I Tested Ninja's Sold Out Frozen Drink Machine & Officially Decided If It's Worth It Or Not

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

If there's one thing I will always order without fail, it's a frozen drink. I don't care if I'm in a heatwave or snow storm; if there's a slushy drink on the menu, I'm getting it. A margarita, daiquiri, and glass of rosé are all objectively better when frozen. But the experience is primarily limited to when you're at a bar.

Sure, you can blend your own frozen drinks at home. But it doesn't quite replicate the magic of having a machine churning your beverages on the countertop. I've resigned myself to a life without constant slushies at my fingertips...until Ninja announced their newest kitchen appliance.

The SLUSHi Professional Frozen Drink Maker uses proprietary RapidChill technology to freeze nearly every type of beverage in as little as 15 minutes. And because the cooling mechanism comes in the form of a chilling cylinder, you don't have to worry about ice diluting your drink.

And when I say it works with nearly every beverage, I'm not kidding. You can make homemade frappés, mocktails, cocktails, milkshakes, and more in the same machine. Each category comes with a preset button, and you can also customize the texture by adjusting the temperature.

I got my hands on a SLUSHi and decided to put it to the test. Does it really accomplish what it says it does, or is it too good to be true?

When it first arrived, my initial impression was that this machine is heavy. Ninja says that the SLUSHi weighs 24.25 pounds, but it feels much heavier than that. It's also a fairly bulky appliance, which only compounded the difficulty as I hauled it up to my apartment. I doubt that this appliance will stay permanently parked on the average kitchen counter. So if you plan on only pulling it out when you need it, be prepared to use some upper body strength.

Despite the weight and high volume of liquid it holds, the SLUSHi takes up a relatively small amount of counter space thanks to its narrow dimensions. It is nearly 17" tall, though, so it may not be able to fit under wall-mounted cabinets.

Ninja also advertises the SLUSHi's trademarked Whisperchill compressor, which quietly operates for up to 12 hours. If you're hosting a party and have music playing, the sound of the machine will fade into the background like white noise. However, you shouldn't expect it to be silent. And beware of putting things that should stay cold nearby—the compressor generates a fair amount of heat.

Kitchen tools and appliances always claim that their products are easy to clean. It's normally a lie, but with the SLUSHi it's 100% true. You just need to pull a lever to release the beverage vessel from the rest of the machine, and it's super easy to run under the sink and scrub down with either a sponge or bottle brush.

The machine also offers a rinse cycle for when you want to quickly clean the machine before switching to a different recipe. I was most skeptical of how easy it would be to clean, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Now that we've unpacked the logistical elements, let's ask the most important question: how well does it work? I'm happy to report that it works just as well, if not better, than described.

With specialty kitchen appliances, there's often a learning curve before you get in the groove—but that's not applicable to the SLUSHi. The preset buttons make it especially easy to just set it and forget it. And if your recipe is off—like if it contains too much alcohol or not enough sugar—the machine can sense it and will set off an alert to adjust your ratios accordingly.

My maiden voyage for the SLUSHi was simply adding cranberry juice cocktail to the vessel and letting it run. And, to my surprise, Ninja wasn't kidding when they said it can freeze drinks in as little as 15 minutes. I barely had time to sit down and catch up on Love Island before my slushy was ready to serve. I tried it again with Coca-Cola, which froze in around 20 minutes.

As a self-proclaimed frozen drink fanatic, but I can confidently say that the Ninja SLUSHi creates the optimal texture. You don't have to worry about random chunks of ice that your blender missed. You don't have to make drinks to order to prevent them from melting too early. You just add your drink and let it run for as long as you want.

The Ninja SLUSHi is currently sold out, so you need to join the waitlist before you can get your hands on it. But I can wholeheartedly recommend it for anybody who enjoys frozen drinks as much as I do. Your piña colada parties will never be the same.

You Might Also Like

• Insanely Easy Weeknight Dinners To Try This Week

• 29 Insanely Delicious Vodka Cocktails