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I’ll admit it: I miss the 2000s frozen yogurt craze. There was a shop on every corner and an endless array of flavors and toppings. I never thought the day would come when I could bring that joy home until I was introduced to the Ninja Swirl.

After testing the Ninja Creami, I got used to having homemade frozen dessert on command. So when Ninja reached out about the debut of its latest Creami device, the Ninja Swirl, which lets you make soft serve at home, I was all ears.

I got a sneak peek of the Ninja Swirl at the brand’s event in early February, and it certainly got me hyped to bring it home. Now that I’ve tested it, here’s what I think about the Ninja Swirl.

Reliving the froyo craze thanks to the Ninja Swirl.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

How does the Ninja Swirl work?

Place the pint on the left side of the machine, and you’ll have fresh soft serve within seconds.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The Ninja Swirl builds off of the original Creami technology. Each Swirl comes with two pints to mix up your concoctions. Once filled, the pints must be frozen for 24 hours before you can “spin” them. You can think of the spinning process as a reverse blender. Instead of the blade sitting at the bottom, it comes down from the top, cutting and spinning through the ice cream until it’s as creamy as what you buy from the store.

Each Creami has a variety of settings, including ice cream, lite ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, and milkshake. Plus, there are settings to re-spin if your mix is not the right texture or you want to add mix-ins.

The Swirl adds a new feature for dispensing soft serve. The pints that come with the Swirl all have a dispensing feature, which is utilized when you place them in the left-hand dispenser. Then, you pull the lever, and the machine pushes the ice cream out.

How is the Ninja Swirl different than the Creami?

The most significant difference between the Swirl and the standard Creami is the ability to make soft serve. The regular and deluxe Ninja Creami produce scoopable ice cream or frozen drinks, and the Swirl can do all of that, plus make soft serve. Part of the soft serve process is the inclusion of a soft serve dispenser that feels like you’re working at an ice cream shop, with a handle to pull and everything.

The biggest difference between soft serve and regular ice cream is air. Soft serve adds more air to achieve a light and fluffy texture compared to denser ice cream. In standard ice cream making, air is added during the churning and freezing process; however, the Ninja Creami brings air into play during the spinning process.

The Ninja Swirl features a setting that adds more air to the product so it’s ready to dispense as soft serve.

It’s creamier than ever

The Ninja Swirl (right) spins pints to creamy perfection compared to the standard Ninja Creami (left).
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

When I was first introduced to the Ninja Swirl, I was intrigued by the brand’s claim that this new device added more air to the spinning process to replicate classic soft serve or froyo. I was cautiously optimistic about this but still hesitant. My previous experience with the Ninja Creami was that getting the right texture, one that’s genuinely creamy and easy to scoop, requires at least one re-spin, but often more.

So when I first used the Ninja Swirl, I wanted to try my go-to Creami recipe for chocolate hazelnut froyo. I mixed plain Greek yogurt with a chocolate hazelnut spread and let it freeze for over 24 hours. When it came time to spin the pint, my jaw was on the floor when, after one spin, it turned out to be the smoothest ice cream (pictured above, right) I’d ever seen from a Creami. Usually, getting anywhere near that consistency requires multiple spins, and even then, it’s still a little too thick (pictured above, left).

Ninja has clearly improved the technology between models and has struck gold. The spinning process is more powerful than ever on the Ninja Swirl, regardless of whether you’re making soft serve or scoopable ice cream.

You never have to leave the house for soft serve again

There’s nothing I love more than leaving the house on a late summer evening to indulge in a cone of soft serve. It’s something you can’t get at home, unlike a pint of ice cream you buy at the grocery store. But now, with the Ninja Swirl, I don’t have to leave the house for soft serve.

Using the Ninja Swirl’s soft serve feature is impossibly easy. After spinning your pint on the soft serve setting, install the soft serve lid attachment and install the whole pint into the dispensing portion. Then, using the lever on the right side of the machine, release the ice cream.

Despite being non-dairy, the pineapple whip I made was exceptionally creamy.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

I tried a couple of different recipes for the soft serve mechanism, both dairy and non-dairy. The creamiest was, unsurprisingly, the dairy-based froyo, which dispensed evenly without any air pockets to disrupt the flow of dispensing. The fruit whip I made, an ode to a Dole whip, still faired pretty well in the machine. It looked really smooth and silky after spinning, so I had high hopes when I went to dispense it.

It had a less consistent flow than the dairy recipe I made. Ninja warns users that they might hear some popping during the soft serve dispensing, just air pockets getting pushed out. I definitely experienced quite a lot of popping with the fruit whip, which resulted in a less consistent flow. My swirls weren’t as pretty as they were with the froyo, but the ice cream’s texture was fine while eating it. It just might not look as Instagrammable as other recipes.

That being said, using the soft serve dispenser is just straight-up fun. Pulling the lever and swirling the ice cream feels like you’re back in the froyo shop.

It’s made for meal preppers and protein maxxers

The Ninja Creami became an internet sensation through creators in the health and fitness space. Users see the device as a way to enjoy ice cream while still hitting their daily macros. At the Ninja event I attended, the brand doubled down on the Swirl’s spot in the health space, collaborating with health and fitness creator John Jung to highlight the new Creamifit setting.

Creamifit is designed to work best with recipes that include protein powders or shakes, which is a huge draw for users already tapping the Creami to make protein-focused desserts.

I had an issue with the Creami in my first review: the pints require 24 hours of freezing before use, so it’s not like you can just have some ice cream on a whim. That remains the case for the Ninja Swirl, so it’s best fit for meal preppers who want to prep a few pints at the beginning of the week so they’re ready to go when the mood strikes.

It isn’t great for single servings — or a crowd

The only real drawback I’ve found to the Ninja Swirl’s soft-serve feature is that it’s not great for single servings or a crowd. At 16 oz, it’s best used to produce four four-ounce servings. At the Ninja event, I noticed the Ninja team needed to swap out the pints after about four people served themselves. So, if you’re planning on serving a crowd, prepare to have some backup pints ready.

If it’s just you enjoying the soft serve, you’ll have leftovers. The issue here is that the ice cream dispenses directly from the pint in which it’s frozen. It gets pretty messy during dispensing, so it’s not great to throw it back in the freezer like I would with the pints I used in the standard Creami.

That being the case, I found myself reaching for the Swirl a lot less during the week. When it’s just me and my partner, we don’t want to polish off a pint, just the two of us, and we don’t want to deal with the messy leftover pint. So, I waited until we had a couple more people over before using the soft serve function.

If you want to enjoy the soft serve in single servings, I recommend having a clean pint on hand and moving your leftovers there after use.

It’s still way too loud — and even bigger than before

The number one complaint you will hear about the Ninja Creami is its loudness. Imagine a powerful vacuum and then crank it up a couple of notches kind of loud. This makes it less than ideal for parents looking to sneak in a late-night snack when the kids are asleep, apartment dwellers sharing a wall with their neighbors, or pet owners. My cat seriously hates the Ninja Swirl, even if he begs me for the fruits of its labor.

Unfortunately, the Swirl is just as loud as the Creami, as you can hear from the video above. While it’s a total pain hearing it go on for six minutes, it’s an unavoidable part of the Swirl and Creami experience.

The Ninja Swirl takes up valuable counter space.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Because of the addition of the soft serve dispenser, the Ninja Swirl is a lot bigger than the Creami. As an apartment dweller with already limited counter space, I may not be able to justify making the Swirl a permanent fixture in my kitchen. However, if you have endless counter or storage space or just really love ice cream, making room for it is a worthy sacrifice.

Is the Ninja Swirl worth it?

Should you indulge in soft serve at home?
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Yes, the Ninja Swirl is worth it. Having tested both the standard Ninja Creami and the Ninja Swirl, the Swirl is the better investment as an ice cream maker. It has improved performance, requiring fewer re-spins to achieve a creamy consistency. Soft serve or froyo fiends will love the new dispensing feature, which is exceptionally easy to use and, not to mention, really fun.

There are certainly drawbacks, such as its size and how loud it is to use, but if you’re prepared for both, there’s no reason that it will inhibit your experience using it.

It will cost you $349.99; however, with the capability to make both soft serve and scoopable ice cream, it’s the best-valued Creami device yet.