Ninja Professional BL610 Review

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.

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. Some crunchy seeds remained that the blades couldn't crack. Despite this, the flavor was superb, and it remained pleasant to drink.

Even though the green smoothie “tasted great,” according to one of our testers, its appearance was a bit muddled, with a greenish-brown color and confetti-like chunks of fruits and vegetables. Despite the less-than-appetizing appearance, the green shake surprised us with a mostly smooth texture that our taste testers found quite palatable.

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.

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. Though it didn't quite achieve utter silky bliss, the texture and flavor were worth savoring.

Making homemade soup was less of a success. There were no visible chunks, yet the texture was a bit gritty, and it certainly did not heat up the soup enough to serve straight from the pitcher. Strong garlic and shallot flavors took hold of our testers' taste buds since those ingredients weren't completely pulverized.

Frozen Drinks

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 homogeneous texture reminiscent of a movie theater slushie.

Leaning on the smoothie preset, we mixed up large batches of creamy, blended margaritas without any struggle. Our taste testers reveled in their “excellent” drinks. If you're a big fan of blended drinks, we highly recommend this blender for its ice-crushing capabilities alone.

Controls

Although the Ninja BL610 keeps it simple compared to other premium blenders, that doesn't mean it isn't convenient. The interface is straightforward, featuring easy-to-read buttons with indicator lights that offer 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, which varies speed and pulses to blend more efficiently. Although this blender doesn't include a timer, all three speed settings automatically shut off after one minute.

Ease of Cleaning

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 buildup of gunk. Fortunately, all of the pieces, including the blades, are easily disassembled and dishwasher-safe.

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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, if your budget allows, we suggest upgrading to the Nutribullet Combo, which offers improved performance across all the blending and pureeing tasks we tested. The green smoothie we made with the BL610 required some chewing to get through the fruit and veggie bits it missed, while the Nutribullet's had an extremely smooth texture with no trace of leafy green flecks.