Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Fast churn times
- Handy countdown display
- Large tubs
- Can process two flavours/mix-ins in one tub
- 10 different ways to use
Cons
- Larger footprint than original Ninja Creami
- Noisy when in operation
- Will need 24 hours to freeze
- Expensive
Our Verdict
The Ninja Creami Deluxe 10-in-1 Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker makes serving frozen treats simple. But as it’s pricier than the standard Creami model, it’s only worth scooping out for if you’ve the storage space to stash it and you intend to use the extra tech that comes along with it. But if you go for it, endless frozen drinks and treats await you.
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$249.95
Gone are the days of stocking up on your favourite ice cream from the frozen aisles or spending hours churning and churning again your own homemade gelato. Instead, ingenious ice cream makers like the Ninja Creami Deluxe 10-in-1 Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker let you knock out frozen goodness at home – and in minutes.
The kitchen appliance brand burst onto the UK’s frozen goods scene with the launch of the Ninja Creami in 2022. Since then, we’ve seen the launch of its soft serve ice-cream maker, Ninja’s Swirl by Creami (which we reviewed previously), and the Deluxe, which we’re reviewing here.
The Deluxe includes four additional modes, a countdown display, clever tech that enables you to add two flavours or mix-ins to one base, a larger footprint and bigger tubs to fulfil your taste buds’ every icy desire.
From pizza ovens and air fryers to barbecues, multi-cookers and now highly advanced ice cream makers – there’s not much that Ninja can’t do. But how does one of the brand’s latest cookware creations fare? Keep reading for the inside scoop.
Design and Build
- Comes with three 709ml tubs
- Weight: 6.54 kg
- Dimensions: 30.5cm (L) x 42.39cm (H) x 21.38cm (W)
Inside the Ninja Creami Deluxe box, you’ll find a handy recipe booklet containing more than 30 creations to try, a quick start guide and important safety instructions, which come with warnings not to fill containers past the max fill lines and to avoid freezing the tub at an angle – it needs to be level. You’ll also find the main motor base, which you’ll need to plug in, an outer bowl and lid, a paddle which helps to whip your creations together, a Creami Deluxe lid and three 709ml Creami Deluxe tubs.
It can also churn out scoopable delights like light ice cream, sorbets, gelato and frozen yoghurt, along with drinkable creations like frappés, frozen drinks (think ice lattes), slushies and milkshakes
Design-wise, Ninja’s ice cream maker is in keeping with all its other gadgets, thanks to the usual sleek-looking modern black, grey and silver build. But what makes this design stand out from the rest of the ice cream-making market is how the machine turns your chosen mixture into a scoopable treat.
It works by relying on you to freeze your chosen ice cream mixture of choice in a tub for at least 24 hours, before then placing it inside the brand’s ‘outer bowl’ which uses the thick paddle to ‘shave’ and mix frozen ingredients together. This turns it from a frozen concoction into a creamy one.
Rebecca Shepherd / Foundry
But this piece of tech can do more than just churn out ice cream. With 10 different modes on the display – four more than the original Ninja Creami – it can also churn out scoopable delights like light ice cream, sorbets, gelato and frozen yoghurt, along with drinkable creations like frappés, frozen drinks (think ice lattes), slushies and milkshakes. Meanwhile, the handy countdown timer on the main display will tell you how long you’ve got until the frozen goodness is ready to be consumed.
On the main display centre, you’ll also find an on/off button, a silver processing button and the option to churn the ‘Top’ of the mixture, ‘Full’ mix or just the ‘Bottom’. These additional features mean you can enjoy two different flavours in the same ice cream, gelato or frozen yoghurt base. For example, you could create a vanilla base, then add Oreo pieces for a cookies and cream-style top. Or you might like to use the vanilla base later to create a milkshake.
The ‘Mix-in’ button allows you to disperse additional flavours (like chocolate chip cookies or meringue chunks) throughout the entire mix, and the ‘Respin’ button helps to further process the frozen base so it’s even creamier than before.
It’s fair to say that Ninja is known for quality (just take a peek at the Ninja Artisan electric outdoor pizza oven). But one thing this brand isn’t famed for is compact appliances. And the Ninja Creami Deluxe is no different.
At 6.54 kg in weight, this is nowhere near the heaviest gadget the brand has conjured up. However, with a height of 42.39cm, a 30.5cm depth and a width of 21.38cm, it’ll take up more kitchen counter space than the original Ninja Creami.
This model also comes with three larger 709ml tubs. But this last point isn’t a negative. It just means you and the family have more space to whip up your favourite frozen goods.
Performance and Features
- Four extra functions (as opposed to the Ninja Creami)
- No churn needed
- Noisy
I began by testing out how to make strawberry ice cream, which is one of the recipes from the included booklet. Thankfully, the easy recipe guide makes doing so simple. The idea? First, you mix all your ingredients, then you put them in a tub and pop it into your freezer for at least 24 hours.
Once frozen, you then place the tub inside the Creami’s outer bowl, ensure the outer bowl lid is tight and clicked into place and it will take your frozen goods from iced to ice cream.
To do so, I set the mode to ‘ice cream’, pressed the ‘Full’ button and hit the round silver button to begin the process. Within two minutes (no joke!), you can see the mixture being ‘churned’ as the blade is dropped into the mix. Once you hear the famous Ninja alert, it’s ready to be eaten.
Rebecca Shepherd / Foundry
Keen to see what would happen when I added mix-ins, I then repeated this process by making a vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips.
Rebecca Shepherd / Foundry
After waiting the (rather agonising) full 24 hours for the vanilla ice cream mix to freeze, I selected the ‘Full’ process mode, before using a spoon to create a 4cm-wide hole to pour in the chocolate chips. After clicking ‘Respin’, it was like watching magic being made as the gadget turned the vanilla creation into a chocolate-lover’s dream.
Within two minutes (no joke!), you can see the mixture being ‘churned’… Once you hear the famous Ninja alert, it’s ready to be eaten
Next up was a cookies and cream milkshake, which was even easier to make. I used some of the previous chocolate chip ice cream to do so. This meant that all that was left to do was to make another 4cm opening to add in the milk and Oreos. After selecting the milkshake mode, the Ninja Creami Deluxe turned it from a scoopable ice cream into a drinkable treat.
Rebecca Shepherd / Foundry
On all three occasions, the gadget said what it did on the tin. That being: it turned frozen mixes into creamy delights. And each time, I was greeted with a pot of ice cream or a drinkable treat that looked and tasted like the real deal.
But it wasn’t all sweetness and light. One downfall with this gadget is the noise. It turns out that processing frozen mixes in minutes is a pretty noisy process – you won’t be able to hear much else until the gadget has done its thing. Luckily, it only ever takes minutes to do so. But still, it’s a pretty deafening sound.
Another con? You’ll have to save plenty of freezer space if you intend to have multiple tubs of ice cream on the go at once. That’s because you have to freeze each mixture for at least 24 hours before you intend to churn it.
Price and Availability
The Creami Deluxe is priced at £249.99 (Amazon, Ninja) in the UK and $249.99 in the US (Amazon, Ninja).
This means it’s a fair bit more expensive than the original Creami model, which launched in the UK at £199.99 but is now available for £169.99 (see it on Amazon). In the US, it’s down from $229.99 to $199.99 (again, via Amazon). What the Deluxe can do that the original can’t is make frozen yoghurt, frappés, frozen drinks and slushies. So, it’s really about whether that extra functionality is worth £50/$50 to you.
Should you buy the Ninja Creami Deluxe?
It depends. Yes, if you want to do more than just churn out your own ice cream, as this dream of a machine will give you the option to make frappés, frozen yoghurt, frozen drinks and slushies – which the Ninja Creami (and many other ice cream makers) can’t do. You might also be swayed by this design if you want to create different flavours in the same tub, or you wish to only process a portion of it, thanks to the ‘Top’ and ‘Bottom’ processing modes.
That said, you might be put off by the chunky price tag if you only intend to use this through the summer months. And do note that you’ll have to freeze the ice cream for at least 24 hours the night before. It’s only the churning that’s fast.
Either way, you can’t take this away from the fact that this iconic piece of kit does all of the churning and manual labour in minutes, as opposed to other types of ice cream makers you might have come across, like a compressor, which takes around 90 minutes. And better yet, you’ll only ever scratch the surface of creations you can make with the Ninja Creami Deluxe, as recipes can be as complex or as simple as you’d like. So with this on your kitchen counter, a world of icy creations is yours to savour.
