Ninja Cold Press Juicer review: The ultimate sub-£200 slow juicer

The Cold Press Juicer is Ninja’s very first juicer, and with a sleek design and a competitive price, it doesn’t disappoint. At first glance, its low price is what sets it apart from pretty much every other slow juicer available right now, but its ease of use, interchangeable pulp filters and decent juicing capabilities make for a formidable package.

It’s a masticating juicer, which if you’re not familiar with the term, means it uses a slow, crushing technique to extract the juice, in contrast to cheaper fast juicers, which rely on centrifugal force to spin the blades and push juice through.

While the Cold Press isn’t an all-singing, all-dancing appliance by fancy slow juicer standards, Ninja has delivered a perfect balance of performance and features for most people.

Ninja Cold Press Juicer review: What do you get for the money?

At £170, this is an absolute steal in comparison to other slow juicers, which would normally set you back anywhere between £250 to £400.

In the box, there’s the main body of the juicer, a 500ml capacity juice jug, a 710ml capacity pulp jug and a cleaning brush for hard-to-reach areas. You also get three interchangeable pulp filters – low, medium and high – so you can adapt the level of juicy bits in your drink to your liking. With the exception of the 150W motor base, everything is dishwasher-safe, which makes cleaning up much easier.

It’s not the smallest appliance in the world but, as juicers go, it’s relatively compact, measuring just 36cm long from front to back and 18cm wide. It’s an attractive appliance that you’d likely want to keep on your counter, too. The majority of the machine is made from thick, black plastic with non-slip feet, and the control buttons are hidden away at the back. There’s a small feeding tube for ingredients at the top, while the pulp is pushed out at the front of the machine. Fresh juice comes out pretty much directly underneath this, and there’s also a stopper to avoid messy drips once you’re done.

Unlike some juicers, which have variable speeds and a variety of different functions, the Ninja simply has two: an on/off button and a reverse button that can be used to dislodge any fruit or vegetables that are having trouble moving through the juicer.

While the capacity and feeding tube on this juicer aren’t huge, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better juicer at this price. If you are desperate for something bigger, though, the £330 Philips Avance Cold Press Micro Masticating juicer is a decent compact alternative, with an extra-wide funnel and 1L capacity.

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Ninja Cold Press Juicer review: What’s good about it?

It’s hard to believe the Ninja is a £170 juicer. In testing, it extracted a fair amount of juice from all our fruits and vegetables. Two peeled, ripe juicing oranges and three medium-sized apples produced around 500ml of juice with very little foam, for example. It didn’t struggle with the majority of fruits we tested either, with the exception of carrot and a few softer berry fruits, which struggled to get through the machine.

The juice produced was vibrant and didn’t separate for several hours. Moreover, the low pulp filter did an excellent job of ensuring my orange juice was super-smooth, while the high pulp filter let through some excellent juicy bits.

Another huge benefit is that the Ninja Cold Press is relatively quiet, meaning you’ll be able to use it first thing in the morning without worrying about waking up the entire house. It’s also lightweight and easy to move around, making it ideal for smaller kitchens where you might not be able to keep it out on the counter all the time.

I also found it simple to clean for the most part. It does have a lot of nooks and crannies, but if you get to it before the pulp has time to dry out, most of it can be washed away with ease. Cleaning after juicing more fibrous veg, such as celery, proved a little more tricky, but if you have a dishwasher it’s less of a problem.

Ninja Cold Press Juicer review: What could be better?

Considering the price, it’s quite hard to fault this juicer, but there were a few niggles. One issue is that pulp can occasionally shoot out of the front too fast if not enough peel is removed from citrus fruits – this can make a bit of a mess.

On other occasions, juice and ingredients appeared to have trouble moving through the machine and into the cup below. The only way to fix this was to leave it running for quite a long time or feed more ingredients through until it cleared. This didn’t happen every time, but regularly enough that it might be frustrating for anyone in a hurry.

Another small grumble is that the design isn’t well suited to compact kitchen worktops. As the buttons are situated at the rear, it needs to be positioned sideways unless you want to awkwardly fumble around to turn it on and off each time. If you have limited worktop space, this may prove frustrating.

Ninja Cold Press Juicer review: Should you buy it?

While you’ll probably get a bigger capacity and higher juice yield from a more expensive machine, there’s nothing else quite like the Ninja Cold Press Juicer at this price. It’s easy to use, has an excellent variety of pulp filters to suit different tastes and makes great-tasting juice. Factor in the low noise level and stylish design and this is an excellent choice for anyone wanting to up their juicing game.