The Best Immersion Blenders for Soups, Sauces, and Smoothies, Tested and Reviewed

If you actually have the best immersion blender, it’s something you’ll reach for multiple times a week. That’s because this handy kitchen appliance will efficiently blend, whip, crush, emulsify, and purée, plus it’s easier to use andwayeasier to clean than a big old countertop blender.

Immersion blenders—sometimes called stick blenders or hand blenders—allow you to blend right in apotormixing bowl, making messy, splatter-prone cooking tasks (like puréeingsoup) a little more contained. They give you the freedom to make a smoothie without getting out thefull-size blender, to make whipped cream without finagling the heavystand mixer, and to chop onions without setting up thefood processor(or crying).

We tested more than a dozen popular immersion blenders and landed on three to recommend. There’s a simple but super-powerful version for making a single-servingsmoothiein a flash, a more complex setup that comes with a handful of useful attachments, and new in 2023 is our recommendation for a rechargeable cordless immersion blender.

Keep reading for our top picks. To see how we tested, what we looked for, and other blenders we tried, scroll to the bottom.

Table of contents

The best immersion blender overall
The best immersion blender with attachments
The best cordless immersion blender
How we tested immersion blenders
Factors we evaluated
Other immersion blenders we tested
How to clean an immersion blender
What can you make with an immersion blender
The takeaway

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With 600 watts of power, the All-Clad immersion blender is a force to be reckoned with. It has an adjustable speed dial at the top to crank up the intensity as needed, but it also has a Turbo button, which hardly seems necessary for most home cooks Even without the Turbo boost, it quickly and easily made both our soup and smoothie very smooth and it can accomplish most small blending jobs within one consecutive 60-second run (the manual suggests not running it for more than a minute at a time).

At 9¼ inches, the shaft is longer than some of the other models we tested, so it can get down into bigger pots and taller containers with ease, but it’s not so long that it’s hard to store. Though the motor handle is on the heavy side, the whole thing still feels comfortable to hold and easy to manage. It’s also not distractingly loud, even on the Turbo setting (though none of the immersion blenders we tested are what we would call quiet).

For $100 the All-Cladhasto earn its keep (that’s pricey for an immersion blender), so it’s a good choice if you plan to blend often. This one’s for you if you makesmoothies every morning, purée soup regularly, or makebaby food. If you’re someone who uses an immersion blender a couple of times a year—or just want to try one out to see if it’s worth the hype—this model probably has more horsepower than you actually need. (For something more affordable, we recommend theCuisinart Two Speed Smart Stick; more on that model below.)

The All-Clad doesn’t come with a container or attachments, but if you’re looking for something simple that packs a punch and won’t clutter upyour kitchen, it’s a great kitchen appliance to have on hand.

What we didn’t love about the All-Clad Stainless-Steel Immersion Blender

While the All-Clad blender shaft is long, the actual blending head is rather shallow, so bigger chunks sometimes need a bit more work to get through. This blender would also really benefit from a little rim of silicone or plastic on the end of the blade guard to prevent scratches on enameled cast iron and to make it compatible with nonstick cookware. As it is, this model would scuff the bottom of aLe Creuset braiserorDutch ovenand you shouldn’t use it in any cookware that can’t handle metal utensils because it could damage the non-stick coating.

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The Breville Control Grip is easy to use with a comfortable ergonomic handle, a sensitive trigger, and variable speed control. If you’ve used other immersion blenders in the past, this one takes a little getting used to because it has a shallow, bell-shaped blending head that doesn’t suck food into a vortex. The unique design, which Breville calls “anti-suction blending technology” prevents clogs and cuts down on splatters when blending hot soup or sauce in a shallow pot. It also requires more up and down movement on the part of the user, as detailed inthe manual—especially when breaking down really solid ingredients like frozen fruit into a smoothie.

Though the 280-watt motor sounds weak when compared to the 600-watt All-Clad (and the even more powerful Vitamix and Ninjas we also tested) this blender has plenty of power for most home cooks as long as you don’t run it for more than one minute at a time. The whopping 15 speeds range from light (great for emulsifying sauces and big batches ofdressing) to very powerful (useful for blending apot of soupwith chunky vegetables). As for the attachments, the mini chopper is a dream for pulverizing veggies and making purees, the whisk whips cream or beats egg whites in a heartbeat, and the extra-large 42-ounce blending jug has a handle and snugly-fitting lid for storing leftovers in the fridge. Like the All-Clad, the blade shaft has a generous 8-inch immersion depth and the Breville has the added benefit of a protective plastic rim along the very edge of the blade guard so it won’t scratch or damage your cookware.

If you’re looking for a versatile hand blender with good power and a bunch of add-ons, the Breville Control Grip is your best bet. With the included attachments, it can do most (though not all) of what a full-size blender and a food processor can do, and it’s much easier to use and to clean.

What we didn’t love about the Breville Control Grip Immersion Blender

While this did a great job making soup—and it has the best included attachments of any model we tested—it took longer than the All-Clad to break down frozen strawberries in our smoothie test. Though we were happy with the smoothie in the end, the little specs of spinach were ever-so-slightly larger than those left by the All-Clad too. Additionally, whileweloved using the chopper, some reviewers have complained of durability issues with the chopping bowl after long-term use.

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Cordless immersion blenders aren’t for everyone. They’re not even the best option for most people. But if you’re in the market for a blender you can use literally anywhere, we recommend the All-Clad Cordless immersion blender. It’s a lighter weight, portable version of our top pick—and more expensive, too, though the price varies depending on where you buy it.

For a rechargeable blender, it’s far more powerful than we expected, and the smaller blending head is slightly better for making small batches of soups and smoothies. If you like to pre-batch your smoothie ingredients to make your mornings easier, this is the only one of our top picks that will fit into a wide-mouth mason jar. The blending wand is also dishwasher safe, though over time that cleaning method can dull the blades.

Because this blender doesn’t need to be plugged in, it has a built-in safety feature in the form of an extra step; before you can operate it, you have to push the lock button on the top of the motor to unlock it. The blender will lock after 30 seconds of inactivity, too. The top of the handle is also where you adjust the speed (it has five).

If you want the convenience of a cordless immersion blender and don’t mind the price, this certainly gets the job done.

What we didn’t love about the All-Clad Cordless Rechargeable Stainless Steel Hand Blender

A rechargeable device never has as much power as its corded counterpart (we found this during full-size blender testing as well), and depending on which of the five speeds you use, you can expect to get 6 to 9 minutes of runtime on a full charge and it shouldn’t be operated in more than one-minute increments. If the battery runs out before you’re done, you’re kind of stuck; in a pinch, you can “quick-charge” it for 30 minutes to get three more minutes of runtime. Also, the battery is likely to die before the actual blending machinery wears out so it won’t be as long-lasting as a plug-in blender.

Design-wise, this blender is very good but it’s not perfect. The button is placed halfway down the motor handle, which is awkward at first but easy to get over. And like the corded All-Clad, the blending head would benefit from some sort of plastic or silicone cover to prevent scratches on cookware.

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To make sure our top picks were versatile enough for most home cooks, our testers put the immersion blenders to work on a variety of cooking jobs. First, if any models came with chopper attachments, we used those to cut onions. Then we added those onions into the base for a blendedcreamy carrot soup. We madesmoothiesusing frozen strawberries, fresh spinach, peanut butter, milk, orange juice, and avocado; if the blender came with a cup we used that, and if not we used our own. Finally, we tested the whisk attachments by timing how quickly and evenly each生杯heavy cream.

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Ultimately, the most important thing was how well it blended both the soup and smoothie. We’ve heard anecdotally that some immersion blenders do fine with soups and sauces, but can’t take on the tough chunks in a smoothie, so we wanted to make sure the ones we selected were up to any task. After blending frozen fruit into our smoothies, we didn’t bother trying to crush ice just for the sake of crushing ice because doing so will dull the blades and it isn’t really a job for an immersion blender, anyway. (If crushed ice is your goal, you need a countertop blender, so check out our full review of thebest blenders.)

Yes, above all else, an immersion blender needs to be powerful. But in order for it to be a truly versatile kitchen tool, it also needs to offer the option to take that power down a notch or seven. If you use a powerful blender that only has one or two settings for something that doesn’t need quite so much power—especially if it’s not in a super-tall blending jar—you risk splattering hot soup or tomato sauce all over your kitchen (and yourself).

As with所有我们在Epicurious测试万博官网, we look for quality materials and construction. This is especially important for immersion blenders, which have fast, sharp blades—we didn’t want to use one that felt like it could lose a piece and produce some freak kitchen accident. It was also important that the blade shaft fit securely on the motor handle and that it felt stable while in use.

Immersion blenders are supposed to be convenient and easy to use; that’s whywe love them. If it’s awkward to use or makes your hand or wrist hurt—or if it sounds like an airplane landing in your kitchen—you’ll be less likely to use it.

A couple of the immersion blenders we tested had locks so you couldn’t start them by accident, another had a cover for the blade for storage. We especially liked the plastic rim on the blade guard, which prevents damage to nonstick cookware and scratches on enameled cast iron.

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Ninja’s 2-speed hand blender—part of the Foodi Power Mix System that includes additional hand mixer and whisk conversions—is the most powerful immersion blender we tested. Unfortunately, its considerable power is also its greatest weakness. While this blender did a beautiful job pulverizing frozen strawberries in the extra-tall blending cup that came with it, when we used it in asaucepan, it splattered hot soup all over our stovetop (and sweater, and backsplash). And that was just on its primary setting; there’s a turbo button you can push to send the already powerful motor into the 750-peak-watt mode. If this blender had more (lower) speeds, it would be near perfect—especially because the blade guard has a protective plastic edge and the attachments, including the immersion wand, are dishwasher-safe.

TheVitamix Immersion Blenderis both quiet and powerful. It has five speed settings, and the motor can run for up to three minutes at a time (compared to Breville’s one-minute limit). Like the Breville, the Vitamix is compatible with several different attachments that make it a good multi-purpose kitchen tool; it can sub in for a hand mixer, food processor, or smoothie blender. However, all the attachments are sold separately, making this immersion blender—if you account for all the attachments and blending jar—far more expensive than any of its peers. In our mind, its performance, which is good, doesn’t quite justify the price.

We found that Cuisinart makes the best budget blenders, with attachments included and without. As a straightforward option for the home cook, the Cuisinart Smart Stick can’t be beat. For about $50 (at the time of publishing), you get two speeds and no extras—just a strong hand blender that can tackle both puréed soups and frozen fruit. If you do want to get into the attachment game, you can upgrade to the pricier model, which is the same basic hand blender with a cup, mini chopper, and whisk included. For a first foray into immersion blending, it’s an economical and effective way to go.

The Mueller Ultra-Stick immersion blender is the only model we tested that came with a milk frother attachment. And for the price ($35 at the time of publishing) it looked to be a promising budget option. Then we turned it on. We were able to overlook the blue accent lights that gave off a bit of a nightclub vibe, and it did a decent job of blending a smoothie—but it was impossible to ignore the awful metallic rattling noise it made while doing so. The noise got even worse and grating when we used it as a milk frother and it didn’t froth cold whole milk any better thana $10 battery-operated frother.

We were at first pretty impressed with the chopper attachment on this budget-friendly Hamilton Beach immersion blender but we noticed water trapped in the lid after one hand wash. We were less impressed with the immersion wand, which felt chintzy out of the box. This blender has only two speeds, and even on the high speed, it struggled to make a smoothie actually smooth. When we did get this handheld blender into a good position to break down the frozen strawberries and incorporate thick peanut butter, we started to smell the old “motor working too hard” aroma. There were splatters as well. But, hey, at least the blending wand and attachments are top-rack dishwasher safe.

The KitchenAid 3-Speed Hand Blender handled the soup and the smoothie well power-wise, but we had trouble getting the locking mechanism to work. After several tries we finally just held the top and bottom parts together. This presented a problem with the smoothie because the cup (which it came with) kept moving around on the countertop.

If you had never tried another immersion blender and someone gave you the Braun Multiquick Hand Blender, you’d probably be happy with it. It was slightly louder and somewhat less powerful than other models we tested, but it worked just fine. With two speeds and 350 watts, plus a cup for smoothies and a whisk attachment, it’s a solid immersion blender, if not a standout favorite. (Note: While the old model of the Multiquick is no longer available, Braun has come out with an updated version.)

We were excited to try theChefWave Intermix Hand Immersion Blender, as we have had positive things to say about theirnut milk maker.Spec-wise混和搅拌器有九个级别的speed control and is extremely quiet. At just $35, it came with just as many versatile attachments as the Breville, including a second, extra-long immersion wand. The low price made total sense during the smoothie test, when the stainless steel blade got caught on a hunk of frozen fruit and caused a piece within the main body of the blender to break, rendering the entire set unusable.

The KOIOS Powerful 4-in-1 Hand Blender is a good budget option with multiple speeds, a chopping bowl and blade, a mixing beaker, and a whisk attachment. But it feels kind of cheap (pretty much what you’d expect from a variable speed hand blender that you can often find for less than $50) and many reviewers say it doesn’t stand up to continued use.

We found theOxa Smart Powerful 4-in-1 Immersion Hand Blender(not to be confused with one of our favorite kitchen gear brands, Oxo) extremely loud. It was also heavier than other models, and it was challenging to pump the blender up and down as needed to blend the soup. When we tried making the smoothie, the small included cup started vibrating intensely—but when we lowered the speed, the blender was less effective. Perhaps that explains why this blender isno longer available.

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The takeaway

If all you want is an immersion blender—no bells or whistles—go with thecorded All-Clad. Though pricier than some other models, it’s still a good value considering its incredible power and variable speed control. For additional attachments that allow you to chop andwhisk, get theBreville Control Grip. It’s less powerful than the All-Clad, but given a little extra time it can handle all the same blending jobs, plus it’s easy to use, comfortable to hold, and splatters less when working in a saucepan or shallow vessel. If you’re looking for a budget pick, stick to Cuisinart; theSmart Stickby itself gets the job done, or you can upgrade tothe version with handy attachments.

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Some immersion blenders have dishwasher-safe wand shafts. And some people like tostick their fingers up into the blade assemblyto wash it. But putting blades in the dishwasher too often will dull them. And fingers are pretty handy so you should try to hold onto those.

幸运的是,有一个更好的、更安全的方式清洁一个我mmersion blender and it’s pretty much the same way you should clean any blender: by running it with soap and warm water immediately after you’re done using it. All you have to do is fill a bowl or the included blending jar with a drop of soap and warm water then run the blender on a low setting. Then just give it a rinse with hot water and that’s that. If you can’t get to cleaning right away, try to at least soak the blade shaft until you’re ready to wash it.

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Now that you know what to look for in an immersion blender and what the best models are, here’s an overview of what you can use them for. They aresuchhandy kitchen appliances that are useful for all kinds of meals. (Just don’t try to makemashed potatoes, you’ll want to grab a masher for that since an immersion blender will release too much starch and create a gloopy, sticky mess.)

When you want fluffy eggs, an immersion blender is your go-to. They blend egg whites and yolks effortlessly and produce a more uniform mixture than simply whisking them.

Puréeing soup with an immersion blender isso容易得多比用常规blender (which has the potential for disaster written all over it). Keep it clean, easy, and fuss-free with an immersion blender.

Frozen fruit and ice blend up perfectly with an immersion blender. The result? A creamy, dreamy smoothie made from the comfort of your own kitchen, and the immersion blender is easier to clean than those bulky personal blenders.

Quickly emulsify and keep your homemade salad dressings from separating with an immersion blender.

使快速blendin新鲜番茄酱的工作g the tomatoes with an immersion blender.

Hummus relies on blending chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, and a handful of other ingredients—whether the recipe calls for a traditional blender or a food processor, you canalsouse an immersion blender and get the same result.

To make fresh whipped cream, run your immersion blender through one cup of heavy cream, two tablespoons of sugar, and a half a teaspoon of vanilla extract for about five minutes until stiff peaks form.

Mixing pancake batter gets a whole lot easier when you have an immersion blender in your arsenal.

To make fresh mayonnaise, use your immersion blender to blend egg, mustard, sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Anything Starbucks can do, you can probably do better with an immersion blender. You can also blend coconut oil into hot coffee or espresso for a dairy-free, latte-like drink that’s naturally just a little bit sweet.