5 Best Personal Blenders, Tested by Food Network Kitchen

With its unusual hourglass-shaped design, this blender is eye-catching right out of the box. But it isn’t just good looks that won our favor; its powerful 1,000-watt motor delivers. The Beast made quick work of smoothies with both fresh and frozen fruit, blended ice into slush with just a few pulses, and made a good batch of nut butter without breaking a sweat (and without any metallic blender smell, thanks to internal sensors that prevent overheating). If for some reason the blender won’t start, color-coded lights indicate why (e.g., amber flashing lights mean the motor is overloaded; a flashing red light means the contents are too hot to safely blend). It comes with a storage lid and a drinking lid; the latter also has a drinking cap with an adjustable carry loop. One thing to note: The thick Tritan plastic 3-cup-capacity cup is wider and squatter than most other models. The wide mouth makes adding ingredients easy, and it’s also easier to remove thick items like nut butter from this type of cup. But this shape can be harder to grip for small hands, and the cup won’t fit in most car cupholders. Also, this model is hand-wash only, though the wide shape makes getting into the cup to clean it out pretty simple.

Here’s a solid little blender for a great price. It comes with 3 cups; two larger 1½-cup capacity ones, one with a handle, and one with ½-cup-capacity, plus two storage lids and a ready-to-drink lid–so it’s a nice value. It’s great for small spaces such as dorm rooms, as the base is only 6 ½ inches tall and 4 inches wide. At 250 watts, it does have some limitations; we found the smoothie with fresh fruit came out perfectly smooth after just 30 seconds; adding frozen fruit to the mix made it more challenging, but it did work after some additional blending time. It took longer than other models to make nut butter (3 1-minute rounds), but it did do the job. Because the cups are smaller than on other models, you’re limited in how big a smoothie you’ll get–but the flipside is that it’s easier to scrape the finished product out of these smaller cups. A bonus: All of the cups and lids are top-rack dishwasher safe.

For a combo of good power and versatility, plus great value, this is the one. It boasts a 900-watt motor, so it blended up smoothies with fresh and frozen fruit with ease, and crushed ice without a hitch (and all without any odor, too). It manages to do all that with a relatively small footprint; the base is only 7 inches tall and 4½ inches wide. Adding to the value part: The Ninja comes with 3 20-ounce cups, with 2 ready-to-drink lids and 1 storage lid, so everyone gets a smoothie to go. The cups are tall and narrow, so they’ll fit in a car’s cupholder. We didn’t love making nut butter in this one; the result was less evenly ground than some other models, and scraping it out of those long, narrow cups was a hassle. But since this isn’t the personal blender’s primary function, this is still a great value. The cups, lids and blade assembly are all top-rack dishwasher safe. If you are going to wash by hand, you may need a brush if you have larger hands, as getting all the way into those tall, narrow cups might be a challenge.

Talk about small but mighty. This light, small-footprint personal blender packs a lot of power. It made very quick work of a protein shake and a smoothie, both in 30 seconds thanks to a 5-volt motor and a blade that turns 275 times per second. For all of its blending ability, it’s relatively quiet. The BlendJet2 also has a handy pulse setting, useful for making guacamole or pesto. It’s lightweight, so you can toss it in your bag (and it has a lock mode, so you don’t blend by accident). You can also carry it via the strap on the twist-off cap. Charge the blender for an hour with the included USB cord, and it gets about 15 blends. The BlendJet2 is not dishwasher safe, but it cleans up quickly and easily by blending a little dish soap and water. Choose from more than 20 colors and fun patterns. There’s no opening to allow you to sip from the cap, which seems like an odd oversight, but overall, if you love your blended drinks on the go, this little powerhouse will spark joy.

This tall, sleek bottle has a unique curved design that gives it more than nice aesthetics. The hexagonal shape creates a vortex, so the powder and water inside are agitated and blended without the addition of a wire ball. Though the wider top makes the bottle feel slightly top-heavy, it also makes it easier to scoop in the powder, so it’s a tradeoff. Made of BPA-free Tritan plastic, the bottle feels sturdy but still light enough to shake without much effort, and it didn’t leak even with pretty rigorous shaking. It has a 28-ounce capacity, yet it’s also slender enough to fit in a cup holder. The opening in the lid that you drink through opens all the way out, so you can sip comfortably without any parts hitting your nose. When you’re done, both the cup itself and the lid are top-rack dishwasher safe.