Best Personal Blender For Smoothies: 2021

A great blender always comes in handy while making a healthy smoothie or a frozen daiquiri on a summer afternoon. But what if you are not interested in welcoming an old-fashioned blender into your kitchen? Given the fact that a bulky blender habitually requires more space and lacks simplicity in operation.

Well, we might have the perfect solution in hand with the all-new Ninja QB3001SS Personal Blender.  Its compact size and the ability to make smaller households whirling in a quick time certainly make it one of the best personal blenders for smoothies or food preps at home.

What Makes Ninja QB3001SS Personal Blender Special?

What do you look for in a personal blender in the first place? It’s basically the design, build quality, and convenience, right? But there must be something special that would shine and draw the limelight towards it.

Well, in that case, two sip and seal lids and a spectacular 700 watts pulse technology power pod should be its standouts. On top of that, its ease of access helps anyone extract hidden nutrition from whole fruits and veggies within a short amount of time.

But don’t you think the ‘best’ personal blender should have something more in its hold to earn the crown? Yes, there are other things too that make it one of the best blenders of its kind. So, let’s find out one by one

1. Design and Simplicity

People usually crave a personal blender for its simplicity. Similarly, Shark Ninja has kept things simple in terms of design and ease of access. The 4.63 pounds blender is primarily divided into two sections –the 700watt power pod base and the upper part with a transparent 16oz cup holder.

It comes with a combination of dark grey and silver color, which is basically the power pod of the blender. The shape of the power pod is curvy that serves the purposes of holding comfort and aesthetic look. You might find some sort of resemblance of a fishtail with the base of the blender.

However, there is no power or control button at the power pod. You need to push and hold the cup downwards the whole time while you blend the stuff. The machine’s overall height is 13.7 feet with a width of just 4 inches, which is an easy fit for any kitchen cabinet. Moreover, it comes with a 36-inch cord for your convenience.

2. 700-Watt Power Pod

The power pod is the center of everything for any blender. No matter how attractive the outlook is, the blender will fail as a whole if the motor can’t produce consistent rotation. As it is a compact size product, you will find the heavy-duty motor inside the chassis occupying most of the space at the base.

A 700-watt motor can’t be considered as low-key for a personal blender. The container can barely hold 16oz, so you can clearly understand that they have overpowered the machine to blend ingredients of a single-serve cup holder. Perhaps, this is the reason why it reaches the optimal consistency level of blending.

3. 16-Ounce Cups with Sip & Seal Lids

Not all personal blenders come with an additional cup holder. So, it’s a win-win situation to have two 16oz same size Nutri Ninja containers. And the good thing is both come with the sip and seal lids. It has been designed so well even the thickest smoothies can pass quite easily.

The lids are air-sealed and don’t leak at all. So, now it’s more of a fun activity to carry your drinks on travel. Two sip and sea lids let you convert both of the cups into the on-the-go bottles.

However, every part that comes into contact with your food is made from virgin polycarbonate material that’s 100% BPA-free. So, there is no chance of plastic contamination inside your nutrient mixtures. The containers are solid made and thick enough to ensure longevity.

Both the containers are the same in size and have max-fill indications. The 200ml and 400ml measure lines are engraved on one side whereas 16oz and 8oz on the other for better understanding.

4. The 4-Prongs Blades

Ninja QB3001SS Personal Blender comes with a single set of removable blade assemblies. It has the usual single-serve blade design to penetrate through fruits and vegetables. The 4-prong blades are made of stainless steel and sharp enough to blend any kind of fruit with great consistency.

Two of the blades are pointed upwards to chop and pull down fruits. And other two pointed downwards do the finishing job flawlessly to result in a first-class blend. The blades rotate at one particular speed the whole time. But you can press and let go of the cup to make a pulse effect.

The design of the container might seem strange to you since it is much smaller compared to other models. But it plays a reciprocal role with the blades of the blender. The bladed shaping on the bottom and sides of the container creates a vortex that pulls everything you put in towards the blade.

5. Versatility

So, what can you do with this pocket dynamo? Is it capable enough to make most of the items that a conventional blender does? Well, to be honest, you will not find all the primitive features of an orthodox blender in a personal one. But here goes some of the common items that everyone expects from it-

Smoothies

Perhaps the most substantial duty of a personal blender is to make good-quality smoothies. You can consider it a good blender if it passes the smoothie test. And tell you what, Ninja QB3001SS pass with a satisfactory mark, say 9 out of 10.

It can make good-quality smoothies from soft ingredients like banana, apple, mango, cucumber, or dragon fruit. Also, it proves good consistency while blending hard ingredients like carrots or bit roots.

Well, it’s obvious to find some grains or small particles as some of them find a way to escape the blades on a few occasions.  But that rate is significantly low. And exceptions can never be an example. So, it would be better to say it’s a classy personal blender to make smoothie things.

Frozen Blending

Blending fresh fruits and vegetables is easier for any blender. But what about frozen ingredients? Given the fact that they are much harder and require a good amount of time to soften up for the blades to cut through them.

Well, in both circumstances the Ninja blender has you covered. The long wait for your frozen ingredients to meltdown is over now. This blender can crush through ice and frozen fruit with minimum liquid required.

You can also break ice cubes to make snow cones using the blender. But I reckon that might not be the quality you would be expecting. Nonetheless, it’s perfect for making icy smoothies, alcoholic drinks, and any kind of shakes with some liquid added into the ingredients.

Pureeing Foods

The puree is a way to change the texture of solid food so that it is smooth with no lumps and becomes more like pudding. Foods like cooked pasta, potatoes, rice, meats, fish, and chicken often need pureeing.

Now it’s easier to do puree using the Ninja personal blender. Just chop up larger pieces of food into smaller pieces and put them in the cup of the blender. You might need to add a bit of water in case the ingredients are too dry. Press and keep blending till you reach the perfect consistency!

Preparing Salads or Chopped Foods

Quick bursts of a few pulses always come in handy preparing salads and chopped food instead of cutting them down with knives. This gadget is good for this kind of light-duty job. You can stuff vegetables for salad, salsa, or even salad dressings to chop them down in a quick time for the same consistency.

Shortcomings of the Ninja QB3001SS Personal Blender

Personal Blenders usually don’t offer much complexity and that’s why the chances of drawbacks or functional faults remain low – but never zero. Though this is a magnificent blender still you might find some of the factors, which could have been improved.

1. Noise

Despite being a single-serve blender, the Ninja QB3001SS produces lots of noise during operation. The culprit, in this case, is the 700-watt motor. It generates noise of around 90 decibels which could be irritating if living within a noise-sensitive environment.

The base of the blender is quite small and it also adds to the noise issue by creating vibration on the surface. However, you can minimize the effect a little bit by putting rubber pads or something soft under the base.

2. No Power or Control Buttons

As the gadget uses a pressing and holding method to blend ingredients, there is no additional power or control button mounted to the base. At times, it becomes tiresome to constantly support the top of the container to keep the blending process going.

This method is usually helpful for making a single serving and in case you need just a few quick pulses to mix things up. But you will definitely miss a power button while making multiple servings at once. On top of that, there is no speed variation to the blending due to the lack of a classic control panel.

3. Not Easy To Clean

Since the sip and seal cups have grooves and cavities, it becomes harder to hand wash them. Besides, the cups are too small for hands to go within and it gets difficult to clean thick and heavy ingredients that stick to the surfaces.

You will also find it hard to wash the removable blade assembly since the edges of the blades are very sharp. That’s why it needs incentive care while cleaning by hand. But you can overcome these issues if you put them into a dishwasher.

The containers, blades, and cup lids are all dishwasher safe. But it is always challenging for any dishwasher to clean through the cavities.

4. Containers Are Not High-Temperature Proof

How unlucky it is not to be allowed to process hot foods inside your blender? Well, you have to take it for granted since the containers of the Ninja QB3001SS are not heat resistant. Having said that, you will miss out on making exciting stuff like nut milk or nut butter.

Basically, you are not allowed to grind using the blender, which could result in excessive heat in the blade couplings. So, you must let go of the idea of grinding even the coffee beans using this blender.

Pros:

• Compact Design
• Cups with to-go lids
• Makes Perfect Smoothies
• Dishwasher Safe
• Blend Consistency
• Easy to Store
• Can Blend Frozen Ingredients
• Pulverizes Ices Fairly
• Versatile
• Need Little Liquid to Blend Ingredients.

Cons:

• Noisy
• No Control Buttons
• Hands get tired pressing and holding the cups for a long time
• Cups are hard to clean
• Blade Couplings are not durable

FAQ

1. Can a personal blender crush ice?

Ans. A personal blender can crush ice. However, it’s wise to put only a few cubes at once.  If you put too many cubes, the blades might get clogged due to the lack of space clearance.

2. Can I make juices using a personal blender?

Ans. Yes, you can make juices using a personal blender. But you might not get the desired blending consistency and rather be left with gritty juice.

3. Is Ninja QB3001SS a portable blender?

Ans. The machine weighs just about 5 pounds and has a compact size, so it won’t be troublesome to carry it anywhere inside your luggage. Moreover, there are two cups that come with an on-the-go sip and seal lid that is airtight. So, the cups are also 100% portable.

Final Thoughts

It has been a while since the Ninja QB3001SS is bossing the personal blenders’ shelf. The compact size and excellent design to perform light-duty tasks for solo persons or small households is the main reason behind its rapid popularity.

Though it has some shortcomings like noisy operation or hot serving incapability, it is still one of the best personal blenders for smoothies or frozen green veggies. So, all in all, it’s a good powerful blender at an affordable price to be included in your kitchen.