Ninja NC301 CREAMi Ice Cream Maker, for Gelato, Mix-ins, Milkshakes, Sorbet, Smoothie Bowls & More, 7 One-Touch Programs, with (2) Pint Containers & Lids, Compact Size, Perfect for Kids, Silver

This is now the third time in my life I've tried a home ice cream maker. Well, third time is the charm! This machine is AMAZING! The chocolate hazelnut gelato you see pictured above is made with skim milk and sweetened with allulose, making it low calorie while still completely delicious and creamy. How the machine gets skim milk so creamy I have no idea! It's even better if you use a little half and half. The pint I made tonight was 315 calories for the whole pint, and it has exactly what I want in it. I hate all other non-sugar sweeteners, and I prefer not to have tons of fat and sugar. Here are the advantages of the Creami over my discarded ice cream makers of the past:--it seems to be nearly fool proof. You won't always get a great result if you're just winging it, but you do generally end up with actual ice cream. In the other ice cream makers, if you got the proportions wrong, it would sometimes not really freeze or it would get icy.--It's so much easier to get the ice cream out and to clean! The ice cream maker I had with a compressor was such a pain--you had to get the ice cream out around the paddle, or dig the paddle out of the ice cream, and invariably you end up making a mess. The Creami pints are so much easier to deal with. Even the lid, which is a little more annoying, is pretty easy to clean once you know what to do. (Read the manual, even though you have to go online to get it--it's important to take out the rubber gasket and clean under it.)--It doesn't matter if you have leftovers that freeze hard as a rock. We never enjoyed eating ice cream from our other makers on the next day, because they always hardened so much in the freezer. (And you had to make so much we always had leftovers.) With the Creami, if the leftovers freeze hard, you can just process them again and have just as good an experience the next day.The only real downsides I can see are 1) you have to wait 24 hours for your pint to freeze before you can make it into ice cream, and 2) the horrendous noise the machine makes. It's seriously loud, and the sound changes in alarming ways as the blade makes its way down and back up. The first few times I ran it, I was afraid something was going to break or blow up or something. I am now starting to get used to it and know the weird noises are normal. Dealing with the racket is totally worth it!If you've tried an ice cream maker before and decided it wasn't worth the hassle, give this one a try. It's wonderful!

I purchased this to make desserts that are "healthy". I've done keto and low-carb on and off and currently am not following any particular diet. This would have worked for any of them though.The ninja machine works great. The resulting texture and flavor is the biggest variable and depends completely on your ingredients. At first I tried using regular ingredients I thought tasted good together (like coffee and milk or low carb chocolate milk). Everything came out bland. I tried using just almond milk and a chocolate protein powder and that also tasted bad even though I like them when mixed as a regular liquid. So, I had to really experiment with new ingredients. I couldn't just make an "ice cream" version of my regular concoctions.The biggest game changer for me has been mixing in whey protein. Specifically vanilla whey protein powder. I'm finally getting a sweet flavor (without a ton of sugar/carbs). Also, the texture is finally creamy instead of dry and powdery.The best thing I've made, which I'm hooked on now, is getting frozen fruit, blending orange juice with vanilla whey protein powder, and pouring the liquid over the frozen fruit. Then freezing for 24 hours.My fav Jamba Juice is the c-boost smoothie and I found that you can get that flavor by using bananas and peaches for the solid fruit and then pouring the orange juice vanilla protein powder mixture over them.The only problem is the fruit and juice have a lot of carbs. I think to achieve a low-carb dessert you need more processed ingredients like sugar free pudding powder and things like that.Long story short - you can't just mix anything and expect it to work. You will probably have to experiment to get what you want to make actually work. The recipes out there have random ingredients like pudding mix and erythritol for a reason.I highly recommend buying some extra containers and lids. I like making batches, and not having to immediately clean my container after eating and make a new one for tomorrow.I also recommend trying the different settings. I read a lot of recipes that recommended other settings, but my fav is "Smoothie Bowl".The mix-ins setting has been... weird. I've used it to try adding hard things like peanut m&ms. It works fine, but for some reason doesn't taste incorporated the way ice cream with added ingredients would taste. I don't really use the mix-ins option anymore.Yes, it's loud. There's no way you'd turn this on with a sleeping baby in the house. But it's not a deal breaker by any means. I just warn the fam before turning it on the way I'd warn them if I was turning a vacuum on if they're watching tv. You can't hear over it.Super easy to clean. Not like a complicated juicer. Easier to clean than a blender.You don't have to fill to the max fill line. I usually eat about half that amount.I've had success refreezing and reblending but people warn that this won't work for many recipes.Overall, if you're not married to some vision of a recipe you want to make and you're willing to experiment, this thing is awesome. I really wouldn't bother getting out ice and trying to make a smoothie every night if I didn't have this, so it really has converted my night time sweets snacking to something healthier. The ice cream texture is way more satisfying than a smoothie anyway.Last recommendation - get a plastic spoon! This is colder than ice cream and I get a cold-burn when I eat a whole creami with a metal spoon.

Great for protein ice cream and someone who loves to customize! I will agree with other reviews saying this thing is very loud, I would equate it to the sound level of a blender so not terrible but I probably wouldn't use it after 9pm if your in an apartment complex unless you want annoyed neighbors. I would totally recommend it if you're on the fence. I found a bunch of great protein ice cream recipes for the creami on tiktok and Pinterest and I cannot get enough.