Ninja PREPi review: a cute, compact, versatile food processor built for quick meal prep

Ninja PREPi: 30-second review

The Ninja PREPi food processor has power that belies its looks. The 5-in-1 model I tested comes with three different blades for five different food processing options. The included blades include: a chopping/puree blade, a crinkle cut disc, and a reversible slide/shred disc. There is also a six-in-one model that includes a dicing disc, or you can purchase the dicing disc separately if you prefer.

The Ninja PREPi comes with two prep bowls and lids, a five-cup size and a seven-cup size. This allows you to do a big food prep ahead of time and then pop it in the fridge until you need it, without much in the way of extra dishes to wash.

This machine handled all of the tasks we threw at it with ease, including slicing a large bag of potatoes into thin, uniform slices in no time. The one exception was an attempted smoothie, but after all, this isn't a blender.

Like most food processors, the Ninja PREPi has a lot of parts that will need to be taken apart and cleaned after use. Luckily, they can all be cleaned on the top rack of your dishwasher (except for the motor which wouldn't ever need more than a swipe with a damp cloth anyway.)

Ninja PREPi: price and availability

• List price: $179.99 (about £130 / AU$260)
• Available direct from Ninja, and from third-party retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy

The Ninja PREPi 5-in-1 Prep System retails for $179.99 and can be found on SharkNinja's website as well as online and brick-and-mortar retailers such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. That work out at about £130 / AU$260, but at the time of writing it's not yet available in the UK and Australia.

For an extra $50, you can get the 6-in-1 model, which includes a dicing disc. You can also buy the dicing kit separately for $59.99.

The five-in-one model comes in four colorways: Pink Peppercorn (as seen in my photos), Midnight Blue and Mango, Stone and Moss, and Onyx and Apricot. The six-in-one model comes in just one colorway: Copper and Teal.

• Value score: 4/5

Ninja PREPi: specifications

Ninja PREPi: design and features

• Three multi-use blades
• Three-part food pusher
• Two bowls with lids for prep and storage

The Ninja PREPi's clever design makes it pretty easy to use. Choose either the larger (seven-cup) or smaller (five-cup) prep bowl, place the spindle inside, and then choose your blade. The blade that sits at the bottom of the bowl is for both chopping and pureeing.

There are also two disc-style blades that sit at the top of the bowl. One disc is for crinkle cutting, the other disc is reversible and can be used for slicing or shredding.

Once you've installed your blade of choice, click the feed chute lid into the bowl and then slide the motor pod into its spot on top of the lid. Turn the dial to your desired mode and press start. It's pretty easy and intuitive to use.

The feed chute lid has a three-part pusher so that you can put in anything from a carrot to a potato and it will be held in place upright for proper slicing or shredding.

Cleanup is pretty easy, just take all of the parts apart. Put the motor pod aside, it doesn't contact food and won't need to be cleaned at all unless you splash something on it, in which case, just wipe it with a very slightly dampened cloth. All of the other parts can be washed on the top rack of the dishwasher (skip the heat dry cycle) or hand-washed very carefully. The blades are sharp!

I couldn't figure out a perfectly neat way to nest and store the Ninja PREPi. I tried a couple of different ways to try and minimize storage space, with the blades all safely enclosed inside the lidded prep bowls.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Ninja PREPi: performance

Crinkle-cut disc

I crinkle cut some carrots with the appropriate disc. I used the narrowest food chute option in order to keep the carrot upright. I turned the dial to the disc setting. The Ninja PREPi took only a few seconds to do the job. I got lots of beautifully cut carrot crinkles, though there were some smaller bits. I planned to make some hummus after so I just left the bits in the bowl to become part of the hummus.

Chop/puree blade

I intended to make hummus, but I accidentally opened a can of white kidney beans, so I made a hummus-like bean dip instead. I incorporated the leftovers from the carrot crinkling I had just done. I started with a chop cycle, which ends automatically. Then I did a low puree cycle, and then a high puree cycle. The result was nice and smooth and so delicious. There were still some chunks in there, but that didn't bother me. I served it with the crinkle-cut carrots and stored the leftovers right in the prep bowl afterwards.

Another day, I did actually make a proper hummus with garbanzo beans. I followed the same steps as above. However, I was using the end of the jar of tahini, and so it was kind of a hard blob of tahini. It threw the blade off kilter, so I stopped the cycle, cut up the tahini blob, and continued. I did end up using the puree cycle on high a total of three times to get the texture that I wanted. It turned out great!

Using the chop cycle and the chop/puree blade, I chopped up some cashews. It took three chop cycles to get the nuts to the size I wanted. I wouldn't say the size was very uniform, and there was quite a bit of dust. I used a sieve to remove the dust but there were still a lot of tiny pieces. I used a berry bowl to remove those smaller pieces. But in the end, I got a jar of chopped nuts, which we later sprinkled over ice cream and veggies.

I did also attempt a smoothie using this blade, with yogurt, protein powder, frozen fruit, and ice. This was a fail. I did two high puree cycles and was left with lots of ice chunks. I probably could have run it a few more times but I ran out of patience. A food processor is not exactly the same as a blender, after all. I won't gross you out with my photos.

Slicing disc

I've been seeing a lot of influencers using the Ninja PREPi to make salad, so I decided to do that with lettuce, carrots, cucumber, and red peppers. It was good, though I made some easily avoidable mistakes. First of all, I used a soft butter lettuce, which unfortunately came out a bit mushy. I should have used a firmer lettuce such as romaine. I also should have used both side of the disc, depending on the vegetable. The slicing side was fine for all of the veggies, but I think the shredding side would have been better for the carrots. Still, it was a good salad. I ate it right out of the prep bowl, and if I'd had any left over, I could have easily popped the lid on and stored it away.

My son made the most delicious potatoes au gratin using the Ninja Prepi to slice up a big bag of potatoes. The uniform size meant that the slices were all the same doneness after cooking. This is the kind of dish food processors exist for. There is no way I could get that kind of uniformity with a knife.

On another occasion, I sliced up some sweet potatoes with the slicing disk. Then I flipped it over to the shredding side and shredded some cheddar cheese, which I melted on top.

Shred disc

Below you'll find pictures of shredding the cheese with the shredding disc, which I baked on top of the sweet potatoes. The cheese shredded very well in just a few seconds, however, there was a leftover nub stuck on top of the disc.

I shredded an apple to put on my chia pudding for breakfast. First I quartered and cored the apple, then I fed it through the feed chute lid using the shred disc. The apple shredded beautifully, though there were some nubs left over.

• Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the Ninja PREPi?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Ninja PREPi: also consider

If the Ninja PREPi isn't exactly what you're looking for, you might consider the following:

How I tested the Ninja PREPi

• I tested every blade
• I tested it on various foods
• I cleaned it after every use

I crinkle-cut carrots, sliced carrots, sliced a sweet potato, sliced potatoes, sliced lettuce, sliced peppers, sliced cucumbers, pureed bean dip, pureed hummus, pureed a smoothie, chopped cashews, shredded an apple, and shredded cheese. I washed all of the parts (except for the motor pod) before the first use and after each use. I washed them both by hand and with the dishwasher at various times.

Read more about how we test.

First reviewed November 2026.