Not sure what size blender you need? The Ninja Foodi covers single and supersized portions perfectly

I am always looking for ways to save space in my kitchen and the people who serve up the best solutions for me are, without any doubt, Ninja. The Ninja Foodi Power Nutri Blender combines single-serve bullet blending with big batch pitcher blending and food processing too. It’s proof that you really can have it all.

For me, the best blenders can combine a range of tasks. Whilst they’re often different from the more squat, cheffy food processors, there’s a fair amount of overlap in the functions. That’s why Ninja combining the two makes so much sense.

I’ve put this through its paces, testing out the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 out on a range of tasks in my kitchen. Here are the results.

Specifications

Unboxing

Considering how much is packed into the box, the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 does an amazing job of compact, efficient postage. You get a main 2.1L pitcher, two 700ml single serve cups with blending lids, storage lids, and sipping lids, a cleaning brush, and a set of recipes to give you some inspiration for your blender.

Most of the packaging is recyclable, which is great news for your bins. In the image above, you can see that there is a little bit of soft plastic, which you won’t be able to pack into your main bins, but you can recycle it at large supermarkets, which makes it a little less painful to see.

Who would it suit?

In my eyes, the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 has three things going for it: versatility, value, and simplicity. Having a blender that can work on large and small portions is really helpful for a whole host of homes, but especially families. Big pitcher blenders are great until you need to make a small mount of sauce or smoothie and then you end up with a base that’s too big for its ingredients. The beauty of the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 is that you can simply switch in the bullet blender and you get your single servings and small quantity function opened up. There’s also the fact that this makes a decent substitute for a food processor — see what I mean by versatile?

Value is at the core of Ninja’s products. Had I not used this, I think I would have been a little worried that it was all bark and no blend — I’m sure that’s the saying — but it is genuinely good but also sitting at a really affordable price point. It’s great if you’ve been looking at Nutribullet’s and trying to save some money (and space).

This is also great for beginners and simple uses. The Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 comes with a neat menu of pre-sets that take all the clock watching out of blending. It’s easy to navigate the different speed options and Ninja has designed lots of little extras, such as the liftable pouring spout, to help make every aspect of the blender as useful and spill proof as possible. It’s a dream for busy homes.

What is it like to use?

When you turn the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 on, the LED screen will light up with some options. On the left, it will tell you that you can blend, crush, mix, puree, or chop. On the left, you can leave the automated settings on, switch to manual, or press pulse. It’s clear, simple, and subtle too. When it’s on your counter, but off at the wall, you don’t have any LEDs glaring in your face.

I switched between testing the main pitcher and the single serve for all my tests. Naturally, the bullet blender produced better results when it was whizzing up mixes with higher liquid content rather than my thicker hummus, for example. The pitcher was obviously my choice for all the food processor tests thanks to the layers of blades that are capable of chopping more challenging ingredients.

It’s worth noting that there are some clever design features on the lid of the big pitcher. First, you have a chunky handle that you press a release button to access. This is great for lifting, moving, and securing the heavy pitcher in place. Then, you also have the lockable pouring spout. This is a godsend for moving around the kitchen. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve dribbled smoothie out of the pouring spout of my blending jug, but this remained to be secure until I flipped it up when I wanted to pour from it.

Test 1: smoothie

If a blender can’t handle smoothies, it’s not worth its weight in bananas, so this is a test that I repeated every morning for two weeks. My standard smoothie recipe for tests is: frozen banana, frozen blueberries, oats, spinach, peanut butter, and almond milk. This poses a significant task for the blender blades, because there’s plenty of icy fruits, tough skins, and fibre. However, true to its promise, the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1 made light, smooth work of my ingredients. I tried mixing things up, adding in a scoop of protein powder, which could easily have made the drink lumpy, but the Ninja whizzed it into the mix with complete effortlessness.

Naturally, my smaller, single servings suited the bullets, because I could pop them in my gym bag and take them with me. The lids, as far as my bag is concerned, are leakproof, which makes them really handy for busy people trying to fit their fruit and and veg in. I turned to the big pitcher when I wanted to make enough smoothie for my family, which is every evening anyway.

With great power, normally there also comes a lot of noise, especially when it comes to blending. Whilst I can’t pretend that it doesn’t make a fair racket when spinning the frozen blueberries around, it’s still respectable. I clocked 78 dB of noise as the maximum amount made by the Ninja Foodi Nutri Power Blender 3-in-1, which is about average for blenders.

Test 2: soup

As a blender that looks like it can cover a family’s needs, I wanted to see what this would be like with soups. I have my classic lentil soup recipe — lentils, spices, chopped tomatoes, onion, and garlic — that I tested with various iterations. With the pulse setting, I could make a soup that was chunky enough to feel like it should be served with a hunk of rustic bread. With my smooth blender setting, I made a soup that could pass through a sieve. I’ll say it again, this is a really impressive blender food processor combo.

Test 3: chopping onions

Chopping onions is a task that I normally reserve for food processors only, since blenders make a strange, unappetising mess of the task. However, this promises to cover the functions of a food processor and so I halved two onions and placed all four pieces in. The chop pre-set seems to be made for the job, so I watched as it worked away, leaving my onion in fine pieces.

I had wondered whether the consistency of each slice would vary, but thanks to the multiple tall blades integrated into the design, this wasn’t a problem.

Test 4: hummus

This is a test that I put both our food processors and blenders through, so I was intrigued to see whether this would perform like a blender (with chunkier results) or like a food processor (with silky smooth results). My first word of advice is to only use the large pitcher blender for making hummus. Whilst the slim, single-serve blenders are good, the way that they’re set up really favours higher liquid content tasks. You can still see that it made a serviceable hummus, but that took a lot of shaking around and extra oil.

My usual recipe — a can of chickpeas, spoon of tahini, pinch of salt, squeeze of lemon, and teaspoon of cumin — worked a treat. The hummus came out silky smooth, scoopable, and delicious. I made this on repeat using manual and the auto IQ settings, across both, the hummus was top-tier.

Cleaning

All the blending cups and pitchers are dishwasher safe, so you could just load them away and let your appliance do the dirty work. However, if you’ve made a bit of a mess and want to get a head start on cleaning, or if you’re someone who simply prefers hand washing, you can add a squeeze of washing up liquid and some warm water to the jug and pulse it. I found this was particularly useful for hummus, where some of the bigger chunks of chickpea got stuck under the blades.

All the parts come up sparkling and look great. They didn’t show any wear and tear and continued to look smart, even after a battering in my gym bag. The one storage issue worth noting is that you have a few tall parts, so you’ll want to make space in your cupboards to slot these in.

How does it compare?

I’ve tested my fair share of blenders (over 50) and this is easily one of my favourites. A competitive budget option is the Braun PowerBlend 9. Whilst this doesn’t come with single-serve cups, it does have the same neat pre-sets as well as a specialist soup function, which the Ninja misses.

The Braun is cheaper and you will make a few compromises — no lid handle, no cap on the pouring spout, and much more noise — but the results were comparable. So if you’re shopping for something that’s cheaper with fewer accessories, this is the one for you.

Alternatively, if you don’t think you need the big blending pitcher, you should take a look at the Nutribullet 600 Series. This slim, sleek design sits around the same price point, with the same portable accessories, and similar power settings. I found that the smoothies I made in the Nutribullet were smoother and creamier with a lot less time and washing up. However, the lower liquid content tasks, such as making hummus, certainly benefitted from the Ninja’s design.

Should you buy it?

If you want a blender that chops and changes between single-servings and bigger batches of blending, this is the one for you. It's versatile, good value, and certainly one of Ninja's best blenders.

How we test

At woman&home, we take a lot of pride in how we test blenders. The team and I always keep watch of the latest and greatest models on the market, testing them to make sure that we cover every blender you need to know about.

To get a good idea of what each blender is like to use, I take them to our test kitchen or into my own home and make smoothies, hummus, crushed ice, soups, and much more over the course of two weeks. This is long enough for me to spot any niggles that might come out in the long-term, but also quick enough to stay on top of the trends.

If we put a blender in our guide, we keep on testing it. Maybe it will sit with our food development team, or maybe it will sit with one of our expert testers - either way, for as long as you're seeing it on woman&home, we're using it.