Ninja Foodi Power Pitcher SS201 Blender Review

The Ninja Foodi Power Pitcher is a fairly bulky full-size blender. It's roughly as tall as the Ninja Foodi Power Pitcher System, and its base is slightly bigger. You can store it directly on your kitchen counter or in a spacious cupboard.

The Ninja Foodi Power Pitcher has a decent build quality. The motor base is made of plastic that doesn't feel particularly premium, and it sits on four anti-slip suction cups. The jar twists into place and is made of thick plastic. It's easy to install the blades, which just need to be fitted inside the jar. The blade assembly doesn't lock into place, but when the lid is on, the top of the assembly fits into a small hole on the underside of the lid. The control panel is simple but feels a bit sluggish to respond.

This blender comes with a large-capacity main jar. It holds 72 ounces, although its maximum capacity for liquids is 64 ounces. It needs to be properly oriented to clip into place on the motor base. The handle is comfortable to hold and the jar is dishwasher-safe.

The Ninja SS201 Foodi Power Pitcher doesn't come with an additional jar.

The Ninja SS201 Foodi Power Pitcher's blade assembly is shaped like a column, with six sharp blades at different heights. It's removable and dishwasher-safe. There's also a dough blade assembly included, which is advertised for mixing dough for baked goods, but we don't currently test it.

The plastic lid locks onto the jar and has a button on top to release it. It's not a two-part lid, but there is a small opening on the spout corner of the lid. There's a metal bar across the opening that should prevent bigger chunks of food from coming out if you're pouring from the jar. You can use the opening to add more ingredients to the blender without taking off the lid, but it may not be big enough unless you're adding small pieces of food or liquid.

This blender's power cord isn't particularly long but it should be able to reach an outlet near your counter. Unfortunately, there's no stowaway compartment to help store the cable when it's not in use.

• 72 oz 'Power pitcher' and lid
• Motor base
• Stacked blade assembly
• Dough blade assembly
• Cleaning brush
• Manual and recipe book

The Ninja SS201 Food Power Pitcher has a manual mode and an 'Auto-iQ' mode. In manual mode, you can use the 10-speed dial to fine-tune your blend. The blender runs for 60 seconds before shutting off. You can also select 'Auto-iQ' mode to use the various presets, or push and release the 'Pulse' button to run the blender in short intervals. It's one of the quieter full-size blenders that we've tested and isn't as loud as the Ninja Mega Kitchen System BL770 at maximum speed.

This blender makes fantastic almond butter using its 75-second 'Dip' preset followed by a few minutes of manual blending. You may want to stop the blender partway through to scrape any almonds off the sides of the jar. The result is creamy, very spreadable almond butter with no chunks. The motor base also has exhaust fans, so it stays relatively cool during this process.

The Ninja SS201 makes a very good smoothie in about a minute with its 'Smoothie' preset. The ingredients are uniformly processed, but unlike the Ninja Foodi Power Pitcher System, leafy greens like kale are minced up into tiny pieces instead of being liquified, which gives the smoothie a noticeably grainy texture.

This blender is exceptionally good at crushing ice. The 'Ice Crush' preset runs the blender for one minute, but it doesn't take that long to make very fine, uniform, snow-like crushed ice.

This blender has several preset modes that you can access by pressing the 'iQ' button and then using the dial to select the desired program.

• Smoothie: 65 seconds
• Bowl: 40 seconds
• Chop: 5 seconds
• Ice Crush: 60 seconds
• Dip: 75 seconds
• Dough: 45 seconds

According to the manual, the 'Bowl' setting doubles as a cleaning cycle if you run it with hot water and soap in the jar. You can also press the 'Pulse' button and release it as you see fit to blend in short intervals. There's also manual mode, which allows you to choose the speed yourself. The blender doesn't display a timer for that mode but shuts off automatically after 60 seconds.

The Ninja SS201 Foodi Power Pitcher is very easy to clean. After rinsing it, you can fill it with warm water, add a few drops of soap, and run the 'Bowl' preset as a cleaning cycle. If you've been working with liquid ingredients, it should be clean after another quick rinse. On the other hand, if you've been making almond butter or another sticky food, it may be necessary to take out the blade assembly to rinse the underside or to scrub it with a sponge. It's important to be careful because it's easy to cut yourself on the blade assembly.

The Ninja SS201 doesn't have many extra features. It comes with a dough blade, which we don't test currently, but is intended for preparing dough for baked goods. It's also not safe for use with hot ingredients, so it's not suitable for making hot soups or sauces.