- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Our Verdict
- Test Results
- Differences
- Compared To Others
- Deals
- Discussions
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a personal blender meant for making smoothies. It comes with two differently sized jars so you can take your blends with you on-the-go. These jars are also easy to clean as they, their lids, and the shared blade assembly are all top-rack dishwasher-safe. That said, it only has one speed. It can also leave some ingredients intact, especially if they get stuck to the jar's sidewalls. Still, it can make bar-quality ice in about a minute and its smoothies are creamy, even if it also adds a bit of air into the mix.
Our Verdict
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is alright for multi-purpose use. Due to its two personal jars, it's best suited for making smoothies. However, while it produces a decent smoothie, some ingredients may not be fully processed. Making almond butter isn't any better as this blender struggles to fully incorporate nuts back into the blend. On the upside, it can make bar-quality ice in about a minute.
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Produces outstandingly quick bar-quality ice.
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Two differently sized personal jars.
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Easy to clean.
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No hot blending.
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Can leave chunks of food unblended.
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No different speeds, only different durations of time blending.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is good for smoothies and protein shakes. It comes with two differently sized jars so you can take your blends on the go and they're dishwasher-safe, which makes them easy to clean. This blender also makes a creamy but slightly bubbly and gritty smoothie. It can miss blending some ingredients, whether it's kale or banana.
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Two differently sized personal jars.
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Easy to clean.
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Quick at making smoothies.
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Can leave chunks of food unblended.
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No different speeds, only different durations of time blending.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is outstanding at ice crushing. It's able to make bar-quality ice in about a minute, which is handy for making margaritas. Although it has a plasticky build quality, it's still decently built overall.
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Produces outstandingly quick bar-quality ice.
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Easy to clean.
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No different speeds, only different durations of time blending.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ isn't recommended for making soups as it can't hot blend.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is satisfactory for professional use. The biggest challenge is that its jars are meant for personal-sized blending, which may not be big enough if you're looking to feed several people at a time. It also struggles to create smooth almond butter and it can miss chunks of food altogether. It also can't hot blend. That said, it still makes a decent smoothie and it's able to make bar-quality ice in about a minute.
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Produces outstandingly quick bar-quality ice.
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Easy to clean.
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No hot blending.
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No different speeds, only different durations of time blending.
- 6.6 Multi-Purpose
- 7.6 Smoothies/Protein Shakes
- 9.2 Ice Crushing
- 5.5 Soups
- 7.0 Professional Use
- Updated Oct 05, 2020: We've updated this blender's blade count.
Test Results
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 isn't very tall or wide but it still takes up a bit of space on your counter. You can store it away in a pantry or cupboard, though.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 has a decent build quality. While the motor base is made from plastic, it doesn't feel as well-built as the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO. Parts of it feel decently sturdy, like the transmission gear, but the parts like the base feel a little cheap. While the transmission gear may wear down over time, it has overheat protection to prevent burn out damage to your blender.
The main jar holds 24 oz so you can take your smoothie with you on-the-go. It's top-rack dishwasher-safe too, which helps lower your cleanup time.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja BL480 comes with an additional jar that's a little smaller than its main jar. It's also top-rack dishwasher-safe.
Update 10/05/2020: We've changed the blade count from four to six.
This blender has six blades attached as its blade assembly. It's not removable but you can place the entire blade assembly in the top rack of your dishwasher.
The lid screws onto the jar and can be placed in your dishwasher's top rack for cleaning.
This blender has a power cable that should be long enough to reach an outlet on your kitchen counter. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a stowaway compartment to hide the power cord when not in use.
- Motor base
- 1x 18 oz jar
- 1x 24 oz jar
- 2x to-go lids
- Extractor blade assembly
- User guide
This blender has a couple of controls. Both the 'BLEND' and 'ULTRA BLEND' settings have the same amount of power, but they blend for different amounts of time. There's also a pulse button if you need shorter blending bursts.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 makes alright almond butter. When blending, almonds get pushed to the side of the jar due to its shape, and you may need to give them a bit of a push or tap to loosen them. The pulse mode is more effective at making almond butter. Unfortunately, the almond butter's texture is still crunchy, gritty, and not very sticky.
This blender makes decent smoothies. It takes around two minutes to blend everything but it can miss ingredients like kale or banana, especially if they cling to the jar's sides. The smoothie produced is creamy, but foamy and slightly bubbly. The kale isn't completely processed, which adds a bit of a gritty texture. If you don't like grains in your mix, check out the Magic Bullet Mini, the NutriBullet Pro+, or the Magic Bullet Kitchen Express.
The Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ's smaller, additional jar makes decent smoothies. It has a similarly thick, creamy, and foamy texture as the main jar. There's still few grains of kale that can be felt in your mouth too. However, it takes a little bit longer to prepare as there isn't a lot of space in the jar to allow the ingredients to easily flow together.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 makes outstanding crushed ice. It takes about two minutes to make bar-quality ice.
Unlike the BELLA Rocket Blender, the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 has a start/stop timer that goes up to a minute. You should only use this mode when there's something in the blender; otherwise, its motor may overheat.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 is amazingly easy to clean. You can rinse the jar and pass a sponge against its walls to get off smoothie debris. Handwashing the blender after making almond butter is pretty easy. As long as you're careful around the blades, you should be able to get your sponge underneath them. Sticky debris can cling to the four ridges in the jar, but it's not too hard to get off. Luckily, the jars, lids, and blade assemblies are all dishwasher-safe.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480 only comes with a slightly smaller personal jar.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ with the model number BL480. However, this manufacturer lists the following additional model numbers for this blender: BL480D, BL481, BL481C, BL482, BL487, BL487Q, BL487T, and BL488W. It should be noted that this blender is listed as the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ BL480EU in Europe. Since Ninja doesn't provide a list of differences between model numbers, we don't know if these models perform similarly to our test unit.
If you come across a Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ that's different from ours, let us know in the discussion and we'll update the review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a personal blender with two differently-sized jars to take with you when you're on-the-move. While it's handy if you mostly make smoothies, the resulting drink is foamy and a little grainy. It only has one speed but on the upside, its modes offer different durations of blend time.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ and the Ninja Nutri Ninja Pro are both personal blenders with a similar design and a similar performance. The Pro comes with more jars, while the Auto-iQ comes with more preset modes and a timer. The Auto-iQ also makes better almond butter.
The Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO is a significantly better personal blender than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The DUO feels better built and comes with two 24-ounce jars as well as one 14-ounce jar that has two manually rotating blades to help move food towards the blades. It makes significantly better almond butter as well as smoothies, and it's easier to clean.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a more versatile personal blender than the NutriBullet Pro. The Ninja can crush ice, and it comes with a timer and a dedicated Pulse button, unlike the NutriBullet. The Ninja is also easier to clean by hand. That said, the NutriBullet comes with a larger-sized main jar, and it makes a better-blended, silkier smoothie.
The NutriBullet Blender Combo and the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ have different strengths. The NutriBullet can be used for hot blending, so it's suitable for making soups, and it also makes better smoothies in either its main pitcher or smaller personal jars. On the other hand, the Ninja is a more compact personal blender. It can crush ice and make spreadable almond butter, and it's also much easier to clean when you're working with sticky ingredients.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a better blender for smoothies than the Ninja Professional Plus Blender with Auto-iQ. The Nutri is a personal blender that comes with two personal jars and matching to-go lids. It makes better-blended smoothies. On the other hand, the Professional Plus is a full-size blender with significantly better build quality and a much larger, 72-ounce capacity. It also makes crushed ice with a better texture.
The NutriBullet PRO 1000 is a better personal blender for making smoothies than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The NutriBullet produces a better overall smoothie, and it comes with larger main and additional jars for you to take your blends with you on the go. The NutriBullet also feels better-built. However, the Ninja is a bit more versatile, can make bar-quality ice in around two minutes, and can produce crunchy, spreadable almond butter. The Ninja's blades are dishwasher-safe, and it has a control panel that allows you to pulse blend or set a timer.
The Ninja Foodi Power Pitcher System Side-by-Side is better for most purposes than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The Foodi is a full-size blender with a much better build quality. It's equipped with a speed dial and does a much better job of making smoothies and almond butter. It's also easier to clean by hand. However, the Nutri is a much more compact personal blender, and it makes bar-quality ice with a more uniform texture.
The KitchenAid K400 is better for most purposes than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The KitchenAid is a full-size blender with a much better build quality and a variable speed dial. It does a much better job of making smoothies and almond butter, and you can use it to blend hot ingredients. However, the Ninja is a smaller personal blender that comes with a couple of personal jars with to-go lids. It also makes bar-quality crushed ice with a more uniform texture.
The Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-iQ is better than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ for most purposes. The Professional is a full-size blender that comes with a 72-ounce main pitcher, a pair of smaller personal jars with to-go lids, and a food processor bowl, although we don't test that currently. It makes better-blended smoothies in its personal jars and crushed ice with a better texture in its main jar. It's also much easier to clean by hand. However, the Ninja is a more compact personal blender, and it's much better for making almond butter.
The Vitamix Explorian E310 is better for most purposes than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The Vitamix is a full-size blender with a much better build quality and a variable speed dial. It can process hot ingredients and make smoother, more spreadable almond butter as well as better-blended smoothies. On the other hand, the Ninja is a more compact personal blender that comes with two smaller jars suitable for single-serve drinks.
The Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-iQ BL642 is better for most purposes than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The Blender Duo has a significantly better build quality and comes with three differently-sized personal jars in addition to its 72-ounce main jar. It makes better-textured smoothies and crushed ice, as well as smoother, more spreadable almond butter. However, the Nutri is a much more compact personal blender.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a more versatile personal blender than the NutriBullet Pro+. The Ninja can crush ice, unlike the NutriBullet, and it comes with more preset modes. However, the NutriBullet makes a better-blended smoothie.
The Breville Boss To Go Sport is a better personal blender than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The Breville has a better build quality, and it produces almond butter with a better texture with no unprocessed nuts. The Breville makes better, silky-feeling smoothies. However, the Ninja is easier to clean, and it can produce bar-quality ice in less time.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a more versatile personal blender than the Magic Bullet Kitchen Express. The Ninja is better-built, and it comes with more speed options and a timer. It's easier to clean, and it can crush ice, unlike the Magic Bullet. That said, the Magic Bullet comes with a food processing attachment, and it makes a better smoothie.
The NutriBullet Smart Touch Blender Combo is better for most uses than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The NutriBullet is a full-size blender that comes with a 64-ounce main jar and two differently-sized personal jars. It makes more spreadable almond butter, better smoothies, and can hot blend. On the other hand, the Ninja makes bar-quality crushed ice and is much easier to clean.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a much better blender than the Magic Bullet Mini. It's more powerful and does a better overall job at making nut butter. It's also remarkable at crushing ice, which the Magic Bullet can't even do. On the other hand, the Magic Bullet makes a slightly better smoothie, with fewer grains coming from leafy ingredients like kale.
The Ninja Nutri-Blender Pro with Auto-iQ is better for most purposes than the Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ. The Nutri-Blender takes less time to make better-blended smoothies. It's easier to clean by hand, and it comes with a pair of 24-ounce jars, while the Nutri Ninja includes one 24-ounce jar and one smaller 18-ounce jar.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a better overall personal blender than the BELLA Rocket Blender. The Ninja feels better-built and is easier to clean. It can also make almond butter and crushed ice, and its smoothies have a better texture. However, the BELLA comes with a flat blade and a small grinding cup for making sauces or salsa.
The Ninja Nutri Ninja Auto-iQ is a better blender than the BlendJet 2. The Ninja makes better crushed ice and more spreadable almond butter. It also does a better job of processing leafy greens like kale in smoothies and comes with an additional jar and lid. On the other hand, the BlendJet is much smaller and lighter. It's also one of the quietest blenders we've tested.