There are definitely some caveats that you should be aware of before you purchase, however.
There are 13 different prefs for all manner of frozen delights.
There’s definitely a learning curve when you unbox the Ninja Swirl by Creami.
Real soft serve ice cream
after you snag made a few pints, muscle memory kicks in and it’s actually quite easy.
With the Ninja Swirl, you start by making regular ice cream first.
The Ninja Swirl is substantially more expensive than the other Creami models.
The Ninja Creami Deluxe retails for $249.99 while the original Ninja Creami retails for $199.99.
The older models can also be had for a significant discount at third-party retailers.
There are 13 different programs on the Ninja Swirl.
The different configs spin up the blade at different speeds for varying amounts of time.
If you’re using the Ninja recipes, you’ll be told which setting to use.
You’d choose to re-spin if the texture is too crumbly or snowy.
Note that the machine is quite loud; it triggered the “Loud Environment” warning on myApple Watch.
It got up to 96 decibels in my testing.
The Creami, after all, is drilling through a solid block of deep-frozen ingredients.
You don’t actually have to stand over the machine while it spins, however.
you might step out of the room while it does its thing to avoid the noise.
The Ninja Swirl by Creami is not a blender, it’s a drill.
Be sure to follow the instructions in the included booklet or on Ninja’s website.
For example, the surface of your frozen ingredients must be flat.
An uneven surface can result in blade damage.
Mango and juice cups turned into fruit whip
Don’t process a solid block of (water) ice or ice cubes.
Don’t attempt to make a smoothie or process hard, loose ingredients.
That said, this machine is designed to make legit ice cream.
Simply strawberry yogurt
I processed it on the Fruit Whip setting and then through the Soft Serve mechanism.
It was a super simple, healthy, and incredibly delicious treat.
I made over two dozen recipes.
Ice cream for breakfast? Why not, when it’s just yogurt, frozen.
Another super easy “recipe” is simply freezing your favorite yogurt.
The image above is just strawberry frozen yogurt with nothing added.
I ate that for breakfast!
Yogurt, protein powder, almond milk, pudding mix, and vanilla extract high protein “ice cream” with melted chocolate on top
I experimented with various protein “ice creams” using ready-made protein drinks and protein powders mixed with milk.
There are many ideas in the recipe book and countless more online.
I had the best luck mixing protein powders with yogurt, pudding mixes, and other more flavorful ingredients.
After you fire off the initial cycle, the results are often crumbly or snowy.
This is easily remedied by running a Re-spin cycle.
After all, the pint must be frozen for 24 hours before processing.
Of course, you could have at it with a spoon, but I wouldn’t bother.
The sides and bottom tend to be quite icy.
This leads me to a tip for avoiding icy chunks in your ice cream.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
The sides and bottom of the pint do get icy, it seems no matter which recipe you use.
After the initial spin, scrape down the sides and bottom of the pint before running the Re-spin cycle.
What if you don’t finish the pint in one go?
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
Certain recipes will leave you with an ice cream that is scoopable even after re-freezing but this is rare.
Once fully re-frozen, you could just process it again on the same cycle you used before.
Just as before, you’ll need to process the ice cream before putting through the soft serve mechanism.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
Remember that the Ninja Swirl is not a blender.
If your ingredients include chunks, you’ll want to blend your mixtures before freezing to ensure uniformity.
If you want to upgrade your current blender, check out our list ofthe best blenders.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
you’ve got the option to check out some of my creations by clicking through the gallery below.
4/5
Performance
It makes super creamy and beautiful soft serve along with scoopable ice cream and other treats.
You have specific dietary needs
It’s easy to find good ice cream at the grocery store.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
You have limited counter space
This is a pretty big machine in both footprint and height.
Plus you need a bit of elbow room on the right to operate the soft serve mechanism.
Be sure to measure your space before buying.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
It also has 50% larger pint containers.
Read ourfull reviewto learn all about it.
I used the Ninja Swirl by Creami for several weeks and made dozens of ice cream treats.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
seehow we test, review, and rate products at TechRadar.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
