Toying with the idea of acquiring a Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker NC301. There's a fitness coach I follow swears by them for making tasty treats that have great protein/calorie ratios.

The kitchen cupboards being full, I'd have to find someplace to stash the thing when not in use. This is my wife's main objection to acquiring Yet Another Kitchen Machine.

But mainly I'm wondering if this is another thing that piqued my interest and, soon after the novelty wears off, it'll be destined for the resale shop.

So: Who here has one and what are your thoughts on them?

Question:
Do you own a Ninja Creami?

Choices:
Yes
No
I, too, have thought about acquiring one

Question:
If you own one: Have you found it useful over time? Do you continue to use it regularly?

Choices:
Yes
No
N/A

 

Have you watched one of these machines make ice cream? I watched a review on YouTube and it's loud and you have to wait 24 hours from the time you make your ice cream base until you can make the ice cream. I'd rather just buy the ice cream.

We have one of these and use it fairly regularly: Cuisinart

Not all ice creams require a cooked/cooled base with eggs. A simple vanilla ice cream can be made with cream, whole milk, sugar and vanilla extract. We make fruit sorbets with it, too.

I am interested in one after watching many videos of people showing how to make Keto ice cream. God Bless

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
But mainly I'm wondering if this is another thing that piqued my interest and, soon after the novelty wears off, it'll be destined for the resale shop.

How many of those wooden-barrel looking ice cream makers were sold, used 1 time & then rotted in a garage? I know of at least 4.
Maybe it's a revelation, but I'll keep going to the local ice cream shop.

quote:

We have one of these and use it fairly regularly: Cuisinart

Us as well, it's great. Still prefer my hand-crank White Mountain if I have some folks to share duty with! No crank, no ice cream is the rule at our home. Grandmas excepted.

George - Your post reminded me of something I did earlier this summer.

We have a newer old fashioned maker that will accept a hand crank and a motor. I grew up hand cranking ice cream - never knew what a motorized unit was until I was married.

I pulled out the hand crank this summer and my three grand girls and I went to work. About 40 minutes later we had “soft” homemade ice cream. I did it so that they would understand the way I grew up making ice cream.

Sometimes the old ways are best. We would start to gather around when the motor began to struggle. Yum.

Do you have a blender and food processor? Google “no churn” recipes for most of the things you are wanting to make with it. There are easier and cheaper ways to get really nice results.

SigSentry "Sometimes the old ways are best."

Ensigmatic, I have the same issue. Lots of useful kitchen appliances that I regularly use, and not much room (according to my wife) for any more.

I’ll be following this thread in hopes you buy it and try it and report back if it’s useful or not. I could see me making lots of sorbet through the nine hot months here. When it’s cold out, I could get down with some chocolate malted ice cream.

We have a Cuisinart and it makes great ice cream without all the ingredients in store bought. Experimenting with flavorings and add ins is half the fun of using it.

It looks like it’s the home/consumer version of a machine called a Pacojet that’s been around for years in professional kitchens. It basically makes ice cream in reverse; you add a frozen base and it purées/aerates it into an ice cream.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
Sometimes the old ways are best. We would start to gather around when the motor began to struggle. Yum.

MOTOR???

We kids turned the crank and our reward was to clean the dasher!!

Yes - I am old at 83!

Your poll choices didn't exactly meet my circumstances, so I answered yes and no.

We had one for the same reason you're thinking about getting one. Some of the fitness people my wife follows swear by them, so she wanted to try one. She sold it due to disuse after a few months. First off, it was a little finicky with what it would work with, but once you got your recipes nailed down it did work as advertised, and the ice cream it made was decent.

Other than that though, I think we would have been better off just using a regular ice cream maker. The whole process was just kind of a pain in the ass.

You and your wife are right, it does take a significant amount of counter space. Between the machine itself, and the myriad bowls you need it takes a not insignificant amount of space on your counter and in the freezer.

It takes planning to use. You have to put your ingredients together in advance and let them freeze, and then they're taking up more room in your freezer than if you just made a single larger batch. Then you pull them out, and mix them up. Sometimes it comes out great the first time, sometimes it takes a couple of runs. If you're mixing things in you have to pause mid run, add your ingredients, then start again. It's not a huge impediment, but it is kind of annoying when you just want to eat your ice cream.

Then, the cleanup is just annoying. Once again not a huge deal, but it feels like a lot of extra work for a single bowl of ice cream.

So all in all, it does work but it's kind of gimmicky and it just felt like way too much work for a single bowl of ice cream. I bet it didn't get used more than 25 times over the six months to a year we had it, and most of that was in the first couple of months.

Look around on eBay for a used restaurant grade gelato machine.

My wife really wanted one so I got it for her for her birthday. The first month or so she used it all the time, now it's pretty infrequent. Once you find a recipe you like it's pretty effective, but it's VERY loud.

Thanks for the feedback and comments, everybody.

Re: The ice cream making alternatives: Perhaps I didn't state it well, but the question was about the Ninja Creami, specifically, because it is that for which fitness types are making high-protein, low-fat/low-sugar recipes.

Anyway...

Given the poll responses and feedback it looks like my concern, re: "seems like a neat idea, but...", were well-founded.

I believe I'll take a pass on the idea.

Again: Thanks, everybody, for your help!

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
I am interested in one after watching many videos of people showing how to make Keto ice cream. God Bless

Me too.
Now that I see it is possible for a Keto recipe, going to consider one.
The noise level of the Creami always was a concern at a minor level.

quote:

Re: The ice cream making alternatives: Perhaps I didn't state it well, but the question was about the Ninja Creami, specifically, because it is that for which fitness types are making high-protein, low-fat/low-sugar recipes.

Nothing wrong with fat but the sugar is what kills ya.

I have one. I use it regularly. I make low carb ice cream with it and like it a lot.
It is noisy but the cycles run fairly quickly.
It does take a little time to figure out the flavour/texture you prefer and how to get there.
Once you get some recipes you like you can make them up and freeze the base for future use.