Check out 50+ Delicious and EASY Ninja Creami Recipes! If you're new to the Ninja Creami, or craving something new, I've got you covered! Whether you are looking for basic desserts like strawberry or your favorite chocolate ice cream, a classic vanilla ice cream or something a little more complex like peach cobbler frozen yogurt or ice cream made with rosemary and goat cheese or fresh raspberries, I've got the perfect homemade ice cream recipe for you!
The Ninja Creami machine is like no other ice cream maker out there! It transforms simple ingredients like canned fruit into a super creamy refreshing treat! It works in a totally different way that allows you to make customizable treats, so it's important to have the right recipe when making a frozen treat in the Ninja Creami.

If you've heard of the Pacojet, it's pretty similar. Unlike most traditional ice cream makers, the Ninja Creami ice cream machine does not incorporate much air into the mixture. It also uses a creamerizer paddle or blade that basically shaves the mixture instead of a traditional ice cream maker paddle to incorporate the ingredients. You'll start off with frozen solid bases, remove them from the freezer, put into the outer bowl, process with the touch of a button, remove from the machine, add in unlimited mix-in combinations, process on mix-ins, and voila....you've got perfectly creamy delicious treats!
With the Ninja Creami, the mixture needs to be frozen for 24 hours and then processed, and finally, the chunky ingredients get mixed in at the end. The process for making the ice cream is different, so you really should start your Ninja Creami adventures using a recipe that is made just for the Ninja Creami, first, before experimenting on your own.
If you are looking for information on how to use the Ninja Creami, answers to the most commonly asked questions, and substitutes for sweeteners, be sure to check out my full post on Ninja Creami FAQs here!
Table of Contents
- Why is my ice cream dry and crumbly?
- Can you put frozen fruit in the Ninja Creami?
- Why is there a greasy/waxy feel to my Ninja Creami ice cream?
- Why is there ice on the outside of my Ninja Creami ice cream?
- How long can I freeze my ice cream?
- What can I freeze in the Ninja Creami?
- Do I need to use cream cheese in the Ninja Creami recipes?
- Can I use a protein shake in the Ninja Creami?
- How do I make dole whip in the Ninja Creami?
- Can I use dairy and sugar substitutes in my Ninja Creami?
- What sugar substitutes can I use in the Ninja Creami?
- Can I use non-dairy milk in the Ninja Creami?
- Do you really have to wait 24 hours for Ninja Creami?
- How do you remove the bump in the Ninja Creami ice cream?
- How do I make the ice cream creamier?
- What's a good base recipe for the Ninja Creami?
- Where can I buy more Ninja Creami pints?
- What do I do with Ninja Creami leftovers?
- What is re-spin used for?
- What stabilizers can I use in the Ninja Creami?
- Do the pints from the original Ninja Creami work in the Deluxe version?
- Where can I buy Ninja Creami Koozies?
- What's the best Ninja Creami Cookbook?
- How do you convert original Ninja Creami recipes to work in the Ninja Creami Deluxe?
- Can you make healthy ice cream in the Ninja Creami?
- Can you put ice cubes in the Ninja Creami?
- Can you use store-bought ice in the Ninja Creami?
- What's the difference between the original Ninja Creami and the Ninja Creami Deluxe?
Tips and Tricks for Using the Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker
To help resolve this issue, after processing, add 1-2 tablespoons of dairy and then reprocess.
Usually, if your ice cream comes out dry or crumbly it's due to one of the following reasons:
*Your freezer is too cold. Try to adjust your freezer to be a little warmer or let your ice cream sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes before processing it.
*Your recipe does not have enough fat in it. Try adding in a little bit of a higher fat dairy product to your recipe next time.
*Your recipe may not have enough sugar in it. The less sugar in the recipe, the icier and crumblier the ice cream will be. Regular sugar, honey, or corn syrup can be used to increase the sugar content if desired.
Yes, you can. But, frozen fruit either needs to be thawed out before using, blended with the other ingredients, or have a liquid, like dairy added to the pint to fill in all of the gaps. You cannot only use frozen fruit as it could damage the machine.
There's likely too much fat in your recipe, which oftentimes, comes from adding in too much heavy cream. The heavy whipping cream has a tendency to turn greasy or almost butterlike when there is too much added or it is over-mixed. To prevent this from happening, use less heavy whipping cream or substitute it with half and half or milk. I find that using whole milk and half and half works really well! The results are super creamy and not greasy or waxy feeling!
To melt the ice so that it doesn't affect the texture of the ice cream, microwave the pint for 10 seconds, run the pint under warm water, or thaw the pint for 10 minutes before processing.
It depends. If you are keeping the ice cream in the Ninja pint container with the lid sealed tightly and are freezing it in a cold freezer (between 9 degrees F and -7 degrees F), your ice cream will keep for several weeks, even months. However, if you transfer your ice cream to another container or freeze it in a freezer that is not quite as cold (or that is accessed a lot/door opened and closed often), the lifetime of your ice cream will decrease greatly to just a few days and you will likely end up with freezer-burned ice cream.
All Ninja Creami mixtures need to have some fat, sugar, or dairy, and a stabilizer in it. You can use dairy and sugar substitutes. You can freeze milk, heavy cream, protein shakes, canned fruit in syrup, bananas, oatmeal, yogurt, prepared drinks, coffee, fruit, some vegetables, cake, and cookies....really the options are endless. Just remember that you need to have fat, sugar, or dairy, and a stabilizer. You cannot freeze water, flavored water with no sugar fat or dairy, ice cubes, or frozen fruit without a liquid to fill the gaps. These mixtures are more likely to be hard for the machine to process and could break the machine.
No. You do not need to use cream cheese. But, you will need to use some other type of stabilizer or the ice cream will be soft. See the full list of stabalizers here.
Yes! You can! There are a ton of different recipes using protein shakes in the Ninja Creami Community on Facebook. Here's a link to the thread on these recipes.
You can order Dole whip mix on Amazon. Check it out here. But, you can make something almost the same with canned pineapple. Here's my recipe for this.
Yes. You can. Some of the substitutes may create a less creamy texture though. A good substitute for dairy is coconut milk/cream.
You can use monk fruit sweetener, stevia, splenda, agave nectar, honey and many more sugar substitutes in the Ninja Creami! Check out the full list of sugar substitutes that you can use in the Ninja Creami in the FAQ post. Click here to see the list.
Yes! You can. You can use oat milk, almond milk or coconut cream. There are endless options for using non-dairy milk in the Ninja Creami. Check out the full list of dairy-free options that you can use in the Ninja Creami in the FAQ post. Click here to see the list.
According to Ninja Kitchen, yes. It takes 24 hours for the mixture to evenly freeze throughout. You need to have a uniformly frozen block of the base mixture in order for it to process correctly. Many have frozen for a shorter time and been successful. However, doing so may void the warranty.
Technically, you don't need to remove the bump that forms during freezing. But, many choose to do so to ensure there is no damage to their machine. To remove the bump, let the container of ice cream sit on the counter for about 10 minutes and then use a spoon or flat utensil to flatten/shave off the bump. Many have found that freezing the containers of ice cream without the lids helps to eliminate the bump.
*The bump that forms during the freezing process is different than freezing on an unlevel surface. If you have frozen your container and it is unlevel, you must level it before processing. To do so, let the container sit out on the counter ore microwave it just long enough until it melts and you are able to level it. Refreeze the ice cream and process once full frozen again.
Add a fresh banana to your base recipe before freezing. Bananas do great things for the texture! But, you can taste the banana flavor. Or, re-spin the treat. Usually, re-spinning with a tablespoon of liquid like milk will make the sweet treat even creamier!
I usually start out with my recipe for Ninja Creami Vanilla Bean iced cream and modify it to add different flavors and mix-ins.
Amazon and Kohls seem to be the places that have them in stock the most often and for the lowest price. Find them on Amazon here and on Kohls here.
No mix-ins: Smooth out the top of the ice cream and put it back in the freezer. Freeze until hard and then process again on the same initial process that you used.
Mix-ins added: Most mix-ins do not do well when they are reprocessed. They end up getting pulverized and fully combined into the base mix. So, if you have added mix-ins, it's best to eat the entire pint (or share it with a friend). If that's not possible, you can freeze it again and then let it sit on the counter until it's soft enough to scoop. I don't recommend spinning the mixture in the Ninja Creami again if it has mix-ins already added.
The re-spin function is used to re-spin a treat that has already been processed and is soft. If you have re-frozen an already spun treat, process on the original option after removing it from the freezer. Re-spin is only used for treats that have already been processed and not added back to the freezer.
If you are going to be adding mix-ins, you likely don't need to also do a re-spin before adding the mix-ins as the mix-ins process also acts like a respin. If you process on ice cream (or whatever function you are using), do a respin, and then use the mix-ins function, your ice cream will likely be soupy and if there's heavy cream in the mixture it could turn butterlike.
Check out the full list of stabilizers that you can use in the Ninja Creami in the FAQ post. Click here to see the list.
No. The original version of the Ninja Creami uses pints that actually hold 2 cups. The Ninja Creami containers, even though they are called pints, actually hold 3 cups. The containers are not interchangeable. You must use the Ninja-branded containers and storage lids to create your treats. They are specifically designed to fit inside of the outer bowl and lock in place while the treats are processed.
Several folks in the Ninja Creami Community on Facebook make and sell koozies to hold the Ninja Creami pint containers. Click here to see a list of options available.
I might be a little biased here as I have created my own Ninja Creami Ecookbook! But, my cookbook has 56 recipes that have actually been tested and created specifically for the Ninja Creami. It also comes with several pages of tips and tricks as well as substitution lists. Click here to learn more about my Ninja Creami Ebook!
If you are looking for an already printed, physical book, then the Ninja CREAMi Cookbook for Beginners, published by Ninja is the only book that I would recommend. Many (most), of the Ninja Creami cookbooks available, contain generic ice cream recipes that have not been made in the Ninja Creami. Oftentimes the measurements are off, the process is not specific to the Ninja Creami, the pictures are few and far between, the paper used can be very thin (almost like a newspaper), and the recipes and pictures may have been taken from other sources without permission.
The original machine holds 2 cups in the containers and the Ninja Creami Deluxe holds 3 cups. So, for most recipes, you will just need to multiply the recipe by 1.5 to create enough base to fill the Deluxe container. Lucky for you I've made it super easy! All of my Ninja Creami recipes have the option to multiply the ingredients by 1.5 right in the recipe card! Just click the 1.5 and the ingredients automatically update for you!
You sure can! One of the beautiful things about the Ninja Creami is the ability to adjust all recipes to fit your own dietary needs. You can take total control of your ingredients and make any type of treat that you would like! Whether you are looking for a low-calorie, keto, high-protein, vegan options or full-flavored ice cream, you can make it all using the Ninja Creami in just a couple of easy steps! It's really as simple as substituting the ingredients to fit your needs. If you want to make high-protein ice cream, you can use protein shakes or add protein powder. If you want to make low-sugar ice cream, you can make your ice cream base and use sugar substitutes. The options are endless!
No. You cannot put ice cubes in the Ninja Creami! The Ninja Creami is not a blender. Putting ice cubes in the Ninja Creami will be very hard on the machine and will likely damage it.
You can, if you are making a milkshake. It's not recommended to put store-bought ice cream into the containers and then freeze and process them.
Both models come with a recipe inspiration guide, dual-drive motors, and Ninja's creamify™ technology that transforms ice particles into a creami™ treat!
Original:
***(7) one-touch programs: Choose between Ice Cream, Sorbet, Gelato, Milkshake, Smoothie Bowl, Lite Ice Cream, and Mix-in.
***Containers hold 2 cups (16 oz.) of base mixture.
Deluxe:
***(11) one-touch programs: Choose between Ice Cream, Sorbet, Gelato, Milkshake, Smoothie Bowl, Lite Ice Cream, Mix-in, Slushi, Italian Ice, Frozen Drink, Creamiccino, and Frozen Yogurt
***Containers hold 3 cups (24 oz.) of base mixture.
***Can process a partial container at a time. Process just the top to eat now and save the bottom for later.

Ninja Creami Banana Cream Pie PROTEIN Ice Cream
It's basically banana cream pie that's been transformed into the creamiest protein packed ice cream you've ever had!

Ninja Creami Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup PROTEIN Ice Cream
The most delicious, creamy peanut buttery protein ice cream you'll ever make! And...it doesn't even taste like a protein shake!!

Ninja Creami Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
The perfect combination of sweet vanilla ice cream mixed with mini chocolate chips! You just can't go wrong with chocolate chip ice cream! Use cream cheese or pudding mix for this recipe!

Ninja Creami Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
This is the PERFECT base recipe to use! Change it up by adding different extracts and mixins! There is just something so great about the rich vanilla flavor that vanilla bean paste give to ice cream. Yes, vanilla extract does the job, but vanilla beans give the ice cream such a rich and sweet vanilla flavor that you just can’t get from the extract alone.

Ninja Creami Mint Chocolate Ice Cream
Do you know what goes really well with mint? Chocolate! Mint and chocolate make the perfect flavor combination. My secret ingredient ensures that there are little chocolatey flakes throughout ALL of the ice cream!

Ninja Creami Strawberry Ice Cream
Strawberry ice cream is one of the most popular…and easiest to make! For this ice cream recipe, you can choose to use fresh or frozen strawberries!

Ninja Creami Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
The chocolate, peanut butter, and banana flavors are intense in this recipe. It's not a wimpy, mildly flavored ice cream! It's packed with a ton of flavor! One of the tricks to this recipe is using dark cocoa powder!

Ninja Creami Frozen Yogurt
This recipe cold not be any easier! Ninja Creami frozen yogurt is easy to make and you can customize it to make any flavor frozen yogurt that you want!
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Lauren Cardona
Tasty Traveler #1
Hi, I’m Lauren but you can call me Tasty Traveler #1!
I have always had a passion for food, cocktails, and travel. It has become more pronounced over the last several years since I have had the opportunity to do so many of the things that I love. One of my favorite co...
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Luis Cardona
Tasty Traveler #2
Hi, I’m Luis! (I like to think of myself as Tasty Traveler #1 but Lauren says I’m Tasty Traveler #2!)
I too have a love for food, travel, and all things in between! Over the past several years I have found more time to be adventurous with things that I eat, the plac...
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