Ninja Professional Plus Blender BN701 Review: The $100 Blender That Earns Its Stars
The Ninja BN701 Professional Plus Blender is a 1,400-peak-watt countertop blender built for families who want serious blending power without paying Vitamix prices. With over 15,000 Amazon reviews and a 4.8-star rating, it's one of the most purchased mid-range blenders on the market. For smoothies, frozen drinks, and ice crushing, it genuinely earns those stars—but there are real limits you should understand before committing.
Product Overview
The BN701 is Ninja's Professional Plus model, positioned between their entry-level personal blenders and premium full-size machines like the Vitamix. It ships with the 72-oz Total Crushing Pitcher, a pour-spout lid, and a stacked six-blade assembly. There are no personal blending cups in the box—this is a dedicated countertop blender designed for bigger batches.
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Peak wattage | 1,400W |
| Pitcher capacity | 72 oz total / 64 oz max liquid |
| Auto-iQ presets | 3 (Smoothie, Frozen Drinks, Ice Cream) |
| Manual speeds | Low, Medium, High + Pulse |
| Blade type | Stacked 6-blade stainless steel assembly |
| Height (with pitcher) | ~17 inches |
| Dishwasher safe | Yes — pitcher, lid, and blade assembly |
| BPA-free | Yes |
| Color | Dark Grey |
| Approximate price | ~$100 |
The three Auto-iQ presets are the headline differentiator: each runs a timed sequence of blending cycles, pauses, and pulses automatically. You press the button and walk away. For its intended tasks, this convenience is real and the results are consistent.
The pitcher is tall and narrow-ish relative to its capacity. The stacked blade tower occupies the center of the pitcher, which means ingredients near the top must get pulled down into the blending zone—something that doesn't always happen on its own.
Performance & Real-World Use
Ice and frozen ingredients are where the BN701 earns its reputation. It crushes a full pitcher of ice to fine snow in 20–60 seconds. A family-sized batch of frozen margaritas blends in about two minutes. If icy drinks are a regular part of your routine, this blender is excellent at the task and outperforms competitors at similar price points.
Everyday smoothies come out very smooth. Frozen banana, berries, and yogurt blend cleanly on the Auto-iQ Smoothie preset. The large pitcher handles four to six servings at once, which matters for families who make morning smoothies in parallel. Multiple reviewers confirm consistent, repeatable results.
Leafy greens are where the limits begin. Kale and spinach don't fully puree—fibrous pieces remain in the drink, particularly material that sits near the top of the pitcher and doesn't get drawn into the blade zone. Green smoothies usually need extra blending time and a mid-cycle scrape-down to approach smooth. Reviewers from Shouldit and TechGearLab both flagged this independently.
Nut butters are a significant struggle. Getting to workable almond butter takes five or more minutes of repeated blending and scraping, and the result is still coarser than what a Vitamix produces in half the time. The stacked blade design simply isn't optimized for this task.
Hot liquids are off the table. The BN701 doesn't friction-heat, and sealed hot liquids create pressure buildup in the pitcher. Always let soups cool before blending, or use an immersion blender for hot liquid tasks.
Noise is a real factor: this is a loud machine at full speed—loud enough that most reviewers describe it as conversation-stopping. That's not unusual for a 1,400W motor, but worth knowing before your first 7 a.m. smoothie.
- Exceptional ice crushing — one of the better performers in the under-$150 range for frozen drinks and icy applications
- Auto-iQ presets work well — for smoothies, frozen beverages, and ice cream bases without manual monitoring
- 72-oz pitcher — handles full family batches without multiple rounds
- Fully dishwasher-safe — pitcher, lid, and blade assembly go in the top rack
- Durable build quality — feels more substantial than similarly priced alternatives
- Priced at ~$100 — delivers real performance for everyday blending tasks at roughly one-fifth the cost of a Vitamix
- BPA-free — construction throughout
- Loud — full-speed blending is loud enough to pause nearby conversations
- Leafy greens don't fully puree — fibrous pieces persist in green smoothies without extended run times and scraping
- Nut butters are a struggle — takes significantly longer than a high-powered blender and produces a coarser result
- Not safe for hot liquids — soups and hot drinks must cool before blending
- Stacked blade assembly is harder to hand-wash — than a single flat-blade design; requires care to avoid the exposed blades
- Tall pitcher needs counter clearance — and deliberate cabinet storage planning
- TechGearLab ranked it #10 of 15 blenders tested — in rigorous lab conditions, behind models from Vitamix, Blendtec, and several mid-range competitors for heavy-duty tasks
The Ninja BN701 Professional Plus Blender is an honest, capable machine for the tasks that most families actually reach for a blender to do: smoothies, frozen drinks, and ice crushing. The 15,000+ Amazon reviews at 4.8 stars are not an accident—this blender genuinely works well for its intended audience at a price that's hard to argue with. Just know where the ceiling is: leafy greens and nut butters will remind you that $100 and $500 are not the same thing.
