This Grill Smokes, Roasts, and Bakes Pizza — and It Might Be the Best Thing Ninja’s Made Yet

When the lawn starts shedding its winter colors for the greener hues of summer, that’s my cue to start planning for sunny days and warm-weather cookouts. It’s almost routine for me to stroll through Lowe’s or Ace Hardware’s outdoor grill departments and check out what’s new. Most years, the lineup of grills doesn’t exactly wow me. 

To me, many gas grills tend to look pretty similar — big metal boxes with burners, mostly distinguished by price and logos. So when I came across Ninja’s FlexFrame, it was like finding a single blooming flower in a field of ash, and I knew I needed to put one to the test.

Ninja FlexFlame Grill

It was a matter of time before Ninja added a gas grill to their growing outdoor grills and ovens collection. Like many other Ninja products, it has plenty of features and can arguably cook just about anything. Ninja boasts that FlexFrame has five unique ways to cook, so I eagerly put the grill through all its paces.

Grilling Abilities 

As a grill, FlexFrame has an ignition burner and three primary burners, which combined has an output of 37,000 BTUs. It requires a 120-volt power supply to fire up, so getting a high-quality outdoor extension cord is a good idea. 

The precision burner control dial lets you use one, two, or all three horizontally running burners. You can adjust the temperature from 200°F to 600°F by using the electric thermostat. Thanks to the 424 square inches of cooking surface area, you won’t feel cramped for space.

Smoker Abilities

Taking inspiration from the Ninja Woodfire grill and smoker, FlexFrame generates smoke using an external compartment fueled by smoking pellets. Once the pellet compartment is filled, you can add smoke to your food at any point by pressing the woodfire flavor button to ignite the pellets. Smoke will start infusing in roughly 10 minutes. 

Ninja recommends using its branded WoodFire pellets. They claim they are more robust than other cooking pellets, designed for the best flavor and performance. Unlike pellet grills, the smoke is an infusion, not the primary fuel source. The Cyclonic fan circulates super-heated air like a convection oven or air fryer with the benefits of added smoke flavor. 

Roasting Abilities

Typically an underutilized grilling method for outdoor cooking, FlexFrame’s roasting setting is where it leaves other gas grills in the dust. With the fan-powered hot air circulating, an integrated thermostatic control constantly adjusts to maintain your set temperature.

I’ve roasted whole chickens, duck breasts, pork tenderloins, sheet pan root vegetables, and even cornbread, with food often ready 40% quicker than an oven. Rapid air movement causes food to brown and cook more evenly, retaining moisture and keeping meats juicy.

Griddle Abilities

Remove one of the two grill grates, and the griddle insert fits snugly in your cooking area. A conveniently located well allows you to channel oils and bits of food away from the griddle, making a short trip into the grease trap that’s simple to empty.

The griddle insert is the perfect size for 2-4 people and is great for cooking almost anything you can make in a skillet.  

Pizza Making 

Place Ninja’s 16-inch square pizza stone directly on FlexFrame’s grill grates and instantly turn this grill into one of the best outdoor pizza ovens I’ve ever tried. Using the Grill/Pizza setting allows all three burners to hit temperatures from 450°F to 600°F.

What really makes this grill cook amazing pizza is the Cyclonic fan. Other grills or outdoor pizza ovens don’t utilize conduction and convection to this extent for getting melty cheese, crispy crusts, and perfectly cooked toppings. Traditional outdoor pizza ovens can be quite cramped, but FlexFrame is roomy. A 16-inch pizza is quite large, so I appreciate how much space is left to maneuver around the pizza stone when it’s centered. 

Is It Worth It? 

For outdoor grills, FlexFrame’s addition of constantly circulating hot air inside the grill was long overdue. The chassis is boxy and sturdy. Four independently rolling caster wheels make moving FlexFrame simple on smooth surfaces. Accessories like this expandable roast and smoke rack are clever, functional, and make the cooking experience more enjoyable. Needing to plug the grill in initially feels cumbersome, but is virtually unnoticeable after a few cooks. 

For someone looking to upgrade or replace their gas grill, it’s hard to overlook the versatility, capacity, and overall enjoyment you get when using this grill. The smoke feature does what it claims, but I found the flavor to be subtle. Having integrated temperature probes are sadly missed, but I’d anticipate them making an appearance in future versions of this grill. 

Shop More Ninja Outdoor Products  at Amazon

Ninja WoodFire Pro XL Grill

Ninja Wireless Probe Meat Thermometer

Ninja WoodFire Outdoor Pizza Oven

Ninja FrostVault Wheeled Cooler

At the time of publishing, the price was $1,000