Nutribullet Ultra NB50500 Personal Blender Review

We've always liked the Nutribullet Pro 900W for its quick blending, simplicity, and affordability, but as an upgraded model, this NutriBullet Ultra is making this veteran look outdated, particularly for aesthetics. Don't get us wrong, though, the basic NutriBullet is still one of the most powerful personal blenders you’ll find on the market. We just think the newer version would have a better chance of making it onto the shopping list of families looking for a stylish, multifunctional blender around the $100 price range—and of course, for good reason.

8.3 Performance

The NutriBullet Ultra is an excellent investment for anyone who blends smoothie, protein shake, and green drinks several times a week. The blending speed is impressively fast with most recipes finished in around one minute. And because you don’t have to constantly hold the cup down, you can step away or prep other ingredients nearby while it blends. The main drawback is crushed ice; the Ultra can handle it somewhat, but it’s unable to create the snow-like texture you may want.

8.6 Protein Shake

From this test, we can say for sure that the Ultra is more than capable of grinding almonds, mixing dried berries, and liquifying oats. In around  1 minute and 10 seconds, it yielded a serving of shake without any struggle. More impressively, we just pressed the power button and the blender ran on its own from start to finish. After the blend, we poured the shake through a sieve to check the texture more closely. There were a few tiny fruit skins still remaining, but they seemed too small to distract the overall drinking experience. For us, this was a pretty satisfying result. 

10 Frozen Fruit Smoothie

To be fair, this wasn't an easy feat for a personal blender of this small. Frozen fruit is tough, so if the motor is weak or the blades aren't sharp enough, you’ll get nowhere near a smooth blend, just a chunky clump.

With the Ultra, though, the blend got moving pretty easily. Instead of leaving the fruit bouncing around at the top, it pulled most of the pieces down and started cutting through them right away. When the smoothie became thicker, a few chunks did hang up briefly and circulation slowed a little. Still, it never turned into a frustrating blend. We just gave it a quick shake and everything went back into a proper vortex.

It took about one minute to get the job done, which was much faster than average. More importantly, that speed helped preserve the texture we wanted. The fruit stayed cold, the smoothie turned out thick and creamy, and the whole drink tasted extra refreshing. Against more familiar names like the Ninja Fit and Ninja BN401, this Ultra held up much better than expected.

7.0 Fibrous Greens

We gave the blender 20 seconds to power through kale, spinach and celery, which was a relatively short blending time, and because of that, the result came out just above average. In fact, there were a few blenders that performed better under the same condition, but frankly speaking, we don’t think the Ultra is particularly bad at processing leafy greens. As long as you’re willing to blend a little longer, the results probably won’t disappoint you.

5.0 Crushed Ice Cubes

It was a huge shame that Ultra didn't pass this test with a higher score even when we were aware of this limitation — normally, a blender this compact can hardly break down the ice properly, merely skimming the surface instead. Most of the time, the blades just shaved down the outside of the ice sitting near them, while many of the cubes above were left untouched. 

We tried helping it by shaking the cup a few times, but that didn’t change much. So in the end, around 70% of the ice was crushed, but worse yet, the ice texture remained quite coarse. That was the weakest result of the whole review. So for ice-heavy blending tasks, we’d still recommend the NutriBullet Pro 900W over the Ultra.

9.5 Design

The NutriBullet Ultra has a luxe, coordinated black-and-clear design, which gives the blender a very luxurious appearance. The muted color works well with other appliances too, which matters more than you’d think once everything is sitting out on the counter. And with a textured base that doesn’t show fingerprints much, it maintains the fresh-out-of-the-box look without asking for much upkeep.

In the Box

• A motor base 
• A rapid extractor blade
• A 32-oz blending cup
• Two 24-oz blending cups 
• Two to-go lids
• Recipe book & user guide

The NutriBullet Ultra arrived neatly packaged, undamaged, and exactly as described. Everything had its own place in the box, which made the unboxing feel surprisingly nice.

Dimensions

The Ultra has an average size relative to other standard-size personal blenders in our database. It weighs 5.8 lbs, stands 15.4 inches tall, and isn’t much larger than a water bottle, thus it can sit on your counter, next to a coffee maker, or in a small kitchen corner without taking up too much space.

9.5 Build Quality

The build quality is excellent and finishings to a luxury standard with decent materials, though most of the components are plastic. There are also no rattling or loose parts while the motor is running, which is important if durability and safety are your main concerns.  

Not only this, but we also just found out that it’s one of the few units on the market whose surface finish can resist scuffs and smudges. It doesn’t scratch easily, either, and because of that, the whole machine looks about the same as when it came out of the box, even after we put it through a series of tough and continuous tests.

9.0 Blades

The Ultra has a six-prong extractor blade design, with each blade angled differently to catch ingredients from multiple directions as they circulate through the cup. The stainless steel is thick and we assure that you're not getting flimsy blades that will bend or dull after a few uses here. Apart from that, the blade base screws onto the cup with well-aligned threading that engages easily and stays secure while you're blending. There's also a durable rubber gasket that seals tightly to keep liquids from leaking out whether it's hot or thin ingredients.

Motor Base

The motor housing has a slight hourglass shape, but NutriBullet made the middle narrower so it feels more natural to hold, and we loved how well that works in practice. They also added ventilation slots underneath to keep it from overheating, while the anti-slip feet grip the counter so well that your blender will never creep across the surface or shake too much at higher speeds. 

Beyond that, the attached power cord is a practical length. It gives you enough room to reach nearby outlets without leaving a messy loop of cable on the counter. The coating also seems tough enough for regular wrapping and unwrapping without wearing out quickly. Taken as a whole, the Ultra's motor base is a design we can get behind, with very little to nitpick.

10 Blending Cup

Although the cups come in different sizes, they're all made from Tritan Renew. A new generation of copolyester developed by Eastman, this is an environmentally friendly material made from waste plastic to offer sustainability without sacrificing durability. The two flip-top lids make things even easier. The spouts open with your thumb, close tightly to help prevent spills, and fit all three cups.

Speed and Controls

The NutriBullet Ultra features an illuminated touch interface that doesn't light up unless the cup is locked securely onto the motor base. On the panel, there are two circles. The dotted one activates pulse mode. Just press and hold it for more manual control when chopping, prepping, or handling tougher ingredients. We usually use the solid circle, though. It works as the standard mode, letting the blender run through an automatic 30-second blending cycle before shutting itself off. Most of our testers are very satisfied with how responsive they are. You barely need to apply any pressure to run either control. 

However, that sensitivity can also be a problem. Reposition the cup, wipe off condensation, or just move your hand near the panel, and you might accidentally start the motor. It’s not a dealbreaker, but having the blades suddenly spin to life before you’re ready can get annoying.

9.2 Usability

It’s always convenient when a blender can run on its own while you take care of other kitchen tasks, and this is where the Ultra performs impressively well. You don’t have to babysit it the whole time, just come back if something needs a quick shake or scrape, which rarely happens unless you're dealing with very thick mixtures. Aside from that, assembly is easy for most people, while cleanup is stress-free thanks to the dishwasher-safe parts and quick soapy-blend option.

9.3 Hands-Free Operation

As mentioned earlier, you don’t have to stand beside it while it blends, which isn’t always the case with other personal blenders. On more basic models, you may have to keep pressing down until the cycle is done. Some people enjoy that level of involvement, while others may not, so we’ll leave it up to you to decide how much that matters (the hands-free cycle is always one of our favorite features, though!)

The biggest issue is the 30-second automatic cycle. Some recipes need more blending time, so it would be better if you could adjust the cycle length.

Also, certain ingredients don't always circulate perfectly on their own. You might need to give the cup a shake or pop it off and stir things around to smooth it out. While it's not something you'll deal with every time, it happens enough that calling this fully hands-free would be overselling it.

9.0 Assembly

Setting up the NutriBullet Ultra is pretty simple, with seven basic steps in total. As long as you don’t go past the MAX line and line everything up properly, leaks are less likely to happen. A “click” sound lets you know everything is locked in place. The blade can be a bit tricky to screw on at first, but once you get a hang of it, setup takes less than a minute.

9.0 Cleanability

Cleaning the Ultra is effortless all around, especially since the cups, lids, and blade assembly are all dishwasher-friendly. But when we cleaned it manually by running it for 30 seconds with warm, soapy water, we found that this alone couldn’t remove all the food residue hiding under the blades and around the rubber gasket. So we still needed a quick hand scrub afterward. A bottle brush helped clear those spots quickly, though.

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