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Driven by data, run by a passionate team of engineers, testers, technical writers, developers, and more. Although blenders are often associated with smoothie making, they’re versatile and handy tools in any chef’s kitchen. An immersion blender, for example, is well-suited for blending hot food directly into your pot to make soup. We’ve tested over 70 blenders, and below are our recommendations for the best you can buy. You can also check out our picks for the best personal blenders, the best immersion blenders, and the best Vitamix blenders.
The best blender that we’ve tested is the Vitamix A2500. This very well-built blender has a dial with 10 speed settings and a 64-ounce main jar with a two-part lid, so you can use the tamper or add ingredients mid-blend. Its versatile performance makes it a superb choice for multi-purpose use. Unfortunately, the digital timer acts as a stopwatch and displays how long you’ve been blending instead of stopping the machine after a set period. This blender’s motor base has metal gears and feels very sturdy. It comes with a 48-ounce jar that you can use to make smooth, spreadable almond butter and bar-quality crushed ice. It can also process hot ingredients like cooked vegetables for soups.
It should fit under a cabinet on your counter even with the jar in place, and all of its parts are dishwasher-safe. It makes a somewhat grainy puree with fibrous ingredients, which might bother you if you like to add ingredients like kale to your smoothies. It also only comes with one jar, unlike some full-size blenders that come with personal jars that are better for single-serve smoothies. There’s no tamper included either, though the jar’s two-part lid does allow you to pour in ingredients mid-blend.
The best budget blender we’ve tested is the Oster Pro 1200. It’s a relatively compact full-size blender, which is nice if you have limited space in your kitchen. Unfortunately, it isn’t extremely well-built, and its gear design may not be very durable. The blade assembly is held onto the jars with a rubber gasket, making it easy to take apart, but meaning you can’t use the blender if you misplace the gasket. Otherwise, if you’re looking for an affordable blender for multi-purpose use, it’s a good choice. The Ninja Βlender Duo with Auto-iQ ΒL642 is the best smoothie blender we’ve tested.
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This sturdy full-size blender is particularly well-suited for smoothies since it comes with three jars that produce silky, well-blended drinks with ingredients like frozen fruits and kale. There’s a resealable lid for each one, so you can easily blend a personal smoothie to-go. The blender itself is also pretty big, especially compared to personal blenders meant for smoothie-making, so it takes up some space on your counter or in a cupboard. Otherwise, it’s a very good option for single-serve smoothies that also comes with a 72-ounce jar for when you need a full-size blender. This personal blender has a short, compact motor base, so it easily fits in a cupboard or under a cabinet on your kitchen counter. It has good build quality and comes with a pair of 24-ounce personal jars with resealable lids and a 14-ounce bowl intended for making thicker mixtures.
While you can’t use it for hot blending, it’s a very versatile machine otherwise. Using any of its jars, it makes superb, silky smoothies with ingredients like leafy greens and chunks of frozen fruit. The 14-ounce ‘Power Nutri Βowl’ has rotating arms inside of it that help push ingredients into contact with the blades, and it does a fantastic job of making almond butter. It can also whip up snow-like crushed ice for frozen drinks and cocktails. This budget-friendly blender has a long blending arm that you can use to blend hot ingredients directly in a pot or pan. There’s a variable speed dial on the handle, giving you more control when you want to achieve a certain texture. It can produce a smooth puree with fibrous ingredients like kale and does a passable job of tougher tasks like making almond butter.