The Lowdown
If you’re committed to a healthy lifestyle, then you know how important it is to get the most nutrients with the fewest calories. Gone are the days of dry, chalky protein powders, and greens that tasted like grass. These days, we have smoothie recipes that taste like desserts but won’t pack on the pounds. You can’t make your morning smoothie without the right blender, so we picked the two best designs and ran them up against each other, so you can make the right pick for you and your family. That’s why we’ve put together this Nutri Ninja vs Nutribullet showdown, so you can know which suits you best.
Nutribullet are the market leader for sure, and you have definitely heard of them before. They must have spent a lot on PR and marketing but it definitely seems to have worked! They have dominated the majority of the market nowadays by being a commercially pleasing mini blender that does delivery and it delivers very well. The popularity of the Nutribullet has inspired other manufacturers to launch similar products into the market thus breaking the monopoly, and this is where the Nutri Ninja comes in.
We’ve thoroughly tested both the Nutri Ninja vs Nutribullet, and broken down the benefits of each one. Both of these are personal-sized countertop blenders that are designed to handle smoothies, and even nuts, nut kinds of butter, seeds, dips, and other foods. They are smaller than traditional blenders and are far more affordable than the high-powered Vitamix or Blend-Tek blenders. By the end of this article, you’ll have all the information you need to pick between the Nutri Ninja and the Nutribullet to get the blender that’s best for you.
Blade Design
Nutri Ninja Blades
The blade design is the core of any good blender, and it makes all the difference in making the smoothest of smoothies or a chunky disaster. GROSS CHUNKS (I actually like chunks but I’m a weirdo that way). Designers have to remember that it’s not just soft and fresh berries that are going in the blender cups, but sometimes ice, almond butter, and protein powders that need to be thoroughly broken down to make the right texture.
This last point is no joke people.
The Ninja blades are longer and sharper, and they tend to do a really good job of slicing through everything we blended, making a well-blended, even textured smoothie. When we took it apart for cleaning, it felt solid, and those blades were definitely sharp! The blades are bent so 2 of them point up while the other 2 point down, preventing ingredients from getting stuck in the bottom in a big chunk.
nutribullet blades
The Nutribullet blades are shorter, almost stumpy in comparison, and they feel less sharp to the touch. When we made smoothies that included leafy greens like kale and spinach, it took a little longer for the leaves to blend up, but softer fruits and protein powders blended up just as quickly. In addition, there are replacement blades available on Amazon that might have a bit sharper of an edge, but we did not test these out.
Power
The Ninja has historically had the most powerful motor. When it was first introduced, it had a 900-watt motor, which was the strongest of the personal blenders. It still shines in this category. The various models of Nutri Ninja range from 1200 watts to 1700 watts. Beastly. This translates to blades that can go faster, and break down your smoothie ingredients thoroughly. It’s enough to make whipped coconut cream or make homemade nut kinds of butter from fresh nuts.
Wattage
The Nutribullet recently increased its wattage to 900 watts, which was a significant jump from the 400 and 600-watt motors that it had used previously. This is an improvement and helps to make more well-mixed smoothies, even with harder ingredients like ice or frozen berries. Their inspiration to increase the wattage on the motor has gotten a lot of positive reviews since it creates a far better-finished product than previously. It might take a little bit longer to pulse through certain ingredients like celery or ginger, but it gets it done.
Controls
The controls on both of these machines are similar, but not exactly the same.
The Ninja comes with two-speed settings, as well as a pulse setting. The regular speed is for your average ingredients like bananas, strawberries, protein powders, and anything not too hard. Easy peasy.
Power Controls
The turbo setting is for the leafy greens, skinned fruits, and harder to blend ingredients. The pulse setting is perfect for liquefying frozen fruit and other thick smoothies and butter, so it can create that vortex of motion to catch every lump. With the Ninja, you have to keep the blender canister pressed down manually for the entire time you want your blender to be turned on.
The Nutribullet has only the one-speed setting, and it seems like it’s right between the regular and turbo speeds of the Ninja. It does one thing and it does it well: make good smoothies, and this is a great speed for the vast majority of ingredients you’ll use for your morning (or any other time of the day) drink. The other thing is that the Nutribullet has a locking mechanism. When you press the container down to blend, you can twist it to one side to lock it down. This means that you don’t have to stand there and hold it down the entire time, you can walk off for the time it takes to make your smoothie to get the rest of your morning errands together.
Blending Performance
The Nutribullet was the first one we put to the test. We first made a banana smoothie with frozen strawberries, protein powder, and a little bit of almond milk. As we eagerly watched our ingredients spin, they quickly turned into an even mixture.
Performance
After a taste test, we could detect no lumps or unevenness, but the tiny strawberry seeds were still there. Next, we tried a greens smoothie with ice. We used fresh kale and spinach, ice, some celery, and some apple, with a little orange juice. This time, the Nutribullet struggled just a little bit. It took a bit longer for all the ingredients to get blended, and when it was finished, we still had a few stringy fibers and leafy bits to chew through. Otherwise, the smoothie was great!
We used the same recipes with the Ninja. The first one, with the banana and strawberries, protein powder, and almond milk, was, to our senses, exactly the same. There was no difference in taste or texture, and the small strawberry seeds were, as we expected, still present. When it came time for the greens smoothie, there was a noticeable difference in the end product and the blending time. Since the Ninja is a slightly more powerful blender, the leafy greens and the celery were pulverized completely, leaving no chunks or bits we had to pull out of our teeth. It also was just a little bit faster in finishing the task, and in the morning, every second counts…. Every. Second. Counts. Guys.
We then tried both of the blenders for a broccoli soup recipe. While the recipe called for steamed broccoli, we wanted to really test these blenders out and used it straight from frozen. We suspected that the Nutribullet would leave behind a few chunks and the Ninja would blow right through them, but we were pleasantly mistaken: both blenders gave us a perfectly smooth result, leading to a delicious and creamy soup.
Accessories
The Nutribullet has lots of options to choose from, and they’re pretty smartly designed. This is another advantage of a personal blender over one of the super-powered ones: all the accessories will fit on the kitchen counter, under the cabinets.
Cups
The first and most obvious accessories are the cups. They come in two sizes, so you can make smoothies for kids (or baby food!) and smoothies for the adults in the house.
The Nutribullet also has designed two different pitchers. One pitcher is for cold drinks and larger batches of smoothies. The other one is for hot blended mixes, such as soups or sauces. All their accessories come with lids, and can store your mixes in the fridge.
It also comes with a flip-top lid for drinking your smoothie on your morning commute, or on the way to the gym. There is even a blade remover to keep your hands safe while disassembling, and an optional redesigned blade.
The Ninja has two sizes of cups available, which is the same as the Nutribullet, but instead of a flip-top lid, they designed a sip lid similar to what is seen on many travel coffee mugs. There is an additional extra large cup, too.
Blades
They also have a redesigned blade assembly, called a Pro Extractor, which can handle all the hard and heavy blending even faster than the regular blade. Be careful, it’s super sharp.
There is a blender pitcher that is available that can handle hot or cold mixes, and even a food processor bowl if you want to make things like salsa, guacamole, or hummus quickly and easily.
Recipe Books
When pitting the Nutribullet vs Nutri Ninja, both come with recipe books, and they are great starters when it comes to making your own smoothies and soups, though they are far from comprehensive.
They are meant to give you a starting idea of what’s possible. In this case, the internet is your friend, since there are so many recipes online for both. You’re only limited by your imagination, and what’s in a season.
Warranty
Nutribullet Warranty
The Nutribullet comes with the normal one year warranty, and you can purchase an additional 4 years of warranty for $15. (If you want a pro tip, Amazon offers an extended warranty for 3 more years, for just $7, so you could pay a little less if you can handle a little less protection. It’s worth it in our books).
Nutri Ninja Warranty
If you purchase a Ninja on their website, you have two choices. You can pick the 5-year warranty, or you can pick the VIP Lifetime Warranty. Personally, I like knowing that a company will back up its product for literally ever since I’m such a fan of customer service.
Overall, buying it on Amazon won’t bring up any issues.
Price
The Nutribullet and the Ninja are fairly well matched at price. Depending on the package you choose, it can be pretty affordable in just about any budget.
The Nutribullet, for the most budget-friendly choice, is right around $70. It comes with all the basics you need right out of the box and is plenty to get you making smoothies immediately.
The Nutri Ninja, for the most basic set-up, will run you about $85. Again, this is everything you need to get started. No bells and whistles, just some great basic equipment.
These are VERY cheap options though guys, and we would always recommend getting a better one than the most basic offering.
When you want to look at the various accessories, you’ll want to take a careful look at what’s available in each package. It pays to purchase everything together since the accessories separately will cost more.
It’s a good idea to get everything all at once, so you have the tools on hand to make all the recipes you want, and you don’t have to wait for shipping or pay more than you have to.
Which One is Best for Your Needs?
How They Compare
To be perfectly honest, these two are so neck and neck, you could pick either one and be happy with it. They both make great smoothies, they’re small and powerful, and they fit the budget. Both of these compact blenders are fast and easy to operate and will tackle pretty much anything you put in them.
They are both totally dishwasher safe, even the blades (just not the motorized base) and are easy to take apart and clean.
What we liked most about the Nutribullet was the ability to lock it in to blend, and not have to stand there holding the canister down for the whole blending time. I could pour a coffee or grab my tablet while it was blending, which was impossible with the Ninja.
nutri ninja
What I liked most about the Nutri Ninja was that it could blend the heck of out everything just a little bit better than the Nutribullet, because its motor had just a little bit more power. Sometimes I like going heavy on the veggies, so the Nutribullet might be a better choice for me.
I have used a Vitamix and a Blend-Tek, and neither of these little guys is quite at that level, but you don’t need a blender that’s measured in horsepower to make a morning smoothie. More than that, you don’t need to spend $400 on a giant piece of equipment in order to have a healthier lifestyle.
Those big boys are speciality items that are just too much for a lot of people (although with juicers you REALLY do get what you pay for). In addition, those large blenders are quite loud and can be heard running through the entire house. Who wants to wake everyone up with the sound of a blender?
The Nutribullet and the Nutri Ninja are both very quiet to operate. While you may still be challenged to have a conversation while using them, they’re both hard to hear outside of the kitchen, so the rest of the house will be undisturbed.
The Nutribullet and Nutri Ninja are both easy to use and will last a long time. They can make smoothies, soups, baby food, dressings, even dips like guacamole or salsa.
Value
For under $100, you have a multi-function machine that will get used not once or twice a week but once or twice a day, and you’ll be able to create healthier foods for your whole family since you’re starting with fresh, natural ingredients.
Both of these will also save you money in the long run, since buying ingredients is far cheaper than buying ready-made products full of additives, gums, and artificial flavors. This is a benefit for both of these blenders all by itself since so many people “fall off the wagon” because eating healthy is inconvenient, difficult, time-consuming, or just doesn’t satisfy their tastes.
With a personal blender, you can make delicious recipes that are healthy, and it’s fast enough for everyone to get a morning smoothie, and it’ll be clean and ready to make sauces for dinner.
Nutribullet
We compared both of these blenders head to head, and found that the differences were close enough to not matter. The Nutribullet and the Ninja are both excellent for their tasks, and you would be happy with either one of them. They are both an amazing value for their functions, and we found them to be reliable, dependable, and efficient. They both make great smoothies, soups, and sauces, they are both easy to use and will do the same jobs for you.
Another benefit is that both of these blenders use cups and blender pitchers that are made of safe, toxin-free plastic. While some people may still shy away from plastics in general, these are specifically chosen to resist cracking, breaking and shattering. The blender pitchers of previous generations were made of heavy glass, and if a spoon fell in while blending, you could have a glass explosion.
The same is true if you or one of your little ones dropped a pitcher. Instead, this equipment is tested to be safe not only because it doesn’t leech chemicals into your smoothies, but also because it won’t create dangerous and sharp pieces if it falls. It’s also far lighter than the glass models, so it’s easier for everyone to handle.
As far as the blender base goes, it comes down to your personal style. Both of them are quite compact, and the design of both blenders is modern and clean-looking, with neutral colors that will blend in with any kitchen décor.
Just to show you how creative you can be, let me give you our protein pancake recipe. This is easily made in the pitcher and poured onto your griddle, which has been oiled with coconut oil. You can top these with maple syrup or strawberry jam. You can switch up the recipe by adding some almond butter and chocolate chips for a weekend treat.
Protein Pancake Recipe
Ingredients:
3 whole bananas, in large chunks or slices
3 whole eggs
2 scoops of your favorite protein powder
Directions:
Place all ingredients into your blender cup or pitcher, and blend until smooth. This will only take a minute or two since all of your ingredients are soft. If your batter is too thick, add a little almond milk. If it’s too thin, add a little more protein powder.
After it’s blended, heat up your griddle to medium high and apply a light coating of coconut oil. Once it’s hot, pour out your batter in evenly six discs, about 4 inches across.
When the bubbles start to form on the top, carefully and quickly flip them, for another minute or two on the other side, until just toasty.
Serve your banana pancakes fresh and hot! You can also double or triple the batch since they keep so well in the fridge. Just pull out a couple each day and lightly toast them for a hot breakfast.
Conclusion
Taking all these factors into consideration, the Nutri Ninja vs Nutribullet is a tough choice. They are pretty close in features, performance, reliability, and value. With either one of them, you can’t go wrong, and you’re sure to enjoy your new blender. Stay committed to your healthy lifestyle, and make the best foods you can, for the health of yourself and your whole family. In the end, health is wealth, and you will get a good contribution to health with either machine.
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