The Ninja Creami Is My Tech 'Upgrade of the Year'

The Ninja Creami Is My Tech ‘Upgrade of the Year’

While I’m a frequent reviewer of laptops and other computer-y type things, the gadgets that I care about the most are the ones I actually use on a regular basis in my day-to-day life.

This year, I got big into showing off important memories with a digital picture frame, and into nostalgic handheld gaming with my first Anbernic device.

However, out of all the upgrades I’ve made to my life this year, the Ninja Creami was my easy favorite.

What is the Ninja Creami?

The Ninja Creami is different from a more traditional ice cream maker, which sits on your counter and constantly churns and freezes your liquid ice cream mixture until it’s ready.

Instead, you prep and freeze your liquid ice cream mix overnight, and then process it (in just a few minutes) when you want it.

That does mean you’ll need to get your ice cream going at least 24-hours in advance, but if you keep a few pints ready in your freezer at any given moment, I actually think it’s more convenient than the alternative, and makes for great spontaneous snacking.

Why the Ninja Creami is my tech upgrade of the year

With the explanation out of the way, there are a few specific use cases that really made the Ninja Creami shine for me this year.

In no particular order, here’s why it’s my favorite gadget I got in 2025.

It’s easy to use

I’ve already talked about how using the Ninja Creami generally takes less time than making ice cream with a more traditional ice cream maker, assuming you remember to keep your freezer stocked with Creami pints that you’ve frozen for at least 24 hours ahead of time.

But let’s walk through the actual process of making ice cream with the Creami, just to really drive it home.

Get urge for ice cream

Pull pre-frozen Ninja Creami pint out of freezer

Place pint into slots on Ninja Creami pitcher, install blade into pitcher lid, and place lid on top of pitcher

Press button for your preferred ice cream program and wait two to five minutes.

And that’s it.

It’s a good sight faster than going out for ice cream, not to mention cheaper.

And the Creami can even do mix-ins like your own live-in Coldstone—just dig a hole in the center of your ice cream after processing, add your mix-ins, and snack on the ice cream you dug out while waiting for the mix-in program to incorporate your goodies into your ice cream.

As for cleanup, the pints, lid, and blade are dishwasher safe, so fuggedaboutit.

It’s customizable

Maybe the biggest reason to get any home ice cream maker is the ability to make your own ice cream flavors, and the Ninja Creami is no different.

While I’ve made the standard vanilla and chocolate, I’ve also experimented with more offbeat flavors in my Ninja Creami.

Good examples are Milk Tea flavored ice cream and Chocolate Dulce de Leche ice cream (stay tuned).

It’s healthy(er)

The thing that actually made me get a Ninja Creami is protein ice cream, or ice cream where protein powder is the chief contributor to your flavor.

This is harder to make in a more traditional ice cream maker, but because of how the Ninja Creami mixes its ice cream together, it’s dead simple to make with it.

It’s actually 90% of what I use the Creami for.

This allows me to satisfy my sweet tooth while generally keeping calorie counts lower than a full fat ice cream would.

You can still make that in the Ninja Creami, but I’ve had satisfying results with just 2% milk, protein power, and my secret ingredient—sugar free Jell-O.

The Jell-O comes with xantham gum that acts as a binder, and when mixed with the milk and protein powder, gives you a nearly indistinguishable texture from full fat ice cream after processing.

You can actually buy xantham gum on its own, but Jell-O is a bit easier to find, and can add some additional flavor.

Granted, I’ll usually add in some mix-ins and whipped cream, which does counteract the healthiness a little bit, but it’s still not uncommon to get a pint that’s under 400 calories.

And a full pint usually serves both me and my husband, and makes a great compliment to a smaller dinner, which means it can help with portion control, too.

It saves milk

I’m not always great at using up milk ahead of its expiration date, but I hate the idea of dumping it down the drain.

The Ninja Creami makes for easy recipes to freeze milk that’s about to go bad, as each recipe calls for about 2 cups of the stuff.

Granted, I like to use 1 cup of cow milk and 1 cup of almond milk, since almond milk provides some flavor and an extra smooth texture, but you can totally get away with just one or the other.

Boozy milkshakes!

Finally, the Ninja Creami can make easy milkshakes.

Yes, I know it’s not that hard to make milkshakes in a blender, but I hate washing my whole blender just for that.

With the Ninja Creami, you just dump your ice cream into your pint, or process some custom ice cream and mix it around a bit, then dig a hole in the center of it and add some milk and alcohol.

Run it through the milkshake program, and the resulting texture will be perfect pretty much every time, with none of the guesswork of using a blender.

My husband and I like to do this before watching a movie, and it’s an easy way to save money on the $15+ boozy milkshakes at our local Alamo Drafthouse.

My favorite Ninja Creami recipe

I’ve got my iPhone Notes app filled with dozens of recipes at this point, but to give you a brief idea of just want I do with my Ninja Creami, let’s walk through my favorite.

You’re not going to find this at Baskin-Robbins, but once you’ve tried Dulce Chocolate, you won’t be able to go back.

Dulce Chocolate

My husband’s a big fan of Häagen-Dazs’ Dulce de Leche ice cream, and using a special kind of Dulce de Leche protein powder that only one company seems to make, we’ve been able to make a pretty convincing but much healthier dupe of it (for that, use vanilla Jell-O instead of what I’m about to suggest).

However, we’ve discovered that Dulce de Leche ice cream is just as easy to make with the Ninja Creami, and it’s a game-changer.

So, what do you think so far?

My favorite Ninja Creami recipe Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

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