You may remember my previous review of the Ninja Intelli-Sense Kitchen System blender and food processor and how we loved its power and versatility. Well, Ninja has made improvements over the years and was kind enough to send us their latest Kitchen System for review. The newest Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-iQ retails for $199.99.
The Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-iQ features a motor powered by 1,400 watts at peak power. It comes with three different types of containers that utilize five different Auto-iQ programs. It comes with a large 72oz pitcher that uses Ninja’s total crushing blades, which is excellent for large smoothies, soups, etc. The latest Kitchen System also comes with a 64oz Precision Processor Bowl that makes for even chopping, smooth purees, and can process up to 2 pounds of dough. The Kitchen System also comes with two 24oz single-serve cups with spout lids, which are perfect for your morning smoothie to take with you on the go.
Everything that comes in the box
The Total Crushing pitcher comes with the super sharp Total Crushing Blades, while the Precision Processor Bowl comes with a chopping blade and dough blade. The single-serve blending cups come with a screw-on pro extractor blade assembly.
Single-serve blender cups with blade assembly
What’s cool about Ninja’s Kitchen System is that the base recognizes what type of container has been attached and will change the available Auto-iQ programs to match. The Kitchen system’s “smoothie” program works similarly to what you’ll see at a retail smoothie shop; it will pulse on and off a few times to allow all of the ingredients to rise and fall to ensure even mixing, then finish blending until smooth. There’s an LED countdown clock that shows how many seconds are left until your program is completed. Of course, you also have the option to manually pulse the machine as well as turn it to low, medium, or high speed.
The spout cap on the single-serve blender cup
The bowls are all made of BPA free plastic and use dishwasher-safe parts. I wouldn’t recommend cleaning the blades in the dishwasher, however, as that will dull the blades over time. While glass bowls would probably be better, we’ve used our previous Kitchen System since 2017 and haven’t had any issues with parts breaking.
Top view of the motor base
The Precision Processor Bowl on the motor base
In testing, we made several smoothies in the single-serve cups, deliciously smooth pesto in the food processor, and homemade pineapple Italian ice base in the Total Crushing Pitcher. The smoothies have been perfectly smooth, and the ingredients were combined beautifully. The ice was perfectly crushed into tiny pieces, which helped make the smoothies feel professionally made. The pesto was out of this world.
A look at the LED display
Inside the Total Crushing Pitcher
The chopping blade made quick work of the basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, and olive oil, and we ended up with a lusciously smooth puree. As you can see from the GIF below, the Total Crushing Pitcher and Total Crushing Blades made quick work of the water, pineapple, and sugar mixture, and we ended up with a smooth, flavorful Italian ice after running it through our ice cream machine.
My biggest disappointment with the Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System is that it’s not compatible with Ninja’s spiralizer attachments. This is something my wife often used, as it came with the 2017 Kitchen System I reviewed and something we’ll miss with the latest offering. We tried fitting the 2017 spiralizer container onto the base, but it didn’t fit. My suggestion would be to include a spiralizer in the future or at least make an accessory that is compatible with the motor base.
Check out the below pictures of our pesto:
My final, mini complaint is that the 2017 Kitchen System included suction cups on the bottom that you could disable by pressing handles on the bottom, which made it easy to move the blender. While there are suction cups on the bottom of the 2020 Kitchen System, and they work well to keep your blender in place, there is no way to disable the suction cups. So when moving it, you have to tug very hard to remove the suction cups from our granite counter, and it feels almost like you’re going to break it. Probably a personal preference, but it’s possible this could lead to damage to the suction cups over time.
Our morning banana smoothie
Aside from these relatively minor complaints, we think the Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System is an excellent gadget for home chefs. Not only does it perform well, with a strong 1,400-watt motor, but it is versatile, allowing you to replace your blender and food processor with one unit. The single-serve blender cups are convenient, allowing you to make your morning smoothie, screw on the spout lid, and you can take it with you on your way to starting your day without the need to spill it into another travel cup. The blades are incredibly sharp and work well to crush ice, chop food, and more. For $199.99, you could do a lot worse than Ninja’s latest Profesional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-iQ.
The Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-iQ sells for $199.99, and it is available directly from the manufacturer as well as from other retailers including Amazon [affiliate link].
Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample
What I Like: Powerful motor; Versatile design; Sharp blades; Convenient accessories including single-serve blender cups
What Needs Improvement: We miss the included spiralizer; We also miss the handle to disable the suction cups that keep the base still
