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Product Description
The combination of the patented Ninja technology and powerful pulsing action is an ideal recipe for an indispensable kitchen tool. The power is in the palm of your hands! Simply PULSE to control the patented, uniquely stacked, Ninja blades for consistent results every time. This product contains 3 processing containers, including our NEW 40 oz. processing bowl, plus lids, blades and splashguards for all 3.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
263 of 269 people found the following review helpful
By Amy Gurley
I received this as a Christmas gift, and so far, I love it. I currently own a Krups blender, which was only about $30, and I was preparing to buy something like a Viking Blender - something that has a much more powerful motor system, for around $150, when my parents got me this. The great thing about it is that it's not necessarily a blender. I mean, it is by definition, but there's a couple key differences. Blenders have an inherent flaw of only blending what's at the bottom, especially when it's something thick like a shake. I always ended up with big chunks of ice cubes in my shakes even after 3 minutes of blending. The ice just never reached the bottom. Not a problem with this system. Even if the blender carafe didn't have 3 sets of blades, it already works better than a blender because the blades aren't embedded in the bottom of the carafe. Which allows me to point out another awesome thing - don't you hate trying to scoop out your drink from the recessed blade area of a blender? And sometimes it just never gets clean? Or it leaks if you don't screw it on tight enough, or, God forbid (this happened to me once) the whole carafe unscrews itself while it's blending and crap flies everywhere? I love the design of the Ninja system if for nothing else than just to avoid all of that!
I haven't used this system for too many things yet, but let me tell you one thing it excels at - chopping ice. And I don't mean those dinky ice cubes that you get in the plastic trays. If you know anything about silicone ice molds, it makes the cubes huge and square. I looked at the ice cubes, and then at the Ninja and thought "let's give this a whirl". Boy was I surprised. Not only did it pulverize the cubes, but it did so in less than 30 seconds. Unlike my Krups blender, which would get hot and almost smoke if left on too long to try and pulverize the ice cubs, the Ninja motor didn't even get warm.
Now, onto the cons, which really aren't that bad. The whole system itself does take up a lot of space. I honestly don't think I need 3 carafes with 3 separate sets of blades and 3 lids. I have used the chopper, and it's definitely nice, but I don't know if I'll ever use the middle one. Maybe if I needed to chop something big like carrots or celery or something, I don't know. Another con is the obvious inability to allow it to sit there and blend something because you have to hold down the button for the motor. Now, this might not be so bad because it is extremely powerful, the blades are VERY sharp, and it doesn't take long to pulverize anything. But, it would be nice to be able to set it, and walk away for 30 seconds to do something else, even if it's nothing more than preparing to put more ice cubes in, (which, is another flaw - you have to remove the motor and the lid before adding any solids). But, I think the flaws in the system, the way it's designed, allows the user to avoid dealing with the problems a normal blender has, and that's worth it to me.
I haven't used this system for too many things yet, but let me tell you one thing it excels at - chopping ice. And I don't mean those dinky ice cubes that you get in the plastic trays. If you know anything about silicone ice molds, it makes the cubes huge and square. I looked at the ice cubes, and then at the Ninja and thought "let's give this a whirl". Boy was I surprised. Not only did it pulverize the cubes, but it did so in less than 30 seconds. Unlike my Krups blender, which would get hot and almost smoke if left on too long to try and pulverize the ice cubs, the Ninja motor didn't even get warm.
Now, onto the cons, which really aren't that bad. The whole system itself does take up a lot of space. I honestly don't think I need 3 carafes with 3 separate sets of blades and 3 lids. I have used the chopper, and it's definitely nice, but I don't know if I'll ever use the middle one. Maybe if I needed to chop something big like carrots or celery or something, I don't know. Another con is the obvious inability to allow it to sit there and blend something because you have to hold down the button for the motor. Now, this might not be so bad because it is extremely powerful, the blades are VERY sharp, and it doesn't take long to pulverize anything. But, it would be nice to be able to set it, and walk away for 30 seconds to do something else, even if it's nothing more than preparing to put more ice cubes in, (which, is another flaw - you have to remove the motor and the lid before adding any solids). But, I think the flaws in the system, the way it's designed, allows the user to avoid dealing with the problems a normal blender has, and that's worth it to me.
136 of 140 people found the following review helpful
By Jill P.
After going through two low-end Oster blenders in as many years, I decided it was time to step it up a little. I love that the Ninja does not have a base - the thing that was the demise of my two previous blenders - and so there is no digging crud out of the bottom of the blender, and no awkward cluster of parts to take apart for cleaning and reassemble. It is SO easy to just rinse the blades, pitcher, and top, and leave them on the counter for tomorrow, or pop them in the dishwasher if I forget.
However, as a blender it's not so great. I use blenders for two main things: grinding flaxseed, and making smoothies. My old Oster blenders could grind flaxseed to a fine powder, and make perfectly creamy smoothies. So I was more than a little disappointed to discover that my fancy Ninja blender could only barely grind flaxseed, leaving many seeds still whole even after extended blending, and most others only half ground. The smoothies it makes are okay, but I am drinking one right now and I have to chew it. Not quite what I expected from a blender I thought would be better than my $20 Osters.
However, as a blender it's not so great. I use blenders for two main things: grinding flaxseed, and making smoothies. My old Oster blenders could grind flaxseed to a fine powder, and make perfectly creamy smoothies. So I was more than a little disappointed to discover that my fancy Ninja blender could only barely grind flaxseed, leaving many seeds still whole even after extended blending, and most others only half ground. The smoothies it makes are okay, but I am drinking one right now and I have to chew it. Not quite what I expected from a blender I thought would be better than my $20 Osters.
66 of 67 people found the following review helpful
By Mark A.
Amazon Verified Purchase
I generally don't write reviews, but I have had an interesting enough time playing with my "Ninja" that I am writing this.
I bought the Ninja as a blender replacement and food chopper (more specifically, to dice and grind hard cheeses). I was initially going to order a Cuisinart/KitchenAid mini-prep or similar, or a blender/food processor from Cuisinart. However, after reading Consumer Reports' ratings of food choppers/food processors and blenders, I decided to give this a try - it has a lot of good ratings on Amazon, and CR rated it as the best food chopper and 2nd best blender (right after the $250 Vita-Mix, which I never even considered). The Cuisinart blender/food processor was ranked substantially lower, although it would have been able to slice and shred as well.
My needs - I am an amateur home cook, and I like to try different things. I do not cook in high volumes. I also try to limit what I have in my kitchen to tools that I enjoy and will use. Frankly, given that this is an infomercial device, I was wondering if it was a good option or not even after I ordered it.
Upon opening, it seems to be pretty well contsructed. No redundant tools, although for the smallest bowl/chopper, the blade assembly is in 2 parts rather than in 1 part. It takes about 5 seconds to assemble, so it's not a big deal, but I don't know why this is the case.
I have used it for several different tasks:
1) Blending a fresh mango/pineapple/coconut milk/milk smoothie in large blender. Quickly blended all ingredients into a smooth mixture. Am drinking this as I type. No chunks, lumps, or other problems. Definitely above my old blender, which is over 10 years old (Oster). Also processing sauteed leeks into a leek pasta sauce with parsley - a few missed parsley strands (stalks), some missed bits around edges. Suspect a food processor with a feed tube wouldn't have had this, but would have been much more difficult and messy to get thick pastelike sauce through a feed tube.
2) Grinding hard Romano cheese in small chopper bowl. Very quickly reduced 1" wide chunks into coarse powder. No lumps, worked very well.
3) Avocado/goat cheese dip in medium bowl. Worked well without lumps or problems.
In summary:
Pros - easy to assemble, multiple bowls so you can work on multiple food projects at the same time without rinsing or cleaning bowls (this is really convenient), blades remove easily and you can fiddle with bowls without fear of nicking your fingers, works well for all food chores, cleans easily in dishwasher (blades)
Cons - am still getting used to "top down" blender rather than the usual blender style with lid on top and blades on the bottom, blades need to be in bowl before adding food, initially bowls didn't clean well in dishwasher (not sure why; the avocado dip and and leek mixture took a few washings. This may have been a dishwasher issue, and haven't heard of similar problems)
In short, I would buy this again preferentially over a blender and food processor, as this is easy and convenient ehough that I think that I will use it sporadically to regularly, probably moreso than a blender/food processor combo. If I do need to slice/shred, will probably buy a Presto Professional Salad Shooter (have used one and it works, although it's messy) over a larger food processor given my needs. If I had to use a blender/chopper often, I'd still go with the Ninja. The ability to use multiple bowls/projects is much more convenient than I had anticipated.
I do hope they come out with a food slicer/shredder now. :-)
Update 12/5/2011 - I am actually using this significantly more than I anticipated. The small chopper gets used for blending protein powder into chocolate milk/smoothies for my daughter, and I just used the large blender today to process some chunks of Gran Panado and ricotta cheeses with spinach for a "spinach ricotta" sauce for pasta. It's really easy to grab an empty blending container (I keep the blades in them and the tops on), toss some stuff in, and blend the heck out of it. It does not dice, however - you either end up with large chunks, or to process those some other chunks get pureed in the process. Still gets 4 stars, and I still hope that they come out with a slicer/shredder/dicing machine. As for cleaning, they wash as clean as anything else in my washer without any residual film or food particles (I still don't know what was so bad about that leek mixture!), although the flat bottoms collect water and need to be rinsed off.
I bought the Ninja as a blender replacement and food chopper (more specifically, to dice and grind hard cheeses). I was initially going to order a Cuisinart/KitchenAid mini-prep or similar, or a blender/food processor from Cuisinart. However, after reading Consumer Reports' ratings of food choppers/food processors and blenders, I decided to give this a try - it has a lot of good ratings on Amazon, and CR rated it as the best food chopper and 2nd best blender (right after the $250 Vita-Mix, which I never even considered). The Cuisinart blender/food processor was ranked substantially lower, although it would have been able to slice and shred as well.
My needs - I am an amateur home cook, and I like to try different things. I do not cook in high volumes. I also try to limit what I have in my kitchen to tools that I enjoy and will use. Frankly, given that this is an infomercial device, I was wondering if it was a good option or not even after I ordered it.
Upon opening, it seems to be pretty well contsructed. No redundant tools, although for the smallest bowl/chopper, the blade assembly is in 2 parts rather than in 1 part. It takes about 5 seconds to assemble, so it's not a big deal, but I don't know why this is the case.
I have used it for several different tasks:
1) Blending a fresh mango/pineapple/coconut milk/milk smoothie in large blender. Quickly blended all ingredients into a smooth mixture. Am drinking this as I type. No chunks, lumps, or other problems. Definitely above my old blender, which is over 10 years old (Oster). Also processing sauteed leeks into a leek pasta sauce with parsley - a few missed parsley strands (stalks), some missed bits around edges. Suspect a food processor with a feed tube wouldn't have had this, but would have been much more difficult and messy to get thick pastelike sauce through a feed tube.
2) Grinding hard Romano cheese in small chopper bowl. Very quickly reduced 1" wide chunks into coarse powder. No lumps, worked very well.
3) Avocado/goat cheese dip in medium bowl. Worked well without lumps or problems.
In summary:
Pros - easy to assemble, multiple bowls so you can work on multiple food projects at the same time without rinsing or cleaning bowls (this is really convenient), blades remove easily and you can fiddle with bowls without fear of nicking your fingers, works well for all food chores, cleans easily in dishwasher (blades)
Cons - am still getting used to "top down" blender rather than the usual blender style with lid on top and blades on the bottom, blades need to be in bowl before adding food, initially bowls didn't clean well in dishwasher (not sure why; the avocado dip and and leek mixture took a few washings. This may have been a dishwasher issue, and haven't heard of similar problems)
In short, I would buy this again preferentially over a blender and food processor, as this is easy and convenient ehough that I think that I will use it sporadically to regularly, probably moreso than a blender/food processor combo. If I do need to slice/shred, will probably buy a Presto Professional Salad Shooter (have used one and it works, although it's messy) over a larger food processor given my needs. If I had to use a blender/chopper often, I'd still go with the Ninja. The ability to use multiple bowls/projects is much more convenient than I had anticipated.
I do hope they come out with a food slicer/shredder now. :-)
Update 12/5/2011 - I am actually using this significantly more than I anticipated. The small chopper gets used for blending protein powder into chocolate milk/smoothies for my daughter, and I just used the large blender today to process some chunks of Gran Panado and ricotta cheeses with spinach for a "spinach ricotta" sauce for pasta. It's really easy to grab an empty blending container (I keep the blades in them and the tops on), toss some stuff in, and blend the heck out of it. It does not dice, however - you either end up with large chunks, or to process those some other chunks get pureed in the process. Still gets 4 stars, and I still hope that they come out with a slicer/shredder/dicing machine. As for cleaning, they wash as clean as anything else in my washer without any residual film or food particles (I still don't know what was so bad about that leek mixture!), although the flat bottoms collect water and need to be rinsed off.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Blender
I hate to admit it, but I bought this for making margaritas. I wanted something that would do well with ice. This unit is great for ice. Read more
Published 2 days ago by randy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product
Makes great smoothies, chops ice, does all that a regular blender does without the loud noise. It is very easy to clean and very easy to store. Read more
Published 5 days ago by tootsie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ninja
I no longer had a blender nor a food processor. This Ninja is great as a substitute for both. Small and very inexpensive. Great buy.
Published 5 days ago by Sandra J Leary
5.0 out of 5 stars
Makes great smoothies! Easy clean-up!
We've used this blender for only a week. Prior to this purchase, we were using a Olympic Juicer (now marketed under the name Omega), and it did a great job, but it wasted a lot of... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Ima Consumer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works great
Number one on CR - excellent
Bought one for our daughter - love it because it's plastic and the last one was glass and broke to easy
Bought one for our daughter - love it because it's plastic and the last one was glass and broke to easy
Published 6 days ago by Dove 257
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best blender ever owned
I can't compare it to a $450 vitamix, but it is the best blender I have ever owned. Had to replace a blender made of glass which broke and never did a great job though it cost... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Stephen Joseph Leclaire
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great design
I have used it for a number of uses and find it easy to use, easy to clean and great design. Powerful mixer makes it easy to make all sorts of meals and drinks
Published 8 days ago by Michael Law
2.0 out of 5 stars
QUIT WORKING ALREADY
The blade in the largest pitcher quit after about 10 uses or less so I started using the next bigger pitcher and then the blade on it quit turning after about 3 uses.
Published 9 days ago by Mary Jo Lavenhagen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still getting used to it
We haven't maximized its use yet. We like the device, although we are still using our old blender for smoothies. This doesn't have the narrow bottom for quick smoothies. Read more
Published 10 days ago by cecile sez
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Ninja is just okay.
I expected 'smooth' smoothies! Everything comes out gritty if anything happens to have seeds. The Ninja really doesn't work any better than my $20 blender and doesn't chop or... Read more
Published 10 days ago by moet
