We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. What to Buy Appliances Small Appliances The 7 Best Blenders of 2024, According to Our Tests Our list includes the best Vitamix for beginners, plus our favorite personal blender. By Alyssa Longobucco Alyssa Longobucco Alyssa Longobucco is a freelance writer, editor, and stylist living in New York with over a decade of experience in the food, home, and lifestyle categories. When she's not diving into the latest trends and products, she's restoring an 1820s farmhouse in the Hudson Valley alongside her husband and children. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines and Jason Horn Jason Horn With a culinary degree, a master's in journalism, and nearly 20 years of experience, Jason Horn has spent his entire career writing about food and drinks. He lives in Los Angeles, where he grills and entertains outdoors as much as possible. He also loves the winter sport of curling. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 27, 2024 In This Article Expand In This Article Our Top Picks ReviewsOur Favorite Blenders How We Tested Blenders FAQ Other Blenders We Tested Our Expertise Photo: Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore A blender is one of the most versatile do-it-all tools you can have in your kitchen. The right blender model can do everything from pulverizing your morning smoothie and pureeing a silky-smooth soup to creating homemade nut milk and refreshingly slushy frozen margaritas. A powerful blender is an essential countertop appliance right up there with the stand mixer and espresso machine as must-haves for almost any kitchen. We've tested more than 50 blenders across many categories and combed our results to come up with this list of the best blenders, from personal blenders ideal for morning smoothies to chef-loved Vitamix blenders with the ultimate power and performance. Whether you want to get in some greens on the go or are looking for a smart kitchen appliance to help you with meal prep, our list includes the best blenders for every home cook. What We Looked for in the Best Blenders Capacity: One of the biggest considerations when shopping for a blender is how much stuff it can hold. If you plan to blend big batches of soup and multi-serving smoothies, there are jar options at 2 quarts or even larger, though these tend to be more expensive and often have trouble with small amounts. Personal blenders have small cups designed for one or just a few servings but offer less power than full-size models. Immersion blenders can blend in any vessel you like and theoretically have no maximum capacity, but the style also can't accommodate as high-wattage a motor as a countertop blender. Power: A blender is only as good as its motor. Higher-wattage machines can tear through tough ingredients faster and more effectively, but they're generally pricier, heavier, and louder. Blades, pitchers, and blending programs can also make a difference, though no design features can make up for an underpowered machine. Versatility: The simplest blenders don't have much more than an on/off switch, and that's often all you need — especially with a personal blender. But it can get much more complex: Multiple speed settings let you mix slowly, puree quickly, or move between as the texture changes. Many blenders also have preset programs of speeds and pulses designed for specific items. For a further splurge, some models combine the functions of a blender and food processor, with swappable blades and containers for everything from kneading dough to making a smoothie. Our Top Picks Best Blender for Smoothies: Vitamix Explorian Blender at Amazon ($330) Jump to Review Best Personal Blender: Nutribullet Pro 900 Personal Blender at Amazon ($90) Jump to Review Best Immersion Blender: Breville Control Grip Immersion Blender at Amazon ($130) Jump to Review Best Mid-Range Blender: KitchenAid K400 Blender at Amazon ($210) Jump to Review Best Value : Breville Fresh & Furious Blender at Amazon ($200) Jump to Review Best Vitamix Blender: Vitamix Professional-Grade Blender at Amazon ($412) Jump to Review Best Blender-Food Processor Combo: Ninja Compact Kitchen System at Amazon ($130) Jump to Review Best Blender for Smoothies Vitamix Explorian Blender PHOTO: Amazon $330 at Amazon $330 at Target $330 at Williams-Sonoma Pros This simple blender gets you all the incredible power of a Vitamix at comparatively low price. Cons The 48-ounce pitcher is pretty small, and it's still more expensive than average overall. For a straightforward and effective blender that's great for making smoothies, you can’t go wrong with Vitamix’s E310 Explorian model. We called it the best Vitamix for beginners in our comprehensive tests of the best Vitamix blenders — and for good reason. It has huge power and all the basic features you need to make smoothies, shakes, soups, and more, without the enormous price of larger and more complicated Vitamix models. You get 10 speed options, plus a pulse setting that lets you chop nuts or mince herbs with finesse, and that's all you have to worry about. In our tests, we loved how compact the blender is, with a short profile and no accessories to keep track of, which makes it easy to store in a cabinet. That's partially because of its smaller pitcher, though 48 ounces provides enough capacity to blend three smoothie servings. The E310 is a bit more expensive than average for blenders, though it's Vitamix's cheapest option. Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 18 inches | Weight: 10.5 pounds | Capacity: 48 ounces | Power: 1,340 watts Best Personal Blender Nutribullet Pro 900 Personal Blender PHOTO: Amazon $90 at Amazon $80 at Target $102 at Walmart Pros This compact machine had no trouble blending tough ingredients into a silken smoothie. Cons It includes two fairly large cups but nothing for single servings. After rigorous testing, we named the Nutribullet Pro 900 the best personal blender, period. This little guy was able to pulverize ice, blueberries, and kale into a silken smoothie with very few fibrous bits. It's also incredibly easy to use, as you simply push and twist the cup to activate the motor. The kit includes two separate cups, each with a lip ring, handled lip ring, and a sippy lid so you can enjoy your smoothies however you like. (You can, of course, also use the machine for velvety soups, sauces, and salsas — though you may need to blend in more than one batch to fit everything.) Nutribullet makes several excellent personal blenders, but we think the Pro 900 offers the best balance of power and price. Our main issue with the model is that both of its included cups are quite large for a portable blender. That's great when you're using it as a general-purpose blender but they're not so great for taking drinks to-go. The 32-ounce vessels might not fit in a car cupholder, though you can buy smaller ones along with lots of other Nutribullet accessories. Dimensions: 6.89 x 5.98 x 14.29 inches | Weight: 5.5 pounds | Capacity: 32 ounces | Power: 900 watts | Includes: 2 (32-ounce) cups, 2 lip rings, 2 handled lip rings, 2 to-go lids Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Immersion Blender Breville Control Grip Immersion Blender PHOTO: Williams Sonoma $130 at Amazon $130 at Williams-Sonoma $130 at breville.com Pros This versatile appliance can blend just about anything, just about anywhere, and it also doubles as food processor. Cons It's very loud, and it's expensive for an immersion blender. Earning the top spot in our roundup of the best immersion blenders, Breville's Control Grip wowed us during testing. It combines impressive power and versatility, flawlessly pureeing soup and emulsifying mayo in record time. We were particularly impressed with its smoothie performance: This machine crushed ice in 40 seconds and blended even chia seeds smooth in just 2 minutes. With an impressive 15 speed settings, this can function as an immersion and a standard blender. Since its base is silicone, you can stick the Control Grip into any stockpot or bowl without worrying about damage. It also includes a 42-ounce full-size blender jug, a chopping bowl, and a whisk attachment for making meringues, whipped cream, and other desserts. The Control Grip is fairly pricey for an immersion blender, though its extra functions justify its increased cost. It's a good all-in-one option, especially for someone with limited kitchen space. The other negative we found in testing is that it's very loud at high speed. Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 17 inches | Weight: 3.8 pounds | Power: 280 watts | Includes: 25-ounce chopper bowl, 42-ounce blender jug, whisk attachment Food & Wine / Kevin Norris Best Mid-Range Blender KitchenAid K400 Blender PHOTO: Amazon $210 at Amazon $300 at Wayfair $210 at kohls.com Pros Big power and excellent performance on every task made this model a winner in testing. Cons It's quite heavy and probably too tall to fit in a cabinet. Are you a lover of frozen cocktails ready to replace the janky blender you relied on for Margarita Mondays in college? A condiment snob obsessed with perfecting their homemade mayonnaise? A connoisseur of creamy butternut squash soup? This blender registered perfect scores on all three in our testing. The KitchenAid K400 has a classic blender design, with a large jar and simple dial controls. It offers five numbered speed settings and three preset programs that alternate speeds to crush ice into snow, create slushy beverages, and blend consistently textured smoothies. During our tests, we were impressed by how well the ribbed jar and asymmetrical blade combine to create a vortex that sucks in all the ingredients to blend thoroughly. There's an included tamper to push food down into the blades, but we didn't even need it. This blender is quite reasonably priced for being such an effective machine, and you can also find it in lots of different colors, from pale green pistachio to KitchenAid's signature bright red. It's quite heavy and tall, though, so don't expect it to tuck away unobtrusively in a cabinet when you're not using it. It's likely going to have to live on the counter. Dimensions: 7.59 x 9.02 x 15.8 inches | Weight: 12 pounds | Capacity: 56 ounces | Power: 1,200 watts Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Value Breville Fresh & Furious Blender PHOTO: Amazon $200 at Amazon $200 at Target $200 at Williams-Sonoma Pros This inexpensive blender made a perfectly textured frozen margarita and was very easy to clean by hand. Cons It left behind some fibrous bits in our test soup and smoothie. We were blown away by the frozen margarita we made in the Fresh & Furious. As we gradually cranked it from lowest to highest speed, it crushed whole ice cubes and combined the ingredients into a light fluff, like clouds of shaved ice. And it did that in just 33 seconds, keeping meltage to a minimum. It also did a pretty good job on the rest of the tests, making nicely emulsified mayonnaise and thoroughly blending other ingredients. We tested cheaper full-size blenders than this one, but it's the only budget model that delivered acceptable results. There were tiny bits of skin detectable in the soup and smoothie, but not enough to ruin the texture. There are five speed settings and three preset programs (ice crush, smoothie, and green smoothie), each of which runs for 60 seconds. It was a little annoying to keep restarting the blender for the 6 minutes we needed for the soup, but that's not the biggest deal. Another aspect we liked about the Fresh & Furious is its tall, blade. It was easy to wash between the skinny teeth with a sponge and get rid of all the food bits. (There's an auto-clean setting you can run with soap and water, too, but we found a simple wipe to be quicker and more effective.) Dimensions: 6.9 x 8.3 x 17.7 inches | Weight: 8.5 pounds | Capacity: 50 ounces | Power: 1,100 watts Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Vitamix Blender Vitamix Professional-Grade Blender PHOTO: Amazon $412 at Amazon View on Vitamix.com $643 at newegg.com Pros This large-capacity blender has enough power to make a smooth puree of just about anything. Cons It's quite expensive, and it had trouble blending a small batch effectively. The heavy-duty 5200 is our favorite Vitamix for anybody who plans to use their blender almost every day. It was able to thoroughly break up everything we threw at it, literally from soup to nuts. Our almond milk came out rich and smooth, and there were barely any flecks of fiber in soups and smoothies. It also did an incredible job with the frozen cocktail, buzzing up a slushy drink in less than a minute. The motor did not indicate stress even while running for long periods. The spinning blades can bring soup from cold to steaming hot in a 6-minute heating cycle. The one test the Vitamix 5200 didn't do well on was a small batch of mayonnaise: The single egg yolk and cup of oil stuck to the sides and didn't incorporate evenly. With its 64-ounce pitcher, this machine is best suited to large batches. And of course, like all Vitamix models, it's pretty expensive. Dimensions: 20.5 x 8.75 x 7.25 inches | Weight: 10.6 pounds | Capacity: 64 ounces | Power: 1,380 watts Food & Wine / Tamara Staples Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Blender-Food Processor Combo Ninja Compact Kitchen System PHOTO: Amazon $130 at Amazon Pros This powerful machine combines the functionality of a full-size blender, personal blender, and food processor. Cons There are no manual speed controls to customize settings. The brand makes lots of options, but we say this is the best Ninja blender for its incredible versatility and reasonable price. It is a true "kitchen system," with a huge-capacity blender pitcher, a single-serving smoothie cup with a to-go lid, and a full-functioning food processor bowl with chopping and kneading blades. You can whip up the perfect pesto, chunky salsa, or thoroughly kneaded pizza dough in addition to more traditional smoothies and pureed soups. The Ninja Kitchen System has three programs designed for crushing ice, blending smoothies, and gently mixing or kneading. It also has normal on/off and pulse buttons. That covers most basic functions, but you can't manually adjust the speed of this blender. That rules out advanced techniques like starting slow and gradually speeding up to make a slushy cocktail, or turning the speed up and down to adjust the final texture of chopped veggies. If you're just starting in a new kitchen or have limited storage space, this machine serves as three appliances in one. However, if you already have a food processor and just want a blender, it includes a lot of extras you don't need. It's an ideal kitchen generalist, but more hardcore home cooks might prefer separate appliances. Dimensions: 7.5 x 8.25 x 17.25 inches | Weight: 12 pounds | Capacity: 64 ounces (blender pitcher), 40 ounces (food processor bowl), 18 ounces (to-go cup) | Power: 1,200 watts Our Favorite Blenders If you’re looking for the best blender for making smoothies, shakes, frozen drinks, nut milk, or soups, you can’t go wrong with Vitamix’s E310 Explorian model. For a smaller personal blender with cups made to take on the go, we recommend the Nutribullet Pro 900 for its power and portability. And if an immersion blender is what you need, our favorite is the Breville Control Grip, which also includes a food processor attachment. How We Tested Blenders We tested 23 blenders side-by-side, putting them through the identical series of tests described below. We also incorporated results from additional rounds of testing on specific types of blenders, including 20 personal blenders, 15 immersion blenders, and more than 20 Vitamix blenders. All told, we tested well more than 50 different models to compile our results. Noise test: To measure the noise level of each blender, we used a decibel meter while blending 16 ounces of ice and 8 ounces of water for 30 seconds. When settings were allowed, we performed the same test at low, medium, and high speeds.Almond milk test: We blended water, almonds, and dates in each blender for 3 minutes, then strained the mixture through cheesecloth to create homemade almond milk. We measured how much milk each batch yielded and observed the texture of the strained solids to see how evenly and thoroughly everything was broken down.Smoothie test: We made a smoothie in each blender using almond milk, kale, blueberries, and peanut butter, blending on high speed for 1 minute. We strained the results, noting how well the blenders broke down the fibrous kale, tough blueberry skins, and sticky peanut butter.Frozen drink test: We made a batch of basic blended margaritas in each blender (with Jose Cuervo's ready-to-drink mix and ice). We used the blended drink setting if available, or started the machine on low and gradually increased the speed until we got a smooth texture. We measured the length of time needed and noted the evenness of the final texture and how much of the ice remained frozen. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Mayonnaise test: We made homemade mayonnaise in each blender, drizzling oil into the egg yolk while running on low speed. This measured their ability to thoroughly combine and emulsify ingredients, as well as their ability to deal with small amounts.Soup test: To test the blenders' abilities to puree ingredients of varying textures, we blended onion, carrot, apple, and butternut squash with water for 6 minutes on high speed. We examined the resulting soup for any remaining fibrous bits or pieces of apple skin. Some machines claim the ability to heat and even cook soup right in the jar, so we also took the temperature after blending to see how much the blades heated the mixture.Cleaning test: After each round of performance testing, we cleaned each blender and its parts following the included directions. We used the dishwasher for dishwasher-safe parts and hand-washed bases, blades, and other parts that require special care. (For machines with a self-clean setting, we also tested its effectiveness at cleaning all the parts.) We noted whether any food bits were left behind, any difficulties with assembly or disassembly, or any other design features that made cleanup easier or harder. After we completed all the other tests, we revealed the retail prices of the blenders to compare value for money. At the time of testing, the 23 blenders ranged from $37 to $700, with an average of $301. Frequently Asked Questions Can you use a blender in place of a food processor? Not really. A blender's dull, fast-spinning blades are designed to crush and break ingredients into tiny bits, while a food processor's slower, sharper blades make clean slices to cut food into larger, evenly sized pieces. There's certainly some overlap between what the two machines can do, but a blender is better at making smooth purees and a food processor is better at chopping, shredding, or grating. Your kitchen may well need one of each (or a single machine with both blender and food processor attachments). How do you make a slushy drink or milkshake in a blender? The key to a great frozen blended treat is keeping everything frozen. The spinning blades generate heat, so you want to run the motor for as short as possible to avoid melting the ice or ice cream. If you're starting with large ice cubes, run a few low-speed pulses to break them up, then use the highest speed for only a few seconds at a time, just until the texture is smooth. How do you clean a blender? Your first step should be to consult the user manual, as different models have different care rules. Most blenders come with pitchers, lids, and other removable parts that are dishwasher-safe, but cleaning the blades themselves might require careful hand-scrubbing. The motor base for any blender — the part the cord comes out of — should never be immersed in water and usually can only be wiped down with a sponge.Some models can also be cleaned by running water and a few drops of dish soap on low speed for 30 to 60 seconds. This can be very effective at removing stuck-on food bits, but be sure to rinse the parts thoroughly to wash away any remaining soap. Other Blenders We Tested Strong Contenders Oster Versa Professional Power Blender With a 1,400-watt motor more powerful than any other on this list, the Oster Versa finished near the top of many tests, making especially exceptional almond milk. However, it had trouble with a small batch of mayonnaise in its 64-ounce jar. It's just about average in price and certainly performed above average in our testing. Vitamix 7500 Blender Vitamix makes a lot of darn fine blenders and all four models we used in this latest round of testing performed well. The 7500 is incredibly well-built, with a massive 2.2-horsepower (about 1,640-watt) motor. It powered through everything we threw at it with ease, including making a frozen margarita in 14 seconds. But we saw similar results from other models that cost a lot less. Vitamix Propel 510 Blender Another Vitamix monster, the Propel 510 is a little smaller and a little less powerful than the 7500, but it had no trouble whatsoever in testing. The soup was silky smooth, blended so well that hardly any pulp remained after straining. It costs $100 less than the 7500, but it's still a quite expensive blender, especially considering its mere 48-ounce capacity. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore What Didn't Make the List The blenders that finished at the bottom of the rankings simply worked ineffectively. They left large chunks of fruits, veggies, or nuts behind, delivered watery frozen drinks, and failed to emulsify mayonnaise. This was often due to a lack of power, but design played a role as well: Too-small blades unable to reach the full contents of the pitcher were a problem we found more than once. When it comes to budget models, we noticed a serious drop-off in quality below about $150; there are good values available, but generally not from the very bottom shelf. Other notable brands we tested for this story include Blendtec, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, and Hurom, plus additional models from KitchenAid and Breville. *Editor’s Note: We initially included the BlendJet 2 as a portable blender option in this roundup, but the product has been recalled due to safety risks. Consumer Reports has advised buyers to stop using the product and contact BlendJet for a free replacement unit. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Our Expertise Alyssa Longobucco is a freelance writer, editor, and stylist living in New York with over a decade of experience in the food, home, and lifestyle categories. When she's not diving into the latest trends and products, she's restoring an 1820s farmhouse in the Hudson Valley alongside her husband and children. Food & Wine senior updates writer Jason Horn updated this story with additional testing data. He holds a master's degree in journalism and has been a food and drinks writer for nearly 20 years, for publications including Serious Eats, Liquor.com, Playboy, and HGTV. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit