Ninja CREAMi Deluxe Review: The Viral Ice Cream Maker

Ninja's kitchen range runs deep — air fryers, slush machines and much else besides — but one product has done more than any other to make the brand a fixture on social media: the ice cream maker. The CREAMi Deluxe is the model behind most of those videos, and the question worth answering is whether a machine that went viral on TikTok is actually any good once it is sitting on your worktop.

It makes its presence felt. At 42.39 cm tall and 6.54 kg, the CREAMi Deluxe is not a discreet appliance, and if your kitchen is short on space you will want to earmark a permanent spot for it rather than plan on lifting it in and out of a cupboard.

The silver finish is nicely done, the control panel is clear, and it is intuitive from the outset. The tubs come with lids so they can go straight into the freezer, which turns out to matter a great deal once you start preparing several bases in advance.

One quirk can catch people out. If the machine throws an error between uses, it is almost always because it has not been cleaned. The sequence set out in the instructions is plug in, fit the tub, run the programme, unplug, clean. Skip the cleaning step and restart immediately and the error will sometimes appear. There is nothing wrong with the machine; it is simply a habit to get into. The tubs, lids and paddle are dishwasher-safe on the top rack, while the base is cleaned by hand.

The UK kit consists of the motorised base with its Dual-Drive motors and control panel, the stainless steel Creamerizer Deluxe paddle, two 709 ml CREAMi Deluxe tubs with storage lids, the external ABS bowl and lid that holds the tub steady while it churns, and a recipe booklet running to more than 30 recipes.

The CREAMi Deluxe works through what Ninja calls Dual-Drive: two motors that apply downward pressure while spinning the Creamerizer paddle. In practice that shaves the ice particles finely and turns them into an even, creamy texture within a few minutes — no crystals, no lumps, none of the grainy quality that spoils a lot of home-made ice cream.

There is also a Re-Spin mode. If the first pass does not give quite the texture you wanted, a second run makes it smoother still. And for anyone who wants two flavours in a single tub, the Top/Bottom function divides the tub into two independent zones, which is genuinely useful when the household is split between the chocolate camp and the strawberry camp.

The results hold up. The home-made reproduction of a McFlurry is remarkably close to the original — same taste, same texture, same comfort-food quality.

Frozen fruit is where it becomes properly useful. Tip a bag of raspberries, mangoes or strawberries into a tub with a little juice or syrup, freeze it during the afternoon, and by the evening you have a sorbet with real depth of flavour.

The slush programme is faster than the rest: where classic ice creams need a full 24 hours in the freezer, this one works with under 12. Pour iced tea into a tub in the morning and the slush is ready that evening, and the same trick works with fizzy drinks, lemonade or more or less any beverage. In summer it is the programme that earns its keep.

The milkshake setting is the only one that requires no advance freezing at all — milk, ice cream, whatever extras you fancy, and away you go. For unplanned cravings it is the safety net.

A well-organised freezer with flat space for the tubs is the real trick to getting the most out of the machine. Ideally, give over an entire shelf to CREAMi bases, particularly if you want several flavours standing ready.

The CREAMi Deluxe offers ten single-touch modes, each tuned to a particular preparation: ice cream, thick and smooth, using dairy or plant-based alternatives; gelato, denser in texture and well suited to coffee, lemon or hazelnut; sorbet, at its best with fresh or frozen fruit; lite ice cream for low-sugar or vegan versions; frozen yoghurt, smooth and easy to personalise with honey, figs or fruit; milkshake, the one programme with no compulsory freezing; frozen drink for iced cocktails and mocktails; slush, for water, syrups, fizzy drinks or juices; frappé, turning coffee, tea or chocolate into coffee-shop-style iced drinks; and extras, for folding in nuts, chocolate or biscuits after the first churn.

That last function deserves particular mention, as it is what allows the McFlurry- or Blizzard-style inclusions once the initial churn is done.

The planning requirement is real, though. The 24-hour freezing rule is unavoidable for the great majority of recipes, slush and milkshake aside. If a sudden craving strikes on a Sunday evening and the freezer holds no prepared bases, the CREAMi Deluxe cannot help you.

This is probably the machine's most overlooked use. The CREAMi Deluxe will make ice cream from absolutely any flavour — and that is meant literally. Basil, wholegrain mustard, parmesan, wasabi, curry, balsamic vinegar. If it is edible, it can be turned into ice cream.

That opens up an unexpected playground on the savoury side: a quenelle of mustard ice cream alongside duck breast, a scoop of basil on a tomato bruschetta, parmesan ice cream served with risotto, a dab of wasabi with home-made sushi. Small touches of that sort turn an ordinary dinner into something closer to a set piece, and they show the machine speaks as much to curious cooks as to people who simply want a tub of vanilla.

There is one real complaint. The machine is loud: measured with a meter at 1 m during mixing cycles, noise sat at around 75 dB. Given that those cycles can run for several minutes, it becomes genuinely irritating, and it is not an appliance to use quietly while someone else is asleep.

On Amazon UK the CREAMi Deluxe in silver, model NC501UK, is £239.00 and in stock, against a list price of £249.99. It is an investment rather than an impulse buy. If you eat shop-bought ice cream twice a year, walk past. If you are the sort of household that eats ice cream outside the summer months too, it pays for itself soon enough.

It is also no longer alone in this niche: the Nutribullet Chill and the Thomson TH500ICE play a similar tune, sometimes at a gentler price.

The CREAMi Deluxe is easy to use, every component that needs washing can be washed, the range of programmes is wide and the textures it produces are genuinely impressive. Set against that, it is noisy and it takes up a lot of room, and it demands that you plan a day ahead for most of what it makes. Accept those terms and it is a very capable machine.