The New Ninja Blender Can Replace at Least Three of Your Kitchen Appliances—It's That High Tech

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When I was lucky enough to visit Disney World as a child, Tomorrowland’s Carousel of Progress was one of my favorite rides. Being a Florida native, I always giggled at the big block of ice in front of the fan, especially with the knowledge that one of the most influential figures in Florida was the man who developed the air conditioner (John Gorrie, by the way).

Fast forward to more than 100 years later as VR headsets become all the rage, smart TVs now pull double duty as wall art, and robot vacuums and mops don’t even raise eyebrows.

Living in a high-tech world isn’t restricted only to gaming gadgets—kitchen appliances are the literal chef’s kiss that can cut the time it takes to make your morning smoothie in half, help you create your own nut butters and make dinner prep a snap.

And there’s one home and kitchen brand that always stands the test of time: Ninja. I recently received the new Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro from the brand to test, and below is what .

Shark|Ninja Isn’t Just a Shopping TV Brand

SharkNinja was founded in 1997 in Montreal, Canada before entering the US market the following year. It wasn’t until 2003 that SharkNinja found its way into television, and in 2007 the launch of the No-Loss-of-Suction vacuum technology sparked the brand into notoriety.

Now available in over 150 global retailers and holding over 3,000 patents, the company prides itself on listening and responding to customer reviews, creating high-performance products and pioneering new technology. 

Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro + Single Serve Pros and Cons

As with any appliance purchase, it’s important to weigh the cost versus the benefits. But just because there are cheaper products on the market doesn't necessarily mean you’re saving money in the long run. Here’s a quick rundown of the pros and cons of the Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro. 

Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro+ Single Serve Review

Unveiled in September 2023, the Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro comes with a 72-ounce pitcher, two 24-ounce single-serve cups with spout lids and Total Crushing chopping blade.

Clocking in at just over 10 pounds, this hefty blender will take up some countertop space. Equipped with some suction cups on the bottom of the base, there’s no danger of the powerful motor causing the blender to slide across the counters or fall forward.

The containers, lids and blades are all dishwasher safe. I’m going to date myself, but my previous (and very inexpensive) blender came with the blades attached to the bottom of the pitcher, and it was a huge pain to clean. The blades for this Ninja blender (especially the single-serve containers) are tightened snuggly into place between the container bottom and the base, so they are easy to detach, rinse off or wipe down.

In this review, I focused largely on the smoothie and drink-making functions, and I’ll be testing out the manual chopping and mincing in another article. Outside of the fruit smoothies, you can mix a great frozen sangria and margarita, mince for a chunky salsa, make your own nut butter and hummus, or even chop up meat for an easily-portioned set of meatballs or meatloaf.

BlendSense™ Technology

According to Ninja, BlendSense™ Technology is capable of sensing ingredients that have been placed in the vessel, detecting whether they are fresh or frozen, automatically adjusting time, speed and pulsing, and providing perfectly smooth results no matter the portion size.

For the smaller single-serve containers, the Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro will also display an “add liquid alert” if you haven’t added enough for smooth blending.

Testing Experience

As someone who can barely cook eggs but certainly knows her way around a coffee machine, I am admittedly not a blender-connoisseur. I do, however, appreciate a good smoothie before I head out to do my barn chores on the weekend, but spending $10-15 for a giant drink (I will never even finish) from a local store doesn’t excite my pocketbook.

So, I headed out to the grocery store aiming to grab a combination of fresh and frozen fruit, greens and oat milk for my smoothie testing.

Setup and instructions

Setup was a breeze–the boxing is nice although quite sizable. You are going to have to heft this thing into the house to unbox. There’s nothing you really need to put together, it all snaps into place very quickly and easily.

The blender comes with an instruction manual, and I highly recommend flipping through for blending instructions. It did help to know what kind of settings are available for both the pitcher and single-serve containers, along with a few recipe ideas, which I followed.

Smoothie testing results

Since I’m not feeding smoothies to a family of four, I just began with the 24-ounce single-serve container. Per the instructions, there’s an easy way to fill it for the easiest experience.

1. Start with your liquid — I choose oat milk, but you can use any kind of milk or yogurt you like. For one serving you can use up to one cup, or for two servings, up to 1.5 cups.
2. Add in your fruit and vegetables — I tested out both frozen and fresh fruit in two different smoothie blends.
3. Add in your leafy greens — I choose spinach for my green smoothie.
4. Two to four tablespoons of your dry ingredients — I used peanut butter, but protein powders, chia seeds or any other additional mixture.
5. Top off with ice or frozen ingredients — I used about five ice cubes from a tray.

And with that, you’re off. Just twist on the blade cap, which locks and twists easily into the base stand. Power it up, and it defaults to the BlendSense™ mode. You can also adjust it to a manual mode if you prefer to control your blending speed or pulse. I left it to the BlendSense™, and I wasn’t disappointed.

For about 10-15 seconds, you can see the powerful motor just slicing through your ingredients and rapidly mixing them. My husband (watching in interest over my shoulder) remarked, “This thing sounds like a jet engine.” After the first rapid blend, it moves onto approximately 30 seconds of pulse max blending.

If you don’t need a max crush, it may also use a less powerful “Crush” mode so it doesn’t overblend your ingredients. And if you prefer a thicker result (for your smoothie bowls instead of drinking), it can activate "thick mode" to help ensure thick, scoopable ingredients.

In comparison to some of the smaller single-serve models I’ve tested, I inevitably have too much or too little liquid to properly crush up the ingredients, and I never know how long I need to blend it for a smoother mixture.

As soon as I poured the smoothie in a glass, I wanted to “oh and ah” just a little bit. It was literally the smoothest blend I’ve ever made, and I really can’t take the credit since it was completely automated.

Final Thoughts

For fear of waxing too poetic, the Ninja Detect™ Duo® Power Blender Pro was a complete win for me. I think for someone with a small kitchen or limited countertop and cabinet space, it could be a little too large, but it really does offer quite a bit of functionality (blending, chopping, and mincing to name a few). I’ve never had a “smoother” smoothie at home.

And to be frank, I’m not sure I could go back to manual blending after experiencing the BlendSense™ automation feature. I can see our home getting quite a lot of use out of the new Ninja blender (as we also have with the outdoor grill and pizza oven).

Right now, you can grab it from Ninja directly for $179.99, and use coupon code SI10 for 10% off through the remainder of the year. It comes with a one-year limited warranty, and you can add additional protection covering drops and failure from normal use over time.