It often seems as though Ninja has some sort of Bat Phone to the patron saint of small kitchen appliances. Every new product they introduce is fundamentally different and quite often superior to everything else in its category, making us wonder how we ever lived without that functionality.

From blenders to air fryers to coffee makers, Ninja regularly lands a top spot in CNET’s “best of” lists, and with its latest release, is shaking up the food processor game. Because it’s Ninja, though, and with never-before-seen versatility and design, it also comes with a twee product name. Enter: Ninja Prepi.

Ninja doesn’t call the Prepi a food processor, but rather a meal prep system, and for good reason. One of Ninja’s hallmarks is its modular design, which lets it function as an appliance and a storage or serving vessel, and the new Ninja Prepi system offers exactly that.

Instead of a heavy base with a motor that you stack with a food-processing bowl and blade, the Ninja Prepi flips the script: a motor pod snaps onto the lid, similar to the vibe of the Ninja Crispi air fryer, and then sits on a utilitarian bowl. So let’s get into it.

Ninja Prepi at a glance

• Style: modular food processor/food prep system with two bowl sizes, lids, and a separate motor pod. Includes slicing and crinkle-cut discs, and an optional Dicing Kit accessory is available either as part of the Ninja Prepi package or as a separate purchase.
• Dimensions (when assembled with larger bowl): 7.38” L x 10” W x 15.56” H
• Watts: 500
• Weight: 10.6 pounds
• Price $180

Ninja Prepi setup

If you’re already familiar with a food processor, the Ninja Prepi is simple to set up, even though it’s somewhat upside down compared with other food processors. The chopping/puree blade sets onto a spindle centered in the bowl. (A smaller spindle is included for the smaller bowl.) The lid, which includes a three-part feed chute, locks onto the top of the bowl with two side snaps. The motorized pod snaps intuitively into place on the lid and includes an obvious eject button that easily pops it back out.

Either included disc—slice/shred or crinkle cut—fits onto the top of either spindle, and the optional $60 Dicing Kit fits inside the top of the larger bowl without the spindle. A dial on the front of the motor has chop, pulse, low, high and disc settings, plus a stop/start button that illuminates only when the motor pod is snapped in correctly.

Ninja Prepi operation

Although the Ninja Prepi is upside down compared with typical food processors, the operation is standard. Set the dial on the front of the motor pod to the desired function or speed, then use the stop/start button to begin or pulse as needed.

Even with the motor pod snapped into place, you can unclip the entire lid of the Ninja Prepi system from the bowl and place it on the smaller bowl. Once prep is done, you can remove the blades and spindles and use the functional plastic bowls to serve or top with the included rubber lids for storage.

The chute built into the lid disassembles for maximum control in inserting components of varying thicknesses, allowing for three different widths.

What I liked about Ninja Prepi

The Ninja Prepi’s dual-bowl versatility is its main selling point, and calling it a Meal-Prep System, rather than a food processor, is a smart move by the brand. The system doesn’t have the largest volume or the most powerful motor, but no other food processor makes it as easy to run multiple components or recipes at once without emptying and cleaning the bowl first.

The plastic bowls aren’t anything fancy, but they’re perfectly innocuous serving vessels that don’t require an extra dish, and the included lids add storage functionality that basically no other food processor can claim. If my main requirement for a food processor was to chop individual components for meal prep throughout the week, this would be a game changer.

While food processors are generally not that heavy, the motorized pod is the only substantial part of the Ninja Prepi system and is extremely compact, making it easy to move around and to store. Because it operates top-down, gravity works in the Prepi’s favor, so it doesn’t require a weighted base. All of this makes for a system that doesn’t require much vertical storage space, and that is also relatively portable.

Everything but the pod can go in the dishwasher, which makes cleanup easier than most standard food processors; even without a dishwasher, the atypical bowl shape the Ninja Prepi features is much easier to hand-wash.

While the Prepi’s $179 price is a little higher than the average food processor of similar volume, I believe the value it offers is fair and doesn’t come close to the price of a high-end system. It would be a solid investment for those who can put its exceptional versatility to good use.

What I disliked about Ninja Prepi

To create a meal prep system, however, the Ninja Prepi had to make some food-processor sacrifices, which shouldn’t be discounted. My main complaint is the lack of a handle on either bowl. I understand the choice, since it needs to function as a potential serving or storage vessel, but as someone whose main use of a food processor is to make a melange such as hummus or pesto, I want something more secure to hold onto when scraping it out. Is this a deal breaker? No. Is it still annoying? Yes.

Pamela Vachon/CNET

The clip-on lid can also be a little fussy, and with the motor pod clipped in, I felt like there were several instances where I had to keep adjusting the fit to get the clips to clamp down correctly. This is a necessary safety feature, which I appreciate, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying when you have to fuss with it.

Because the Prepi has a bowl shape, rather than the straight-sided walls of a typical food processor, I also found that components could sometimes be out of reach of the blade. It’s nothing that pausing and scraping down wouldn’t fix, which you’d be doing with a typical food processor anyway, but it was enough to warrant a mention. Again, not a deal breaker, especially if the slice/shred/crinkle cut discs are your main event.

While the Prepi breaks down more thoroughly into its component parts than other food processors, requiring less vertical space for storage, unlike the functionality with the Ninja Crispi they don’t stack as easily. Both bowls included in the system have the same mouth diameter, which lets the chute lid and storage lids work with both, but they don’t nest inside each other. Unless you’re holding onto the box, there are a lot of individual pieces to keep track of here, even more so if you’re also invested in the optional Dicing Kit.

Final verdict on Ninja Prepi

As a food processor, the Ninja Prepi isn’t the most powerful or the best value for its size, but as a meal prep system with multifunctional, simultaneous capabilities, it’s in a class of its own. If its versatility compels you, then the $180 price tag shouldn’t be a barrier.