TL;DR: Bought on a whim at $349.99 CAD, thirty days later it's still on the counter. The soft-serve handle earns the premium over the base Creami, the protein mode replaced a shake habit, and three things about it will genuinely annoy you. See the current CA price →
01Why I skipped the original Creami
The plain Ninja Creami (NC301C) has been viral since 2023. I resisted. A single-purpose countertop appliance in a Toronto galley kitchen is a big ask, and my old KitchenAid ice-cream bowl gathered dust for years.
When the Scoop & Swirl NC701C landed at $349.99 CAD with soft-serve mode plus 13 programs, the pitch clicked. One machine, hard scoop and a swirled cone from the same base. That was the hook.
I unboxed it on a Saturday. Setup took maybe six minutes. Two 16-oz pints, a Creamerizer paddle and a soft-serve handle sit on top of a base that weighs 22 pounds. Heavy, yes. Sturdy, also yes. It landed on the counter beside the toaster and hasn't moved since.
How we tested this machine
02Week one: the vanilla test
Every ice-cream machine gets judged on plain vanilla. I mixed cream, whole milk, sugar and a split vanilla bean. Froze it 24 hours. Ran the Ice Cream program.
The Creamerizer shaves the frozen puck from the top down instead of churning air into liquid, and the noise is real: around 80 dB for about 90 seconds. My cat left the room.
What came out was smoother than I expected. Not Häagen-Dazs smooth, but easily on par with a mid-tier shop pint. One Respin pass tightened the texture up. The soft-serve handle produced a picture-perfect swirl for a cone. My partner, a harsh critic of homemade ice cream, said "oh" and asked for a second scoop. That was the moment.
03Week two: chasing protein macros
The CreamiFit program is why a lot of people buy this thing. You dump cottage cheese, a scoop of whey, some milk and sweetener into the pint, freeze and spin. The result is a 400-calorie tub of what tastes like frozen custard with 60 grams of protein. My chocolate peanut-butter version landed at 380 calories total. It replaced my post-gym shake for two weeks.
The learning curve is real. Your first attempts will taste chalky if the ratio is wrong. Bump the fat — a splash of cream or a tablespoon of Greek yogurt — and the mouthfeel goes from gritty to genuinely dessert-like. The official recipe guide gets you 80 percent of the way there. The rest is your own experimenting.
04Week three: the party test
Six friends over. I made three pints in advance — mint chip, salted caramel and a mango sorbet — and ran soft-serve mode for cones. Nobody guessed it was homemade. The soft-serve handle has three speeds and, with a light touch, produces the swirled peak you get at a dairy stand. One friend asked where I bought the machine.
Cleanup took under five minutes. The paddle and pints go in the dishwasher. The motor base wipes down with a damp cloth. Nothing sticky, nothing dramatic.
05Week four: the honest downsides
✓What kept it on the counter
- Texture on par with a mid-tier shop pint after one Respin
- CreamiFit hit 60g protein at 380–400 calories per tub
- Soft-serve handle produced a genuine dairy-stand swirl
- Under five minutes to clean, paddle and pints dishwasher-safe
- Roughly $1.20 per scoop against $3-plus for a premium store pint
–Three things that annoyed me
- Freezer footprint. Two 16-oz pints need to freeze flat for 24 hours. A packed freezer means Tetris every time you want dessert.
- Noise. Around 80 dB — louder than a blender — for about 90 seconds per pint. Nobody's watching TV in the same room.
- No impulse dessert. The 24-hour freeze means you plan a day ahead or you don't get ice cream.
06Which Creami to buy
| Model | Price (CAD) | Programs | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja Creami 7-in-1 (NC301C) | $169.99 (from $299.99) | 7 | First-time buyers on a budget |
| Ninja Creami XL Deluxe (NC501C) | $249.49 (from $329.99) | 11 | Families, dual-flavour batches |
| Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl (NC701C) | $349.99 (from $449.99) | 13 (6 soft-serve) | Soft-serve fans and entertainers |
Prices reflect SharkNinja Canada's end-of-summer sale window. Bundle offers with extra pints run $349.99 for four pints instead of two — worth it if you're feeding more than two people or want back-to-back flavours ready.
07Who should buy this
Buy the Scoop & Swirl if you actually want soft serve, you host people, or you're deep into high-protein desserts and want that airy CreamiFit texture. The extra $180 over the base Creami buys six soft-serve programs and the handle. If you'll never use them, save the money and grab the NC301C at $169.99.
Skip it if your freezer is small, you live alone and rarely entertain, or you're happy with store-bought pints. This machine rewards commitment.
Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl NC701C
13 programs, six of them soft-serve, two 16-oz pints and the swirl handle. The base NC301C at $169.99 is the pick if you'll never pull that handle.
🇨🇦 All prices CAD, sampled during the end-of-summer sale window. Buying direct registers the warranty instantly — worth doing given kitchen products carry one year versus five on Shark cleaning gear. Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need to freeze the base for 24 hours? Yes. Anything less and the paddle churns slush, not ice cream. Plan a day ahead.
How loud is it, really? Around 80 dB during the spin cycle, which lasts about 90 seconds. Louder than a blender but much shorter.
Can I use store-bought bases? You can freeze any liquid dessert — leftover coffee, canned fruit smoothies, protein shakes. That flexibility is half the appeal.
Is the plastic BPA-free? Yes, all food-contact parts are BPA-free per SharkNinja's spec sheet.
What's the warranty? One year limited from SharkNinja Canada. Register on purchase — it speeds up claims noticeably.
08Verdict
After thirty days the Scoop & Swirl earned its counter spot. It's not a gimmick. It replaced my protein shake, my after-dinner sweet and about four grocery-store pints. The math lands somewhere around $1.20 per premium-tasting scoop, less than half what a Häagen-Dazs pint costs at Loblaws.
Add the fun factor of pulling a swirl handle for a homemade cone and the value case writes itself — as long as your freezer has room for two pints lying flat.
Want gear like this on your content calendar?
Join AffluencerHub, get AI-matched to brand programs that fit your audience, and track every click to commission in one place.
Apply as a Creator