Frozen Piña Colada ~ Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender

Where do I start with this one? It's amazing. Simple to make. Just 4 ingredients. Ready in under 5 minutes. Delicious. Refreshing. AND... it will rival ANY piña colada made in a frozen drink machine!

That pretty much sums up this frozen pina colada, and I hope you love it as much as I do!

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In case you have never had a piña colada, it's usually an alcoholic drink made with rum, pineapple, and coconut. There are many ways and many different ingredients that can be used, but I found this recipe to be simple and delish.

The Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender works magic with frozen drinks and this piña colada is no exception. I've tried to make piña coladas in the past with other blenders and they are never quite right.

A perfect piña colada should have a good balance of pineapple and coconut flavors, but more importantly should be frozen and SMOOTH. That's the hardest part to get right, but the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender takes care of this with the push of a button.

How do I know Which Function to Use on the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender?

I bring this question up because in this recipe I don't use the Frozen Drink Function and that might be confusing. After all, the piña colada is a frozen drink!

I said earlier that there are many ways to make a piña colada and this recipe uses fresh pineapple. If I was using pineapple juice, the frozen drink function would be just fine, but, with fresh pineapple we have to break the fruit down a little more to get that smooth consistency.

So, I use the extract button. Not only does this function crush the ice to a smooth consistency, it also processes the fruit into a smooth pulp. I've used this function for making cinnamon apple jelly from fresh apples that weren't peeled or seeded and it was amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't write up a recipe for that one, but it is on my list to recreate!

There are many other factors that go into choosing the best blender function for the job and I'm currently working on an in-depth article that goes into the specifics of each function. It's not quite ready yet, but it's coming soon!

Do I have to make this Piña Colada with Alcohol?

Absolutely not! It will be equally delicious without alcohol, for sure. There are a few changes I would make, though.

• Decrease your ice to 2 - 2½ cups
• Add 4 ounces* of a coconut-flavored seltzer or water

If you wanted to add 8 ounces of a flavored seltzer or water, keep the ice at 3 cups.

What type of Pineapple is best for a Piña Colada?

Personally, I think fresh works best. However, you can use canned pineapple or even pineapple juice, here are the changes I would make.

Changes for Canned Pineapple

There are several different types of canned pineapple; rings, chunks, crushed, and tidbits. There may even be more than that, but those are the ones I'm familiar with.

No matter what kind of canned pineapple you are using, you will want to drain off the juice. I know, this sounds horrible, but that extra liquid is going to make you frozen drink on the runny side. Yes, you can increase the ice to make up for it, but then you will be diluting the other flavors.

Rings or Chunks: Use at least 1 can (15 ounces) per batch of piña cololda and increase the ice by about ½ cup. The canned fruit is a little juicier and I think the added ice will help keep a nice frozen drink consitency.

Crushed or Tidbits: I would use 2 (15-ounce) cans and strain them really well. There is a lot of liquid and too much of it will lead to a runny drink.

Changes for Frozen Pineapple

If you want to use frozen pineapple, that is perfectly fine. I would decrease the ice by 1 cup.

What is Best to use for the Coconut?

I am pretty sure that a fresh coconut is best, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet. I had to save the coconut for the picture! I plan on cracking it open soon and whipping up a batch, so I'll update the post when I do.

If you wanted to use fresh coconut, I would use both the meat and the milk. I really don't know how much of each until I test it, but I would put the coconut meat and the milk into the blender by themselves and select the extract button to get it to a thick cream. Then, use that in your drink.

What I used instead, is coconut milk that you get in a can. This IS NOT the same as coconut milk that you get in the milk section of your grocery store.

Using the coconut milk in a carton will result in a very runny drink. Now, you can always increase the ice, but again you will be diluting your cocktail.

I haven't tried this yet, but you can probably use shredded coconut with a little water and use the extract button to get it to a good consistency. You may want to adjust your sugar amounts or omit it since the shredded coconut is usually sweeter (even the unsweetened kind in my opinion) than coconut milk is.

What Type Of Alcohol Should I use for a Piña Colada?

Rum is traditionally used and in this recipe I used a coconut rum because I think it gives a great flavor. You can use any kind of rum or even vodka that you like. There are no rules when it comes to mixing cocktails. Make them exactly the way you like them!

You can also skip the alcohol altogether! You will need to add in some liquid and I mentioned earlier that I would use a coconut flavored water or seltzer.

How to Make Frozen Piña Coladas in the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender

I used 3 cups of ice, 2 cups of fresh pineapple chunks, ½ cup coconut milk from a can, 1 cup of coconut rum, and 2 Tbsp of sugar.

The sugar is optional and, if your pineapple is really sweet, just skip it. Mine wasn't quite sweet enough and even with the 2 Tbsp of sugar, it could have used 1 more Tablespoon. You can adjust that to your taste.

Add the ingredients to the blender in the order they are listed in the recipe below and hit the extract button.

*You can freeze any leftovers in ice cube trays and if you want to whip one up, just put the frozen cubes in the blender and select frozen drink.

Pour and serve! Cheers!

If you want another delicious drink made in the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender, check out this 3-Ingredient Frosty Recipe!