If you think a blender is just for whipping up high-protein smoothies, you're sorely missing out on the kitchen gadget's potential.
"A blender can serve multiple functions in a home kitchen," shares Michael Handal, a chef at the Institute of Culinary Education. "From breadcrumbs to vinaigrettes, chimichurri to tomato puree, blenders can serve a wide variety of needs."
Just as there are practically endless ways to use the appliance, there are also seemingly infinite options to choose from on the market, so finding the right blender for your space and needs can be a tough task. That's why we tried out eight popular blenders to see which one is best for tackling a variety of tasks, from soups to peanut butter and, of course, smoothies.
Read on to see all of our thoughts, including the blender that was our top pick. Plus, we're including insight from experts about how to pick the best blender for your kitchen.
Best for large quantities$undefined$99.99
What to look for in a blender
The features that a blender should have really depend on what you plan to use it for, but there are a couple of things that can be helpful for every task.
"Blenders range from basic to highly multifunctional. At a minimum, a good-quality blender should have multiple speed settings and a pulse function for better control and texture," says Jennifer Weis, a dietitian based in Philadelphia.
According to Handal, the most important thing to look for is a strong motor. "Without an excellent motor, the blender will not operate at all. A weak motor may not be able to keep up with the tasks at hand. Overtasked motors will stall or shut off because they cannot keep up." He suggests looking for a blender with a 2HP motor or higher, which typically offers consistent blending speeds and a longer product life.
If you’re focused on using your blender to create innovative, healthy recipes, it may be helpful to look for some additional features and presets — and for these tasks, Weis also emphasizes the importance of a higher-powered motor. “For example, making banana-based ‘nice cream’ with frozen bananas and peanut butter typically requires a blender with a wider base and stronger motor, as a basic blender may struggle with this consistency,” Weis says.
In the same vein, certain blenders can be used to grind oats or make alternative flours using grains or nuts. “Depending on your goals, helpful features [for this] may include a sturdy base, a tight-fitting lid with a center opening (bonus points for a tamper wand to push ingredients toward the blades), multiple speed or blade options, and a design that makes it easy to pour out contents and clean,” Weis adds.
"Blender size is also important," Handal shares. "If you need to puree a lot of soup at the same time, then a larger blender jar is probably in order. In a smaller household, a smaller-sized blender jar will probably be fine. In either case, be sure that your blender also has a tamper for the size jar you have. The tamper will allow you to safely push food down toward the blade, without hitting the blades themselves."
You should also look at the potential warranty of the product, Handal says, as electronics can be finicky and "if you happen to buy a faulty unit, you want to be able to return it if necessary."
Best overall blender
Efficiency: 5/5 | Ease of use: 5/5 | Volume: 4/5 | Ease of cleaning: 4.5/5 | Overall rating: 4.6/5
Efficiency: When it comes to power and blending efficiency, the Vitamix blew the other blenders out of the water. Everything we made, from the smoothies to the mocktails, turned out the smoothest and creamiest with this blender.
We were impressed by the results we got with the peanut butter, in particular. The recipe that we followed instructed us to pulse for 20 seconds and then blend for 30-second intervals, scraping the sides and bottom in between. For each blender, we did a maximum of 10 30-second blending intervals. While some of the blenders essentially just made peanut crumbles after all 10 sessions, the Vitamix made a super smooth butter in just one.
Ease of use: With a simple knob to control speed and two switches to control power and settings, using this blender was extremely straightforward. The lid was easy to get on and off, and it comes with a tamper for tougher blending tasks, but we didn't end up needing it at all. Some people may struggle with the lack of presets, but I found it to be pretty intuitive (lower speeds for a rougher chop, higher speeds for smooth blends).
Volume: The Vitamix operates at a pretty standard blending volume. It's not louder than the average blender, but you also can't hear background sounds or someone speaking while the blender is operating.
Ease of cleaning: While this version of the Vitamix doesn't have a self-cleaning feature, when we added soap and warm water and ran it at its highest setting, and then rinsed, most of the food washed out with the water. (It took off more than the other blenders that we tested.) The recipes that used nut butter required an additional couple of wipes with a sponge to remove some of the residue stuck to the side.
Other blenders to shop, tested by the author
Our runner-up:
Efficiency: 4/5 | Ease of use: 5/5 | Volume: 4/5 | Ease of cleaning: 4/5 | Overall rating: 4.25/5
Efficiency: When it came to the mocktail, soup and smoothie, we found that the blending power of the Nutribullet was pretty on par with the Vitamix. The foods were all smooth and not at all grainy, and there were no nuts or seeds visible. The only area where it struggled was with the nut butter. After 10 blending sessions, the peanut butter was not completely smooth. Though it seemed to be coming together well, I think we could have achieved a more cohesive result with some more blending sessions.
Ease of use: It has a very straightforward, simple display that lets you choose from five speed settings including run and pulse mode. This blender is also designed to sense the ingredients and automatically adjust speed. However, since we were using the same settings for each blender, we did not test this feature.
Volume: The Nutribullet had a pretty similar volume level to the Vitamix, and it was tough to hear anything while blending, though it was not significantly louder than any of the other blenders we tried.
Ease of cleaning: There is no preset cleaning button on this blender, but at its highest speed, it does a good job of removing excess food. Like the others, we had to wipe some spots where nut butter was stuck to the sides or bottom.
Best for large quantities:
Efficiency: 4/5 | Ease of use: 5/5 | Volume: 3.5/5 | Ease of cleaning: 4/5 | Overall rating: 4.1/5
Efficiency: Overall, even with only three speeds, this blender delivers quite a bit of power. The soup, mocktail and smoothie were all really well blended and smooth. Though the nuts and seeds had not completely disappeared into the blends as they did with the Vitamix. This blender was only one of the two that successfully made a creamy peanut butter — and it needed just four of the 10 blending rounds to do it.
Ease of use: With the large front buttons, this blender was very easy to use. The blades are spread out within the container, so things don’t get as stuck at the bottom. There is a release button for the lid and a handle, which makes it easy to take it on and off, though you do have to make sure it's properly aligned in order for everything to work.
Volume: This blender was pretty loud, and it might be tough to have a conversation while it's running.
Ease of cleaning: Although it doesn’t have a dedicated cleaning preset, it still performed well in its self-cleaning test. Because the blades are more spread out, you’ll need to remove the blade assembly to wash it. Fortunately, it pops out easily, making it simple to reach and rinse away any bits that may collect at the bottom.
Best quiet blender:
Efficiency: 3.5/5 | Ease of use: 3.5/5 | Volume: 5/5 | Ease of cleaning: 4/5 | Overall rating: 4/5
Efficiency: For an average kitchen blender, this option from Drew Barrymore's Beautiful Walmart line did a pretty good job. For the smoothie, soup and mocktail, the concoctions were well-blended and smooth throughout, though the smoothie still had some seeds in it. I was particularly impressed by its blending ability with the soup, as it was smoother than some of the more high-powered options. But there were still some white flecks of cashew throughout.
This blender struggled with the peanut butter — the peanuts turned into more of a crumble. I could, however, see some smoother butter developing at the bottom, so we may have had better results if we kept blending.
Ease of use: The beautiful blender features two basic speeds, low and high, along with some preset settings, including ones for smoothies, crushing ice and chopping, making it easy to make different recipes without fussing over the correct speeds. The screen is digital, and there were a couple of instances where the buttons didn't recognize my touch, so it took a couple of attempts. There also wasn't an easy way to grip the lid, so I sometimes struggled to take it on and off.
Volume: This blender was by far the quietest throughout the entire process, even at its highest setting. While the blending sounds were still very noticeable, it was easier to hear over the noise, and we could have a conversation while it was running.
Ease of cleaning: There is an auto-clean button, so all you have to do is fill the pitcher with water, add a little soap and set it to run. After using the self-cleaning feature, we still had to wipe the inside with a sponge to get stuck-on substances, like the peanut butter, off the sides.
Best for frozen drinks:
Efficiency: 3/5 | Ease of use: 3/5 | Volume: 4/5 | Ease of cleaning: 4/5 | Overall rating: 3.5/5
Efficiency: This blender really excelled when it came to the daiquiri and smoothie recipes. Both were well-blended and thick, without any chunks or noticeable bits that affected the consistency. While we didn't get a smooth final result with the peanut butter, we ended up with peanut crumbles — like the others, it seemed like it was progressing in the direction of a store-bought butter and could benefit from more blending. The tomato soup had some small white spots throughout, giving it a grainier texture.
Ease of use: Cuisinart's blender features multiple presets, including options for smoothies, cocktails and more, making it easy to just start it and go. You can also select from one of the five speeds. All of this is controlled from a digital knob on the front. At times, the knob would get stuck, and it would take a couple of attempts before I could move it.
The pitcher has measurement indicators along the side, so you can measure directly in the bowl, so there is no need to dirty any additional cups. With the tomato soup, we filled it to the top line and some spilled out of the top during the blending process.
Volume: The Cuisinart was slightly quieter than some of the other blenders, but not in any significant way.
Ease of cleaning: There's a cleaning preset, but it didn't take off more stuck-on ingredients, so some additional scrubbing was required.
Best for customizable blending:
Efficiency: 3.5/5 | Ease of use: 5/5 | Volume: 4/5 | Ease of cleaning: 4/5 | Overall rating: 4.12/5
Efficiency: This blender did a good job overall, creating smooth blends for the smoothie and soup, with minimal graininess. It struggled a little with the frozen aspect of the mocktail, and there were a couple of strawberry chunks that were not fully blended. While it didn’t quite achieve a perfectly smooth peanut butter texture, it outperformed several competitors — coming closest to a true crunchy peanut butter rather than just producing loose crumbles.
Ease of use: For those who appreciate presets, this blender offers them, but it also has a dial with up to 10 speeds, so the blending process feels really customizable. When making the peanut butter, which required a lot of scraping of the bottom and sides between blends, I found it easy to reach the substances that were stuck at the bottom, thanks to the asymmetrical blades.
Volume: The volume of this blender was pretty average and about in the middle compared to the others that we tested.
Ease of cleaning: The preset cleaning cycle was pretty short, so I was surprised to find that it actually took a lot of the food off of the sides. However, there was some scrubbing required. With the asymmetrical blades, I found it easier to reach under the blades with a sponge and clean the very bottom without completely taking the blades out.
How we tested blenders
We chose eight different blenders to try based on popularity, shopper ratings and functionality, and we tested all of them over the course of a day in a test kitchen. We evaluated them based on four different factors: efficiency, ease of use, volume level and how easy they were to clean.
We made four different recipes using each one: tomato soup, a smoothie, a virgin strawberry daiquiri and two-ingredient peanut butter. The exact recipes we followed are linked and they were chosen because they incorporate a mix of frozen ingredients and harder-to-blend foods, like nuts and seeds. We made sure the blenders were set on similar speeds and settings during the blending process while timing each recipe equally.
We also used the self-cleaning features to clean the blender after, when available. When not available, we filled the blender with water and soap and set it to run at its highest speed to remove leftover ingredients.
Frequently asked questions
In short, it actually may. According to Weis, blenders make it easy to increase your fiber intake by helping you find new, innovative ways to eat different fruits and vegetables.
"Smoothies, soups, dips and sauces allow for creative combinations of produce that people may not otherwise consume on their own," Weis says. "Using a blender also helps maximize fiber intake by including parts of foods that are often discarded, such as skins and pulp. In addition, blending makes it easier to consume a range of colorful fruits and vegetables in one meal. Eating a variety of colors is associated with a broader intake of micronutrients."
"A feature that I find is not needed is the built-in timer," Handal says. "If I am working with a blender that has this feature, I never use it, as I am always very close to the blender when I am working with it. A running blender should never be left unattended, as it may vibrate too close to the side of the table, or the lid may wiggle free from the top of the blender jar and cause the contents to be sprayed all over the kitchen."
"Blenders are versatile tools that support food preparation in many ways, such as blending fruits and vegetables, making smoothies or soups, and even creating flour from whole grains like oats," says Weis.
Handal shares that some of his favorite things to make in the blender include "chimichurri; crêpe batter; and puréed, blanched herbs for herb oils (basil, parsley)."
Why trust Shop TODAY?
Emma Stessman is a writer for Shop TODAY and has been covering shopping trends and products for the team for more than five years. She has tested a range of items for the Ranked series, including biker shorts, shoe deodorizers and more. She is also an avid home cook and often uses her home blender for things like smoothies and soups, so she knows what features to look for.
Meet our experts
At Shop TODAY, our reporters interview a range of qualified sources and experts to capture a wide scope of perspectives on a given topic. We also ensure that all expert guidance and recommendations are provided independently and without any undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
- Michael Handal is a chef at the Institute of Culinary Education. His training was grounded in classical French cuisine and is the Institute's resident charcuterie expert.
- Jennifer Weis, RD, is the founder of Jennifer Weis Nutrition Consulting in Philadelphia. She specializes in creating custom nutrition plans, particularly for those dealing with PCOS, IBS, diabetes or cardiovascular issues.
