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Top-tested blenders for smoothies, crushing ice and more!

You need a blender that can easily process your ingredients into smooth, creamy perfection if you’re whirring up an energizing healthy breakfast smoothie. But that’s not all these kitchen staples are good for. Your blender should crush ice for silky smooth frozen cocktails and vegan protein shakes, puree velvety soup in minutes and grind oats for homemade oat milk. Tested everything from immersion blenders to food processors and more than 100 blenders over the years to find the best high-performance blender models. My top tested picks include blenders ranging from $80 to $550 from brands that we love including picks from Vitamix and Ninja and models that have personal blending cups with lids for easy portability. These are the best blenders you can buy in 2022, according to extensive testing and in-home use.

Our Top Picks:

1. BEST OVERALL BLENDER
VITAMIX
E310 Explorian Blender

TAKE NOTE ⚠️Carafe only has a 6-cup capacity

WHY WE LOVE IT ✔️Makes perfectly smooth nut butter ✔️Ultra powerful motor
✔️10 variable speed settings

There’s nothing the showpiece Vitamix can’t do when it comes to blending, pureeing and grinding ingredients. With pro-quality precision and control, it can make everything from perfectly smooth nut butter to creamy soup and more. The ultra-powerful motor has 10 variable speed settings, and its heavy-duty base won’t easily shift on the counter when in use. The controls are intuitive and fuss-free, and this machine excelled in every one of our Kitchen Appliances Lab tests, easily grinding coffee beans and whirling up milkshakes and margaritas in seconds. It’s an investment, but you won’t find a better-performing, more durable pick — it’s a fraction of the cost of other Vitamix models. One note is that the carafe is on the small side at just 6 cups.

In need of a blender with a larger carafe? The Vitamix Ascent blender also performed exceptionally well at grinding coffee beans and blending milkshakes and smoothies. It has a 64-ounce jar — one of the largest we evaluated — which means it’s perfect for big batches. We found the touchscreen controls easy to use, the jar fits on the base nicely, the handle is comfortable to grip and the lid comes on and off effortlessly.

Weight: 11.5 pounds
Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 18 inches
Jar Material: Plastic
Jar Capacity: 48 ounces

2. BEST VALUE BLENDER
Blender Combo
NUTRIBULLET

WHY WE LOVE IT ✔️Easy-to-read control panel with large buttons
✔️Produces kale smoothies without flecks of kale
✔️Personal-sized cups with lids for portability

TAKE NOTE ⚠️Must use caution when removing the cups to avoid messes

This well-priced and high-powered blender comes with three (!) jars making it super versatile and our pick for the best value. It comes with a 64-ounce pitcher for large batches and two different personal-sized cups (32 ounces and 24 ounces with a handle). Both cups have lids that make it easy to take your smoothie to-go. It features an “extract” button that blends smoothies at preprogrammed variable speeds. We blended kale smoothies in all three jars, and all were uniformly smooth with no flecks. It also blasted through frozen strawberries effortlessly to make a delicious, evenly processed daiquiri.

The base is not much larger than other NutriBullet models, and it has suction cups on the bottom that reliably prevent it from shifting around. The blades screw onto the top of the personal cups and then get inverted to be blended, so be careful to unscrew the personal blending cups from the base of the blender when you’re done blending. It’s easy to accidentally make a mess if unscrew the cup from the blade instead.

Weight: 10 pounds
Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 17 inches
Jar Material: Plastic
Jar Capacity: 64 ounces, 32 ounces and 24 ounces

3. BEST PERSONAL BLENDER
SS101 Foodi Smoothie Bowl Maker & Nutrient Extractor
Ninja

WHY WE LOVE IT ✔️Blender base suctions firmly to your counter
✔️Produces super smooth smoothies
✔️Built-in tamper

TAKE NOTE ⚠️ More pieces to store

If you prefer to be able to choose between a personal smoothie and a smoothie bowl, then the Foodi Smoothie Bowl Maker & Nutrient Extractor is a great pick. This personal blender’s jar features a built-in tamper and doesn’t need as much liquid to blend ingredients to a smooth, very thick consistency — perfect for a smoothie bowl. In our tests, this model tackled both green and berry smoothies with ease with very few residual seeds and super smooth results. This model also suctions firmly to your counter, which keeps it completely in place for its pulse-style auto-smoothie setting. In addition to the 14-ounce smoothie bowl jar, this model comes with two 24-ounce blender jars with travel lids, which are all dishwasher-safe.

Weight: 6.5 pounds
Dimensions: 7 x 7 x 11 inches
Jar Material; Plastic
Jar Capacity; 14 ounces and 24 ounces

4. BEST BLENDER FOR SMOOTHIES The Fresh and Furious Countertop Blender BREVILLE

WHY WE LOVE IT ✔️Green smoothie setting
✔️Carafe and lid are dishwasher safe
✔️Great smoothie results in testing

TAKE NOTE ⚠️50-ounce capacity

We were very impressed with how well this blender performed for its great price point. The green smoothie setting yielded a smooth and creamy texture with no sign of fibrous kale or spinach. This blender also has a regular smoothie button which will provide you with a juice-bar-quality smoothie in one minute. In our tests, this blender pureed soup to a silky smooth texture and produced a mighty fine margarita as well. The Fresh and Furious is easy to clean, and the jar and lid are dishwasher safe. In our tests, we found very few flaws, though the jar is just 50 ounces and became stained a little from tomato sauce.

Another high-performing blender from Breville that we have tested is the Breville 3X Bluicer Pro. In our tests, this model produced creamy and smooth soup and a strawberry green smoothie that had no sign of kale. While this model is a little more pricey, it does offer the ability to juice with it as well — two appliances in one!

Weight: 9 pounds
Dimensions: 7 x 8.5 x 17 inches
Jar Material: Plastic
Jar Capacity: 50 ounces

5. BEST BLENDER FOR CRUSHING ICE
KITCHENAID
K400 Variable Speed Blender

WHY WE LOVE IT ✔️Self-clean cycle
✔️Sleek design and many colors to choose from
✔️Easy to use presets

TAKE NOTE ⚠️Start button is on the small side

This sleek blender claims to blend “even the toughest ingredients, from kale to almonds” and it passed our test with flying colors. We couldn’t taste the kale in our smoothie, it crushed ice into snow-like consistency and it even blended chia seeds smoothly. It features easy-to-use presets for crushing ice, smoothies and icy drinks. Plus, a little soap and water added to the self-clean cycle makes sure no food bits are left behind in hard-to-reach spots. In our tests, we noticed that the “Start” button is a little small and sometimes needed to be pressed several times to activate. We love its sleek design and that you can pick from a variety of fun colors.

While this blender is at a lower price point compared to similar high-powered blenders, KitchenAid also has a smaller and lower-cost model that performed well in our tests. The K150 3 Speed Ice Crushing Blender allows you to easily whirl up a soup or a smoothie in one batch even though its pitcher has a smaller 6-cup capacity.

Weight: 12 pounds
Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 16 inches
Jar Material: Plastic
Jar Capacity: 56 ounces

6. BEST BLENDER FOR FROZEN DRINKS
WOLF GOURMET
Pro Performance Blender

WHY WE LOVE IT ✔️Sleek design
✔️Produces creamy shakes and smoothies
✔️Four pre-programmed options

TAKE NOTE ⚠️Blender jar is not dishwasher safe

The Wolf Gourmet Pro Performance Blender stood out to us in many ways with its sleek design, featuring its signature red knob and lightweight jar with a comfortable handle. There are 10 speed settings on the blender and four pre-programmed options: soup, puree, ice crush and smoothie. This blender produced a very smooth, thick milkshake and a smoothie that was creamy and homogenous.

In our tests, this super powerful blender also produced great frozen drinks. It also has a unique emulsion cap that allows you to add oil to the blender at an optimal pace to get a great emulsion in sauces and dressings. This pick is also sized to fit under most cabinets. The blender jar is hand-wash only.

Weight: 16 pounds
Dimensions; 9 x 7.5 x 20 inches
Jar Material: Plastic
Jar Capacity: 64 ounces

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN SHOPPING FOR BLENDERS.

✔️ Blades: While it might seem counterintuitive, better-performing blenders do not come with sharp blades (which tend to dull over time). Instead, they come with strong blades that stand the test of time and are able to pulverize just about anything. This also makes them much safer to clean.

✔️ Size: If you don’t plan to keep your blender on your countertop, look for a lightweight model. They’re more portable but also more likely to skid around on the countertop when in use. If you want to keep your blender on the counter, be sure to consider the height, as some models are too tall to fit neatly underneath kitchen cabinets. If a countertop blender is too big for your kitchen, consider an immersion blender that’s slim and can tackle most of the same tasks.

✔️ Glass vs. plastic carafe: Glass is heavier, but it won’t retain odors or stain as easily as plastic models. Most high-powered blenders do not use glass jars because they’re not guaranteed to be completely shatterproof, but if you really want glass, look for one that’s been thermal-shock tested (which means you can blend ice in a canister that’s come straight from the dishwasher). Many of our top-performing blenders have jars made of BPA-free Tritan plastic, which can withstand high-speed blades.

✔️ Wattage: Blenders with higher wattage tended to perform better, but this was not always the case: The overall design of the blender is more important in determining performance.