The Ninja BL455 Nutri Professional Personal Blender is the most basic model in the Ninja personal blender product line. It used to come in 3 different packages — Nutri Ninja Pro BL451, BL456, and BL455 — which differed by number and the capacity of cups and recipe books included. Now only one BL455 model is available for consumers to buy. This gadget is a very popular personal blender mainly due to a professional advertising campaign. But does it really perform that well and have all of those incredible features that the Ninja claims in the advertising?
Here is our honest review, which reveals all of this popular blender’s good and bad sides.
Would you like to look at alternative options? Check here our article the Best powerful but affordable personal type’s blenders
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we may earn an affiliate commission for purchases you make when using the links on this page.
Table of Contents
Functionality and Versatility
Smoothie: This blender makes decent drinks, including green smoothies. It obliterates well not only fruits but also leafy and tough ingredients like kale, chard, or carrots. This machine is also able to handle strawberry or blueberry seeds and pulverize them in the drinks without any residue left. It will also blend nuts and oats to mix them with the drinks, but some nuts need pre-soaking. However, it may leave some small chunks of very tough ingredients, but, in general, it does an excellent job.
Ice-crushing, frozen desserts: It does crush ice very well in the drinks. Moreover, this is the only personal blender in the price range that processes ice without any liquid added to the snow-like consistency. This is also a perfect machine for making various frozen desserts or shaving ice for margaritas and other drinks.
Juicing: This machine will not squeeze classic-style juice by separating the fiber from a liquid, but it is able to make a creamy enough drink with liquid added to process “whole juice” or smooth smoothie.
Nut milk: This gadget is powerful enough to make decent nut milk from a variety of nuts.
Hot food: As stated in the user manual, Nutri Ninja Pro gadgets are not designed to handle hot food. If you require liquefying ingredients for soup, you will need to cool them to room temperature before putting them in the Ninja. This machine is also not suited for processing bulletproof coffee.
Nut Butter: This blender is barely able to produce decent nut butter, probably only a mixture of very coarse consistency. In general, bullet-type blenders are not good for this purpose because it is quite difficult to process nut butter without mixing ingredients and removing air pockets during blending.
Pureeing and chopping and mixing: Although this machine operates with only one pulse function, it is able to produce a simple variety of vinaigrette, salad dressings, dips, and sauces. It will homogenize not very tough vegetables into a fairly smooth puree. It will chop quite well and turn all types of nuts into very good nut powder.
Grinding and milling: This blender is capable of simple grinding, such as powdered coffee beans, herbs, or oats, but it cannot mill baking quality grain flours.
Dough kneading: The machine is not designed to knead the dough. However, it will make quite decent cookies and pancake batter.
Although a majority of personal blenders are designed to handle a quick and simple range of tasks, the Nutri Ninja Pro is a quite versatile machine and is able to produce a variety of recipes. The only drawback of this machine design is that it is not able to handle hot liquids.
Speed Settings and Programs
The Ninja Pro BL455 Nutri Professional Personal Blender does not have a typical control panel, speed choice, or on/off switch. They are operated on one speed with a pulse function by pressing down the top of the cup against the base unit in short intervals. The user must hold and push the cup during operation until the desired food consistency is reached. This type of operation is common for personal-type blenders. However, it does not allow a lot of flexibility during the blending process; many people like this type of gadget because it is so easy to use.
Ease of Using and Cleaning
Using: The Nutri Ninja Pro is a very easy machine to use. Add the ingredients into the cup, screw the blade assembly until there is a good seal, flip it over and place on the base unit, turn it clockwise, and it is ready to use. When blending is finished, just unscrew the blade from the cup and replace it with the sippy lid. The operation is also a simple task, and blending is activated by the push of the top part clockwise on a base.
The blender is not supposed to run longer than 1 minute in one go, but that is the usual case for bullet pulse-type machines. Usually, you have to keep an interval of a few seconds before initiating another push for running.
Cleaning: This machine is also very simple to clean. The cups and blade assembly are dishwasher safe. However, some people report cups’ edges melting and sealing damage after cleaning in the dishwasher. So, hand washing is probably preferable for this gadget, which also is an absolutely simple task. Just rinse out with soap and water or fill the cup with water and a few drops of soap and run the blender for a few seconds. Self-cleaning is effective for thoroughly cleaning the blender because it removes even the tiniest food residue from all blade assembly cavities.
Base Unit and Motor Power
The Ninja Nutri Professional Personal Blender has very powerful 1000-watt motors for a personal blender. The motors are equipped with a safety system that automatically shuts off the machine in case of overloading and prevents motor damage. The machine requires 30 minutes of cooling time before the gadget will be ready to use again.
But it has a weak point; the blade-to-drive connection is made with fragile plastic, and this makes the machine not very durable.
Containers
The blender comes with 18 oz. and 24 oz. (all models) BPA-free polycarbonate cups. According to the user’s manual, the cups are not temperature resistant and may melt and develop cracks if used with hot liquids. The cups are also not stress-resistant and may also crack if often exposed to heavy loads. They often have unscrewed problems after use since they may accumulate extra pressure inside the container during the blending. This also may cause the cup to crack. So the quality of the polycarbonate the containers are made of is not the best, which obviously contributes to this machine’s limited durability.
Blades
The unit is equipped with one blade assembly, which is attached to the appropriate cup when needed. The assembly comes in one piece and is not supposed to be disassembled for cleaning or other purposes. The blade is made of stainless steel and is 4 pronged (2 faces upward and 2 downward). Although the blade is made of steel, it is reported to dull within a few months of regular use, but replacements are easily available. The rest of the assembly is made of plastic, which is weak, and could easily break or wear out. The most vulnerable part of the assembly is the rubber ring, and this needs to be replaced more often than desirable.
Special Features
Colors: This gadget is available only in black and silver in general, but there are exclusive editions for various retailers in other colors that are priced more expensively than the black and silver models.
Certified Refurbished: The refurbished version is available for the BL455 model only, which comes with two cups and 30 recipes book. The refurbished machine is priced at $20 cheaper than the original one.
Voltage system and use outside of USA/Canada: The Ninja Nutri Professional BL455 is sold in many countries around the world and has a voltage system that is relevant to the particular region. The machines sold in the USA come with a 110–120 voltage system for the USA and Canada. So, for regular use in countries with a 220–240 voltage system, it is better to buy from local retailers. The blender could be run with a voltage transformer for occasional use abroad. Check here the 220–240 volts models for Nutri Ninja Pro BL450, BL451, BL456 sold via UK retailers.
Noise
The Ninja Nutri Professional Personal Blender is a noisy machine that produces over 100 decibels. To reduce the noise coming from the gadget, the user may put a rubber mat underneath the base unit, which noticeably dampens the sound.
Warranty and Customer Service
These blenders come with only a one-year limited warranty, which means that any repairs and replacement parts shipment will be subject to extra charges. The user also has the option to buy various extended protection plans from Amazon and other retailers.
SharkNinja customer service does not have a very good reputation, and they often try to avoid performing the warranty obligation. Therefore, buying the unit from reputable retailers who will perform the warranty obligation is a reasonable solution for potential customers. The extra protection plan is another good solution in this situation.
Optional accessories
The majority of extra accessories and parts are not interchangeable between all NinjaShark blenders. However, some cups from BL480, BL482, and BL482Z models will suit this model. It is also possible to buy the replacement parts from various retailers for this machine, such as
Set Includes
- 1000 Watt Motor Base Unit;
- One Blade Assembly;
- Nutri Ninja Cups;
- Sip and Seal Lids;
- Instruction book;
- Recipe and wellness guide.
Dimensions
The Ninja Nutri Professional BL455 is the Personal blender type and is supposed to be compact, so they have quite a small base footprint of 4x4 inches, and they are only 14.8 inches tall. The unit easily fits under any standard kitchen cabinet. However, with a weight of around 8.2 lbs. these blenders are not very light, so they will be the perfect compact gadget for a small kitchen but probably a bit heavy for taking on travel.
Ninja Nutri Professional Personal Blender Pros and Cons
Ninja BL455 Professional Nutri Blender Consumer Reviews
The Nutri Ninja Pro is a very popular blender with many favorable reviews from consumers. The durability problems are not usually reflected in the review probably. The flashy and professional commercials have the power to influence the consumer, and they refuse to notice faults in oversold products.
Price
The price for these blenders is getting lower over time, and it is normally under a hundred dollars unless there is a special offer when you can grab this gadget at a very attractive price.
Summary
This machine does a decent job and produces very good quality smoothies, including the green ones. Even though Ninja Nutri Professional Personal Blender is probably an overpriced personal blender, however, still a good choice for someone who is looking for a single-serve gadget to crush ice and blend smooth drinks, just remember, this is not the most durable machine.
Alternatively, check here our article the Best powerful but affordable personal type’s blenders .
i have used this 5 times a week for 3 years and it still works great. The only complaint is the cups get hard to clean after 6 months or so. You can still use them.…i didn’t replace the cup until last month (got two for $12 on amazon)…but it develops a hazy film that is impossible to get off. They should offer glass cups. They do have a stainless steel one…but that seems impractical as you can’t see if everything is properly blended. The blade has not dulled. Frankly the machine feels fairly durable…and has proven to be.
Quit working within 5 uses
It is greate that you have the quality item. Good luck!
Totally agree they should offer glass cups. in addition to staying clearer, everything tastes better in glass.
I’ve had mine for 6 months and now for some reason it’s Not blending as it use to. And the blade are still sharp, (as I sharpen knifes as a hobby). What it does is, it basically stirs it in a circle real fast. Milkshakes come out good but not smoothies. Scale of 1 — 10 It use to be a 10 now it’s an 7.
I have a ninja pro BL455 where can i find a new seal for it
Hi Edward,
You can find the link for the Ninja personal blenders sealing gasket replacement in the article above.