Ninja Professional Plus BN701 Review
Our Verdict
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 This Product
Ninja Professional Plus BN701 | |||||
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| Awards |  Best Blender on a Budget | Best Blender on a Tight Budget |  Best Personal Blender | ||
| Price | $110 List Check Price at Amazon | $150 List Check Amazon (on sale!) | $100 List Check Amazon (on sale!) | $40 List Check Price at Amazon | $70 List Check Amazon (on sale!) |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | A blender with a pitcher fit to make many drinks, great for smoothies and margaritas but not so great for flour grinding or making soup | Convenient and affordable, this blender is the perfect balance of price and performance | A solid option for blending frozen beverages, without the same versatility as more expensive blenders | A barebones, budget-friendly blender capable of making smoothies but not much else | Powerful and practical for its small size, this personal blender does well at making a single blended drink at a time |
| Rating Categories | Ninja Professional P... | Nutribullet Combo | Ninja Professional B... | Hamilton Beach Power... | Ninja Fit Compact |
| Smoothies (35%) | |||||
| Pureeing (20%) | |||||
| Frozen Drinks (20%) | |||||
| Controls (15%) | |||||
| Ease of Cleaning (10%) | |||||
| Specifications | Ninja Professional P... | Nutribullet Combo | Ninja Professional B... | Hamilton Beach Power... | Ninja Fit Compact |
| Power | 1200 watts | 1200 watts | 1000 watts | 700 watts | 700 watts |
| Pitcher Capacity | 72 oz | 64 oz | 72 oz | 40 oz | 16 oz |
| Presets | Smoothie, Ice Crush, Ice Cream | Extract, Pulse | Pulse | None | None |
| Meant for Heating? | No | No | No | No | No |
| Soup Temperature | 74 | 145 | 73 | 105 | Not tested |
| Dishwasher Safe | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Blending Cups |
| Dimensions (base with pitcher) | 17.5" x 9" x 6.8" | 17" x 7" x 9.5" | 18" x 10.5" x 7.5" | 14.7" x 8.7" x 6.5" | 13" x 4.3" x 4.3" |
| Cord Length | 2.5 ft | 2.5 ft | 2.8 ft | 2.2 ft | 2.5 ft |
| Digital Timer | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Accessories | No | 32oz Cup with blade attachment , 24oz Cup with blade attachment, 2 To-Go lids, Tamper, Recipe book | No | No | 2 blending cups, spout lids |
| Horse Power | Peak 1.9 HP | Peak 1.6 HP | Peak 1.3 HP | Peak .94 HP | .94 HP |
Our Analysis and Test Results
This blender stands out for its stellar margaritas and larger pitcher. The 72-ounce cup easily blends up a party-sized serving of margaritas or a family-sized serving of healthy smoothies. It doesn't take up much more counter room than the other options in our test suite, but it is rather tall.
Smoothies
The Ninja Pro Plus makes a great berry smoothie and Oreo milkshake. But struggles a bit with the green smoothie and fruit and oats smoothie. The milkshake is evenly blended with a rich, smooth texture with no chunks and a satisfying thickness. It also pours perfectly. The berry smoothie, while smooth, is a little too thick. Blending it for a little longer solves this issue, producing a slightly thinner substance, which is easier to pour and drink.
The Pro Plus struggles to create a truly smooth texture when leafy greens are introduced to the mix. Small pieces of kale do not completely puree, and the overall texture is a little grainy. The same thing goes for our fruit and oats smoothie.
Pureeing
The Pro Plus makes a mean margarita and some pretty tasty smoothies, but it struggles in the pureeing department. Nut butters need to be mixed multiple times with a spoon between blending and require a good amount of oil to get and keep things moving. The end result is great, but there is a decent amount of tinkering and manual labor that goes into the process.
Pureeing soup is less successful than nut butters. The texture is mostly smooth but still grainy and not homogenous. There are no large noticeable chunks, but it's a little lumpy. This blender also cannot heat soup while pureeing.
Frozen Drinks
The Pro Plus crushes ice quickly and makes the perfect margarita. Pulsing the blender on the crush ice setting crushed the ice into a soft, uniform powder without creating too much snowlike fluff. During our testing, we tried using the crush ice setting for our margaritas, but found that the blend setting works better. It takes one more 60-second blend than the manual recommends, but the end result is awesome. Smooth, slushy margaritas for all.
Controls
The labeling is easy to interpret, with a swirly icon for smoothies, a snowflake for crushed ice, and a cone for ice cream. The blend settings are easy to read, offering low, medium, high, and pulse settings. Each one has a small light to indicate which one you've chosen.
Ease of Cleaning
The lid, pitcher, and blades are all dishwasher safe, but they are easy to wash by hand. Unfortunately, you cannot allow the blender pitcher to dry on the base as it must be locked into place, leaving no room for airflow.
Should You Buy the Ninja Professional Plus BN701?
While the Pro Plus falls into the budget-friendly price range, the value of this blender depends completely on what you plan to use it for. It is an absolute steal if you are a smoothie and blended drink enthusiast. However, if you are looking for something that can serve up soup and help you create the perfect homemade flours, the Pro Plus will likely leave you with buyer's remorse.
What Other Blenders Should You Consider?
If you are looking for a smoothie or margarita maker and don't plan to make soups or grind flours, the Pro Plus is a decent budget-friendly option. But if you're looking for something that performs a bit better across the board, we recommend looking at the similarly priced NutriBullet Combo. If you'd like to invest in a blender that is easier to use and clean, with a near-perfect performance, we recommend the Cuisinart Hurricane Pro 3.5.
—Hayley Thomas and Genaveve Bradshaw
