Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl review: enjoy delicious soft serve, if you plan ahead

RRP at time of testing: £370 | Check price at Argos, Amazon or Ninja directly

Our verdict

For families trying to buy fewer shop-bought treats, accommodate different dietary needs or keep a closer eye on what goes into dessert, the appeal of the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl is easy to understand. The Scoop & Swirl can turn the same basic idea into ice cream, sorbet, frozen yoghurt or a higher-protein pudding, with plenty of room to adjust the ingredients.

That flexibility was what appealed most to our Mumsnet tester Fran. Making ice cream and desserts where she knew exactly what was going in the recipe was important to her. She liked that she could make healthier alternatives to shop-bought ice cream, and found that making sorbet and other low-calorie desserts worked especially well with this gadget.

“I adapted to make low calorie, high protein recipes, which worked out well. I thought the sorbet was the easiest setting and best results.”

Once the mixture was frozen, the actual processing was quick. Fran said it took: “between three to six minutes” for each recipe, and that the ice creams she made were “very smooth and creamy.”

The Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl has 13 programmes covering everything from soft serve ice cream to frozen yoghurt and milkshakes. But unlike some other ice cream makers on the market, to use this one you need to prep ahead of time. With no built-in cooling, before making your ice cream you need to freeze your ingredients 24 hours in advance. Although this didn’t worry Fran, she noted that some families may struggle to find the time.

“This could be less convenient during a busy week – would need to make time the day before to prepare ingredients and freeze mixture” she said. 

The price is the other sticking point. The Scoop & Swirl has an RRP of £370, compared with £210 for the original Ninja CREAMi, so the soft-serve function needs to earn that considerable difference. 

Fran said she would “use this every week”, but that having the soft serve option isn’t necessarily the main selling point for her. “I would potentially just buy the scoop and not the swirl,” she added. 

At almost double the price of the standard Ninja CREAMi, whether this upgraded version is worth the price tag all comes down to just how much you love soft serve ice cream.

How we’ve tested the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl

Living alone, Fran meal preps on a weekly basis. That meant she could easily adopt the Ninja CREAMi into her existing routine, using it to make ice creams and other desserts for herself for the week ahead and also for friends and family visiting.

During the four weeks she tried the machine for, she tested the “Swirl and Scoop, Ice Cream, Lite Ice Cream, Sorbet and Creamifit” functions, and tried different recipes included by Ninja.

During testing, she assessed how easy the appliance was to use, how well it performed, and decided whether she thought it was worth its price tag and if it was something she would recommend becoming a household item for families and other individuals that are at a meal-prep level of organisation.

The Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl comes with everything you need to make ice cream at home

Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl: what’s in the box? 

The box contains:

• Motor base

• 2 x 480ml CREAMi 2-in-1 tubs with nozzles and lids (the tub can be used for both scoops and soft serve)

• Dispensing lid

• Outer bowl and lid

• Creamerizer paddle

• Drip tray

• Recipe guide

First impressions and set up of the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl

The Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl comes in a range of statement colourways (think sleek navy, bold and bright blue and vibrant purple) and will be the standout gadget on any kitchen worktop. However, it is quite big. Standing at 44.5cm tall, and weighing 10.1kg it’s rather a large appliance to take up a permanent space in a kitchen - least of all a family one that’s already filled with air fryers, slow cookers and the like.

Our tester Fran couldn’t fit it under her kitchen cupboards, but found a space she could place it so she could keep using it. 

“It unfortunately did not fit beneath my cupboards,” Fran shared, “but I do have a section of my kitchen that it can fit.”

Despite its size, she liked the look of the machine as soon as she unpacked it from the box: “My first impression was that it was a smart looking machine, slightly bigger than expected but looked of excellent quality.”

Her first task was to set the machine up, using the instructions supplied by Ninja, something she said was: “Very easy” and she was able to “identify parts and put it together.” In fact, she said the total set up time was quick: “Set up was fast, 5 mins.”

Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl: performance and results

Although Mumsnet tester Fran found setting the machine up fairly easy, she struggled more when it came to using it for the first time, and discovered some issues.

“I found it a bit tricky at first to get the main tub fixed into the machine properly,” she said. She also found that sometimes using the ‘re-spin’ function was needed if the ice cream hadn't mixed properly. “[The] texture was crumbly after [the] first spin, it needed a re-spin,” she said. “It was icy and powdery after the first spin. I saw advice online to use a knife to break the iciness away from the sides before doing a re-spin.”

But not one to let a few teething issues defeat her, Fran went on to make lots of successful recipes and varieties of dessert using the machine.

The Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl has 13 functions, which include: 

• Ice Cream

• Lite Ice Cream

• Gelato

• Sorbet

• Frozen Yogurt

• Milkshake

• Mix-In

• Soft Serve Ice Cream

• Soft Serve Lite Ice Cream

• Fruiti

• Soft Serve Frozen Yogurt

• Soft Serve Gelato

• CreamiFit

Fran tested five of these and rated the sorbet as having the best results. “I thought the sorbet was the easiest setting and best results,” she said.

Ninja suggests that one 480ml tub makes ‘up to four servings’. During her testing, Fran said that realistically, one tub made: “two or three” ice creams. That’s something to consider, especially if you’ve got a bigger household or are serving up ice cream to several guests at once.

Fran tried making five different desserts with her Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl

How long does it take to make soft serve ice cream with the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl?

The thing to note (especially if you’ve got hungry kids, excited to get stuck into ice cream making) is that you need to do a bit of prep before using this machine. Unlike the Greenpan ice cream maker, it doesn’t freeze your ingredients for you, so you’ll need to make sure they’ve already been frozen. Which means another thing to add to the to-do list.

Once your ingredients are frozen though, the machine makes soft serve ice cream pretty quickly.

“Simple to prepare the mixtures. Quick and easy, ” said Fran of the prep process.

As for how long the machine takes to turn your ingredients into a tasty dessert, Fran said it was: “between three to six mins.” So, not long at all to wait, once you’ve done your homework.

Is it easy to clean the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl?

Ninja suggests cleaning the Scoop & Swirl after each use. The good news is that all parts, except for the motor base, are top-rack dishwasher safe. Or, they can be washed by hand if you’d prefer. The suggestion is to clean the motor base by wiping it with a clean, damp cloth (after unplugging it first, of course).

Our tester Fran found the cleaning of the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl pretty straightforward, saying it took her “less than five mins” to wash up by hand. She also found the machine made “little mess” while it was in use.

How quiet is the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl?

During testing, Fran found that the appliance was pretty noisy, noting that it was difficult to hear others or hold a conversation while it was in use.

“It was quite noisy, [you] would have to raise [your] voice if having a conversation,” she said.

How does the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl compare to other ice cream makers?

Final verdict: is the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl worth buying?

As with any household gadget, whether it’s worth taking up space in your home really depends on the positive impact it’s going to have on your life. And, if you’re a household of ice cream lovers, then this could well be worth purchasing. Yes, it’s pricey but it does look cool, and with 13 functions it can do a lot for that price. 

Although it’s noisy, because it’s quick, you’re not having to suffer the sound for too long. That said, perhaps make friends with the neighbours and offer to make them some soft serve to offset the loud noise…

Mumsnet tester Fran told us that she would pay full price for it, and said it would be best for: “households with children or people who want to make healthy desserts.” In fact, she enjoyed testing it so much that she said: “I will keep it on display so that I can enjoy a CREAMi protein ice cream every night.”

About the author

Charlie Bond is a freelance journalist and a mum of two (slightly wild) boys. As a lifestyle and shopping editor she's got more than 15 years' experience testing everything from family holiday hotspots to mum-friendly makeup.
She's always on the lookout for the best products to make parents' lives easier, whether that's a super-duper coffee machine (she's usually had three espressos by the morning school run) or a cleaning solution that really does get pen off the walls...

About Mumsnet reviews

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All prices are correct at time of publication.