Best Blenders for Green Smoothies
Why using a blender?
Making your own smoothies at home has health benefits and is environmentally friendly, compared to buying industrially produced smoothies packaged in plastic bottles.
A blender instead of a Juicer or Food Processor is your first choice when looking for a kitchen device to help you make your delicious Green or Red Smoothies.
The blades of the blender will liquefy everything that you place into the cup. For smoothies and drinks, there’s nothing better than a blender as you need to turn something from a solid into a liquid?
The reason we recommend using a blender is because it doesn’t extract the juice from the fruit – it simply turns the fruit into juice. That means that all of the healthy fiber from the fruit is still inside the blender; the ideal situation for weight loss smoothies.
In contrast a juicer extracts the juice from the fruit, all you get is the simple sugar, which won’t be as good for your health or your diet. With the fiber added, you’ll get complex sugars that will make the fruit juice healthy! That’s the reason why you should avoid processed orange or apple juice while trying to lose weight whereas eating whole apples or oranges isn’t a problem.
You can easily drink the amount of orange juice made from 5 oranges. However, you will have a hard time trying to actually eat 5 oranges in one go. The fibre makes all the difference!
So, when it comes to smoothies for weight loss, the machine you want sitting on your kitchen counter is definitely a blender.
Just pour your non-dairy milk, yoghurt, ice, filtered water, soy milk, or almond milk into the cup, add the fruits, veggies, nuts and berries and turn it on. Within seconds, you’ve got the perfect smoothie.
But what blender should I go for?
The main characteristics for a good blender are:
- Easy to clean
- Durable
- Enough Power
That’s why you should find a blender with a cup and blades that can easily be replaced. To be on the safe side stick with commonly used brands like Hamilton, Oster or Cuisinart, as you’ll be easily able to find a replacement parts online or in stores near by; especially when the cup breaks – which it eventually will, as long as it is made of glass.
The Cup
The blender cup is the most important feature of the appliance. You’re going to need a cup that’s tough and durable, as you’ll be chopping up ice, frozen foods, and hard veggies and fruits on a daily basis. It should also be dishwasher safe.
A heavy duty glass cup is your best choice when it comes to smoothies, as it will handle the heavy use. If you’re prone to breaking things, a metal blender cup will be just as durable – but won’t shatter if you drop it. However, in a metal cup you can’t see what your drink looks like.
A good alternative these days is a cup made from BPA-free plastic.
The Motor
You need a motor that is powerful, as it’s going to have to power the blade to slice through ice, frozen fruits, or vegetables such as carrots or celery.
Your motor should have at least 600 Watts. The most important thing to remember is that your motor shouldn’t just be powerful, but it needs to be built to last as well! Even if it’s powerful, a poorly constructed motor will burn out with heavy use – and making smoothies every day definitely counts as heavy use!
The Base
There’s nothing wrong with a plastic base, but the solid metal bases will almost always be a better choice. Feel the weight of the base when testing different models. If the base feels heavy, it means that the motor is usually pretty powerful – and has plenty of torque to power the slicing blades.
The Controls
You basically just need three settings:
- “Pulse” setting to chop up the ingredients initially
- A medium speed setting to turn the chopped up ingredients into liquid, and a
- high-speed setting to turn that liquid into a creamy delicious Smoothie.
Here are our recommendations for the best blenders for green smoothies
Oster Pro 1200 Blender – Mid Price Range
- Solid metal base
- 7 Speeds including 3 pre-programmed settings for the most common blender creations
- Pulse feature for added control and precision
- Dual Direction Blade Technology
- 1200 power watts and 900 watts of ice crushing power
- 24 oz dishwasher safe Boroclass glass jar withstands thermal shock
Bestselling Nutri Ninja Pro (BL456)
- 900 watts
- Blades break down whole fruits, vegetables, ice and seeds
- Consists of a regular 24 oz. and a smaller 18 oz. cup. The Nutri Ninja Cups have “Sip & Seal”-Lids that allow you to take your smoothies on the go
- All parts are BPA free and dishwasher safe.
Low Price Range: Hamilton Beach Power Elite
This blender that you get for under 30 USD has 12 speeds and offer you total domination over your smoothie process.
The Auto Smoothie button activates the smart, 45-second blending cycle with pulsing action to crush ice, low-speed mixing and high speed for final smooth results
- 700 Watts
- 40 oz. dishwasher safe, BPA-free glass jar
High End for professional use: Vitamix Professional Series 750
Looking for more than a smoothie blender? The Vitamix Professional Series 750 also makes hot soups, homemade ice cream, whole-food juices, nut butters, and of course healthy smoothies, all in a single appliance. The responsive controls let you adjust the texture of every blend, and when you’re done, the machine even cleans itself in 60 seconds.
- 2.2-peak-horsepower motor
- wide blade radius
- 2-piece santoprene rubber lid with a removable plug for adding ingredients while use
- Stainless steel blade construction
- 64-oz. carafe, BPA-free Eastman Tritan copolyester
Now go get your best blender and start making your healthy delicious smoothies.