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Ninja Nutri Pro Compact Personal Blender (BN401) In-depth Review
Ninja Nutri Pro Compact Specifications
Overall Verdict
The Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro is among our top-rated personal blenders, tackling heavy-duty blending performance with confidence and consistency. Processing raw nuts or dried fruits for a quick meal is less of its strongest point, but this blender will certainly deliver perfect results in this regard if it doesn’t work under time pressure. In more common tasks like pulverizing frozen ingredients, liquefying leafy greens or crushing ice cubes, your Ninja Nutri Pro will make it easy to create a smooth, even blend in seconds.
In terms of construction, the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro is an all-round quality design with top grade materials and solid structure. It boasts a distinctive, upscale blade that nothing would pose a challenge to it. Plenty of advanced features, such as the two Auto-iQ presets, are equipped to enhance user experience, and most of them do live up to the hype, as well.
Things We Like
- This blender is an all-arounder that works without a fuss.
- Nearly all of its capability is outstanding, including ice-crushing and smoothie-making capability.
- The 1000-watt motor provides heavy-duty blending performance, quickly and easily.
- Smart preset programs are designed to deliver the greatest consistency.
- There are solid design details throughout the blender.
Things We Don’t Like
- The motor base is roughly the same size as a standard full-sized blender.
- It’s relatively noisy.
- Updated Jan 27, 2023:
Review published.
At the time of writing, the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro is the newest product in Ninja personal blender lineup. Power rating aside, you’ll see some apparent differences in its overall design over standard models. Not only does it have more features than most rivals, or one of the most powerful motors in the class, but it also does so at a budget-friendly price that some other brands may hardly offer you. Check out our hands-on performance testing, along with our evaluations on its quality and usability, to get the full rundown on its pros and cons.
Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro Personal Blender Performance: Top-Notch Efficiency
The Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro doesn’t just look good. In our tests, it did a lot of things well with very little compromises and not all single-serve blenders are capable of this. We got a quick protein shake made from whole-food ingredients, a fibrous mixture with full nutrients, and a smoothie that couldn’t be silkier. The capability of crushing ice is also where our Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro shines and stands above most others because you’ll have 6-0z of whole ice cubes fully pulverized in only 14 seconds.
8.8Protein Shake
If your idea of a protein shake includes raw nuts or dried fruits, the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro may never let you down.
In this test, it took only 1 minute to turn all the oatmeal into liquid form, which was by far faster than average. And this blending time means you’ll always have a quick snack or protein sip at hand whenever you want. There is quite a bit of almonds and dried blueberries still remaining solid, making the final drink relatively lumpy. But overall, it was considered much smoother than some of those produced by the rivals, such as the Magic Bullet.
Most importantly, our chefs agree that you’ll get a more savory sipping experience if you let everything be blended a little bit longer. Soaking the nuts prior to blending makes it easier for a quick, chunk-free texture as well.
10Frozen Fruit Smoothie
For certain treats, like icy smoothies, blending time particularly matters as frozen ingredients thaw quickly at room temperature so if you don’t blend fast enough, your beverage will be thinner than expected. Fortunately, the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro is good enough to give you complete control over the texture you’d like to sip on.
Contrary to the protein shake test, all the ingredients came together so quickly in this smoothie. Although our testing recipe had a high level of difficulty since the fruits were tough and all frozen, we otherwise got a perfect smoothness in only one minute.
On a more pragmatic note, the Ninja BN401 operates very smoothly in even heavy-duty blends. While most other personal blenders we tested repeatedly had their ingredients got clogged under the blades, such as the Ninja Fit, this unit works and ensures all the fruits can circulate freely. Sometimes, we noticed a couple chunks clinged to the cup’s sides, but quickly enough, they were forced to back down onto the blades without our interference.
All things considered, it’s apparent that the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro is a perfect way to turn your healthy favorite fruits into refreshing breakfast and post-workout smoothies, especially for a busy morning.
9.5Fibrous Greens
The speed and power of the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro makes it a useful personal blender when you want to incorporate more leafy greens into your daily meals.
In this test, it was assigned to create a smooth blend of celery, kale, and spinach in only 20 seconds and as an able performer, it did successfully deliver.
Of all the machines we’ve experienced with, the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro was among the few ones that could finely blend the entire veggies that fast, thus retaining all of their nutritious fiber and antioxidants. You might see there was only a small amount of pulp that was left behind in the mesh strainer. Whereas, some of its rivals just got half finished within this time period, while the others were too weak to grind the ingredient finely.
The mixture would’ve had a finer consistency if we had blended it for longer, but even so, it was not eventually a pulp-free mixture and this is typical for this sort of blend. If you prefer your drink to be perfectly smooth, you’ll need to strain it through a filtration bag to remove all the pulp.
10Crushed Ice Cubes
The blade spins very fast and is sturdily designed. This combined with a mighty 1000-watt motor allows the Ninja BN401 to tear apart the ice without even a struggle. Believe it or not, six ounces of ice cube were turned into a like-snow consistency in just 14 seconds! Even the toughest ingredients like whole ice cubes couldn’t pose a problem for this blender, so clearly enough, it will be easier than ever to entertain your guest or your family with any icy-cold drinks mixed by different types of whole-food.
Ninja Nutri Pro Personal Blender Design
The Ninja BN401 Ninja Pro looks sporty on our kitchen counter. Its appeal is a combination of elegant style and sturdiness. The quality of build materials is impressively high and there is a wealth of hi-tech features so the price seems justified. Some people may find the two Auto-iQ presets are convenient, but we don’t think they do make a difference.
In the Box
- Motor Base
- Blade Assembly
- Two 24-oz Blending Cups
- Two Spout Lids
- Recipe book & user guide
Dimensions
The 24-oz blending cup comes as standard size but the motor base is roughly the same size as a typical full-sized blender’s. This means this Ninja is larger and heavier than average, but that is a cost for its sturdy construction and we don’t feel it overly cumbersome at all.
9.5Build Quality
The Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro has a lot to visually distinguish it from the rivals and one of them is the overall build quality.
For the motor base, the hard-touch plastics on the exterior combined with high-gloss finish and thoughtfully-designed trim look and feel good. With first-grade build quality, it also offers a pleasing aesthetic that many competitors have been lacking.
The blade assembly is part of the blender’s greatness as well. It comes across as one of the most well rounded so nothing seems to cause it to wear out.
9.5Blades
The blade is refined in ways you wouldn’t expect a budget-friendly brand to offer. Made of hardened stainless steel, it has top-notch quality and is attention to detail with four sophisticatedly-designed prongs. It isn’t razor sharp but looks thicker and firmer than most so it definitely won’t be damaged or succumb to wear and tear under daily heavy-duty use.
Nutri Ninja Pro Blender Motor Base
The motor is a very practical design. It peaks around 1000 watts which is sufficient to create almost every blended meal. The whole construction is mostly made of hard plastic, but it doesn’t feel cut-rate or flimsy. There is an eye-catching control panel in the front featuring a timer and four buttons corresponding to four different speed levels. We also particularly like the rubber grips on the bottom that keep things steady while in use and a cooling fan in the back to limit overheating.
10Blending Cup
Our Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro comes with two 16-oz blending cups. Both have the same excellent build quality and are designed to fit perfectly to the blade assembly. So far, we’ve experienced no issues with liquid leaking while blending. There are also two to-go lids with flip-top spouts included. Likewise, they screw on tightly to seal well so we got no leakage even when we shook or turned the cups upside-down.
Speed and Controls of the Ninja Auto iQ Blender
You’ll love this Ninja unless you like your personal blender simpler. There aren't a lot of controlling buttons, but four ones are enough to make this model feel more like a full-sized blender; personal blenders typically have one speed and appear with no control panel. Not to mention a digital display which indicates the elapsed blending time or counts down to the end of a process.
Of four controlling buttons, two are for the Auto-iQ preset programs, with Crush and Smoothie labels. Once either of them is selected, your blender will start to blend and automatically stop when it “considers” a result has reached its optimal smoothness. Simply put, you don’t have to take calculations or any predictions to yield the best outcome; the blender is programmed to do that for you instead.
The remaining controls are Start/Stop and Pulse buttons. If you want continuous blending, press the Start/Stop button. To avoid chopping ingredients too finely, the Pulse function will give greater control over the fineness; use short presses for short pulses and long presses for long ones.
This Ninja BN401’s personality reminds us of the Ninja BL480D Nutri, another product in the Ninja personal blender lineup that costs about $40 more. The two are broadly similar in capability, efficiency, and purpose, but we like the Ninja BN40 more since the Ninja BL480D Nutri performance simply doesn’t match its upscale price.
Ninja Nutri Pro Compact Personal Blender Usability Review
Visually, much of this Ninja’s appeal comes from its Auto-iQ technology. To create a level playing field, however, we didn’t apply this advanced feature to any test. Instead, we employed the manual setting that is common to most personal blenders. But regardless of the setting used, using this blender is perfectly pleasant as it allows for entirely hands-free operations and its controlling buttons are very responsive.
10Hands-Free Operation
The Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro offers the perfect using comfort since it doesn’t demand the users to hold the cup in place throughout the blending process like many personal blenders commonly do. The existence of a locking mechanism means you can take your hands off your blender while it’s operating once the cup is locked in place.
That is not the only thing that dominates the blender’s ease of use, though. The way it churns out final results plays a part as well, and thankfully, this Ninja works with no drama. It rarely, if not never, needs extra shaking or stirring to even out the blend. That's probably a result of the powerful motor and well-rounded blade assembly.
The underside of the motor base has two silicone feet and three anti-slip plates to provide stability. Our blender stands and works steadily in any surface so we didn’t need to keep it throughout the blending process like we had to do with other blenders which usually jumped around, especially in heavy-duty performance.
9.5Assembly
We’d award the Ninja BN401 a maximum score in this section if it demands less force when locking and removing the cup from the motor base, but overall, assembling this blender is a breeze.
First, you’ll need to seal the cup with the blade assembly, then turn it upside down and install it on the motor base by aligning the tabs on the cup with the slots on the base. The programs will illuminate and your blender will be ready for use once you lock the cup properly to the base. To do so, rotate it clockwise until you feel they click together.
To remove the cup, turn it counterclockwise and lift it up. Note that you have to pull with quite a bit of force compared to other blenders we tested, so it may be tougher to remove or lock it when your hands are wet or oily.
9.0Cleanability
The cups, lids, and blade assembly are safe to put in the dishwasher, but we recommend hand-washing them since this is very easy to do and will help preserve their original state as well.
Because no leakage occurred in the course of operation, it didn’t take much time and effort to wipe clean the motor base. The blade assembly, on the other hand, has many nooks, grooves, and cranny so it required much more care. For the blending cup, we thoroughly rinsed it under the tap with a soapy sponge. Since we didn’t have any difficulty getting our hands inside the cup thanks to its wide opening, all the tailings rinsed off easily.
About your guide
Tina Pham is a staff writer and reviewer, with five years of experience in the industry. As a passionate amateur home cook, she loves to discover practical cooking solutions, and has made it her mission to bring her findings to every kitchen. Her ultimate goal is making cooking more of a pleasure for all.
Lap Vo is head of the Research, Testing, and Review Team (the RTR) at Healthy Kitchen 101. He is responsible for designing and overseeing the testing of kitchen tools and appliances.
Tuyet Pham is an award-winning Saigonese chef who believes that joy is the secret ingredient to delicious food. At Healthy Recipes 101, Tuyet personally tests and simplifies every recipe, ensuring maximum flavor with minimal effort. With a background at prestigious French restaurants P’TI Saigon and Le Corto, Tuyet knows how to make every dish exceptional.