10 Best Blenders For Smoothies (Full Comparison & Buying Guide)

Last updated on July 13th, 2022 at 12:59 pm

Best Blenders for Smoothies that Do the Job Right

You’re in a rush in the morning, but no need to worry about breakfast, because you can toss nutritious ingredients into your trusty blender and be on your way in no time.

This morning you’re trying out a new smoothie recipe rich with ingredients like apples, spinach, banana, and oats.

As you hit “blend” you realize your current blender cannot handle the load.

It churns, whirls, and ingredients sit in the center. Your blender makes noise, but nothing is happening.

Most likely you have a standard blender – one not equipped for hardcore smoothie making. Cheaper blenders need more liquid than high-powered ones, and rarely can they grind up harder ingredients altogether. Instead, you must add them in one-by-one so that the blades can catch up.

A blender designed for smoothies doesn’t need easing into the job. Instead, toss everything in and blend away.

Comparison Table

How We Chose Our Favorites

While searching for the best blenders for your morning or after-workout smoothie, we devised a plan that helped us rank these units better.

Just some of the criteria we used when evaluating the blender market include:

• Budget: We all have a budget, and smoothie making machines tend to push that budget to the limit. While these units are pricier than your average blender, you get what you pay for. We considered the budget versus the value of what you get for that budget.
• Power: You want professional-grade smoothie making at home, which means you need a blender strong enough to pulverize anything you toss into it – including ice, oats, apple chunks, and frozen fruits.
• Settings: How many settings a blender has matters, and also whether it has a specific smoothie setting. Smoothie settings are convenient, and the machine does the work, so you don’t have to guess the right setting for that perfectly blended drink.

Best Blenders for Smoothies

You want a blender ready to turn out smoothie-bar quality drinks without effort, which means you need a powerful unit that can liquify just about anything you feed it.

Here are the top ten best options for your blender purchase:

1. Vitamix 5200 Blender Professional-Grade, Self-Cleaning 64 oz

Vitamin 5200 is a powerful beast of a blender but comes with quite the budget. Over the years this blender has consistently come out on top of every blender test – so it is expensive for a good reason.

When you first look at it, you think the small panel of blades at the bottom couldn’t possibly blend everything you toss in it, but once you use a Vitamix, you quickly see why its ranked at the top of its class.

Here’s what comes with the 5200 model:

• Power: The 5200 is powerful but offers a cool-running motor that maintains its torque and never becomes hot with heavy use. It comes with a two-peak horsepower, Swedish built blender motor and can spin up to 37,000 revolutions per minute.

• Settings: The 5200 comes with variable speed control, and you can rotate the dial to achieve your desired consistency.

• Extra Features: Comes with a 64-ounce container, can blend soup to serving temperature using blade friction, offers self-cleaning mode, can grind nuts, coffee, and hard objects, and mixes doughs.

2. Vitamix Professional Series 750 Blender, Professional-Grade, 64 oz

Again Vitamix takes the lead in blender tests. The Professional Series 750 Blender comes in at a higher budget than the 5200 but also includes a smoothie setting so you can set it and walk away.

Better yet, the Professional Series is designed to blend and work as a food processor – so it doubles up in the kitchen. Owners of the Professional Series all boast about its features, and none regret paying as much as they did for it.

The 750 model, along with other Vitamix models, is favored by places like Starbucks and smoothie stores.

• Power: You get a high-speed motor that pulverizes anything you put in its path with a two-peak horsepower motor.
• Settings: You have five pre-programmed settings, including walk-away smoothie convenience.
• Extra Features: Self-cleaning, 64-ounce container, soup heating, quiet, small enough to fit into a cabinet, and uses an adaptable power technology.

3. Blendtec Classic 575 Kitchen Blender, 90 oz/36 oz Blending Capacity

If you want a professional-grade blender without the expense of a Vitamix, Blendtec is your next best option. Blendtec has auto settings timed out perfectly, and it features a smoothie program too.

Unlike Vitamix that only sports black, Blendtec also comes in unique colors so you can match your blender better to your current kitchen décor.

• Power: Features a 1575-watt, 3.0 peak horsepower motor made in the U.S.
• Settings: Has five incremental speeds including a preprogrammed smoothie mode that finishes in 60 seconds.
• Extra Features: Self-cleaning, dishwasher safe jar, BPA-free jar, quiet, and blends nuts and grains.

4. Oster Versa Blender | 1400 Watts | Stainless Steel Blade | Low Profile

You might not have the money to spend on a Vitamix or Blendtec, but that doesn’t mean you cannot get a quality smoothie maker. The Oster VERSA is an excellent alternative to professional-grade blenders. It crushes ice with ease, still makes nut butter, and can even puree up some hot soup.

• Power: Reaches over 250 mph blending and has a powerful 1400-watt motor.
• Settings: Includes three programmed settings, including one for smoothies.
• Extra Features: Comes with two cookbooks and recipes, variable speed dial to adjust mid-blend, 64-ounce jar, tamper included for mixing while blending, and an all-metal drive.

5. Ninja BL770 Mega Kitchen System and Blender with Total Crushing…

• 72 ounce total crushing pitcher pulverizes ice to snow in seconds for creamy frozen drinks and smoothies; 2 horsepower
• Eight cup food processor bowl provides perfect, even chopping and makes up to 2 pounds of dough in 30 seconds

Ninja is notorious for their infomercials late at night – and if you are a night owl, you’ve probably seen them. These blenders come with their blender jar, but also a food processor bowl and personal smoothie cup – eliminating the need for three separate appliances. The Ninja is not as quiet as Blendtec or Vitamix, but most consumers are willing to hear a little extra noise to save a few hundred dollars.

• Power: Comes with a two-horsepower motor with 500 watts. Powerful enough to blend through harsh ingredients.

• Settings: Has four settings (dough, blend, crush, and smoothie cup).

• Extra Features: Includes 72-ounce blender pitcher, 8-cup food processor bowl, two 16-ounce single serve smoothie makers with to-go lids, recipe book, self-cleaning, dishwasher safe, and can make up to two pounds of dough in under 30 seconds.

6. NutriBullet Pro Renewed

• Powerful 900-watt motor pulverizes toughest foods to make nutritious smoothies, dips and sauces
• Power, patented stainless steel blade design with cyclonic action

If you want to whip up a single-serve smoothie and run out the door, the NutriBullet might be ideal. You don’t get large blending capacity with NutriBullet, but don’t let its smaller size fool you either. This blender still liquifies whole fruits and vegetables with ease.

• Power: 600-watt motor.
• Settings: Single blend setting only.
• Extra Features: 24-ounce capacity cup, to-go lids included, personal blender, recipe book included, and still blends nut and seed butters.

7. Breville BBL620SIL The Fresh and Furious Countertop Blender, Silver

Another affordable option is the Breville Fresh and Furious Blender. It pushes food around using their unique blade technology for a smoother finish. While it delivers a high-torque motor, it is still surprisingly quiet.

• Power: 1300-watt motor with stainless steel blades.
• Settings: Features five power settings, including one-touch settings for smoothies.
• Extra Features: LCD, BPA-free 50-ounce jug, self-cleaning mode, juicing cone, and ten smoothie recipe cards.

8. Magic Bullet Blender, Small, Silver, 11 Piece Set

• 11 piece blender set: Includes blender, additional blender cups, blades, recipe book & more
• The magic bullet chops, mixes, blends, whips, grinds and more. Cups are made out of high-impact plastic

For a blender that takes up little space and provides the entire household with personalized smoothie capabilities, you have the Magic Bullet. It is portable, small, but still durable enough to crush frozen fruits, ice cubes, and oats. The Magic Bullet set comes with 11 pieces, including two different size cups, to-go lids, and a recipe book..

• Power: 200-watt motor with powerful blending technology.
• Settings: One setting only.
• Extra Features: Chops and blends nuts and seeds, includes 10-second recipe guide, dishwasher safe for easier cleanup, and can double as a mini food processor.

9. New Aimores Professional Blender (BLACK)

Aimores offers a variable speed commercial-grade blender designed for everything from juices to smoothies. It doubles up as a kitchen food processor, and it uses six stainless steel blades to pulverize anything in its path.

• Power: High-speed 1100-watt motor reaching up to 28,000 RPMs.
• Settings: Speed control dial for customized pureeing.
• Extra Features: 75-ounce pitcher, self-cleaning, overload protection, and can serve as a food processor.

10. KitchenAid KSB1575ER 5-Speed Diamond Blender with 60-Ounce BPA-Free

Another budget-friendly smoothie maker is the KitchenAid 5-Speed Diamond Blender. It comes in a full assortment of colors, including bright green and vibrant orange to accent your current kitchen décor.

• Power: Uses the KitchenAid Intelli-Speed motor technology with a 550-watt motor.
• Settings: Includes five-speed settings and a pulse mode.
• Extra Features: 60-ounce pitcher, dishwasher safe, BPA-free container, LED lights, and a steel reinforced coupler.

A Quick Buyer’s Guide to Remember While Shopping for the Best Blender for Smoothies

Fruit smoothies nourish your body. According to SF Gate, smoothies provide everything from essential vitamins and minerals to fiber.

Even better, you can prevent overeating and continuous snacking by blending your food. The Atlantic states that blended meals keep you fuller for longer.

So, to make sure you soak up the nutrients, you want a blender that quickly grinds up your food without tearing it and leaving chunks behind.

Whether you shop from the top blenders listed above or do research alone, here are some tips when buying:

• Blending Speed: Most people make their smoothies in the morning before work, so you want a blender that gets the job done quickly. A quality smoothie-grade blender should get the job done in less than 60 seconds.

• Self-Cleaning: Not all blenders are dishwasher-safe, but as long as they self-clean that should work. With self-cleaning, you add warm water, a touch of soap, and the blades whip away until particles go away.

• Thick Mixtures: You want a blender that handles fibrous vegetables, frozen fruit, ice, and thicker smoothie ingredients like fresh oats. A good smoothie blender has a temper too, which helps move items around and burst air pockets for even blends.

• Big Batches: Some blenders handle a mere 10-ounce blend without issue, but when you fill them to maximum capacity they burnout. Do not just look at the jar capacity – see if that unit can handle the load if you were to fill it up and use all 64 ounces available.

• Budget versus Quality: The cheaper the blender, the more likely you will burn it out in a few weeks or months. Equally, the higher budget doesn’t mean you are buying top-quality. Instead, compare the expense to the power, convenience options, and capabilities.

• Multipurpose: Lastly, make sure the blender you buy is multipurpose and not solely for smoothies. After all, you want a kitchen appliance that can blend a smoothie in the morning and help whip up nut butter for lunch in the afternoon then turn around and make soup by night. If its strictly for smoothies, you take on the hassle of buying a food processor or blender for other uses later.

Start Blending at Home and Save Yourself Money

When you have the right blender at home, you save money instead of going to the smoothie store and can be more creative with your drinks.

Bottom line, if you are shopping for a blender, look beyond just the smoothies. After all, when you invest that much money, you want to get back as much as possible from your new kitchen appliance.