As a trained chef and busy food writer, I’m all about getting my nutrition in with easy green smoothies and nutrient-rich soups. I'm also pretty partial to a frozen margarita or frappuccino in the summer months. So you can imagine, it's literally my dream job to be in charge of testing and reviewing the best blenders at Homes & Gardens.
With the help of my team of product testers, we’ve taken top brands like Ninja vs NutriBullet, Vitamix, and Zwilling to the test kitchen. Our goal? To identify the best blender for every task.
We didn’t stop at the easy stuff like berry smoothies (though we definitely made a few!). We pushed these machines to their limits, blending fibrous kale, tough root vegetables, and tricky protein powders. And that’s just the start. Each blender also faced tougher challenges – crushing ice, frozen sorbets, blending hot soups, fresh dips, grinding peanut butter, and even churning homemade butter.
We also assessed if they were easy to use, simple to clean, and attractive enough to keep on your countertop – or compact enough to tuck away if space is at a premium.
After extensive testing, I’ve crowned the Vitamix A3500 as my top pick this year – it’s powerful, versatile, and famous among the professionals. I've organized the rest into a list of the best blenders for all kitchen sizes, budgets and needs.
Black Friday Deals on the Best Blenders
With Black Friday around the corner, it's a great time to shop for blender deals. I've spotted Amazon and Walmart drop discounts on our favorite models already. I'm hoping there will be bigger discounts on November 29 itself, so watch this space for the latest best blender bargains.
The Quick List
If you haven't got time for all the detail, these are the best blenders on the market. We go into more specifics further down.
With large capacity, five presets and the ability to make perfect soup, smoothies and nut butters, this excelled in all our tests. It has over ten speeds and is universally beloved. It comes with a hefty price tag though.
If you're looking to blend healthy smoothies for one or two people, we found the NutriBullet easy to use and adept at blending frozen fruit and leafy greens. The shape means it's more of a smoothie specialist, rather than a dip chopper or ice crusher.
This sleek blender can handle any fruit, vegetable, or legume you throw at it. It excelled on crushing ice, too. The Zwilling is a beautiful appliance, but better suited if you have plenty of countertop space.
This blender is great for large-batch, family smoothies, but it also excels on crushed ice and frozen cocktails. It's big though – too big for countertop cupboards.
If you want your blender to do it all, this is the one. You can shred cheese, chop carrots, dice onions, and blend that classic smoothie. There are a lot of accessories, so make sure you have cupboard space.
If you want a little blender for mixing protein shakes while on the go, this is the best option. It's no countertop blender and might outsize some handbags, but our experts loved it.
The best blenders 2024
You can trust Homes & Gardens. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing the latest products, helping you choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Best blender overall
The Vitamix's reputation precedes it. The A3500 Ascent Series is the brand's star appliance, which can make everything from silky smoothies and protein shakes to incredible ice cones, soups, and more. Did we test every function? Yes. Did we love every function? Yes. Is it worth the price? Possibly.
The Vitamix comes with five useful presets as well as a manual dial, which offers ten different (noisy) speeds. Our experts thought this was just about as high-tech as you'd want your blender to be. Vitamix has covered simple features, such as a lift-away pitcher which is suited to right- and left-handed users as well as the more technical settings that a seasoned smoothie drinker might demand.
Our experts couldn't find a trace of fruit skins, seeds, or stems in our smoothie tests. Plus, when we used it to cook – I repeat cook – tomato soups and sauces, we found they were piping hot and super smooth within ten minutes. You should be aware that it can't cook firmer ingredients like potato or carrot, but it's still a suitable substitute for the best immersion blenders.
We put the Vitamix through our tests on dips and ice cones and it whizzed everything up effortlessly. We were left speechless. The Vitamix really can do it all. To prove it, they give you an excellent recipe book and a quick start guide, so that you can get to work instantly.
We took our time deliberating over whether this was worth the $700 price tag. That's a lot of money for a blender that can't even go in the dishwasher (you have to use the self-clean mode). Our conclusion was this: if blending quality is your only concern, you can't do better than the A3500 Series. This made the best soups, smoothies, and dips of our tests and it remains unbeaten two years later.
Our full Vitamix A3500 Ascent Series Smart Blender review has more details
Best for smoothies
Available in a range of colors and with various attachments for drinking on the go or around the house, the NutriBullet Pro 900 Series Blender is perfect for smaller, individual servings. When we tested this on smoothies and shakes, we were impressed. There wasn't a seed or fiber left unblended, even tough kale and protein power was totally pulverized.
Whilst all bullet blenders are generally straightforward, our experts loved how especially easy this is to operate. All we had to do was twist on the lid and lock it into place on the blending base to start it. Once finished, the blender comes with a screw-on handle and lids for sipping, which saves you any excess washing up. When we were cleaning up, we found that the blades weren't dishwasher safe. They're easy enough to rinse under the tap, but it's nevertheless worth noting.
For the price, this is a perfect option for smoothies. However, this blender is limited to single-servings. The more you fill it, the more the bullet shape becomes limiting. What's more, it only has a single speed, so if you want to get creative with a recipe you might be a little stuck. We also found that when we tried it on sauces and dips like hummus it left a little to be desired. We won't mention the ice tests either (this struggled, a lot).
Our full NutriBullet Pro 900 Series Blender review has more details
Best blender for crushing ice
The Breville Super Q has a pretty huge capacity; 68oz means you can make vast quantities of drinks. It's great for making smoothies for the whole family for breakfast or preparing vegetables for a whole course of soup.
That's because the big capacity is married with a 1800W motor, making this one of the most powerful blenders we've ever tested. On test, we found that it can power through tough ingredients like kale and frozen fruit with ease. It particularly stood out for its performance when crushing ice, misting several ice cubes into a fine white powder which is great for slushies and frozen margaritas.
Even better, this blender has easy, simple settings. There are 12 manual settings if you want control, but our experts loved making use of the dedicated settings for green smoothies, smoothies, soup, ice, and frozen desserts. We pressed a button and felt comfortable leaving the blender to its own devices.
This sounds like the luxury blender experience because it is. However, with premium features comes a premium price tag. Like the Vitamix, it's a serious investment. However, we thought a busy family who wants a versatile blender could just about justify this.
Another drawback is the size. The family-sized capacity comes with quite a footprint. It's 18 inches tall, which means it won't fit under or sit flush with kitchen cabinets. It's fine if you have a kitchen island, but storage might be tough. I also found that the lid is pretty stiff, so if you have motor issues like arthritis you might find it hard to open.
All the details are in my Breville Super Q review.
Best blender for everything
This powerful blender is our favorite all-rounder. There's almost no fruit or vegetable you can't throw at this appliance. It is easily powered through kale and spinach, which can be tough for some blenders. Even with minimal liquid added, it turned frozen fruits into delicious smoothies without any trace of skin or seeds. This translated into some excellent dips. When making hummus, we could blend through chickpea skins and garlic, even without much liquid. We didn't find any lumps, seeds, or tough skins. Trust us, we were looking for them.
Our experts were pleased to find that this was also great for making soup. The pitcher is heatproof, so we whizzed up leeks and potatoes into a delicious soup. In fact, while it's not a function advertised on the Zwilling website, some users found that running it for around five minutes creates enough heat to warm up and even cook vegetables for soup. However, that means you should be careful you don't overuse it when making colder drinks. We didn't have any problems in our tests, because we used the pusher insert when ingredients needed a helping hand to get close to the blades.
The pulse function is best reserved for ice-crushing. It did a perfect job, impressing our experts with the results and rivalling the Breville on this list. However, if you want to use the pulse function to give your mixes a final blast, you have to approximate it, because it's the same as the ice-crushing function.
It's also pretty bulky to store, and while it's not a problem we experienced, other users found that dishwashing can make this blender a little dirty because water can get into the handle and can't get out.
Our full Zwilling Enfinigy Countertop Power Blender review has more details
Best blender and food processor
The Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-IQ truly does it all. As well as the enormous 72 oz. pitcher, you get a 64 oz. food processor bowl (this has chopping and dough attachments) and two 24 oz. blending cups for single-serve drinks to take away.
Even though that 72 oz. pitcher is actually larger than the blender we recommend for families, it wasn't as good. Our experts made some delicious smoothies and soups, even when we added kale and protein powder. However, we could detect some residue from the leaves and seeds, which we didn't find in the other models on this list. Although, it's worth noting that this is an ice expert, crushing ice into a powder completely effortlessly.
Where the Ninja really excels in the food processor functions. It did a great job chopping zucchini, celery, and carrots, and an incredibly fast, if imperfect, job at shredding cheese. We used both the blending and food processing functions to make dips and actually preferred the food processor. The blender was good on guacamole, but the different heights of blades on the food processor attachment gave a much smoother blend of hummus in particular. Beyond the Auto-IQ programs, there are Low, Medium, High, and Pulse settings which our experts liked using when they wanted more control too.
Our biggest gripe was that this is really hard to store because the attachments are big. While it's great that there are a lot of them, it can be hard to find space. More importantly, the lids on the attachments don't close unless they're on the blender motor, so they're also an awkward shape to stow away. It can be tricky to wash the blender pitcher by hand, too, because you can't remove the blades, and it is pretty noisy.
Our Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-IQ review has more details
Best portable blender
This portable blender has unseated the Cuisinart Evolution X and BlendJet 2 as my favorite portable blender. It has a bigger capacity and more power than both, but still packs it into a small package.
Our expert tester Alex used it in our test center and in his home for a month and really liked its performance. It's great at mixing in powders like protein and creatine and makes very smooth protein shakes. It's surprisingly great at processing leafy greens like spinach, and incredibly good at crushing ice for such a small blender.
It's very straightforward to use, with a handy system of colored lights around the power button to let you know when the blender is ready to go, or if there's been a clog or it's running on low power. We also found it easy to clean – you just add a little dish soap into the blender with water and start the blender, and it does a remarkably good job cleaning the body. It comes with a blade cap for safety when you're not using the main body, and a screw-on bottom so you can take shakes on the go, which passed our commute test.
However, it's definitely not perfect, and after using it for a month Alex noticed that lumps of bigger fruits like frozen strawberries were sometimes unblended. It also can't blend seeds like some of the blenders on this list, so blackcurrant seeds always show up in a mixed berry smoothie. When we tested it on dips, it made a serviceable hummus, but other blenders are much better. While it's surprisingly compact for an 18oz pitcher and blender motor, it's definitely more of a backpack blender than a handbag blender.
There's more information in our Ninja Blast review.
The blenders that just missed the list
Everybody has different needs for a blender, some more specific than others. We've tested well-over 50 blenders between us, so the team wanted to offer you another six if none of those hit the spot for what you need. Below, we have stylish options as well as the best options for making soups and juices.
The blending and juicing attachments that come with The Bluicer make this a versatile machine. We made everything from smoothie bowls, to soups, to juice and loved them. We cut this from our shortlist because not everybody needs to pay a premium price for the juicer function. However, if that suits you, you're in for a treat.
The stainless steel Smeg blender is the sleekest, best-looking product on the market – but it's not just a pretty face. The professional controls can whip up smoothies, dips, and crush ice effortlessly. Plus, the vacuum pump keeps blends fresher for longer. Very luxurious.
The Ascent was begrudgingly taken off our main list. It's cheap for a Vitamix, but expensive compared to other models. Even though we made close to perfect smoothies, dips, crushed ice, and soups in the A2300, we thought the odd seed and grain in our smoothies made this expensive when you could get more for less elsewhere.
Nutribullet's Pro 900 is in our list because it's the best bullet blender. The Series 600 is cheaper because it has less power. If you don't mind shaking yours around and if you're willing to tolerate some seeds and fibers, you'll enjoy the Nutribullet alongside your saving. Serious smoothie drinkers will need the Pro 900 though.
One of our testers, Laura, went out and bought this after she saw how it performed in the kitchen. It's the inexpensive alternative to the Vitamix A3500, making piping hot soup, frozen smoothies, dips, and more. Laura reported back, 'I use it every day and I love almost everything about it. My only issue is with the exasperating cleaning process.'
How we test blenders
A closeup of a smooothie made in our test kitchen
Every blender in our best blender guide has been tested hands-on and reviewed by members of the Homes & Gardens team. We have a series of three standard tests that all of our blenders go through: making smoothies and protein shakes; whipping up dips, especially hummus; and crushing ice.
When we're making smoothies, we select the toughest ingredients. We'll look for seeded, frozen berries, especially big strawberries, which can get stuck on blades. We'll also throw in fibrous kale and spinach, which can be tough to blend into a super smooth texture. If a blender has tackled both of those well, we'll also throw in protein powder and creatine, to check whether the blender can fully incorporate the powder into a smoothie, or whether it leaves it a little lumpy.
When we test dips, we normally make a hummus and a guacamole. Hummus has a small liquid content and tough chickpea skins. Guacamole requires the blender to finely chop onion, and whizz up tomatoes, and avocado. We'll look at the texture of both, checking whether the blender can crush ingredients, even with minimal liquid.
Our final test is on crushed ice, which is tough work for every blender. Generally, blenders will either whizz these into powders or leave them as big cubes crashing around. We'll let you know all the details.
Where a blender claims to be safe for use with hot ingredients, we also made soups to put this to the test. When making soups we typically include ingredients that are prone to staining such as turmeric, taking into account if the pitcher was left stained. We'll also test root vegetables, which take longer to cook and can be tougher to blend too.
If there are other blender functions, such as juicing, jelly-making, and more, we let you know what they're like as well. It gives our experts as much pleasure to test them as you would find using them, so we love doing deep dives into the functions.
Cleaning a blender is a very important part of the user process, so we give props to blenders that can be cleaned in a dishwasher. However, some also come with self-cleaning settings that can prevent ingredients from sticking to the blades of the pitcher. We cleaned every blender by hand to see how easy this was, and if it felt safe.
Once we've covered the practicalities, we will step back and take a look at the blender. We'll think about how the capacity and extra functions work and which homes they're best suited to. It's also important that the blender is attractive as well as fully functional. We'll check whether it fits under wall cupboards and under shelves too.
Our review and testing guidelines provide more insight into our process.
How to choose a blender
A blender is a great tool for cooking and making drinks, such as smoothies, keeping the pulp of fruit and vegetables as well as the juice.
The type of blender you buy really depends on how often you want to use it and what you mostly want to use it for. All blenders are capable of making smoothies, particularly blending softer fruits.
Motor
If you want to make frozen fruits or desserts or deal with harder fruits or vegetables, then you may need a machine with a more powerful motor, so that it can crush ice into fine snow. Blenders which can make a routine morning smoothie will need at least 500-600 watts. If you have 700 watts, you'll be able to chop tougher nuts and seeds. Once you hit numbers, such as 1,200 watts, you'll be able to make almost anything, especially ice cones.
Programs
Look out for a blender that has automatic programs for the kinds of drink or action that you want, as this takes the guesswork out of using a blender.
That said, manual controls are important if you want finer control over the results, say blending a soup that still has some chunks in it. Some variability will be as simple as three buttons for low, medium, and high speed. Other blenders will have a detailed dial allowing you to select a specific speed. This is more of a luxury than a necessity.
A pulse function is a great way to get fine control: the blender runs while you press the button but stops the second that you release it.
Features
Move up the price scale and you’ll find that you get additional features. Some of the most powerful blenders, for example, can use friction to heat raw ingredients, delivering hot soup in just a few minutes. Some double up as juicers, food processors, jelly makers, ice cream makers, and more. Name a function, and there will be a blender that covers it.
Beyond actual settings, there are quirky features that you'll want to look out for. Some of the latest releases have vacuum pumps that seal and preserve your smoothies, helping them to last for longer. I've tested a few models that integrate a timer to their interface, so you can see how long you've been blending for or how long your pre-set has left. It might sound trivial, but this kind of feature is indispensable once you have one. I'm living proof of that.
Capacity
Look out for the total capacity of the blender. The standard size for a countertop blender is between 20 and 65 oz. If you have a big family and lots of mouths to feed, look for one that can reach up to 80 oz, but bear in mind that this will take up more space on your countertop.
Accessories can also be important, either in the box or as additional extras: self-serve cups let you take a drink on the move, and grinding cups can be a handy way of dealing with herbs and spices in smaller volumes.
If you want something that can blend directly into a pot or pan, one of the best immersion blenders we've reviewed will be more appropriate.
Blender FAQs
How much does a blender cost?
Budget really comes down to how much you’ll use the blender. If you’re only an occasional user, then a budget model ($100 to $150) makes sense. At this price, you’ll get decent controls but you may find that your results aren’t quite as smooth.
If you use a blender every day, then you need to move up the scale. Spend over $200 and you’re likely to get more accessories and programs.
If you want the best results then you’re looking at spending $400 or more. At this price, you’ll get the fastest motors, more control, and, often, a wider range of automatic programs to make your job easier.
For those who just want a personal-sized blender, one of the best portable blenders we have reviewed will suit you better.
Are glass pitchers better than plastic?
Most blenders come with a hardened plastic pitcher, but you’ll find the odd model that has a glass one. Glass is harder wearing and won’t scratch as easily as plastic. This can make a difference if you regularly crush ice, as the sharp edges can scratch cheaper plastics. Plastic can also get tainted by ingredients staining.
The downside of glass is that it’s much heavier and if you drop it, you’re likely to end up cracking or breaking the pitcher.
Modern plastics are much better, particularly on high-end machines, so you shouldn’t notice scratching. And, plastic is lighter and less likely to break if you drop it.
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