A good blender can pump out silky-smooth purees and make short work of frozen drinks. But a bad blender can leave you with lumpy smoothies and a headache from the noise.
It’s hard to tell from price alone whether you’re backing a winner. Some of the top performers in our test outclassed products that were far more expensive, so it’s worth doing your research to make sure you’re buying the right blender for you.
Here are our tips for choosing a blender. Plus, for CHOICE members only, we’ll reveal the top scoring blenders from our rigorous lab tests.
If you’re not yet a member, join CHOICE to get instant access to all of our expert, independent reviews.
From a single-serve model suitable for smoothies for one, through to high-powered machines that can whip up hot soups from raw ingredients using blade friction alone, there are so many options when it comes to blenders.
So which kind of blender should you buy? It depends on what you want to do with it.
“If you want to reduce the amount of processed foods you buy, then a high-performance blender is worth considering,” says Fiona Mair, CHOICE’s kitchen expert.
“It really depends on what you want a blender for. If it’s just for making shakes, smoothies and cocktails, then a standard or personal blender is all you need.”
If you’re deeply committed to daily green smoothies, milling your own flour or whipping up a batch of nut butter, you’ll need a blender that can handle everything you throw at (or into) it.
But if you’re only making smoothies from fruit, whizzing up milkshakes or blitzing veggies in soup, a stick blender may well do the job.
Not every blender is up to the task of liquefying kale or chopping nuts, so before you buy, take some time to think about how you plan to use your new blender.
Once you’ve decided what you need, check our test results – just because a blender is advertised as being able to liquefy even the toughest veggies doesn’t mean it’ll be good at it!
Personal blenders are perfect for single-serve smoothies.
Portable and personal blenders
These small-sized blenders don’t have the power needed to tackle kale or other heavy-duty tasks.
Because of their small capacity, they can’t take on larger jobs like a full-sized blender can.
But they are a handy and affordable space-saving appliance for basic smoothies for one.
Stick to fresh and frozen fruit and make sure you add liquid before you blend. They can generally handle a few ice cubes if you want to cool things down.
You can also use them to make protein shakes and milkshakes, salad dressings and pureed baby food.
A standard blender can help with meal prep as well as making smoothies, milkshakes and crushed ice.
Standard blenders
Regular-sized blenders aren’t all created equal.
Some are up to the challenge of chopping hard veggies like carrots uniformly (without turning them to mush), effortlessly blitzing kale into submission and crushing ice to the perfect consistency.
But others will struggle with some of these tasks.
Paying a bit more for a standard blender can often mean more functions, such as auto programs, more speed settings, countdown timers, accessories and more.
Of course, a more expensive blender won’t necessarily do a better job than a cheaper one, so don’t base your decision solely on the price tag.
You might be surprised by the sheer number of tasks a high-powered blender can take on.
High-performance blenders
These are the VIPs of the blender world – Thermomixes fall into this category. Powerful and versatile, they’re far more than just milkshake makers.
Aside from the usual blender tasks, they have a myriad of other uses, including:
Milling flour
Grinding nut butters
Making spice pastes
Finely crushing ice
Grating parmesan cheese
Making hot soup (the friction from the blade creates heat)
Mixing pizza dough
Our experts put high-performance blenders through their paces in our kitchen lab, assessing their abilities on most of these tasks.
All 18 of the high-performance blenders in our current review nailed crushing ice, dry milling nuts and grating parmesan cheese, and most of them crushed the nut butter test.
Most people associate these super-powered blenders with green smoothies, but a surprising number of them didn’t impress our testers in this domain. Less than two-thirds of them turned out excellent green smoothies, and only four of them scored above 80% for blending kale.
And spending more won’t necessarily give you better results, either: the $949 Blendtec Designer 625 CTB1 was rated as ‘borderline’ for blending kale, while the $200 Ninja Nutri Ninja BL642NZ scored a perfect 100%.
Which are the best blenders for smoothies and meal prep?
We independently test and review dozens of small appliances each year in our onsite labs, and our experts know exactly what to look for to help you find the best product.
Our detailed testing data is available exclusively for CHOICE members. If you’re not yet a member, join CHOICE to get instant access to all of our expert, independent reviews, from fridges and freezers, toasters and TVs, kettles and cots, and more.
Or log in to unlock this article and find out which blenders are real whizzes in the kitchen.
Alice Richard is a Content creator and marketer. Alice writes on a range of topics, from health insurance to heaters and BBQs to bargain-hunting, always with the aim to help consumers find the best products to buy, and which to avoid.
Alice can take vast amounts of data from CHOICE product tests and turn it into content that is easily digestible and fun for readers.
Alice has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland. LinkedIn
Alice Richard is a Content creator and marketer. Alice writes on a range of topics, from health insurance to heaters and BBQs to bargain-hunting, always with the aim to help consumers find the best products to buy, and which to avoid.
Alice can take vast amounts of data from CHOICE product tests and turn it into content that is easily digestible and fun for readers.
Alice has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland. LinkedIn
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