'My Honest Review of the Ninja CREAMi Ice Cream Maker'
I know you probably don't need another appliance in your kitchen but hear me out: The new Ninja CREAMi Breeze 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker puts your regular ice cream maker to shame. And plenty of us know that an ice cream maker is a must-have in the dead heat of summer. So, perhaps adding a shiny black and silver beauty to your countertop that has not one function but six(!) will help to change your mind.
The CREAMi makes your favorite pint attainable in about a day and makes a whole host of other desserts too. We’re going to share our honest Ninja CREAMi review, plus show you how to make the most out of this machine so you can easily have your favorite sweet treats on rotation all summer long.
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Related: 27 Delicious Ninja Creami Recipes
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What is the Ninja CREAMi?
The CREAMi has been around for a couple of years. But of course, TikTokers have discovered the magic this machine can bring to their kitchens, creating high-protein recipes that have taken off on the app lately. The machine’s sales have skyrocketed with a rep telling me the warehouse has been “hectic” lately trying to keep up with orders.
The machine is slim and surprisingly lightweight—not the beast I was expecting when taking it out of the box. The CREAMi has six functions: ice cream, milkshake, lite ice cream, smoothie bowl, sorbet and gelato. There is also an additional function for adding a mix into your pint as well as a “re-spin” option, to use after throwing in your mix-ins.
The unit comes with two BPA-free pint containers, two lids for storage and the processing lid which has Ninja’s proprietary Creamerizer paddle (more about this later).
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
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What can you make with the Ninja CREAMi?
Ice cream, lite ice cream, sorbet, gelato, smoothie bowls and milkshakes can all be made easily with the Ninja CREAMi. The star of the show here, though, is the ice cream pint, which can be thrown together in the container, frozen overnight and spun to perfection in just a couple of minutes the next day.
It’s tough to wait out the 24-hour freeze time but it’s worth it considering there are so many options and it’s practically no work on day two (except eating it). Ninja suggests keeping mixed-up concoctions ready to go in the freezer so that when a craving strikes, you can have a sweet treat in two minutes flat.
I would even go one step further and suggest purchasing an extra pint container or two so you have multiple options on hand. This is a great idea because honestly, what kind of friend would turn down an invite for on-demand gelato at your house?
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
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How does the Ninja CREAMi differ from a regular ice cream maker?
Unlike your standard ice cream maker, you don’t need to keep the bowl in the freezer until you’re ready to use it. The pint containers don’t take up nearly as much room as a regular ice cream freezer bowl (but those are over one quart in size and not one pint like the CREAMi). The CREAMi also takes less time to whip up ice cream and you use fewer dishes since you mix everything in the container that you freeze it in.
In terms of taste and texture, I was impressed. I had my doubts about taking the mixtures out of the freezer and thought for sure it was going to be a subpar lite ice cream or icy sorbet. How could it compete with my Cuisinart? However, after spinning for about two minutes, I was seriously impressed. Visions of future milkshake mix-ins and fruity sorbet combos danced in my head as I spooned the velvety lusciousness into my fanciest coupe glass.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
I wanted to find out just how the CREAMi performs its dessert magic since it was impressive and definitely different than the churning of a regular old ice cream maker. I reached out to the Ninja team and they told me that it's all due to their CREAMify technology.
“[It] reinvents traditional ice cream-making by taking frozen ingredients and transforming them into creamy creations,” said Sonal Majmudar, vice president of marketing for Ninja. “The appliance uses CREAMify technology powered by dual drive motors. The motors apply downward pressure and spin the Creamerizer paddle that finely shaves and churns ice particles into the creamiest treats.”
Tips and tricks for success with the Ninja CREAMi
I tested out three recipes with the CREAMi—the TikTok-famous peanut butter protein lite ice cream, a dairy-free vanilla chocolate chip milkshake and a pineapple sorbet. All three came out wonderfully with the lite ice cream being my favorite and the sorbet a very close second. Here are my tips for success:
Read the instruction manual before getting started (and not just the quick start guide). Most of the safety instructions are common sense but there are some worth noting. Knowing the limitations of the machine (such as not processing dry ingredients and not treating it like a blender) is important for the machine’s functionality and success.
Check out the recipe booklet that comes with the machine. It has a ton of great recipes that you can flip through along with charts of flavor ideas and mix-ins and it also tells you how long each recipe takes to make so you can plan ahead. It also has QR codes so you can see the machine in action before you use it and tips for success, with pictures. If you’re a visual person like I am, this booklet will be the most valuable info in the whole box.
Don’t be scared of the reviews you read online about how loud it is (one TikToker even had it in her garage because she thought it was too noisy)—it’s not much louder than a vacuum cleaner in my opinion. The suction cups on the bottom of the unit help to keep it in place on your counter too, so it’s not dancing all over the place.
It's fairly easy to clean—the unit itself can be wiped down and the bowls and paddles are easy to disassemble and wash either by hand or in the dishwasher.
When making the lite ice cream, I found that processing it twice on the lite ice cream setting (as suggested by TikToker Bre Martin) was helpful for a better texture:
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After putting the pint of both lite ice cream and sorbet back in the freezer for a day or so, I was tempted to use the re-spin function to get it back to its lovely creamy way since that made the most sense to me but the instructions said not to do this, so I let it sit on the counter to soften up instead. The instructions do say if you want, you can respin on the original program you used to make the ice cream.
The sorbet was the easiest as it was one ingredient—a can of crushed pineapple. Seriously, that’s it. And it was a delicious, Dole whip dupe from pint to bowl in a little over a minute.
The milkshake was the least impressive since I feel I could achieve the same result with my blender. But perhaps it was a user error since I didn’t add as much ice cream as the recipe booklet suggested. So don’t be like me and follow the recipe to a “T.”
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Where to buy the Ninja CREAMi
This is the Ninja NC299AMZ CREAMi Ice Cream Maker for Gelato, Mix-ins, Milkshakes, Sorbet, Smoothie Bowls & More:
Ninja NC299AMZ CREAMi Ice Cream Maker, for Gelato, Mix-ins, Milkshakes, Sorbet, Smoothie Bowls & More, 7 One-Touch Programs, with (1) Pint Container & Lid, Compact Size, Perfect for Kids, Matte Black
This is the Ninja NC501 CREAMi Deluxe 11-in-1 Ice Cream & Frozen Treat Maker:
Ninja NC501 CREAMi Deluxe 11-in-1 Ice Cream & Frozen Treat Maker for Ice Cream, Sorbet, Milkshakes, Frozen Drinks & More, 11 Programs, with 2 XL Family Size Pint Containers, Perfect for Kids, Silver
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