SMOOTHIE BLENDER UPDATE

Potentially greater likelihood of blender breakage The Twisti pulverized two cups of ice cubes in under 10 seconds. It also made quick work of turning almonds into almond flour and delivered smooth and clump-free pancake batter (in part thanks to the twisting tamper). The small but mighty blender did exceptionally well, crushing ice cubes into smithereens. The Twisti has 1,600 watts of oomph, which is up there with bigger, premium blenders we've tested, so I expected it to perform comparably.Īt CNET, we have standard tests we run for any blender we evaluate, so I ran them on the Twisti. The Ninja Twisti comes with two single-serve blender cups.ĭespite the propensity for smoothies to stick during blending, they don't generally require much power to blend smoothly - but other jobs do. In addition to the 34-ounce blending cup, the Twisti includes one 18-ounce single-serve cup and one 24-ounce single-serve cup, both with spout lids. The preset programs all mostly did the same thing - blend, pause, blend again - but for various lengths of time. There's a small drizzle cap with a rubber stopper built into the lid for adding ingredients without removing it completely. They all seem to do roughly the same thing - blend, stop and blend again - but for different lengths of time intended to deliver optimal results for each type of recipe. In addition to the smoothie setting, which runs in long pulses, another tactic for keeping ingredients from clumping, the Twisti has settings intended to extract (juice), one for frozen drinks, another for spreads and a fifth for bowls. The Ninja Twisti next to a full-size blender with a 64-ounce blending jar. To remedy this, the Twisti is retrofitted with two suction cups and rubber traction on the bottom to keep it in place on the counter. Because of the unusual power-to-size ratio, it tends to rock a bit when blending. The base measures 6 by 6 inches, and the entire unit is just 14 inches tall with the 34-ounce canister and lid in place. The Twisti blended everything to a silky-smooth consistency without having to stop and jostle the ingredients inside.ĭespite a 1,600-watt motor, the Twisti is small compared to most other blenders sporting similar power. The only ingredients it can't always reincorporate midblend are sticky nut butters and dense syrups or honey that may stick to the sides of the canister. It also allows you to blend with less liquid overall, since the tampers will keep heavy and dry mixtures moving until they are fully blended.

From blending chunky smoothie ingredients to making thicker dips and sauces, the twisting tamper allowed me to complete every preparation without stopping and removing the lid. I found the twisting tamper did exactly what it was designed to do for every blending job I asked of the Twisti. The Twisti with its built-in tampers had no trouble turning ice, nut milk and frozen fruit into a perfect smoothie in one go. It's a small time-saver, but for a habitual smoothie, sauce or dip maker, it's one you'll appreciate. The Twisti has two small tampers built into the lid that can be manually spun while the blender is running, saving you from having to stop and mix things up. To use them, you generally have to stop the blend and remove the lid or open the pour spout to agitate your concoction. Most high-end blenders include a separate tamper tool intended to unclump ingredients inside the blender jar. Note that a larger 72-ounce version of the Ninja Twisti (product number SS351) is available for $200.

Ninja's new Twisti blender sports built-in tampers to keep things spinning smoothly. It was just about the most seamless blender experience I've had. I test-drove Ninja's mighty new blender for a month, churning out shakes, smoothies, dips and sauces. Ninja's new Twisti SS151 high-speed blender features a built-in twisting tamper that all but solves this clumping problem.

Toss chunky ice, dry powders and frozen fruit into the canister and your blends will inevitably get stuck, requiring a stop-n-shake or the use of a spatula or tamper to loosen what's inside. When making smoothies, dips and other recipes with thick ingredients, even my favorite blenders like the beautiful (and pricey) Beast blender, run into the same problem.

SMOOTHIE BLENDER UPDATE

If you're looking to update your blender or downsize to a small-yet-still-powerful model, Ninja just released the $140 Twisti and it might be the best smoothie blender ever made. With all that a good blender can do, smoothies are still the No.

Smoothie blender