pieces and no undercooked vegetables. This was much more successful than the pastries.
Pizza
After all the oh-so healthy food, I decided to make my colleagues some pizza. I used frozen deep dish cheese pizza.
I was only able to fit one mini pizza in the Roasti at one time, which would be a little annoying if you’re cooking for more than a few people at once. I think I’d just recommend using the normal oven at that point.
Even so, the Roasti cooked the pizzas evenly, including the base. This pizza was cooked in a preheated air fryer, so I’d recommend you preheat for at least five minutes or so before cooking.
As you can see, the top is golden brown and oozing with cheese. The base is equally as well-cooked, with no sogginess or dry areas. My colleagues reported that this pizza was utterly delicious.
Cupcakes
Usually, I love making cupcakes in air fryers.
However, not with the Kismile Roasti. This was the worst cupcakes-in-an-air-fryer experience I’ve ever had, and I wanted to love it so much.
The prevailing issue with the Roasti is that the circulation is quite poor. As with the sausage rolls I made earlier, the heat just doesn’t get to the bottom of the air fryer. As a result, the cupcakes took 51 minutes to bake.
Here’s a photo of the cupcakes when they were done after 51 minutes.
Don’t mind that they’re all a little ugly — this is expected when making cupcakes in an air fryer. I’ve never made a pretty cupcake in an air fryer, as they all slump in the basket like melted butter. Funny, that, seeing as they are mostly melted better.
They tasted great, but are obviously a bit ugly. They cooked from the top down, kind of like a grill, and the bottom is much too soggy. They’re basically cooked on the outside and a little raw on the inside.
Meat
Although I usually cook a whole chicken in an air fryer, the Roasti is too small (unless you’ve got a really, really tiny chicken). As a result, I just got a chicken cut from the grocery store. The package instructions read 375°F for 55 minutes, but the Roasti’s max temperature is 365°F, so I had no choice but to disregard the package instructions. I’m rebellious by nature, clearly.
The top temperature being 365°F is very off-piste — most air fryers can reach at least 390°F, if not more. This is one of my biggest cons with the Roasti, but it’s not unprecedented. The Ninja Crispi tops out at 365°F, too, so it’s clearly just a “portable” glass air fryer issue, not a Roasti issue.
Anyway, back to the actual cooking. This actually finished cooking in 35 minutes, so I didn’t need the package temperature anyway.
I flipped the chicken halfway through. Even though the chicken fit within the container when it was raw, as it cooked, it rose so that it ended up touching the heating element. Cleaning this was really annoying as the heating element has a plug attached, but I managed.
The chicken wasn’t that juicy, but it was cooked evenly and the skin was crispy. My colleagues reported that it was delicious, so I’ll take that as a win.
Overall, the cooking performance is good. I wouldn’t recommend it for baking, but cooking meat and frozen food was good. One of my colleagues has a Ninja Crispi and told me that the Crispi doesn’t suffer from the same issue — it’s capable of circulating air around the bottom of the air fryer. As a result, I’m inclined to say that the Ninja Crispi might be better than the equally priced Kismile Roasti.
Kismile Roasti review: Storage & maintenance
The Roasti’s glass containers are dishwasher safe, as are the lids (not the heating pod lid, the non-electric bog-standard container lid for storing cooked food post-air frying) and the grills. However, obviously the heating pod lid is not dishwasher safe.
I washed everything by hand as I’m not a huge fan of putting anything but crockery and cutlery in the dishwasher, and it was very easy to clean.
As I’ve mentioned before, this air fryer is ideal for smaller households. It’s just 11.6 inches wide, which is an inch smaller than the Philips 2000 Series and about 0.3 of an inch smaller than the Ninja Crispi. Due to its small size, you can’t actually cook enough for large families in the Roasti anyway.
I’ll end on a nice positive note: as standard, Kismile offers a 1-year warranty, which is the same as Ninja’s standard warranty.
Kismile Roasti review: Verdict
If it was $30-50 cheaper, the Kismile Roasti would be a fantastic Ninja Crispi dupe that I would recommend with my whole chest. However, it is not $149-$129 — it’s $179, and in that case I can only compare it to the $179 Ninja Crispi.
The Roasti is not as good as the Crispi. It doesn’t circulate as well and it feels less secure during cooking. However, that doesn’t mean the Roasti is a bad air fryer. It’s actually a really good air fryer, but it’s not priced competitively enough to be a 4-star product.
If you can find the Roasti on sale, though, it’s definitely a great air fryer that can rival the Crispi. Although personally I would just go for a standard air fryer (I’m thinking the Philips 2000 Series that has a window!), the Roasti would be a great Crispi alternative if it was cheaper.
