I have had a lot of questions lately about juicing with the Ninja Blender, so I thought it was probably time to run a “juicing refresher course” with a few key pointers if you want to juice with your Ninja Blender.
The bottom line is that no matter what the Ninja Blender folks say, and no matter the model you own, it is a blender, not a masticating juicer. You can’t just put fruit and veggies into it and get pulp-free juice!
While I think the Ninja Blender is a great addition to my kitchen, the infomercial is deceptive about its ability to make juice if you don’t know the tricks. I know this is a point of frustration for many folks, so hopefully the tips below will help.
No matter if you want pulp-free juice or whole food juice, one of the main benefits of the Ninja is that you don’t have to cut up the produce into tiny little chunks – you can throw it in the blender in big hunks, or even whole if you wish.
Pulp-free juice:
You can make pulp free juice with the Ninja Blender. If you’re doing a juice blend, I recommend using a mixture that includes a few water-dense fruits or veggies in your blend (like cucumbers, cantaloupe, pears, etc.) as it will let you add less water.
If you are doing a single fruit or veggie juice with a hard food (like carrots), you’ll definitely need to add water.
As time has gone by, I have figured out that about a cup of added water is ideal for most juices.
To get pulp-free juice, straining is involved. Some people don’t mind straining; some people can’t stand it. Personally, I don’t mind because the clean up is infinitely easier than cleaning up a masticating juicer, which strains the pulp for you.
Don’t throw away the pulp! You can turn it into lots of things, including tasty crackers.
Smooth, whole food juicing
You can also make more of a thicker, but not truly “pulpy” juice or juice blend.
To do this, you don’t need to add water, but you certainly can add to help thin it down. What is key is that you do need to add 4-5 ice cubes and blend a little longer than you would for pulp-free juice. I usually blend for about 90 seconds.
The longer you blend, the smoother your juice will be. Just keep in mind, this juice will be thicker than strained juice as you have left the pulp in the mixture. I recommend your juice blends have some water-based fruits and veggies in it to help with the blending process, but if they don’t, just add water until you get the consistency right.
I haven’t done as many of these juices because I’m more of a smoothie girl, but here are a few to get your ideas flowing:
And, there you have it, two ways to make juice in your Ninja Blender.
To summarize:
For pulp-free juice, add about a cup of water to your fruits and/or veggies, blend for about a minute, and strain in a mesh sieve, nut milk bag, or other fine-mesh strainer
For whole food juice, don’t add water to your fruits and/or veggies, but do add 4-5 ice cubes and blend for at least 90 seconds until you get a smooth texture
I hope that little breakdown helps, and, if you have a favorite juice you make in your Ninja Blender, help other readers out and leave it in the comments!
