Ninja Slushi Review: Want a quick snack any time of the day?

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The quintessential little treat is subjective: some say iced coffee, others ice cream.

But we can probably all agree that many of the biggest little treats are hard to come by — that is, things you can’t get at any time of the year or take home and store for later. Think Shamrock Shakes or the $16 frozen treats that some bars only offer in the summer.

Following the success of Creami, which makes ice cream and other frozen desserts, Ninja is exploring the frozen drink side of treat culture. The Ninja Slushi is a professional frozen drink maker that has sold out multiple times since its debut in July 2024. The Slushi is not only a vessel for making a homemade Slurpee without leaving the house, but also an opportunity to treat yourself to a mundane beverage, like your morning protein shake or your afternoon pre-workout electrolyte mix. In your hand, the Slushi feels like the perfect summer accessory.

TikTok, a massive community of people who love a little treat, naturally embraced this damn video with enthusiasm, and I couldn’t help but get my hands on one too.

How does Ninja Slushi work?

While both can ultimately create frozen drinks, the Ninja Slushi is very different from a blender because it doesn’t require ice.

Rather, Slushi achieves the chilled state chefs prefer thanks to Ninja’s RapidChill technology, which uses a screw that rotates around a cooling cylinder. This approach can take room temperature ingredients from liquid to literal slush in under an hour (with a variance of a few minutes depending on alcohol and sugar content, and batch size).

Even if you get the same effect in a blender, it’s only temporary. A frozen margarita will melt in just a few minutes if left in the blender pitcher. But Slushi keeps your drink frozen. Once it reaches the perfect temperature for your recipe, Slushi will beep and switch from a flashing light to a solid light, but continue to spin and cool, keeping your recipe perfectly slushy for up to 12 hours. Just be careful of condensation.

What can you make with Ninja Slushi?

Officially, there are buttons on the front for slushies, spiked slushies, frappes, milkshakes, and frozen juices. I’d hesitate to claim you can make any frozen drink you can think of, but that’s basically it. If you have an idea but aren’t sure of the exact ingredients, someone has probably already tried to make it on TikTok.

Just open the hatch and pour – no stirring required.
Credit: Leah Stoddart / Mashable

If your drink is too thick or too melty, you can adjust the temperature with the arrow buttons.
Credit: Leah Stoddart / Mashable

The first thing I made was a frozen cocktail that I followed exactly to the recipe in the Ninja booklet. It was literally just rosé cocktail, juice, and a little bit of syrup. It was super easy, quick, and delicious. It tasted just like the more expensive cocktails you get in the bar.

Some other fun experiments included Slushi’d White Claws doused in syrup (which became surprisingly bland and carbonated when frozen), a can of Pepsi to recreate my roommate’s dream on-demand cola slushie, a blueberry vanilla protein milkshake I saw on TikTok, and a slushy version of a pre-workout electrolyte powder drink. After this week of testing, I have no doubt Slushi will be making weekly appearances in our home.

As a professional Black Cherry White Claw lover, you know I had to.
Credit: Leah Stoddart / Mashable

This makes it nearly impossible to produce in small quantities.
Credit: Leah Stoddart / Mashable

I tried the frappe mode and realized that I personally don’t like making my coffee that strong, and since I still hadn’t finished my first sip, I added some almond milk and chocolate protein powder to make a cafe mocha milkshake.

The Slushi should be washed after every use to prevent sticky or rancid residue from building up. After using the rinse cycle button on the body of the machine, disassemble and clean its four very basic parts. Wash by hand or in the dishwasher if you have the space. After handling the removable parts, wipe down the metal base and interior of the machine before putting the parts back together.

Maintaining Slushi is quite easy, although it can be a bit tedious if you use it frequently.
Credit: Leah Stoddart / Mashable

Ninja Slash vs. Ninja Creamy

Before there was slush, there was creamy. Ninja’s 7-in-1 ice cream maker was a massive hit on TikTok when it first launched in 2021. Perhaps this was what made Ninja realize just how lucrative the “little treat” trend could be.

Slusi and Creamy are almost the same height, but Slusi is heavier.
Credit: Leah Stoddart / Mashable

Both machines can make a number of drinks that look like solids but aren’t, but the main difference between the two machines is in the preparation: Creami can only be made from a solid base that has been frozen 24 hours in advance, while Slushi can only be made from liquids. These liquids don’t need to be frozen, so Slushi has the advantage when it comes to improvisation.

Cons: What can’t Ninja Slushi do?

The success of your slushie depends on a few key ingredients, one of which is sugar. I usually like to ignore instructions before reading even a single word, but I swear the Slushi booklet is a must-read. Every Slushi recipe requires a specific percentage of sugar to set. If you add too little sugar, the machine will beep and stop working.

Conversely, it will also stop if Slushi senses that the alcohol content is too high compared to the other ingredients. Either way, a light on the front will flash with each error, so you can quickly fix it.

I wish you could see the look of defeat on my roommate’s face when she realized she couldn’t just pour a Diet Coke straight into her slushie, because Diet Coke contains no sugar whatsoever. The booklet offers workarounds to this problem, including how to subtly add sugar and the proper amounts. Still, there’s a lot more math involved than I expected. Remember when I was in third grade and cursed fractions, saying, “You never use fractions in real life”?

The Slushi doesn’t have blades, so it can’t crush solid ingredients. To make a healthy frozen smoothie using whole ingredients like frozen berries or kale, you first need to puree them. I mixed these ingredients in the blender and then transferred them to the Slushi, at which point I might as well add ice to the blender to avoid having to wash both machines by hand.

Is Ninja Slushi worth it?

Whether the Ninja Slushi is worth the money depends on whether you’re a frozen drink lover or not. That said, some people will spend double the money to get a fancy espresso machine home, so spending hundreds of dollars on a niche kitchen appliance is not uncommon. If you’re someone who needs to have three drinks on hand at all times, slushing two of them besides water opens up more possibilities. Plus, those who have trouble getting in fruits, vegetables, and protein may find they’ll get better control with a drink that’s more appetizing than a chalky mixture at room temperature. Is it going too far to call Slushi a health fix?

The Slushie is sure to be a hit in households with kids, who are much more likely to drink healthy fruit juice if it’s basically a Slurpee-like treat. And with grandparents, aunts, and uncles, this is sure to become a favorite.

Either way, the serotonin boost that comes from a fun little drink is one of life’s simplest treasures, and it’s priceless, as is the bonding experience (and money saved) that comes from staying home with friends and having a pajama frozen margarita party.