What is the Ninja Foodi Trivet?


Trivet was a new word for me, and I did a bit of research to learn about what they are and how to use them properly. In this article, I will cover what I learned, especially regarding the Ninja Foodi trivets.

Answer: A trivet in your Ninja Foodi is a device or object placed between the Foodi pot’s bottom and the food to be cooked. The purpose is to limit the direct heat to the food instead of relying on steam or air heat to cook the food.

Trivets can be nearly anything, and your Foodi likely came with a wire grill trivet, but you can find many types of trivets, including silicone, wood, stone, and other material trivets for your Foodi.

In this article, I will cover some of the basics of trivet use in the Foodi, and I will show you some pictures of other options besides the basic wire grill version that likely came with your Foodi.

Also, I would like to point out that I learned other pots and pans that might fit into your Foodi are also technically called trivets, but I tried to focus on the more interesting and what was unusual to me. Please keep reading for a shortlist of the more interesting Ninja Foodi specific trivets I found.

Photo by @blue_sky via Twenty20

What Can I Use As A Trivet in the Ninja Foodi

It was really amazing to learn about trivets because I’ve been cooking for a long time and have owned my Foodi for a little over a year now.

But ANYTHING can be used as a trivet as long as it is food safe and heat safe. I would not recommend just using anything you find lying around. You have to think that whatever you use must fit inside your pot, and you don’t want to use anything that could scratch up that ceramic coating.

So let’s just have a short list of the more interesting ones I found:

  • Actual Grill Insert – If you are like me, you will love having grill lines on the food you cook in your Ninja Foodi. This insert sits on top of the trivet that came with your Foodi and has a dual purpose; on the top is a flat griddle type surface, and on the bottom are rigged humps that are perfect for grilling!
  • Canning Rack – Another cool find was a canning rack. It was one of my first questions when I got my Ninja Foodi. I think there are a few things you want to think about and should know before you start canning in your Foodi; subscribe to our YouTube channel as this will be one of our upcoming videos.
  • Silicone Egg Molds/Holders – Many recipes use them from cooking eggs as morning biscuits to steam boiling eggs. I will have updates on this soon!
  • Silicone Trivet – This simple silicone round has grooves in it so it can hold your food and ensure it gets cooked on all sides. I’m still looking into this one myself.
  • Steamers (including stackable ones) – Steamed vegetables won’t be the only thing you make in these. When I tried to figure out what things to write about and what to order, I found many exciting recipes using steamers.
  • Stainless Steel Basket – Yet another interesting find that I’m looking forward to trying out as a slightly better way to air fry my food.
  • Egg Holders (wire) – Another way to cook eggs inside your Ninja Foodi.
  • Crisper Basket – Your Foodi also mostly likely came with one of these as well, but you can get other replacements with different designs.
  • Pizza Stone – I found a pizza stone that sits on top of your original wire rack.
  • Dehydrator Rack – Close stacking so you can fit more in at a time. The dehydrator rack is the way to go if you plan to make dried fruit or vegetables or jerky!
  • Silicone Steamer Basket – This one looks cool and might be a good way to cook up a small portion of crawdads.
  • Skewer Stand – I saw a few versions of these, but they would let you make kabobs or possibly hotdogs for the most part.
  • Roasting Rack – This looks like a must-have for cooking any bird such as whole turkey or chicken.
  • Silicone Baking Mats – If you only want to make a couple to a few cookies using your Foodi, this might be perfect!

Links for all of the trivets we have tried and other accessories with reviews found in our For Your Kitchen section. We will constantly keep this up-to-date with relevant information.

As you might imagine, I have only covered a small number of the available inserts aka trivets for your Ninja Foodi. This should help you get a better idea of what a trivet is and how many options you have. Also, keep in mind I left out mentioning pots and pans specifically because I have already started another post about those.

Now that you have heard me mention silicone no less than 3 times. You might be wondering if silicone is safe and can it be used in the Ninja Foodi. Please keep reading to find out what I learned about silicone in the Ninja Foodi.

Photo by Nathan Johns

Can You Use Silicone in Ninja Foodi?

They sell tons of accessories that are made of silicone, so does that mean it is safe?

Based on the evidence, silicone might be the safest plastic in your kitchen right now will be many other interesting benefits. Silicone is not actually plastic like we are used to; instead, it is made from silica, aka sand. It can withstand heating, freezing, water, stains and is hypoallergenic.

My understanding is that it is only silica, oxygen, and carbon. The heat resistance of silicone is just about 5% above 400° F or 220° C.

Based on the heat resistance and other factors surrounding what I have learned about silicon, it is safe to use in your Ninja Foodi. You might keep an eye on the temperature you set, or if you are going to cook with it close to the air fryer, broiler, etc., you might want to preheat your Foodi, so it is not blasting all the heat right on the silicone while it heats the rest of the cooking area.

I have not yet tested the searing temperature of the Foodi, but I plan to do this soon, which is a great reason you should subscribe to our YouTube channel as I plan to go through these topics and more in greater detail.

Please keep reading to hear about some of the other accessories I found while learning about trivets.

Photo by Nathan Johns

What Other Accessories Are a Good Idea?

As you might imagine, I found many interesting accessories while looking up information for this article. Still, I wanted to start with what we have in our own kitchen as I have put a lot of research into what we use, trying to maximize my dollar.

The first thing you might want to look at is a second pot for your Foodi; you can get a stainless steel pot as we did. I went this route because I could not find a lot of great information on the nonstick coating in the Foodi at first. There are so many companies making claims about this or that, and because my wife and I are trying to live healthy to maximize our chances of getting pregnant, I wanted to eliminate the use of the nonstick till I could learn more. I can say I have learned they use a silica-based nonstick coating that is considered very safe, especially compared to the Teflon ones.

Next, we switched to silicone and wood utensils. This was mainly to help prevent us from scratching the nonstick coating and causing problems for ourselves.

Last, we have some pots and pans for my wife to try and make some bread and other baked goods in the Foodi. I can’t wait till we try those out!

Spencer Heckathorn

Spencer loves to learn and try new things. He has been sharing his trials, successes, and failures, online since the early 2000s.

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