Ninja CREAMi Scoop and Swirl Soft Serve and Ice Cream Maker with 2x Tubs, 13 Functions, Makes Ice Cream, Soft Serve, Gelato, Sorbet, Milkshakes and More, Mix-In Option, Platinum Silver, NC701UK

This Swirl by CREAMi makes really good ice cream and frozen desserts. I was initially concerned that it might create grainy results that were not smooth, but that’s not a problem at all. There is sometimes a very thin coating of unprocessed desert just around the sides or the very bottom, but it’s easy to mix into the processed part and is absolutely minimal. That is preferable to having the blade run too close to the plastic, shaving bits off into the tub - which mine does NOT do. The build quality is just excellent, and the whole design is very well thought out. It’s easy to clean, and all of the parts are easy to access. It arrives in eco-friendly packaging with no plastic to be seen. You get comprehensive instructions with tons of online help, including videos. The Swirl is littered with easily removed stickers containing hints and tips and QR codes to get help. I’ve seen lots of negative reviews complaining that this is just a glorified blender and not an ice cream maker. The fact is that an ice cream maker is just a glorified mixer that happens to use a chilled bowl, either via a compressor or pre-frozen. I think that the ability to pre-prepare the mixes and freeze them is actually more convenient than the traditional makers, and the cheap ones without a compressor still need you to pre-freeze the bowl in advance, which is typically bulkier than the Creami jugs. The objective is just to remove the ice crystals, so it doesn’t matter if it’s via stirring whilst freezing, or via processing AFTER freezing as long as it works - which it does. The Creami has a lot more options and versatility, though, and as somebody who previously owned a big expensive compressor-based ice cream maker from a leading Italian brand, I can tell you this is a much easier and more flexible solution. As for noise, it IS loud, but it only lasts 2-5 minutes and is no worse than a food processor or blender. It’s true that if you don’t eat it all, you put it back in the freezer, then have to reprocess, but that’s just the same as any ice cream maker - except with a traditional machine, you can’t reprocess! Once it's been processed once, it's no different to any shop-bought ice cream in the freezer. Overall, this machine is fantastic. It works well, creates excellent results and is very flexible. Don’t be put off by people moaning that it doesn’t “make” ice cream but just mixes it. That’s all any machine does! Trust me when I say that making a traditional mix for a traditional machine is much more work than this, and it still takes a good 30 minutes to an hour to freeze in the machine.

Excellent machine, but I do love my gadgets. It is quite noisy for first 2 minutes then gets quieter. One tub makes 6 quite large ice creams. The ice cream mix i buy does tend to melt rather quickly so you need to put back in freezer if not using again straight away, so if using a cones you'd do yourself a favour by buying a cone holder. I've only used it for soft serve ice-cream so far but intend to try the smoothies and others real soon. I definitely love it. Bit expensive but so is most things nowadays.

This is an expensive machine and there is one thing about the whole of the Creami range that needs to be factored in when purchasing: these are not traditional ice cream making machines. They neither contain a compressor (and freeze an ice cream themselves after churning) nor use a pre-chilled bowl to chill a mix whilst churning. Instead, Creami machines work by forcing a small blender-like blade (‘paddle’ in the manufacturer’s terminology) through a tub of pre-frozen non-churned dessert mix in a ‘spinning’ process to create a churned-style effect. On its soft serve settings the Swirl machine takes the processing further (by running for longer) to a super soft, smooth consistency which can then be extruded through a swirl creator. Where an ice cream machine with a compressor can yield frozen ice cream/desserts within a couple of hours, this requires 24 hours of freezing any base mixes before they can be spun, although once you get to the spinning part this is quick, easy, and less messy than a regular ice cream maker. The machine is pretty tall. Too tall to go on our worktops as it's above the base of the top cabinets and too deep to sit in front of them. I'm currently running this on the kitchen table. It's a good looking machine: well made and quite imposing, and feels like a quality item. If you already have a Creami or Creami Deluxe machine and were hoping to to be able to reuse extra pots with this machine, it's no good: the Swirl by Creami machine has its own style of pots which include a release nozzle for soft serve, and are a different shape from the older styles. I did successfully transfer a batch of frozen protein powder mix from one of my older pots into one of the Swirl pots and then process that so that I could try using my machine without waiting a full 24hrs for a fresh mix to freeze in a Swirl tub on first receipt, but it's a little bit fiddly. When creating your mixes, make sure that the Swirl tubs are fully set to ‘Close’ at the nozzle. If they're not, you may get some leakage that prevents the pots from closing properly when frozen and then they won't fit inside the outer bowl for spinning because the shaped parts of the tub won't align with the holder parts of the bowl. So far I have tried this with a protein mix (I definitely need to tweak the recipe I used: I attempted one without adding any Angel Delight style pudding mix and it was too soft by far, so that soft serve just collapsed), a basic but really flavourful non-cook strawberry ice cream recipe I got with a little Kenwood ice cream machine years ago, a frozen yogurt mix, and a classic vanilla custard based ice cream. They all work nicely, but - with the exception of the protein mix, which was too soft - I have found that there are more noticeable ice crystals than in traditionally churned, then frozen mixes unless they're spun more than once. There are masses of customisation options and I do like the wide range of choices for base mix types, add ins, and texturing. The spinning process is (at least initially) extremely noisy. It slows down part way through cycles and is a bit quieter then. On the soft serve side, you get 4 servings from a tub of ice cream. The dispensing nozzle is part way along the side of the tub so the extruder pusher can't move to beyond this, and a good serving’s worth of ice cream gets left behind that can't be extruded. The pot design is a bit fiddly and less easy to clean if washing by hand. All the removable parts are dishwasher safe, so this is useful, but I’m waiting for a warranty repair on my dishwasher and currently doing this by hand - the nozzles on these need little bottle brushes to get in and clean them out. Considering the timings and amount of usable ice cream you get in a tub, the included two tubs aren't really sufficient. You get three tubs with a basic Creami machine, so to have less with the new top of the line version seems mean. Extra pots are, at time of writing, pretty expensive at £25.99 for two (with nozzles and storage lids) from the manufacturer - but I would be loathe to jeopardise my warranty by using cheaper third party tubs which might not fit as precisely to either of the working parts of the machine. After extruding any leftover ice cream (or other frozen dessert) in the tub has been compacted and so goes hard and crystalline if put back in the freezer. This requires respinning to regain even a scoopable texture. Overall, the machine is really good. I like it, and like the ceremony of using the soft serve lever, which has attracted a lot of interest from family and friends - at the moment I can't keep up with demand with the two supplied Swirl tubs. The machine is very easy to use, and there is clear labelling on parts to help guide you through the usage process. But I’m not convinced that it's £350 worth of great. It's slow, because of the necessity for 24 hour pre-freezing of mixes, and does leave things a bit crystalline. And for the amount of time it’s actually working (the spinning process for each pot of frozen mix takes at most a few minutes, and only a few seconds for extruding soft serve) it seems very, very expensive. I don't dislike my purchase here, it's good fun and we have had some really enjoyable results, but on balance I could be more impressed by it at the price point. I think it's overpriced by something like £50, especially considering the more limited number of pots included vs the original and Deluxe Creami machines. I have also been frustrated to find that it wasn't possible to register this with Ninja (necessary for the two year warranty) without emailing Customer Services because their website didn't recognise the model number (hopefully this will be fixed shortly, but it's not great). Manufacturer packaging was excellent: Ninja are great at providing sustainable packaging solutions that hold products securely, and that was true of this machine too. There was even a fabric storage bag. I could see this being useful over the Winter months when the machine is in use less. Update: 7/8/25 I messed up my custard mix for an ice cream (overheated and it went scrambled eggy), decided to freeze and process it anyway and see what would happen. This little machine pulled it back and turned the spoiled texture into a smooth, creamy ice cream. Pros - easy to use - high degree of customisation - masses of options - well made - very appealing for friends/family - when it's actually going it's really quick - turns a spoiled custard (overheated so went scrambled-eggy) into a perfectly smooth ice cream Cons - high price point - only two tubs included (the basic Creami, currently less than half the price, comes with 3) - noisy - no chilling capabilities so all mixes require 24hr pre-freezing - requires model-specific tubs

This appliance is worth every cent - outstanding. Easy to use and so much fun - highly recommend and worth the extra money to get the soft serve function

Brilliant so far for making soft serve ice cream. Like every Ninja product, this is idiot proof.

Best purchased i have made this year, quite noisy in use but the results are fantastic