I made smoothies, shakes and pancake batter in Ninja's most powerful portable blender — here's my verdict

Tom's Guide

05-05-2025

Capacity: 22ozDimensions: 4.64"D x 3.58"W x 12.79"HNoise level: 77 dB Charge time: 3 hours Battery life: 25 minutes Weight: 2.5 pounds
You know when you're in the middle of the forest and you just need a freshly-blended protein shake? How about when you're in the office and your morning smoothie wouldn't hit the spot unless it was blitzed right there and then, within earshot of your colleagues?
Ok, I'll admit that I've got no idea why portable blenders are so popular, but the good thing about the Ninja Blast Max is that, even by the standards of the best blenders, it's powerful and well-priced.
I tested the Ninja Blast Max in our test kitchen, which is, ironically, full to the brim of plug sockets. One thing was clear right from the get-go, which is that you won't compromise on power by opting for this rechargeable blender. In fact, it's also ideal if you're working with a small kitchen or even a studio where counter space is at a premium.
Here's how the Ninja Blast Max performed when I put it to the test.
This is an affordable blender, coming in at under $90/£90.
There is a range of colorways to choose from. I tried a charming Lavender color, but there's also a silver, blue, and navy option.
The Blast Max has a predecessor, the Ninja Blast, which is $20 cheaper, has a smaller capacity, and one On/Off button. I've not tried it, but for an extra 20 bucks, I think the Blast Max is a much more compelling option.
While it's a neat and compact blender, the Blast Max offers some interesting features.
The removable blending cup twists on and off the blending base to make your drinks (even) more portable. A lot of portable blenders either have screw-on blending blades which then need to be covered when not in use, or will require you to carry around your entire blending cup and base in one, which could be a bit heavy when the blender is full of smoothie or protein shake.
You can also flip the lid open and closed by pressing a button on the front of the blending cup, which makes it an interesting mix of a drinking vessel and a blender.
Before testing, I had to charge the Blast Max. Thankfully, it does come with a little charge already included, meaning you can use it as soon as you unbox it. However, I left it to charge until the power light had gone from a flashing red, which indicates a low battery, to solid green, which means it's fully charged.
Many portable blenders won't include indicators of charge level, meaning you could be left in the annoying position of having to charge your blender mid-smoothie, so I was pleased to see that the Blast Max notifies you when it needs charging.
Charging took three hours in total, and although I didn't exhaust the battery in testing, other reviews online suggest that its battery can last a total 30 minutes, which is enough to make at least 15 drinks.
I think making a protein shake is likely to be one of the most popular things people use their Blast Max for. Because you can take it in your bag to the gym or office, this blender will be ideal for busy people who need to pack some nourishment into their diet on the go.
I started using protein powder at the beginning of 2025, but I hated how lumpy it came out when I used a shaker, so I'd definitely consider taking the Blast Max on the go with me if it can deliver a more creamy result.
I used a scoop of my favorite protein powder, the Protein Works Whey 360 Extreme in the Chocolate Bueno flavor, and added some milk and a couple of ice cubes to the Blast Max. Then, I turned it onto the 'Blend' setting, which runs for 30 seconds.
The blender isn't the noisiest I've tried, clocking in at 77dB, but the sound quality is quite whiny. This is likely a result of it having a weaker motor, but it still powered through the ice cubes somewhat easily.
My end result was well-mixed and not too grainy. It was much better in texture than the type of shake I'd been making in a protein shaker, but probably not as creamy as the sort of drink I make when using my Vitamix blender at home.
It was also nice and cold thanks to the ice cubes, which didn't leave any large chunks behind.
The Blast Max has a dedicated smoothie setting, so I used some fresh berries and apple juice to make a simple morning smoothie.
This is the sort of thing you could easily throw together with store-bought ingredients if you're out of the house and need to make a drink for your kid, or yourself. In fact, I used ingredients that I'd picked up in the train station on my way to our testing lab.
The smoothie setting took just under a minute, and I was left with a pretty decent drink. Could it rival the creamy and smooth drinks I often make in my Vitamix? Absolutely not. There were still seeds and bits of unblended berry skin that made the texture a little less smooth. But I wouldn't expect anything less than this for a portable blender, and the smoothie was still perfectly drinkable.
While the blending cup's 20oz capacity couldn't cater to a crowd, the smoothie I made would have served two quite happily.
I used to make my pancake batter from scratch, but since I started throwing my ingredients into the blender, I've not gone back.
The texture of pancake batter is a lot thicker than the drinks I'd made thus far, so I was interested to find out how well the blender could incorporate my wet and dry ingredients.
I added my flour, eggs and milk to the blender and manually pulsed for about 30 seconds. The finished batter was ideal for pancakes, and I was able to use the drinking spout from the removable cup to pour the batter onto my frying pan.
This was a huge (and unexpected!) plus, saving me the effort of decanting the drink and ladling it into the pan like I usually would.
My finished pancakes look a little anemic, yes, but that's down to user error. The blender itself did a fantastic job of handling this mix of dry and wet ingredients, and there were no lumps of un-mixed flour hiding in my finished batter.
The Ninja Blast Max has "turns ice to snow" written on the side of its box, so I had to put this bold claim to the test.
Blitzing ice is a challenge for a lot of blenders, so was skeptical about whether this cordless blender was up to the task. I added five ice cubes to the blender and pressed the "Crush" button.
I was genuinely impressed that, by the time the program finished about a minute later, the entire blending cup was evenly-blitzed into small shards of ice.
This would be a really good base for an iced drink or even a homemade snow cone, and it's a really strong indication of the above-average levels of power you'll find with this portable blender.
What's most impressive is that I didn't need to go in and mix up the ice. The blender was able to work its way through every ice cube systematically and leave me with a well-blended result.
This blender should be easy to clean. As with any blender, I added a drop of dish soap and some water into the blending cup and ran on the blend setting for a few seconds to break down any leftover ingredients that had become stuck to the sides of the blender and the blades.
This was made trickier by the fact that this blending cup has a ribbed interior. It looks nice, but it does create lots of grooves where ingredients can become lodged-on.
The main problem I encountered in cleaning was that it was near-impossible to remove stuck-on protein powder from underneath the blades.
The blending cup is small, and I needed to use a small scrubbing brush to reach under them and dislodge this caked-on mixture. This is a downside of opting for a portable blender without removable blades.
I've tried a number of portable blenders over the years, and I'll just go ahead and say that this is the best I've seen so far. However, the lack of removable blades did make cleaning tricky, and it's an issue that can be avoided if you opt for something like the Nutribullet Flip which allows you to remove the blades from the blender and use the blending cup as a tumbler once your drink is finished.
However, the Flip is definitely less powerful than the Blast Max, and it's also less intuitive to use.
If you're not committed to the cordless life, the Nutribullet Pro 900W is a superior blender to the Blast Max on account of its 900 watts of power. It's almost as compact and also ideal for smoothies.
The Ninja Blast Max will never compete with market-leading blenders because it's not designed to. It's not as powerful, won't leave your drinks as smooth or seed-free, and will require recharging on a semi-regular basis. But if you're looking for a cordless blender to take on the go, or you want an ultra-compact option that will work for one or two-person households, it's a strong performer.
My main complaint is that cleaning was a little fiddly, which is an issue you could experience with a lot of blenders, but the small blending cup made it very tricky to reach under the blades to remove any debris.
If you're committed to buying a portable blender, I think the Ninja Blast Max could be the best on the market. And for the sub-$100 price tag, it's also a strong contender for those on the market for a budget blender that can tackle ice, frozen fruit and protein powder.