The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is a sturdy full-size blender with a 72-ounce pitcher. It has a simple design, with three speed presets and a pulse mode. The lid for the jar has a pouring spout, but it doesn't come with a tamper or 2-part lid. The jar, lid, and removable blade assembly are all dishwasher-safe.
Our Verdict
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is adequate for multi-purpose use. It's sturdy and comes with a 72oz capacity (or 64oz liquid capacity) main pitcher for big batches. It excels at crushing ice and can also produce good results with thicker recipes, like nut butter, hummus, and dips, although it's not very convenient for that purpose since you have to remove the lid and stir a few times during the process. Unfortunately, it doesn't make a completely smooth blend with fibrous ingredients, which is a big downside for smoothies. It can't hot blend and has very sharp blades that make it hard to clean by hand. On the plus side, its components are dishwasher-safe.
- Makes snow-like crushed ice.
- Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean by hand.
- Good build quality.
- Can't hot blend.
- Limited controls.
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is decent for making single-serve smoothies. It can make a good-textured single-serve drink with fibrous ingredients like kale, but it's not easy to use to blend smaller batches since it takes a while, and you have to stop and scrape the sides of the jar with a spatula. The very sharp blades make it difficult to clean by hand, but on the plus side, it's dishwasher-safe.
- Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean by hand.
- Good build quality.
- No personal jars for smoothies.
The Ninja Professional Βlender 1000 is good for making multiple servings of smoothies. It has a big 72oz main pitcher, so you can easily serve a crowd from one batch. It's sturdy and has a lid with a pouring spout, making it easier to pour from the jar. However, it doesn't make a completely smooth blend with fibrous elements like leafy greens and fruit skin, so your smoothie may be a bit grainy or leafy, depending on your recipe. The sharp blades make it hard to clean by hand, but it's dishwasher-safe.
- Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean by hand.
- Good build quality.
- Makes a somewhat grainy blend with bigger batches of fibrous ingredients.
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is outstanding for crushing ice. It has a good build quality and a sturdy-feeling motor base. Its 72-oz jar is ideal for multiple servings of slushies or big batches of ice for parties. With the manual 'Pulse' mode, it takes about 30 seconds to make snow-like crushed ice.
- Makes snow-like crushed ice.
- Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean by hand.
- Good build quality.
- No preset for automatic ice crushing.
According to the manufacturer, the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 isn't meant for hot blending because steam can't escape from the jar. You have to let your ingredients cool before using it for recipes like soup, but on the plus side, its 72-ounce main pitcher fits most recipes in one batch. However, if you're working with fibrous ingredients like kale and broccoli, it won't make a completely smooth puree.
- Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean by hand.
- Good build quality.
- Can't hot blend.
- Makes a somewhat grainy blend with bigger batches of fibrous ingredients.
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is decent for professional use. It has a sturdy build quality and a big 72-ounce (or 64-ounce liquid) capacity. It's not too loud when running and does a fantastic job of crushing ice. It can handle thicker mixtures like hummus, nut butter, or pesto but doesn't include a tamper, so you must remove the lid and stir a few times. It struggles to completely puree fibrous ingredients like kale or broccoli, which isn't ideal for silky smoothies. You also can't use it to blend hot ingredients.
- Dishwasher-safe and easy to clean by hand.
- 64-ounce liquid capacity.
- Makes very smooth, spreadable nut butter.
- Good build quality.
- Can't hot blend.
Changelog
- Updated Sep 23, 2024: We've updated the results to more accurately reflect the blender's performance. The score for Fibrous Ingredients (Full Capacity) texture changed from 6.5 to 7.0.
- Updated Sep 20, 2024: We've updated the results to more accurately reflect the blender's performance. The score for Fibrous Ingredients (Small Batches) changed from 6 to 5 because of the need to use a spatula. The score for Crushed Ice preparation changed from 10 to 9 because you have to manually pulse.
- Updated Aug 07, 2024: Compared its controls and programs to the Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ's.
- Updated Feb 26, 2024: Added a note that the Oster Master Series Blender with Texture Select Settings includes a personal jar for single-serves in fibrous ingredients (small batches).
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 comes in one variant with a black and silver color scheme. You can see the label for the unit we tested here.
If you encounter another variant, please let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
Popular Blender Comparisons
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is a budget-friendly full-size blender. It excels at ice crushing, unlike many similarly-priced blenders we've tested, like the Oster Pro 1200 or the NutriBullet Blender Combo. However, it's not the most versatile option since it can't hot blend and doesn't make a very smooth puree with fibrous ingredients like kale or blueberries. A newer model, the Ninja Professional Blender NJ601AMZ, comes with a few automatic blending programs but isn't as sturdy.
Check out our picks for the best blenders for smoothies, the best blenders, and the best Ninja blenders.
The Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-iQ and the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 have different strengths. The Auto-iQ has more extra features, including personal jars and a food processing bowl. You can use the smaller jars to make significantly better single-serve smoothies. It has a few preset modes and a timer showing the time left during the blending cycle. The 1000 has a simpler design and it's a bit quieter when it's running.
The Oster Pro 1200 is more versatile than the Ninja Professional Blender 1000. The Oster comes with a 48-ounce glass jar and an additional personal jar for single-serve smoothies with a matching to-go lid. It makes a much smoother blend with fibrous ingredients, so it's better for smoothies and soups. On the other hand, the Ninja is better for crushing ice. It has a much better build quality, and its main jar has a bigger capacity.
The Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is slightly better than the Ninja Professional Plus Blender with Auto-iQ, mainly because it makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients like kale. Otherwise, the blenders perform similarly. However, some may prefer the Auto-iQ because it's sturdier and has a few automatic blending programs.
The Vitamix Explorian E310 is better than the Ninja Professional Blender 1000. The Vitamix has a significantly better build quality and a more versatile performance since it can hot blend. It's better at processing small and big batches of fibrous ingredients and is easier to use to make nut butter. It's also much easier to clean by hand. However, the Ninja is quieter and does a slightly better job crushing ice in its main pitcher.
Test Results
It's quite bulky, so it's best stored on your counter or on a shelf. It's smaller and lighter than some more expensive Ninja blenders, like the Ninja Blender Duo with Auto-iQ BL642.
It has a good build quality. The motor base is made of plastic that feels sturdy and has rubber feet to help keep it from moving around on your counter. The black plastic platform that the jar sits on feels robust and holds the jar steady. The jar needs to twist into place and the lid locked on before the blender can operate.
Unfortunately, the control panel feels cheap, and the buttons, when pressed, lack proper clicky feedback. The 'Medium' button feels less clicky than the others. The jar lid feels flimsy, which isn't ideal since it contains the safety mechanism preventing the blender from starting without the lid. The plastic base of the jar feels fragile and seems prone to shattering if it knocks against something. While it's not something we experienced with our unit, some users have reported the pitcher cracking or leaking with regular use. Here's an example. You can see similar complaints in the user reviews here.
The main jar has a 72oz capacity and a 64oz capacity for liquids, which is about as big as full-size blender jars get, making it a good choice if you usually serve a crowd.
The jar is made of plastic. It has measuring marks in cups, ounces, and milliliters and has a comfortable handle. You must orient the jar correctly on the motor base to clip it into place. If you're looking for a glass jar blender, check out the Brentwood Brentwood 12-Speed Pulse Blender with Glass Jar or the Oster Pro 1200.
Like many Ninja blenders, its blade assembly has a stem design with six sharp blades spiraling around it. Ninja calls this the 'Total Crushing' blade assembly; blenders we've tested with this design are all fantastic ice crushers. However, the blades are also very sharp, so you must be careful when handling them.
The lid is made of plastic with a rubber gasket on its underside. There's a spout-like opening on one corner with a clear plastic cover that flips open. It can help with pouring, but the opening isn't big enough to act as a 2-part lid and let you add ingredients mid-blend. You also can't fit a tool like a tamper through it to stir your recipe, although the stacked blades would get in the way and make it difficult to use a tamper anyway. You must lock the lid onto the jar before the blender can operate. To lock it, you need to align the triangle symbol on the lid with the triangle symbol on the jar's handle, then push it down on the lid's handle until it locks into place.
The power cord is long enough to reach an outlet near your counter. There's a ridge around the exhaust vents on the back of the motor base that you can wrap the cord around to keep it out of the way when the blender's not in use.
- Ninja Professional Blender 1000 motor base
- 72 oz pitcher
- Lid with locking handle
- Blade stack assembly
- Manual
It does a decent job with small batches of fibrous ingredients. Blenders that can make a totally smooth blend with fibrous elements usually have much faster blending speeds, and if you use it for something like a single-serve smoothie with kale, it'll have some small unprocessed grains left over. However, a bigger downside is the process. It takes a long time, and since the mixture constantly splatters up the sides of the jar, you have to remove the lid and scrape them with a spoon or spatula a few times to get the best results.
If you want to use your full-size blender for single-serve smoothies, you might prefer a model that comes with a personal jar like the Oster Master Series Blender with Texture Select Settings.
It's okay for large batches of fibrous ingredients. However, even if you run the blender for a long time, it makes a grainy puree with ingredients like kale. There are more bigger, unprocessed bits than in the small batch. If you want a blender that can make a smoother blend with ingredients like leafy greens and fruit, you might prefer the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar or the Hamilton Beach Wave Crusher Multi-Function.
Like most full-size Ninja blenders we've tested, it can crush a batch of 12 ice cubes in about 30 seconds using pulse mode. The result is snow-like crushed ice, ideal for drinks like slushies or frozen treats like snow cones. The only downside is that you have to manually press the pulse button, unlike blenders that have automatic pulse or ice crush modes.
It does a great job of making nut butter. If you use the 'Pulse' button to break up the ingredients and then blend on 'High', it makes a very smooth, very spreadable butter. There may be some unprocessed bits or powder caught around or under the blades. However, it takes a while to produce the best results, and since it lacks a 2-part lid and tamper, you have to stop the blender a few times to scrape the sides of the jar with a spoon or spatula.
It's on the quiet side for a full-size blender. It makes much less noise than some blenders, like the Ninja Smart Screen, making it less irritating for recipes requiring a longer blending time.
There isn't a big difference between its slowest and fastest speed settings, which is typical of Ninja's blenders and means you have less control over the blending process. It also doesn't achieve the high speeds helpful for smoothly pureeing fibrous ingredients like kale.
The Ninja BL610 has simple controls, with buttons for three speed presets and a pulse mode. There's also a power button that acts as an on/off toggle. If you're looking for a blender with blending programs that stop the blender automatically, you might prefer the Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ, which is a very similar blender with one automatic program.
The blade design makes cleaning by hand difficult. The blades are removable but very sharp, and you must be careful not to cut yourself when cleaning it. Running the blender with soap and water can take care of a good amount of residue in the jar and on the blades. However, there's a small hole on one end of the blade assembly stem that connects to the lid's locking mechanism. This opening traps debris and is difficult to reach unless you have something long and thin, like a pipe cleaner. You may also need to wipe the lid's gasket with a sponge and open the lid's spout cover to remove any remaining residue.
