Nutribullet Triple Prep System review – a one-touch wonder in the kitchen

Whether you're a sucker for a hard-working appliance, looking for versatility and value, or shopping for a kitchen appliance that does it all, I think you'll be pretty pleased with the Nutribullet Triple Prep system. It can handle all your blending and food processing needs like the best blender food processor combos on the market.

Nutribullet is known for making one of the best blenders on the market. The Triple Prep system uses the single-serve cups that make their iconic bullet blender but offers a jug blender for the more robust, ice-crushing tasks. That would be enough to sell me on this blender, but there's more. Nutribullet has thrown in a full-sized food processing bowl that has layered blades to chop up onions, blend nuts, slice veggies, and grate cheese like the best food processors on the market.

So, you can see that on paper, this looks like one serious piece of kit. I took it to our test kitchen to find out whether that translates from the smart credentials onto your kitchen countertop. Here's what I found (spoiler alert: I think you'll like it).

Specifications

Unboxing

The Nutribullet Triple Prep System arrives in a box proportionate to everything inside. What I'm trying to delicately say is that it's a big box. However, you're getting a full-sized bullet blender, jug blender, and food processor, so I wouldn't expect anything less.

The cardboard is packaged and neatly organized, so that unboxing makes it easy to understand which parts go with which appliance. You'll get two blending cups, which turn into portable bottles after use; a food processor bowl with interchangeable slicing and grating blades, a glass blending pitcher, and the sleek power base. It's a lot to store, so make sure that you have the space for this (I'd recommend dedicating a cupboard to the attachments) before you leap into buying one.

Who would it suit?

If you're kitting out a new home or starting afresh with your kitchen, the Nutribullet Triple Prep System is the perfect appliance. The sleek base could easily sit on a modern kitchen countertop, but you'll need to find some space in your cupboards for all the extras, which is why I tend to recommend this for larger homes. 

The single-serve cups are great if you need to blend for one and go, but the 64 oz blending pitcher and 7 cup food processor are what firmly puts this into the 'large homes' category since they're really designed for batch cooking. The sheer versatility of a bullet and jug blender is great if you want to switch up what you're making. The bullets are great for smoothies, but can't crush ice. The blending jug will mist your ice into fine snow in a matter of seconds but is harder to clean if you just want a quick smoothie.

Altogether, this feels like a sleek and smart piece of equipment. Even better, this comes at a relatively low cost. We've found less expensive models, but this is a sweet spot of value and simplicity. You could opt for more sensitive and advanced models (which I'll get into further down), but this is a great starting point.

What is it like to use?

Getting the Nutribullet Triple Prep System set up was easy and stress-free. It comes with instructions, but you won't really need them, since all the appliances click neatly into the base and the functions are all straightforward.

The one-touch operation is a breezy wonder, you can flick between blending, chopping and food processing relatively effortlessly. I made smoothies, crushed ice, shredded veg, dips, and more. By the end of testing, I'd completed a full (if not slightly obscure) dinner party spread without having to break a sweat. Here are some more details.

Test 1: smoothies

Our smoothie tests are simple but tough. We give every blender spinach so that we can test how it handles tough greens. We throw in frozen berries because these can be big and the small seeds are tough to get super smooth. We'll give it some help with banana and almond milk to see how it can handle them. 

I tested making smoothies in both the jug and bullet blender. If you're making a smaller serving and want a portable option, the bullet is brilliant. It works like Nutribullet's best, classic blender, whizzing up everything into a smooth and delicious drink in just 42 seconds. I even added a scoop of my protein powder to see whether the smoothie would go lumpy and this didn't phase the Nutribullet. I had a silky smooth shake in seconds. 

I tried the same quantities in the pitcher, which was good, but I didn't get the same smooth results in the smaller quantity. My smoothie was very drinkable, but I could taste some seeds. However, when I packed the pitcher with more ingredients, aiming to make a four-person pitcher of smoothie, the Nutribullet came into its own, whizzing up a perfect smoothie which I could pour straight from the jug.

Test 2: hummus

After we've made smoothies, we always move onto making a dip, because this has a lower liquid quantity. Blades can struggle to cut chickpea skins into a silky dip. I followed the same process as I did with the smoothies, testing hummus in the bullet blender and then the large pitcher.

I put a can of chickpeas, a squeeze of lemon, teaspoon of cumin, tablespoon of tahini, and drizzle of olive oil into the bullet blender and set it to work. I had to stop the bullet and give it a shake or a scrape a few times before I was satisfied that the blades had worked through all of my ingredients. Overall, this only took a couple of minutes, so I was pleased.

It was much of the same story with hummus in the blending jug as it was with smoothies. The bullet did a better job of small quantities, because the pitcher's blades simply skipped over some of my chickpeas, giving me a very chunky dip. I doubled my quantities and got much better results (and more hummus than I could ever possibly dream of). 

Test 3: ice

Bullet blenders notoriously struggle to even touch ice and this was no exception. I added a little bit of water and some ice cubes to the bullet and they rattled around for a few minutes, doing nothing. The pitcher on the other hand, was another story. I was totally blown away by how quickly this misted my ice cubes into a fine powder, perfect for snow cones and iced cocktails. There were some larger chunks initially, but as I carried on blending, I got some great results.

Test 4: guacamole

Next, I moved on to the food processor. I had enough hummus to feed the whole street, so thought I'd test out a second dip, guacamole. Although avocado is soft and relatively easy to blend, the cilantro is a tough green to cut nicely, the onion is difficult to get into an even size, and the chili is hard to integrate well. 

As you can see, the Nutribullet Triple Prep System aced the guacamole test. The food processor blades did a brilliant job of chopping and combining all of my ingredients throughout the dip even though they're not at different levels. Some chunks splashed up the sides, but I used a spatula to slide them down and into the main dip. 

Test 5: chopped onion

This test takes one step back from the guacamole, stripping out all the ingredients except for the red onion. I only needed to run the Nutribullet Triple Prep System for a few seconds to get the results that you can see in the picture above. The pieces of onion were relatively consistent, although I could spot a visible difference between larger and smaller chunks. 

After taking the picture, I ran the food processor for longer and ended up with some really small chunks and still some bigger ones. This is fine if you just need to quickly chop onions for a sauce, dip, or recipe. However, if you're a perfectionist who likes consistent, hand-chopped onions, you might be better off giving this one a miss.

Test 5: grated carrot and sliced cucumber

I made use of the double-sided disk. One face will slice your cheeses and vegetables, whilst the other will grate them. As you can see, I got a good grate on my carrot and I the cucumber was neatly and finely sliced too. It was really speedy and impressively powerful. This only needed a few minutes to power through my veggies.

My only grievance here is the size of the feeding chute, which was slightly awkwardly shaped. I had to halve and then slightly re-shape my cucumber before I could feed it to the disc. As with the onion, if you're a stickler for perfect shapes and sizes, this might be frustrating. However, if you want the job done and you prioritize speed, this is perfect.

Cleaning, storage, and maintenance

There's very little you need to worry about with cleaning the Nutribullet Triple Prep System. All the parts are dishwasher safe, so you can throw them all in and let your machine do the hard work. I would recommend exercising some caution with the slicing and grating discs. In fact, I actually washed these by hand, because I didn't trust my dishwasher to get into all the cracks and crevices.

The base station's sleek interface ended up showing some greasy and foodie fingerprints, so I gave it a quick wipe before tucking it towards the back of the countertop. If you're likely to use this a lot, I'd recommend storing the base on your countertop, since it's pretty small and simple. You'll just need to create some space in your cupboards for the various, large attachments.

How does it rate online?

The Nutribullet Triple Prep System is an online success. All owners praised the versatility of the machine, saying that it was convenient for busy homes that needed to cook in large quantities. People generally felt that it was impressive across all of the attachments, although the bullet blender got the most shout-outs for its performance. 

Lots of people enjoyed having a good blender-food processor combo. However, plenty issued warnings about storage since the attachments are big. It's worth it if you'll use all three (reviewers agree on this), but if one of the three functions will be redundant, it might be worth considering your options.

How does it compare?

This went straight into our buying guide for the best blender food processor combos, because it boasts incredible value, capacity, and performance. This means that it sits amongst the better-known Ninja Professional Plus system. 

The two appliances offer comparable performance and versatility, with single-serve bullet blenders, a pitcher, and food processor bowl. I think they're both brilliant, but if we are getting picky, the Ninja is more consistent and more powerful. The Ninja's food processor blades sit at different levels, meaning that it achieves more thorough results, even as the bowl fills up. This is where the Nutribullet slipped up. 

Aesthetically, I prefer the Nutribullet Triple Prep System. The digital interface disappears, making this look sleek on the countertop. The Ninja and its boxy design prioritizes functionality which is probably why it's cheaper. If you want to save money and put power first, the Ninja is a good bet. However, if you want the design of the iconic Nutribullet, you won't regret one.

If you like the sound of all things Ninja and Nutribullet, but you need a really compact appliance, I'd recommend looking at the Magic Bullet Kitchen Express. Admittedly, this feels cheaper and is really aimed at single or two-person households, but it does an excellent job of simple tasks. The blades of the food processor sit at different levels and the discs whizzed through all of our tests arguably quicker than the Nutribullet Triple Prep System. However, it is obviously is limited in capacity.

Should you buy it?

The Nutribullet Triple Prep System is one serious sous chef. It'll be a great helping hand in any family kitchen, because it covers silky smoothies, delicious dips, misty ice cones, and it can speedily slice and chop your vegetables. Even though this is more expensive than the Ninja, it's still a steal for what should be the cost of three, separate, market-leading appliances.

How we test

At Homes & Gardens, we understand the importance of finding kitchen appliances that not only meet but exceed expectations. When it comes to testing blender food processor combos, we have a rigorous process so that you know exactly what you're investing in and whether it's the best for your needs. 

We start all our tests with smoothies. This includes testing how well the blender can handle frozen fruits, leafy greens, and other ingredients to create smooth and creamy drinks. 

The next test we put out blenders through is on hummus (we test the food processors on guacamole). When we're blending these, we want to make sure that the blades can create a smooth and consistent texture for all of the ingredients.

The dip quality will also prepare us for how well the food processor attachment will handle vegetables. We assess how well a food processor will chop onions. We look at the uniformity and size of the chopped pieces, as well as the efficiency and ease of the chopping process. When slicing cucumber we can check the feeding chute shape, as well as look at the various thicknesses and clean cuts. Our final test is grating carrots. We want consistent and evenly grated carrot shreds, as well as an efficient and easy grating process.

In addition to testing individual functions, we compare each blender food processor combo to other models on the market. We consider factors such as performance, versatility, durability, and ease of use. We also evaluate the value proposition of each appliance, taking into account its features, quality, and price point. If you're interested in finding out more, you can read all about our process on our page dedicated to how we test appliances.