If you want to start making healthier ice creams, this is all you need – we put the Ninja Creami Deluxe to the test

If like me, you’re a frappé fanatic, ice cream obsessed, and crazy about all things cold, the Ninja Creami Deluxe will already be on your radar. Its predecessor took TikTok by storm, so the brand decided to release the Ninja Creami V2, more formally known as the Ninja Creami Deluxe.

When a brand makes this decision there are two routes that the product will follow. In some cases, the second model is a serious improvement, bettering the original in every way. In other instances, the innovative original is too hard to top, so the first model retains its place in the top spot and the second looks like a pointlessly expensive marketing ploy.

As someone who uses the original Creami every week, multiple times a week, I was eager to see what the Deluxe has to offer. Is it bigger and better than the best ice cream makers or just a bit of a disappointment? 

Specifications

Unboxing

I was really pleased with Ninja from the get-go. All of the packaging from the paper wrap to the cardboard box was completely recyclable. When you're buying a machine this big, I think that it's important that you can dispose of all the packaging sustainably. It's also helpful if a brand doesn't go over the top with cardboard boxes that are double the size and Ninja doesn't. Even though the Ninja Creami Deluxe is a big appliance, the box isn't any bigger than it needs to be.

Alongside the main body of the Creami, you'll get three 24 oz pint pots (50% bigger than the original Creami's 16 oz pots), which come with lids. You can buy more of these if you want to prep multiple flavors ahead, but three is a great place to start. Ninja also sends a recipe book with suggestions for a range of different frozen delights. You can get these online, but sometimes it's nice to flick through a book of options.

Who would it suit?

The Ninja is one of the most versatile ice cream makers you can buy. The Creami also works differently compared to most other ice cream makers. Traditionally, you freeze a bowl in your freezer overnight and then pour cooled ice cream mixtures into your bowl, which churns your liquid into ice cream. These are great, but they demand a lot of freezer space. The Ninja only requires you to freeze the 24 oz tubs. To make the ice cream, the machine sort of drills through your frozen dessert, churning it into a smooth mix in a matter of minutes. This is great if you want the ice cream-making part to be quick, but it's also really handy if you're short on freezer space.

The people who will get the most out of their Ninja Creami Deluxe are those who would use all eleven functions. If you are one of these people, you'll also like that the Creami Deluxe has larger tubs than all of Ninja's other ice cream makers. My three tubs covered dessert for seven people, three nights in a row, so there's more than enough capacity for a big family.

The other people that I would recommend the Ninja Creami Deluxe to is creative chefs or those with narrow dietary requirements. When you start substituting ingredients in traditional ice cream recipes, traditional churners will serve you up ice crystals, very cold mush, or nothing at all, because it's all stuck to the churning bowl. The Creami works through whatever you give it, so you'll never miss out on ingredients. 

I filled one tub up with chocolate soya milk and absolutely nothing else. The Creami turned this into a super smooth, vegan-friendly, gluten-free chocolate ice cream. I’m on a very niche low FODMAP diet at the moment, which makes ice cream a really difficult foodstuff to find, but with the Ninja Creami, I’ve been able to make my own recipes, tailored to my diet. Now, I’m not sure I’ll go back to the shops-bought stuff because I can make desserts that are just as good, but without all the additives (if you've read Ultra-Processed People, you'll know what I'm talking about).

What is it like to use?

What Ninja does well is the user experience. Everything about the Ninja Creami is intuitive and effortless. Obviously, you need to freeze your frozen desserts the day beforehand, but once you start getting in the habit of it, you'll always keep pots stocked up in the freezer.

The Creami Deluxe has a slightly different interface to the original model. The Ninja asks you to select what you’re making (ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, etc) and how full your tub is (full, middle, or bottom). Once you’ve done this, you’ll get a time estimate for how long it will take to make your dessert. This ranges from two minutes to six minutes, all impressively speedy time frames.

Test 1: ice cream

The first test I put the Creami through is an obvious one: ice cream. I followed Ninja’s recipe for vanilla ice cream, which calls for cream cheese, heavy cream, whole milk, vanilla paste, and sugar. I whisked everything up and froze it for 24 hours before my test. 

I selected the ice cream setting and told the Ninja that I had a full 24 oz tub to work through. The front screen told me that my ice cream would be ready in just two minutes, which is super quick. 

Once the Ninja was running, I was incredibly grateful that this only takes two minutes because the Creami Deluxe is noisy. I measured the peak noise as 82 dB, which is like a loud vacuum cleaner. You'd need to shout to be heard over it, which is pretty antisocial, especially if you live in an apartment or are using the Creami in an open-plan kitchen. Make sure to promise people in your proximity some tasty ice cream and they might tolerate it.

When my two minutes was up, I twisted the lid off my tub and the ice cream looked like crumbs, not ice cream. As someone who already uses their Ninja weekly, I knew what to do, but I could imagine that first-time users might be a bit stumped by this result. Ninja says that this happens if your base has been frozen in a very cold freezer (mine is a deep chest freezer). You have to add a splash of whole milk and then run the re-spin setting through, which takes another two minutes.

After four minutes in total, the Creami had made the perfect vanilla ice cream. It was light, cold, crisp and smooth. There wasn’t any graininess or ice crystals. It was a proper success.

I tested out the mix-in function with some cookie dough balls (this required another two minutes of mixing) and the Ninja did a great job. The cookie dough was well distributed throughout the ice cream and each spoonful still had its lovely, smooth texture. I think some of my cookie dough balls were blended into the ice cream, so they didn't stay whole, but this only enhanced the overall flavor.

Test 2: frozen yoghurt

The next test is frozen yogurt. Most ice cream makers struggle to translate a whole tub of plain yogurt into a frozen dessert, you always lose some yogurt to the sides of the bowl where it freezes solid.

The Ninja Creami Deluxe takes a little longer to make frozen yogurt than it does to make ice cream. It's a four minute task which, compared to other ice cream makers, is still super quick. 

I tested both dairy yogurt and an almond-based strawberry yogurt. I didn't do any prep aside from emptying a tub of ice cream into the frozen pots. I left it overnight and then let the Ninja get to work.

Both frozen yogurts came out a little crumbly on top (Blame my freezer), but I pushed the frozen yogurt around with my spoon and within a few seconds, it had formed a nice, smooth texture. Again, this was scoopable and dense, even on my almond-based yogurt. I was really pleased with the flavor and texture of both of these. If you held an ice cream spoon to my throat and demanded to know which setting I liked the best, it would be this one.

Test 3: sorbet

The next test for our ice cream makers is sorbet. With a high fruit and water content, I expect some graininess, since it's almost an inevitability with lots of homemade sorbets. However, the Ninja smashed my expectations into pieces. Both my lemon and raspberry sorbets had a deliciously dense, gelato-style texture. 

Both 24-ounce tubs were licked clean in one sitting. For the raspberry sorbet, I tested out a no-sugar recipe, essentially just blending raspberries and then pouring them into the tub. I've seen people doing similar things with banana and pineapple on TikTok, so was keen to see whether the Deluxe could perform in person. 

My pure fruit sorbet was absolutely perfect. This is where I feel that the Ninja Creami Deluxe comes into its own. In a classic ice cream maker, my raspberry sorbet would have ended up as an ice block, stuck to the sides, made up of mostly shards. However, in my Creami, it was deliciously smooth and scoopable.

Test 4: vegan ice cream

Vegan ingredients can be notoriously difficult to work with, so I had prepared myself for some slightly grainy results. I followed Ninja’s recipe for chocolate ice cream, substituting all of the dairy for oat-based alternatives.

The chocolate ice cream was a true success. It needed a re-spin with a splash of oat milk before it was properly creamy and smooth, but this was objectively the best ice cream of all that I made. I know this because I set it on the table for dinner with six people, none of whom are vegan. I didn’t label it as the non-dairy alternative and it was polished off (even before the cookie dough ice cream). People couldn’t get enough of it and nobody would believe me when I told them that it was vegan. That’s when you know your vegan alternative is good.

Special functions

With eleven functions to work through, just three tubs, and some high demand for ice cream in my home, I'm having to work through all the different settings slowly, but surely. I'll keep updating you here on what I've tested, but the most recent success has been my no-sugar, vegan protein ice cream. I’ve seen lots of these on TikTok and wanted to know whether I could turn my post-gym shake into a sweet treat. 

For my post-lunch treat yesterday, I tested out my protein shake in the Ninja Creami. I froze my shake the day before, using a scoop Form Chocolate Vegan Protein Powder, a blended banana, and some almond milk. When I wanted my 'ice cream' I set the Ninja on lite ice cream mode, ended up with the crumbly mix, re-span it with a splash of almond milk, and then four minutes later tucked into the tub.

It tasted just like ice cream, just with a little bit of graininess. However, I can’t tell you how pleased I was. This is probably the healthiest tub of ice cream that I’ve eaten in a whole sitting. I’ve tried the same recipe in other ice cream makers with absolutely no success, so I was really pleased with what I had made here. 

Cleaning, storage, and maintenance

The only things that get messy in the Creami are the ice cream tubs, the blade, and the lid. All of these parts are dishwasher safe, so the clean-up couldn’t have been any easier. I actually washed the blade by hand, since I didn’t want it to fly around inside my dishwasher, because it’s weighty and sharp, so I was concerned that it might chip and slice at things that I wanted to keep pristine. 

Storage-wise, the Creami is undeniably huge. It’s really tall and big. I had to take a shelf out of my cupboards to fit it in. Actually, in the last five days that I've been testing it, I've wanted it out so often that I ended up just keeping it on the countertop. It’s quite bulky, so evaluate your countertop and storage options before investing in one. 

I should caveat this with just how popular the Ninja was with my family. After one night of testing, word got out to my friends and I was asked to bring the Ninja to a barbecue two days after my first round of tests. It’s not really that portable, but it’s so good that you’ll end up bringing it round to your friend's house as the guest of honor.

How does it rate online?

On Amazon, the Ninja Creami Deluxe boasts 4.5 stars out of 5. Customers all found this easy to use, enjoying the quick process and delicious results. As expected, I found lots of people who liked to experiment with less reliable ice cream recipes, one reviewer even just freezes bananas in his mixing bowl and blends them into an ice cream. If you don't want added sugar or thickening agents, this is a dreamy ice cream machine.

Aside from taste, texture, and speed, people loved the Ninja Creami Deluxe for how easy it was to clean. The novelty of quick, easy ice cream and an even quicker clean up just doesn't seem to get old. People love using the Ninja Creami Deluxe from start to finish. 

The few criticisms that I could find were exactly as expected. People thought that this was big and bulky on the countertop. Some even described it as 'scarily loud'. Even though this is only for a few minutes, it's something that you need to account for. I was surprised that it didn't bother my dog at all, especially since lots of people's pets struck up a bit of a hostile relationship with the Creami. This is a bit of a gamble that you'll have to take.

How does it compare?

I’ve been the devoted owner of the original Ninja Creami 7-in-1 ice cream maker for a year, so I was eager to check out what changes Ninja had made. The original model has a sorbet, ice cream, lite ice cream, milkshake, mix-in, gelato, and smoothie bowl function. Whilst the Deluxe doesn't have a smoothie bow program, it boasts all the same functions as the 7-in-1 on top of a frozen yogurt, creamiccino, frozen drink, slushi, and Italian ice function. If you enjoy a frozen drink, the Deluxe has you covered across the board. It also boasts a 24 oz container, which is 50% bigger than the original 16 ounce.

There are lots of other, small, but significant design features integrated into the Deluxe. It can process half a container at a time if you want a half-and-half ice cream or don't think you'll use a whole tub. Plus, the timer is useful for measuring how long your ice cream needs. 

Size-wise, neither are particularly compact. They're also both pretty loud. Although, I think the Deluxe is quieter than the original, there's very little in it. So, if you're on a budget and will only be making ice cream, go for the original 7-in-1, if you like gadgets that give you everything, the Deluxe is a better bet. If you don't like the idea of either Ninja Creami's style of ice cream making, you can check out our buying guide to the best ice cream makers, which has plenty of other options.

Should you buy it?

If you need capacity and versatility, the Ninja Creami Deluxe is an investment you won't regret. I had a tough time trying to decide whether I preferred the Deluxe's upgrades and, in truth, I do. I like the little extras, such as the timer, extra functions, and bigger bowls. However, if you're looking to save some money, buying the original is a super-savvy decision.

How we test

We are dedicated to how we test all of our appliances. All of our experts are well-established product testers, bringing with them the expertise needed to discern whether these are worthy investments for your home. 

For ice cream makers, we researched the best products on the market. We wanted to look for appliances that were good value for money with exceptional results. We took these to our test kitchen and, over the course of a few days, tested these on ice cream, non-dairy ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt. We made notes on the whole process from unboxing to cleaning up to make sure that we didn’t miss a thing. All of these ice cream makers were tested alongside each other, so we could make direct comparisons between them and their results.