Blenders are a tough sell in my household. I had to convince Mr. Geek for a while to let us keep one in our small kitchen (counter and storage space are both at a minimum), so when I was asked to review a Ninja Blender DUO with Auto-iQ, I thought it would be a tough sell. Surprisingly, he was down for it. I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s called “Ninja” or that he heard good things from our friends, but he let me try it. The only (totally reasonable) caveat: We’re not keeping 2 blenders. We’re giving it a try, and keeping the new favorite.
To me, a blender has always been a blender. It does it’s job in a decent fashion, unless I overload the machine or don’t add enough liquid to my smoothies. (Let’s be honest, this happens almost every time I blend something.) I wasn’t expecting anything crazy or different with the Ninja. But I still wanted to compare it. Is it worth the hype and price difference compared to your average blender? The short answer: Yes.
I thought I’d try out the blenders by making “True Love in a Bowl”, a recipe I saw at the Independent Food Bloggers Conference during the Ninja demo. It’s super easy: Just frozen bananas and cocoa powder. You blend them together and it creates a healthy version of soft serve ice cream. You can see the results in the video below:
The bananas in the Cuisinart instantly got stuck on the bottom, and it just sprayed the cocoa power around for a bit until I adjusted everything. After adjusting, the bananas just got stuck again. I started getting scared when the glass container itself started moving. Yikes! The Ninja has a fantastic thing called “Auto-iQ,” where it adjusts the speed and intensity of the blending on its own to blend things thoroughly and consistently. I was able to press the button and walk away and know that eventually it would be blended to my liking. I did go in to adjust the bananas at the same time I did so for the Cuisinart, but it didn’t really need it.
Other noticeable things about the Ninja: Everything about it is really stable. The base suctions to your counter, the lid locks on, and when you turn it on, you’re not afraid anything is going anywhere. While I was afraid I was breaking my Cuisinart, I felt safe with the Ninja. It’s loud, but in a powerful way, not a scary “it shouldn’t be making this much noise” way. The model I received also came with smaller smoothie-sized cups and a food processor, so you’re set for a variety of tasks. Clean-up is easy–you can put everything in the dishwasher, and the base just needs a quick wipe-down.
In case you couldn’t tell, I really liked the Ninja. I’ve been stocking up on smoothie supplies and can’t wait to keep playing with it. If you’re interested in getting the some one I have, you can find it at Amazon.com
Do you have a Ninja blender? What awesome recipes should I try blending up next?
I just got mine this last Saturday. This thing is worth the $$, now it’s smoothies every day for me 🙂
You should make the ultimate collection of boozy milkshakes!
I love the Ninja, and, Vitamix blenders! (feeling old for saying that)
I am not sure which to choose though LOL!
I second Rhonda’s suggestion! Themed boozy milkshakes would be so much fun!
Ok … so now I know what “Auto-iQ,” does. Cool. Still not sure why it makes so much noise though.
So how well is the Ninja blender holding up, I hear people have issues with longevity and reliability
I still use it often and love it! No issues here. I mostly use it for smoothies/blended drinks though, so I’m not going too heavy duty with it.
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