The delicious things a person can make with a blender are countless. Soups, sauces, smoothies, and more are just plain better when the ease of using a blender is involved. Filling an essential kitchen role are these faithful machines, without which great items like smooth enchilada sauce or a morning power shake are nigh-impossible to make. On the other hand, with a powerful blender in your corner, perfect pumpkin purée is a snap. Alliteration aside, our list of the top five best high-end blenders will allow a home cook to go far beyond the basics of blending and into the realm of expert emulsifications.
Creativity and experimentation in the kitchen are made much easier with the right tools on hand. Undoubtedly, preparing food at home is a much better option for both physical and mental health. According to a lead researcher Dr. Joanna Rees, “Future health programs should continue to prioritize the barriers to healthy eating such as poor food environments and time restrictions, whilst placing greater emphasis on the value of healthy eating via quick and easy home cooked meals, rich in fruit and vegetables and avoiding ultra-processed convenience foods.”
Soups and smoothies are often considered go-to recipes for people that are trying to increase the number of fruits and veggies in their diet. Some parents will attest that getting young children to eat their greens can be a challenge. But the benefits of adding them as regulars to a weekly menu are difficult to ignore. Of a recent survey, the results reveal those eating the most nitrate-rich vegetables lowered their systolic blood pressure. Additionally, researchers discovered participants eating the most leafy greens had between a 12 and 26 percent lower chance of cardiovascular disease. Luckily, tucking some veggies into a blended smoothie is the perfect tactic for disguising your nutritional needs into something scrumptious.
So, if you like piña coladas, consider our list of the top five best high-end blenders to help you on your way. Aioli, mojos, and micro gastronomy are all possible with these powerful pieces of tech. Let us know your favorite mighty machines in the comments below!
The List: Best High-End Blenders, According to Experts
1. Vitamix 5200 Blender Professional-Grade
Vitamix blenders dominated the lists of all our sources with the 5200 as the clear cut best of the best. “This incredibly powerful, no-frills blender makes silky-smooth purées, soups, and smoothies, and, really, it can tackle any blending tasks. It’s expensive, yes, but for those looking to invest in a blender, this is hard to beat,” opines Serious Eats.
Our sources overflow with praise for this model, “The Vitamix 5200 offers the best performance you can get in a home blender. This model has been one of our favorite blenders since 2014, and it’s the classic Vitamix that has remained the standard for pro chefs and blender enthusiasts. It consistently performed at the top of the pack in our tests, and it came recommended to us by multiple experts because it powerfully purees and pulverizes food more reliably, thoroughly, and elegantly than most blenders,” gushes Wirecutter.
In fact, the only drawback of this powerful blender according to many of our sources is the price. “The Vitamix 5200 is pound for pound (and dollar for dollar) the best blender we reviewed, including other Vitamix models. It was best for smoothies and, well anything else you can think to blend. In our tests it produced one of the silkiest drinks, velvety and creamy, not gloppy or overblended. It also crushed ice to perfection and didn’t blow out our eardrums doing it… This is just a straightforward, efficient, high-performance blender packing a ton of power,” raves Epicurious.
2. Vitamix A3500 Ascent Series Smart Blender
Several of our sources listed the Vitamix A3500 as the tip top of the smart blenders on the market. With a digital touch screen and many features, this model is considered impressive. “On the other end of the Vitamix spectrum, with even more adjustability and customization than the 750, is the A3500 Ascent Series model. This one comes recommended by [Chef] Gaby Dalkin… She’s a particular fan of the touchscreen, which boasts a timer display that you can also set to blend for exactly the amount of time you want before it automatically shuts off. Dalkin says the A3500 is even easy enough for her 2-year-old daughter to turn on, allowing her to help make smoothies and ‘feel invested in the process,'” details The Strategist.
This smart blender can even heat liquids, “With five presets to choose from, the Vitamix A3500 Ascent Series Smart Blender is as high-tech as a blender can be… it’s incredibly powerful, leaving no trace of fruit skins, seeds, or stems. In fact, the blades not only blend but even cook soups and sauces. We made an incredible hot tomato soup completely from scratch using the ten-minute preset soup mode,” as stated by Homes & Gardens.
As compared to other high-end blenders, “Vitamix’s top-of-the-line model is… a heck of a lot smarter. The Ascent comes with 10 speeds and five on-board blending programs, plus wireless connectivity and the Perfect Blend app, which lets you control the blender from your phone as well as download new programs for all sorts of specific recipes,” adds The Spruce Eats.
3. KitchenAid K400 Variable Speed Blender
One of the most attractive in terms of design, “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… We love its sleek design and that you can pick from a variety of fun colors,” explains Good Housekeeping.
For people that are looking for a chic and shiny model that will look great in a show kitchen or on a granite countertop, this KitchenAid model could be the best pick. “If we were judging blenders based solely on aesthetics, this sleek version, in a perfect soft blue shade, would be our clear victor… variable-speed blender includes a five-speed dial and three presets: smoothie, ice drinks and ice crush. The smoothie preset resulted in a thick, uber-creamy drink that blended everything up perfectly. The asymmetric blades did an OK job on the peanuts, but they were more floury than buttery. Soup was nice and smooth. Ice? Just right for our next round of cocktails. Also available in silver, white, black, pistachio or red, this is a solid workhorse of a blender. And those looks? Feel free to stare,” raves CNN Underscored.
Experts stressed that even though the KitchenAid is pretty, it also packs a punch. “Available in a smart range of colors to match the company’s best stand mixers, the KitchenAid K400 Variable Speed Blender makes a statement. However, it also has a very powerful blender that doesn’t shy away from tough ingredients. It comes with a large 56 oz. jar, made out of robust and extremely thick glass. It may be a touch on the heavy side, but this gives you an impression of how long this blender will last,” as stated by Homes & Gardens.
4. Breville Super Q Blender
Praised as one of the quietest blenders on our list, “A supercharged and super-quiet version of our previous winner from Breville, the Super Q is everything we look for in a professional-grade blender. From mixing liquids to finely milling almonds, this blender handled each task we threw at it with ease. It’s also a shape-shifter—the Super Q easily adapts into a food processor, ice cream maker, and personal blender with the addition of presets and included attachments,” as detailed by Reviewed.
This powerful blender does have a learning curve for best results. One source claims, “I liked the Super Q for its performance. It produced a perfectly blended smoothie and crushed ice within thirty seconds. One caveat: The 68-ounce pitcher is quite large, so if you’re making a single-serving smoothie or a small batch of nut butter, I would switch to the smaller accompanying pitcher,” according to Forbes.
To put the power of this blender into perspective, “The world’s fastest roller coaster reaches 150 miles an hour. A cheetah can run at about 75 miles an hour. Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, clocks in at 28 miles per hour. So when we read that the Breville Super Q boasts surgical stainless steel blades that can get up to 186 miles an hour, we were impressed. But not terribly surprised. No wonder our spinach disappeared into our smoothie in seconds,” explains CNN Underscored.
5. Cleanblend Commercial Blender
The Cleanblend Blender is another well-reviewed item, “We found the Cleanblend Blender to be mid-tier in both price and function. It’s simple and straightforward in design but yielded a gritty smoothie,” according to Epicurious.
Another source offers a critical view, “The Cleanblend’s strong motor helps pulverize berry seeds and ice, creating creamier smoothies and piña coladas than even the Vitamix can produce. This model’s jar is made of thick, durable Tritan plastic and has a comfortable, grippy handle. Unlike the Oster blender, the Cleanblend doesn’t have any preset buttons and doesn’t offer much variance between the low and high speeds,” according to Wirecutter.
In the surprisingly competitive market for high-end high-performance blenders one source writes, “Looking to open a smoothie window or frozen-daiquiri shop of your own? This ultra-powerful blender could be the right choice. With an 1,800-watt motor, the Cleanblend can take on ice, kale, bananas, peanut butter, and any other tough ingredients. It also has a variable knob that goes all the way down to low speed for gently chopping veggies into salsa. The precise controls let you crank the speed up and down evenly and get a very smooth result,” details The Spruce Eats.
You might also be interested in:
Sources
- Reviewed
- Wirecutter
- Epicurious
- Forbes
- CNN Underscored
- Homes & Gardens
- Good Housekeeping
- Serious Eats
- The Strategist
- The Spruce Eats
Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations.