I recently started experimenting with my Ninja Swirl, and I have to say—I’m pretty impressed so far!
For my first round of testing, I didn’t use a traditional ice cream recipe. Instead, I went with some quick experiments just to see how versatile the machine really is.
Carnation Instant Breakfast as “Ice Cream”
This one was just for fun—I wasn’t sure what would happen. I poured in a Carnation Instant Breakfast mix to see if the Ninja Swirl could turn it into a frozen treat. To make it work, you do need to hit the Ice Cream button, and then give it a respin for the texture to really come together. After that, it came out smooth, creamy, and honestly pretty close to actual ice cream. Definitely a win in my book.
Peach Sorbet from Canned Peaches
Next, I tried using canned peaches in fruit juice. For this one, the Ninja Swirl has a Sorbet button—and that’s all it took. The first spin came out perfectly with a light, refreshing texture.
Now here’s the interesting part: before that first spin, I had to let the peaches defrost a little because the bottom of the container wasn’t closed properly. Once it thawed enough to fix, I closed it and ran the sorbet cycle, and it came out just right.
However, when I froze the leftovers again and tried to respin later, it didn’t come back smooth. Instead, it broke apart into tiny bits and looked like Dippin’ Dots. My son thought it was fun, but it wasn’t sorbet-textured anymore.
It makes me wonder—maybe sorbet needs to partially defrost before respinning to get back to that smooth texture? I’ll be testing that out next time to see if it makes a difference.
What’s Next?
What I love most so far is that the Ninja Swirl really can mimic the texture of ice cream—that was my biggest concern before trying it. Now, I want to test it with:
- A custard-style ice cream base, since those tend to come out creamier.
- A re spun ice cream batch, just to see if it keeps its texture.
- And, by special request from my son, a milkshake.
I’ll keep updating this post as I try new recipes and techniques. For now, I’m happy to say the Ninja Swirl passed my first tests with flying colors.
Tips & Takeaways
- Use the Ice Cream button + Respin for Carnation Instant Breakfast (or similar mixes) to get that true creamy texture.
- For canned fruit sorbet, the Sorbet button works perfectly the first time.
- Refreezing sorbet and respinning doesn’t bring back the same smooth texture—but I’m going to test if letting it defrost slightly before respinning makes a difference.
- The machine really does deliver ice cream-like texture, which makes it worth experimenting with.
