Ninja Blast Portable Blender review

The personal blender is an interesting device. They’re meant to be portable, and to blend small, single-serving drinks easily—and without the need to haul out the big guns. The Ninja Blast Blender is an interesting concept, because with this one, you don’t remove the cup and take it… you bring the whole mini blender with you. So why would you want to take a blender with you? And does this one deliver on its promises? I’ll find out in this hands-on review.

Personal blenders have always been an interesting type of kitchen appliance for me because they often trade a couple of the big downsides (power and volume) for numerous small upsides. If you’re craving for a quick shake or smoothie, you most likely won’t need the extra blending power and larger capacity of a large blender. Combine that with the cleaning you have to do afterwards and finding a travel mug to pour your shake into and preparing for healthy treats end up being a chore. While many personal blenders address these issues, they only tackle the “drinking” on the go part. What if you want to blend on the go as well? That’s where the Ninja Blenders comes in!

What is the Ninja Blast Blender?

The Ninja Blast is a fully portable blender which means that you don’t take your blended treat with you by detaching it from the base; you take the entire blender with you!
So why would you bring a blender with you? Anyone who’s ever brought along a shake or smoothie, and been delayed in drinking it knows the liquid can separate and look kind of unappetizing. Having the blender with you means you can give it a quick re-mix to make it uniform and appealing. Of course you can also just pack the blender cup with ingredients, and then blend it when you’re ready. This also means you could blend things like dressings on demand for that lunchtime salad, or your post-workout power shake.

Think of the Ninja Blast as a blender-drinking cup hybrid. With its 18-ounce capacity, it may very well take your travel mug’s place if you don’t mind the 1.74-pound weight.
The Ninja Blast portable blender separates itself from most traditional blenders in three ways. First, the base houses a non-replaceable but rechargeable lithium-ion battery allowing you to blend without plugging it in. Second, you can recharge the battery using the included USB-C cable so when the blender runs out of juice, you may be able to recharge it using your phone or laptop charger or possibly a car charger, powerbank, or solar panel. Finally, the blender’s leakproof lid has a built-in handle and an outer cover which you can pop out for sipping without requiring you to unscrew the lid.

Watch my video review of Ninja Portable Blender

Using the Ninja Portable Blender Blast

Since the blender only draws power from the 7.4-volt battery, you do have to temper your expectations a bit as it will never match the power of a large at-home blender. While the blades are sharp and spin fast, Ninja doesn’t recommend you use this for grinding. However, the Ninja Blast is strong enough to blend frozen fruits and crush ice, and it can also make dressings and dips or protein powder shakes too.

You just have to help the blender out by adding the liquid first before adding the solids to let the blades work or else you might experience a jam. Ninja includes instructions for how to layer your drink to avoid any problems.

Blending with the Ninja portable blender blast is as easy as pressing the power button and then pressing the “Start/Stop” button to let the Ninja Blast blend for 30 seconds. Depending on what you are trying to blend, you might experience a blade jam even if you added liquid. And since you don’t have any power cables to worry about, you can give the Ninja Blast a quick shake and restart the blending process.

Safety Features

Drinking directly from a blender might seem a bit weird knowing that the base has these super sharp blades. As long as you remember to turn the blender off before drinking or cleaning, you shouldn’t have any concerns because powering the blender on requires you to hold the power button for a bit.

The vessel also has a fill line to ensure you don’t overstuff your blender with ingredients. The leakproof lid’s cover can also lock into place if you push it far back so you can drink without worrying about the cover hitting your face. Using the Ninja Blast often in a short period of time could cause the base to heat up but fortunately, the Blast can automatically power down the unit to rest.

Battery & Charging

Ninja portable blast blender claims that a fully charged battery should last 15 to 18 cycles depending on the mixture. The outer portion of the Start/Stop button flashes yellow when the blender is running out of battery.

Having a USB-C charging port is really handy since you can either use the included cable or any other USB-C cable you might have with you. However, the Ninja Blast won’t charge with every charging adapter and the Start/Stop button will flash red and blue if you hook it up to an incompatible (too low power) charger. Check the charger or powerbank’s label to see if it supports 15 watts or more specifically 5 volts and 3 amperes. With a compatible charger, the Ninja Blast takes around two hours to charge from empty.

Cleaning the Ninja Blast

The easiest way to clean the blender is to add warm water and soap to the cup and run it for a few seconds. You can also unscrew the vessel and the cap, since both these parts are made of plastic and are dishwasher safe. I will say cleaning the blades on the base is a bit of a challenge since you must be careful and make sure you don’t wet the charging port as it lacks water resistance.

Overall Ninja Blast Portable Review

The Ninja Blast isn’t the first USB-C blender around, but Ninja totally nailed it with the execution. It does a terrific job in blending all sorts of ingredients and sip lid really eases the transition from blending to drinking.

The cleanup is easy and convenient whether you run it on the base or disassemble it for placement in the dishwasher. It seems to blend most single-serve ingredients easily, though like a lot of smaller blenders, it can face challenges if you overfill or don’t layer your ingredients properly.

In short I think this blender is actually pretty handy for travel, vanlife or athletic pursuits — and is even a convenient helper in the kitchen for small batches of dips, dressings and sauces. I can recommend the Ninja Blast to you.

Ninja Blast sells for about $59USD/ CAD and you can get one from Amazon.

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