Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System Review

When I first got my hands on the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System, I was excited to see how it would perform in my kitchen. This blender promised versatility, powerful blending capabilities, and a range of features that caught my attention. As someone who enjoys making smoothies, nut butter, and various sauces, I needed a reliable blender that could handle it all. After using the Ninja SS401 extensively, I’m here to share my experiences. From its impressive ice-crushing ability to its performance with fibrous ingredients, this review will cover everything I discovered during my time with this blender.

Overall Design and Size

The Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System SS401 has a height of 14.5 inches (36.5 cm), a width of 7.9 inches (20.0 cm), and a depth of 8.9 inches (22.5 cm). It weighs 8.2 pounds (3.7 kg), making it a solid and sturdy blender. This model is a bit more compact compared to other full-size blenders like the Ninja Mega Kitchen System BL770 or the Ninja BN801 Professional Plus Kitchen System. These models tend to be a few inches taller than the SS401, which gives the SS401 a slight advantage when it comes to fitting under standard kitchen cabinets.

However, even though it's a bit shorter, the Ninja Foodi Power Blender is still on the bulkier side. It takes up a good amount of counter space, so it’s something to consider if you have a smaller kitchen. You might prefer to store it on the counter for easy access, but if you plan to tuck it away, you'll need a spacious cupboard to accommodate its size. While it doesn’t come with an immersion shaft, it's packed with powerful features that make it a versatile kitchen tool for blending, mixing, and more.

This blender strikes a balance between being slightly more compact than other full-size blenders while still offering plenty of functionality. It’s also a good option for you if you want a blender that’s powerful but not overly tall, as long as you have the room to store it.

Jar Capacity & Material

I was very impressed to know that the Ninja SS401 comes with different jar sizes to suit various blending needs. Its main jar has a large capacity of 72 ounces, making it perfect for big batches of smoothies, soups, or other recipes. It's ideal for larger families or when you're preparing food for multiple people.

In addition to the main jar, there's also an 18-ounce 'Smoothie Bowl Maker.' This jar is specially designed for making thicker recipes like nut butter or smoothie bowls. It even has built-in rotating arms to help process these thicker ingredients, making it easier to achieve the right consistency.

You’ll also get a 24-ounce personal jar with a to-go lid. This jar is designed for single-serve smoothies, allowing you to make your drink and take it with you. It's convenient for those who need something quick on the go.

All of these jars are made from BPA-free plastic, ensuring they're safe for your health. You don't need to worry about harmful chemicals. The jars, along with their lids and blade assemblies, are dishwasher-safe. This makes cleanup simple and hassle-free, which is great for busy days when you don't want to spend too much time washing up.

LID Design

When using the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System, I noticed the lid system is really straightforward. For the main pitcher, all I have to do is press down on the handle, and the lid locks into place securely. To release it, there's a button on top that makes it super easy. It’s not the type of lid where I can add ingredients mid-blend, but it does have a handy spout for pouring, so I don’t have to worry about spills.

When I’m shredding or grating with one of the disk blades, I use the second lid. This one has a food chute, which is awesome because I can add more ingredients without having to take off the lid. It feels just like using a food processor, and it’s perfect when I’m grating cheese or shredding veggies for a recipe.

For the 24-ounce personal jar, the to-go lid really comes in handy when I’m rushing out the door with a smoothie. There's also a storage lid, which I use when I want to keep a drink or smoothie fresh in the fridge for later. It's super convenient and makes the whole process feel smooth and easy.

Motor Built Quality 

The Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System is equipped with a motor that offers solid performance, making it a good option for various blending needs. When you handle the jars and blades, they feel durable, which is reassuring. The material is thick and sturdy, so you can trust that they won’t break easily during use. Setting up the blender is also simple. Fitting the blades into the main jar doesn’t take much effort, so you can get started quickly without any hassle.

The buttons on the front of the motor base have a nice, clicky feel when pressed. This adds a tactile experience that helps you know for sure when a button is activated, making it easier to operate the blender. Another useful feature is the suction cups located at the bottom. These suction cups are designed to keep the blender steady while it’s running, even at higher speeds. This gives you peace of mind because you won’t have to worry about the blender shifting or moving on the counter while in use.

That said, there are a few minor drawbacks. Like other blenders in Ninja’s 'Foodi' line, the motor base is made from a rather standard plastic material. While it does the job and is functional, it doesn’t give off a premium or high-end vibe. If you’re looking for something that feels more upscale, this might be a little disappointing. The control dial, which you use to change the settings, also feels a bit less solid compared to other parts of the blender. It works as it should but doesn’t have the same durable feeling as the jars or blades.

Despite these minor issues, the Ninja SS401 performs well overall. The build quality is good enough for daily kitchen tasks, and the blender is reliable for everything from smoothies to tougher ingredients like ice or nuts. If you’re looking for a functional and effective blender, the Ninja SS401 should meet your needs, even if it doesn’t have the fanciest materials.

Blade Shape and Speed

The Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System comes with a sharp and well-designed blade system that makes blending and food processing tasks easy. The main blade assembly has a unique spiral design, which is typical for many Ninja blenders. This design helps with efficient blending, allowing you to handle various ingredients with ease. The assembly includes six sharp blades that do a great job of crushing, chopping, or blending ingredients smoothly. If you need to clean the blades after use, don’t worry—they’re removable, which makes cleaning much easier. Plus, they are dishwasher safe, so you can simply toss them in with the rest of your dishes for a quick clean.

For the smaller jars, there’s a separate blade assembly that fits on like a lid. This is useful when you want to make single-serve smoothies or smaller recipes. But what makes the Ninja SS401 really versatile is the additional blade options for food processing tasks. If you’re making bread or cookie dough, there’s a dough blade included, specially designed to mix heavier doughs. For chopping or shredding vegetables like carrots or onions, there’s a Reversible Slicing/Shredding Disc. This blade is perfect when you need even cuts or shreds for salads or soups. Lastly, the Grating Disk is ideal for grating cheese. Whether it’s for a pizza topping or a pasta dish, this blade will make the job easy.

The blender’s motor is powerful, running at a minimum speed of 1,500 RPM and a maximum speed of 4,900 RPM. It has a 1,200-watt motor, which gives it plenty of power to handle tough ingredients like ice or nuts. One useful feature is the speed adjustment, which allows you to choose from 10 different levels when using the main jar. This is helpful when you need to switch between blending tasks that require different speeds, like making a smoothie versus kneading dough.

However, when you switch to the smaller jars, the speed is automatically set to the maximum level. In this case, you won’t be able to manually adjust the speed. This is designed to help you get quick, efficient results when using the smaller containers. Despite this limitation, the Ninja SS401 still offers plenty of control and versatility, making it a great choice for those who want a powerful blender with a wide range of functions.

Performance

Making Soups

The Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System has its strengths, but when it comes to hot blending, it falls short. Because it can't handle hot ingredients, I gave it 50 points out of 100. This means if you're planning to blend ingredients for soups or sauces, you'll need to let them cool down first before putting them in the blender. This can be a bit inconvenient, especially if you're in the middle of cooking and want to blend your soup right away.

Another issue with the Ninja SS401 is that the main jar doesn’t perform well when trying to achieve a silky, smooth puree, especially with fibrous ingredients. If you're using vegetables like kale or broccoli, you’ll notice that the texture can end up grainy, rather than completely smooth. This can be frustrating if you're aiming for a creamy soup or sauce.

However, one of the plus points of this blender is its 72-ounce main jar. It’s a good size for making large batches of soup or sauce, so if you’re cooking for a family or meal prepping, this capacity works well. Even though the texture might not be perfect for all recipes, the large size is a nice feature.

If you're looking for the best blender for making soups, though, I recommend checking out the Vitamix E310 Blender. In our tests, it scored 99 points, making it almost perfect for hot blending and achieving that smooth, silky texture with ingredients like vegetables. It handles hot ingredients without any issues and delivers consistently smooth results, which is why it's a top choice if soup-making is important to you.

Making Nut Butter

When I decided to make nut butter, I turned to my Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System because I’d heard great things about it. The 18-ounce jar is perfect for this job. It’s just the right size, making it easy to blend a good amount of nuts without making a mess in the kitchen.

What I really love about this blender is the built-in tamper. Using the knob on top, I can rotate the tamper while blending, which helps push the nuts down towards the blades. This feature is a game changer! It means I don’t have to stop and scrape down the sides as often. I just let it run, and it blends everything smoothly.

In just a few minutes, I had smooth and creamy nut butter. I was so impressed with the texture that I scored 96.5 points in my test. It came out rich and creamy—perfect for spreading on toast or mixing into my morning smoothie. Overall, I gave the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System  a solid 94 points for its nut butter preparation.

If you enjoy making nut butter at home, I definitely recommend giving the Ninja SS401 a try. It makes the whole process easy and delivers fantastic results!

Fibrous Ingredients

When I tested the Ninja SS401 for processing fibrous ingredients, I found that it really excels with the 24-ounce personal jar. I decided to whip up a batch of kale, and I was impressed with how quickly it blended into a silky mix. In just a few minutes, I had a smooth texture that made my smoothie taste great. I scored its processing ability at 96 points and the texture at 91.3 points. It’s definitely a solid performer for small batches.

However, I noticed that the texture was slightly grainy compared to the Ninja SS351 Foodi Power Blender. It’s not a huge difference, but if you’re looking for that ultra-smooth consistency, it might not be quite what you want.

Then, I decided to try the main jar for processing fibrous ingredients. I scored 86.2 points. While it did a decent job of blending the kale evenly, the end result was grainy. It didn’t fully liquefy like I had hoped, which was a bit disappointing.

I also had to stop the blender a couple of times to clear ingredients that were stuck to the sides of the jar. Using a spatula helped, but it added a little extra work to the process. The texture score for the main jar was only 66.2 points, which showed that it wasn’t as effective as the personal jar. So, if you’re looking for the best results with fibrous ingredients, I definitely recommend sticking with the 24-ounce personal jar. It really made a difference in my tests!

Chopping & Shredding 

Using the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System to chop and shred vegetables was a fantastic experience. I gathered my ingredients, which included carrots, bell peppers, and cabbage, and was eager to see how this blender would perform.

I started with the reversible slicing/shredding disc. After attaching it securely to the blender, I locked everything in place and set the speed to medium. I dropped in the carrots first, and to my surprise, the Ninja handled them effortlessly. Within just a few seconds, I had perfectly shredded carrots. They were consistent and had the right texture for my salad, which saved me a lot of prep time.

Next, I moved on to the bell peppers. I switched to the main jar with the sharp, spiral blade, adding the chopped peppers. I pulsed the blender a few times, and the results were exactly what I wanted—beautifully chopped bell peppers with just the right bite. It was impressive how quickly it worked, and I loved how easy it was to achieve the perfect chop.

Finally, I tackled the cabbage. I used the same shredding disc and added a quarter of a head. Within seconds, I had perfectly shredded cabbage for my coleslaw. It was uniform and looked great, ready for my recipe.

After all the chopping and shredding, I appreciated how easy it was to clean up. The blades and jars are dishwasher safe, making the cleanup process quick and hassle-free. Overall, using the Ninja SS401 for chopping and shredding vegetables was a breeze. The powerful motor and sharp blades made the tasks efficient and enjoyable. I was truly impressed with the results and how much time it saved me in the kitchen. 

Ice Crushing

I recently tested the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System for crushing ice, and I was thoroughly impressed. It’s fantastic for this task. I decided to try it out by adding 12 ice cubes to the blender. The setup was simple, and I could see how well it was designed for crushing ice.

In less than 35 seconds, the Ninja pulverized all the ice cubes into a snow-like texture. It was amazing to watch. The blades worked quickly and efficiently, making short work of the ice. I could easily tell that the quality was top-notch.

After blending, the crushed ice was perfect for my drinks and smoothies. It was light and fluffy, exactly what I was looking for. The texture was just right, and I could use it immediately without any additional processing.

Overall, the Ninja SS401 received a perfect score of 100 in our ice-crushing test. It performed just as well as the Vitamix 7500 and Ninja BN701, which is impressive. If you need a blender that can handle ice crushing easily and effectively, the Ninja SS401 is definitely a great choice.

Easy of Use 

The Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System has an impressive range of features that make it easy to use. First, it comes with a clear on/off switch and a speed dial. This means you can easily control the blender's operation. There are also 10 speed presets to choose from. This variety allows you to find the perfect speed for whatever you’re blending.

One standout feature is the Pulse/Turbo mode. This option is great for quickly chopping ingredients or giving your mixture a quick burst of power. There are also five preset programs designed for specific tasks. These programs help take the guesswork out of blending.

The blender has different programs depending on whether you're using the main jar or one of the smaller jars. For example, when using the main jar, the available programs include Smoothie, Chop, Dough, Bowl, and Spread. Each program has a set blending time. For instance, the Smoothie program runs for 65 seconds, while the Chop program only takes 5 seconds. This makes it simple to achieve consistent results without constantly monitoring the blender.

When using one of the smaller jars, the programs change a bit. You still have a Smoothie program, but it only runs for 55 seconds. There’s also an Extract program for 75 seconds, a Bowl program for 30 seconds, and a Spread program for 45 seconds.

One thing to note is that this blender does not support hot blending. That means you can't blend hot ingredients directly in it. However, it does feature a blending time indicator, so you can easily track how long you’ve been blending. While it lacks a programmable timer, it does turn itself off automatically after a few minutes of inactivity, adding a layer of convenience.

Overall, the control scheme of the Ninja SS401 is similar to that of the Ninja Foodi Power Blender & Processor System. However, it offers two additional speed presets and one extra program dedicated to Dough. This makes the Ninja SS401 a versatile choice for various blending tasks in your kitchen.

Easy of Clean

Cleaning the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System after using it was a bit of a mixed experience for me. When I tackled the main jar, I found it to be quite challenging. The blade stack is really sharp, so I had to be careful while washing it. Food particles often got stuck in the small hole where the blade assembly attaches, which made it tricky to clean thoroughly. I had to spend some extra time getting into those hard-to-reach spots. It reminded me of my experiences with other Ninja models like the Ninja BN805A and Ninja TB401—they all seem to share that same cleaning difficulty.

On the other hand, washing the smaller jars was a breeze. After using the 18-ounce and 24-ounce jars, I simply filled them with warm water and a drop of dish soap, then ran the blender for a few seconds. This method worked wonders! It got rid of most of the residue without any hassle. After that, a quick scrub of the blade assembly and the jars was all it took to leave them sparkling clean. So, while the main jar requires a bit more effort, the smaller jars definitely make up for it by being super easy to clean.

Noise Level

I was pleasantly surprised by how quiet the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System is for a full-size blender. When I first turned it on, I expected the usual loud noise that many blenders make. However, it operated at a much lower volume than I anticipated. This is a significant advantage, especially if you’re blending early in the morning or late at night when you don’t want to disturb others.

In comparison to other models, like the Vitamix Explorian E520 and the Ninja Chef blender, the Ninja SS401 was much quieter. Those models tend to be quite loud, making the blending process a bit irritating at times. With the Ninja SS401, I could blend my smoothies and soups without the annoying roar of the motor.

This quieter operation really enhances the user experience. It allows for a more relaxed atmosphere in the kitchen. You can even carry on a conversation while using it. In our tests, the Ninja SS401 received a score of 69 points, which reflects its solid performance overall. If noise level is a concern for you, this blender is definitely worth considering. It combines power with a quieter operation, making it a great addition to any kitchen.

Final Verdict 

After thoroughly testing the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System, I can confidently say it is a solid choice for anyone in need of a versatile blender. Its powerful motor and various jar options make it suitable for a wide range of tasks, from making smoothies to creating nut butter. I was particularly impressed with its ability to crush ice quickly and efficiently, achieving a snow-like texture in under 30 seconds.

However, it does have some drawbacks. Cleaning the main jar can be a bit tricky due to the sharp blades and the design of the blade assembly. Additionally, while it performs well with many ingredients, it struggles a bit with fibrous ones, leaving a slightly grainy texture.

Overall, the Ninja SS401 offers great performance, especially for ice crushing and nut butter preparation. If you're looking for a reliable blender that can handle everyday blending tasks with ease, this model is worth considering. While it may not be perfect, its strengths certainly outweigh its weaknesses, making it a valuable addition to any kitchen.