Reviews You Can Rely On

Ninja Professional BL610 Review

This budget-friendly blender is simple and strong, but not nearly as versatile as other premium models
gearlab tested logo
Ninja Professional BL610 Review (For blended frozen beverages, the Ninja BL610 is a fantastic choice for an affordable blender.)
For blended frozen beverages, the Ninja BL610 is a fantastic choice for an affordable blender.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Price:  $100 List
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Manufacturer:   Ninja
By Genaveve Bradshaw and Aaron Rice  ⋅  Jun 4, 2024
64
OVERALL
SCORE


RANKED
#14 of 16
  • Smoothies - 30% 6.2
  • Convenience - 25% 6.3
  • Ice - 20% 8.1
  • Pureeing - 15% 5.6
  • Grinding - 10% 4.9

Our Verdict

As far as inexpensive blenders go, the Ninja Professional BL610 impressed us with its ability to stand up against much more expensive options in some key metrics. This blender may have a simple interface compared to the premium models we tested, but its single preset blends enjoyably thick smoothies and shakes in only one minute. Certainly, the greatest boon of the BL610 is its oversized pitcher and ice-crushing capability — combined, they make this a great option for blended cocktail enthusiasts. Even though the BL610 lacks the ability to puree and grind, considering the price point, it is still well worth your consideration as a standalone blender. If you're wondering how it compares to the competition, check out our review of the best blenders on the market.
REASONS TO BUY
Easy to use
Large capacity pitcher
Fantastic at crushing ice
REASONS TO AVOID
Difficulty with thicker recipes
Inability to heat soup
Short cord length

Compare to Similar Products

 
Awards Best Buy Award
Best Buy on a Tight Budget
Editors' Choice Award
Best Overall Blender
Best Buy Award
Best Bang for the Buck
  
Price $100 List
$59.99 at Amazon
$500 List
$496.63 at Amazon
$150 List
$129.17 at Amazon
$110 List
$99.99 at Amazon
$40 List
$36.99 at Amazon
Overall Score Sort Icon
64
94
71
68
44
Star Rating
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Bottom Line A solid option for blending frozen beverages, without the same versatility as more expensive blendersThis premium blender features a plethora of handy presets, offering top-notch versatility for blending, pureeing, and millingConvenient and affordable, this blender is the perfect balance of price and performanceA blender with a pitcher fit to make many drinks, great for smoothies and margaritas but not so great for flour grinding or making soupA barebones, budget-friendly blender capable of making smoothies but not much else
Rating Categories Ninja Professional... Breville the Super Q Nutribullet Combo Ninja Professional... Hamilton Beach Powe...
Smoothies (30%)
6.2
9.2
7.5
6.5
5.1
Convenience (25%)
6.3
8.8
6.7
6.7
4.7
Ice (20%)
8.1
10.0
6.6
8.4
5.0
Pureeing (15%)
5.6
9.8
7.4
5.4
3.0
Grinding (10%)
4.9
9.3
7.9
6.5
2.0
Specs Ninja Professional... Breville the Super Q Nutribullet Combo Ninja Professional... Hamilton Beach Powe...
Model Number BL610 BBL920BSS1BUS1 NBC-12A BN701 58148A
Power Peak 1.3 HP 2.4 HP Peak 1.6 HP Peak 1.9 HP Peak .94 HP
Pitcher Capacity 72 oz 68 oz 64 oz 72 oz 40 oz
Presets Yes, 1: Pulse, 3 speed settings Yes, 6: Smoothie, Green Smoothie, Ice Crush, Frozen Desserts, Soup, Clean, 12 speed settings Yes, 2: Extract, Pulse, 3 speed settings Yes, 3: Smoothie, Ice Crush, Ice Cream None
Measured Dimensions (base with pitcher) 18" x 10.5" x 7.5" 18" x 10.5" x 8.1" 17" x 7" x 9.5" 17.5" x 9" x 6.8" 14.7" x 8.7" x 6.5"
Dishwasher Safe Yes Yes - the blender jug, the personal blender cup, tamper, scraper, and the lids Yes Yes Yes
Accessories No Yes
  • Personal cup
  • Recipe book
  • Two tampers
  • Personal cup blade system
Yes
-32oz Cup with blade attachment
-24oz Cup with blade attachment
-2 To-Go lids
-Tamper
-Recipe book
No No
Digital Timer No Yes No Yes No
Meant for Heating? No Yes No No No
Cord Length 2.8 ft 3.8 ft 2.5 ft 2.5 ft 2.2 ft
Wattage 1000 watts 1800 watts 1200 watts 1200 watts 700 watts
Measured Decibels for Standard Smoothie 84.1 82.4 83.7 *not measured 83.6
Measured Soup Temperature 73 160 145 74 105

Our Analysis and Test Results

With a 72-ounce pitcher — albeit a 64-ounce maximum liquid capacity — the Ninja BL610 is still one of the largest blenders we've tested. The blender is driven by a central spine with a set of three stacked blades, all powered by a 1000-watt motor base. The simple interface includes low and high speeds, a pulse option, and an Auto IQ Smoothie button. In lieu of a timer, the smoothie preset runs for one minute with a varied program of timed pulsing, while the other two settings run continuously at the set speed for one minute. The blades are removable, and all of the parts are dishwasher-safe.

Performance Comparison


We put the Ninja BL610 through its paces. While it excels at making frozen beverages, it falls a bit short for other tasks like grinding and pureeing.
Credit: Natalie Kafader

Smoothies


We're seriously impressed with the smoothie capabilities of the BL610. Unlike other inexpensive options, the pitcher on this blender is huge, allowing the central blade stack to create the vortex that effectively chops and mixes fruits and veggies into a delicious smoothie. But like those other blenders, the BL610 still requires a fair amount of liquid to produce a passable smoothie.


Using the Auto IQ Smoothie preset, this blender produced a simple berry smoothie with a thick, enjoyable texture in only 60 seconds. Even though the green smoothie tasted great, appearance-wise, it was a bit of a muddled greenish-brown color adorned with confetti-like chunks of fruits and vegetables. Despite the less-than-appetizing appearance, the green shake surprised us with a mostly smooth texture that was actually quite palatable.

ninja professional bl610 - frozen beverages, like smoothies and blended margaritas, are in the...
Frozen beverages, like smoothies and blended margaritas, are in the wheelhouse of the BL610, as long as they include plenty of liquid in the recipe.
Credit: Natalie Kafader

The 1000-watt motor couldn't quite stand up to a thick fruit, nut, and oat breakfast blend — the aggressive amount of noise indicated that the BL610 was working overtime, and the result was so thick we needed to resort to eating it with a spoon.


However, once we added some extra milk, it was able to generate that all-important vortex and turn out a great, pourable smoothie with minimal chunks. This solidified our hypothesis that liquid — any sort of liquid — is critical to the blending success of the BL610.

Using the Smoothie preset, the BL610 blended an Oreo milkshake that was on the thicker side, but still enjoyable to drink.
Credit: Natalie Kafader

Convenience


Although the Ninja BL610 keeps it simple compared to other premium blenders, that doesn't mean it isn't convenient. The interface is straightforward with easy-to-read buttons, offering low and high speed settings, a pulse button, and a smoothie preset.


The Auto IQ designation on the smoothie button is the brand's way of describing the preset program that varies speed and pulses to more efficiently blend. Although this blender doesn't include a timer, all three-speed settings automatically shut off after one minute.

ninja professional bl610 - the interface on the bl610 is as straight forward as other...
The interface on the BL610 is as straight forward as other affordable blenders we tested, with minimal options and no LCD screen.
Credit: Natalie Kafader

The BL610 doesn't include an auto-clean feature. However, we used the smoothie preset as if it were one, which was an incredibly efficient way to clean this blender. Similar to other Ninja blenders we tested, some of the small nooks and crannies in the lid can be particularly annoying to clean — we recommend cleaning all of the pieces immediately to avoid unnecessary build up of gunk. Fortunately, all of the pieces, including the blades, are easily disassembled and dishwasher-safe.

The super sharp proprietary blades, found on all Ninja blenders, are...
The super sharp proprietary blades, found on all Ninja blenders, are removable but can easily fall out if you're trying to pour drinks with the lid off.
The blade cylinder has a hole that slots into the lid to keep it...
The blade cylinder has a hole that slots into the lid to keep it aligned and as a safety mechanism to ensure everything is assembled properly before use.
But to keep the blade cylinder from falling out, it's important to...
But to keep the blade cylinder from falling out, it's important to use the pour spout on the lid, which can be a bit annoying if you want to remove the lid to inspect the contents of your blender before serving.
The lid is the best way to pour out its contents. Otherwise, the blade must be held with the lid off approach.

Ice


This is certainly where the Ninja BL610 shines, especially compared to other inexpensive blenders. With the oversized pitcher and powerful pulse feature, the BL610 pulverized ice into snow with a homogenous texture.


Leaning on the smoothie preset, we mixed up large batches of creamy, blended margaritas without any struggle. If you're a big fan of blended drinks, we highly recommend this blender for its ice crushing capabilities alone.

ninja professional bl610 - the stacked series of three blades is unique to ninja blenders and...
The stacked series of three blades is unique to Ninja blenders and is incredibly effective at breaking down ice.
Credit: Natalie Kafader


Pureeing


Considering the relative size of the 1000-watt motor of the BL610 against other premium blenders with nearly twice the power output, we were particularly impressed with its ability to mix homemade nut butter.


It required a fair amount of stirring and additional oil, and even though the blender eventually turned itself off after five minutes to prevent overheating, the result was a smooth, spreadable nut butter. Making homemade soup was less of a success — although there were no visible chunks, the texture was a bit gritty, and it certainly did not heat up the soup enough to serve straight from the pitcher.

ninja professional bl610 - even though the pureed tomato soup was passable, it certainly would...
Even though the pureed tomato soup was passable, it certainly would need to be warmed up before serving.
Credit: Genevieve Bradshaw

Grinding


It is to be expected that a blender as affordable as this one will have some faults, and grinding is definitely the major pitfall of the BL610. While it was quite capable of breaking down bigger chunks into a finely ground parmesan, the heat generated by the blades gave it a moist, gummy consistency.


Attempts to mill sugar and corn into powdered sugar and corn flour, respectively, were much less successful. More concerning was the aggressive noise that the BL610 produced while attempting to mill flour — with sustained readings of 108 dB, it was easily one of the loudest blenders in our test in this particular instance.

The consistency of the powdered cheese was similar to basic, store-bought ground parmesan: mediocre.
Credit: Natalie Kafader

Should You Buy the Ninja Professional BL610?


Limited puree and grinding abilities aside, the Ninja BL610 is a highly capable blender, especially for the price point. Even though it doesn't have a timer, it is relatively user-friendly and certainly very easy to clean. The large, 64-ounce pitcher is perfect for serving up large batches of your favorite beverages, whether they be smoothies for breakfast or blended cocktails for dessert. It performs nearly as well as blenders that cost twice as much, and more, and is well worth your consideration if you're shopping on a tight budget.

What Other Blenders Should You Consider?


While the Ninja BL610 is a serviceable, inexpensive blender, we highly suggest considering stepping up to the Ninja Professional Plus BN701. The BN701 is only marginally more expensive, with meaningful improvements in grinding capabilities, making it a more versatile investment. The next step up among price-point blenders is the Nutribullet Combo, which offers improved performance across the board.

Genaveve Bradshaw and Aaron Rice