The Ninja Blast is a battery-powered personal blender. It's meant for blending smoothies or protein shakes when you're on the go, on your lunch break, or camping. It comes with an 18oz jar and a resealable lid with a carrying handle. You have to keep the motor base attached when you're drinking from the jar because otherwise, it has no bottom, but even with the blades and motor base attached, it's quite lightweight and small.
Our Verdict
The Ninja Blast isn't good for multi-purpose use. It does a reasonably good job of blending common smoothie ingredients like kale and blueberries, which is what it's meant for. It can also make crushed ice, although it's better at blending a couple of ice cubes into a drink versus making crushed ice for cocktails or frozen drinks. It can only handle smaller batches of ingredients like nuts and blends recipes like nut butter or hummus very slowly. It also can't be used for hot blending.
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Makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Lightweight and small.
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Small 18oz jar.
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Thicker recipes can overheat blender.
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Blades must be cleaned by hand.
The Ninja Blast is adequate for single-serve smoothies. It's meant for blending drinks like smoothies when you're on the go and has a light, portable design. It does a decent job of blending fibrous ingredients like leafy greens and blueberries, although it doesn't totally liquify them, so there are tiny unprocessed bits left over.
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Makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Lightweight and small.
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To-go lid included.
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Blades must be cleaned by hand.
The Ninja Blast isn't meant for multiple servings. It comes with either an 18oz or 16oz jar, which is only enough for about one serving at once. It makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like kale and fruit skins, but if you want to make several smoothies in a row, it'll take a long time.
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Makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Small 18oz jar.
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Blades must be cleaned by hand.
The Ninja Blast is a poor ice crusher, but it performs a little better than other portable blenders we've tested, like the BlendJet 2 and PopBabies Portable Blender. It can fit four ice cubes in its 18oz jar and does a passable job of crushing them, although it always leaves unprocessed chunks behind. However, ice cubes are easier to process with liquid in the jar.
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Can make small batches of crushed ice.
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Small 18oz jar.
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Blades must be cleaned by hand.
The Ninja Blast isn't meant for hot blending and has a small capacity, so it's not ideal for soups. However, if you're in a pinch, it can process room-temperature ingredients like kale and broccoli into a decently smooth blend. Still, you'll need to work in multiple batches unless your recipes only serve a few people.
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Makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Small 18oz jar.
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Blades must be cleaned by hand.
The Ninja Blast isn't suitable for professional use. It's meant for blending single-serve smoothies on the go, and its battery-powered design means you'd have to recharge it throughout the day if you use it frequently. The 18oz jar can only fit enough ingredients for a single batch and can only blend small amounts of ingredients like ice or nuts at once.
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Makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients.
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Small 18oz jar.
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Thicker recipes can overheat blender.
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Blades must be cleaned by hand.
- 5.7 Multi-Purpose
- 7.0 Smoothies (Single Serving)
- 5.5 Smoothies (Multiple Servings)
- 4.7 Ice Crushing
- 2.6 Soups
- 4.8 Professional Use
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Updated Dec 02, 2024:
Compared its controls and programs to the Ninja Blast Max BC251's.
- Updated Aug 16, 2024: Added a comparison of its lid to the NutriBullet Flip.
- Updated Aug 14, 2024: We updated the Cleaning score from 6 to 7, which is a better reflection of its actual performance, partly because its USB port has a cover.
- Updated May 29, 2024: Added information about a new variant at Costco (U.S.) to Differences Between Sizes And Variants.
- Updated Apr 25, 2024: We've added information about a variant that includes two jars in Differences Between Sizes and Variants.
- Updated Sep 22, 2023: Review published.
- Updated Sep 18, 2023: Early access published.
- Updated Sep 14, 2023: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Aug 01, 2023: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Jul 04, 2023: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Ninja Blast comes in several colors: Forest Green, White, Passion Fruit, Cranberry, Denim Blue, and Black. It's sold in either an 18oz jar (16oz max fill) or a 16oz jar (14oz max fill). We tested it in Black, and you can see the label for the unit we tested here.
You can also buy a 2-pack bundle at Costco (U.S.), as well as a variant that comes with one motor base, two 18oz jars, and matching lids. We expect our results to be valid for any variant using the 18oz jar. The 16oz jar may perform differently since a smaller jar size can affect how a blender performs.
If you encounter another variant, let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The Ninja Blast is a portable, battery-powered blender meant for blending single-serve smoothies and protein shakes on the go. It does a better job of blending fibrous smoothie ingredients than other portable blenders we've tested, like the BlendJet 2 and PopBabies Portable Blender. However, its design makes it somewhat difficult to clean and means that you have to keep the motor base attached to use the jar. That's quite typical for portable blenders, but some models, like the Fresh Juice Portable Blender, are designed to let you leave the blades at home when you're done blending.
If you're looking for more options, check out the best blenders for smoothies, the best personal blenders, and the best bullet blenders.
The Ninja Blast is slightly better than the Magic Bullet Portable Blender. They're both well-built, portable blenders and perform similarly for processing common smoothie ingredients like leafy greens and fruits. The Ninja is quieter and has a somewhat bigger 18oz capacity. However, you might like the Magic Bullet because it's shorter and has an infuser cup for infusing water with herbs or lemons.
The nutribullet Flip is a better portable blender than the Ninja Blast. The nutribullet makes a smoother blend with common smoothie ingredients, like fruit and leafy greens. It comes with a straw that you can use with one of the lids, or you can drink directly from its lids. However, the Ninja is easier to clean by hand.
The Ninja Blast is a bit better than the BlendJet 2. It's sturdier and quieter and makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients like leafy greens, which is important for well-blended smoothies. However, the BlendJet 2 is much easier to clean by hand.
The Ninja Blast Max BC251 is a little better than the Ninja Blast. The Max can make better-blended smoothies with kale or fruit, as long as you don't fill it to full capacity. It's also much better at crushing ice. Its design, with blades fixed in the jar, makes it easier to clean and carry around. That said, you might prefer the Blast's more compact design.
The Ninja Blast is better than the PopBabies Portable Blender. It's sturdier and quieter and has a better blending performance, making a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients like fruit and leafy greens. However, the PopBabies is noticeably lighter.
The Ninja Blast is better than the Xibonol Portable Blender. The Ninja has a much better build quality and blending performance, so it can produce smoother blends with fruit and leafy greens and can handle tougher tasks like making nut butter (but only in small batches, as it takes a while). However, the Xibonol is easier to clean by hand and comes with a straw.
The Ninja Blast is better than the Fresh Juice Portable Blender. The Ninja is sturdier and produces smoother blends with common smoothie ingredients like fruit and leafy greens. Its jar has a somewhat bigger capacity. However, the Fresh Juice has a cover for the bottom and top of the jar, so you don't need to carry the blades around everywhere.
Test Results
The Ninja Blast is a small, lightweight blender. It's a bit bigger than the BlendJet 2, but still much smaller than most plug-in personal blenders. It's around the same size as a reusable water bottle and easy to carry.
It has a great build quality. The motor base, jar, and lid are made of solid-feeling plastic, and the motor sits on a rubber pad that helps prevent it from slipping around. There's a USB-C port on the rear of the motor base for charging, and the two buttons on the front of the motor base light up in different colors depending on the blender's state. The to-go lid doesn't have a very premium feel, but its flip-up top springs open by itself when you press the release button, so you only need one hand to open and drink from it.
The jar has an 18oz total capacity, with a max fill line at 16oz. This jar size is a bit bigger than other portable blenders', like the NutriBullet GO and PopBabies Portable Blender. However, it's still quite small compared to plug-in blenders like the NutriBullet Pro 900. You can also buy this blender with a smaller jar that has a 16oz total capacity and a max fill line at 14oz.
The plastic jar and lid are dishwasher-safe. The jar has to be properly aligned with the motor base (indicated by arrows on the lid and base) for the blender to run.
The six sharp blades are attached to the motor base and aren't dishwasher-safe. You also need to have the motor base (and blades) attached to the jar to use it since there's no other bottom for the jar included.
The manual includes information about a 'Vessel Cap' that would fit on the bottom of the jar once you remove the blades and a 'Blade Cover' that would fit over the blades when they aren't screwed onto the jar. The manual notes that these accessories don't come with every model. They don't come with our unit, aren't available on the manufacturer's website, and there don't seem to be any variants available now that come with these extra parts.
The lid is easy to screw on and off the jar. It has a flip-up cover that you can release with a button and close to prevent spills. The lid also has a built-in carrying handle. You can easily drink from the lid on the go, but some portable blenders come with straws, like the NutriBullet Flip.
It comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging. Like other portable blenders we've tested, it doesn't include a way to plug it directly into a wall outlet.
The manufacturer advertises that a fully charged battery lasts for 15 blending cycles of 30 seconds each and that the blender takes two hours to charge.
- 18oz blending jar
- Motor base and attached blades
- To-go lid
- USB-C to USB-A charging cable
- Manuals
It makes a decently smooth blend with fibrous ingredients. Some unprocessed grains and leafy bits are left over, but they're uniform in size. It takes several 30-second blending cycles to get the best results, but it makes a smoother blend than portable blenders like the BlendJet 2 in about the same amount of time. Even though it takes several minutes, the process is a little easier since you don't have to shake the jar.
It performs similarly if you fill the jar to its full capacity. With more ingredients in the jar, you have to run more blending cycles to get the best results. However, it produces a decently smooth blend. There are lots of unprocessed bits left over, but they're small and uniformly sized.
Unlike some blenders with slightly smaller jars, like the Fresh Juice Portable Blender, it's not too hard to fit a batch of four ice cubes in the jar. Shaking the jar while the blender is running can crush the ice cubes near the blades but always leaves behind a few chunks of unprocessed ice since the cubes on top never reach the blades. However, adding liquid to the jar makes ingredients easier to blend, so ice in a smoothie or shake recipe is less of a challenge.
It can make nut butter in small batches if you're willing to put in a lot of time and effort. Running the blender for about 10 minutes and shaking the jar to keep the ingredients moving can produce smooth, spreadable nut butter from about one cup of nuts.
However, if you add a full batch of 2 cups of nuts, the motor stops before it can make something resembling nut butter, unlike the BlendJet 2 or NutriBullet GO, which make very dry, pasty nut butter but manage to finish the job. It stops working after a few minutes and won't start until you let it rest for about five minutes, even if you hold it upside down to keep the blades free. You can see a video of that process here and a photo of the results here.
The Ninja Blast is quiet, like most battery-powered blenders. Compared to plug-in blenders like the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO, it's a much quieter option, so the noise isn't very annoying if you're just using it for a few minutes.
There's only one speed setting, which is normal for personal blenders but means you can't adjust the speed for different recipes.
The controls consist of two buttons, Power and Start/Stop. 'Power' has to be pressed on before the blender will start. Pushing Start/Stop once begins a 30-second blending cycle, but you can also stop the blender early by pressing Start/Stop again. Like most portable blenders, it has no other programs, but the higher-end Ninja Blast Max BC251 has a few automatic programs, including one for making crushed ice.
The LED lights around the Start/Stop button change color depending on what's happening:
- Flashing white: Jar misaligned
- Solid purple: Ready to blend
- Flashing green: Charging
- Solid green: Fully charged
- Solid yellow: Low battery
- Solid red: Low battery (requires charging)
- Clockwise moving purple: Blending
- Flashing orange: Blades blocked
It's decently easy to clean by hand, but the motor base and blade design make it a more complicated process than some portable blenders. There's a groove around the rim of the motor base where the jar sits, and it's difficult to reach, especially because it's so close to the sharp blades. Since the blades are attached to the motor base, you have to be careful not to completely immerse it in water, so using a brush or sponge is necessary to clean it. The jar opens on the bottom and top, making it easier to reach into, but a lip near the base is a little tricky to get to and clean.