We Tested Over 50 Blenders To Find the Best Ones for Every Home Cook

Our Takeaway

After testing over 50 different blenders on important attributes like design, ease of use, performance, convenience, value, and cleanup, we were most impressed with the Breville Fresh and Furious Blender. For a budget-conscious pick, we also recommend the Hamilton Beach Power Elite Blender. 

How To Pick the Right Blender

Intended Use

If you only use your current blender for the occasional smoothie or soup, you'd be better off going with a lower-priced blender.

Many of the top blenders on the market today are manufactured with the power to grind coffee, blend nut butter, pulverize ice, and more. But these blenders also come with hefty price tags. Before you choose a blender, consider how you plan to use it and how often. You might find that you're better off with something like a food processor or maybe a margarita machine, depending on what you're looking for.

Size

In an ideal world, we'd all have the counter space to host a full-size blender at all times. But since we live in the real world, you've got to consider a few things when deciding which size blender to go with, including storage, capacity, and portability.

If you can't spare the counter space, opt for a lightweight blender that can easily go from the cupboard to the countertop when you need to use it. You'll also need to consider whether you want a blender with more capacity or if you'd prefer a single-serve (or personal) blender. These are largely meant for smoothies and can often be enjoyed straight out of the container they were blended in.

If you want to use your blender for anything from soups to sauces to frozen drinks, a countertop blender is usually going to come with greater capacity and the motor power needed to pulverize these taxing ingredients.

Wattage

This might go without saying, but the higher the wattage, the more powerful the blender (most of the time). It's important to take note of wattage when considering a blender, but the overall design of the blender is just as, if not more, important.

Glass vs. Plastic

Glass blenders have a few advantages. They are less likely to stain or hold onto odors, but unlike their plastic counterparts, they're heavy and not always the best option for the accident-prone or those who need to take their blending jar with them on the go.

Plus, there's no guarantee that glass blenders will be shatterproof—blending ice in a glass blender straight out of a hot dishwasher could lead to disaster. Fortunately, many of the top models use Tristan plastic, which is a BPA-free alternative to plastic that's much lighter and more durable than glass.

The Leftovers: Other Blenders We Tested

During our first round of testing, the Vitamix Professional Series 750 Blender blew us away with its precision, power, and speed. However, after testing the Vitamix 5200, we just couldn’t justify the high price of the 750. That said, if you’re looking specifically for a low-profile jar, the 750 is still an excellent choice. Our original portable blender pick, the Hamilton Beach 14-Ounce Single-Serve Blender, did a great job of blending, but we ultimately decided it was too small-capacity when compared to our two Ninja options in the second round of testing.

Common Questions

Can you make juice in a blender?

If you don’t have a dedicated juicer, a blender will work just fine. Opt for a model with a strong motor that won’t leave a lot of pulp behind, and simply push your mixture through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a cup or bowl. 

Are blenders dishwasher safe?

We always suggest consulting the owner’s manual on how best to clean your blender, but dishwasher-safe blenders are becoming increasingly easier to find. To wash your blender by hand: fill the jar halfway with hot water and a few drops of dish soap, place on the base and reattach the lid, blend for about 30 seconds, and rinse. 

Which blenders are best for making soup?

An immersion blender works great for soups since the stick design lets you puree ingredients straight in the pot or virtually any shape of bowl. The KitchenAid Cordless Variable Speed Hand Blender makes this process even easier with a rechargeable battery.

Why Take Our Word For It?

This piece was originally written by Melanie Fincher, a Birmingham, Alabama-based food writer who joined the Allrecipes team in 2019. She has nearly seven years of experience writing news and lifestyle content, the last three of which were spent working exclusively as a food writer.

Katherine Gallagher, an associate commerce editor at Allrecipes, updated this article with insights from our test kitchen. A former associate commerce editor at The Spruce Eats, Katherine also has over a decade's worth of experience in the restaurant industry.