Hand blenders are a great kitchen tool that will help with making smoothies, soups, baby food, protein shakes, and many other uses. Specifically, “immersion hand blenders” are a very easy to use and versatile option for many uses. They mix in narrow spaces, as well as with precision, unlike hand mixers. What’s the best hand blender you can buy? Let’s take a look at the 5 most important features of great hand blenders and the top rated options on the market today.
5 Important Features To Consider For Choosing The Best Hand Blender
1. Watts/Motor Power- How many watts does the blender have? This is a very important feature to keep in mind because the less watts, the less powerful it is. It obviously depends on what you want to use the blender for when looking at this feature.
If you are going to generally be using it for softer blending, then lower wattage may not be a problem. However, some people like to blend thick chunky vegetables, dry ingredients, and other ingredients that need a little more power. It will depend on your needs how many watts you’ll need to choose.
Generally speaking, 200 watts and up can handle most, if not all, blending challenges. Any wattage less than that and the blender will be straining to do some heavy duty blending. Think smoothies, milkshakes and other soft blending for lower watt models.
2. Blend Control- An important factor to look at is the number of speeds a device has, and also how the blending is controlled.
Many higher power devices, like the DeLonghi 380-Watt Tri-Blade, will have anywhere from 1 to 9 speeds. Lower speeds are used for chopping and course blending, whereas higher speeds are used for fine pureeing.
A popular style of hand blender, such as the Cuisinart CSB-76BC Smart Stick, are one speed and turned on and off by a push button. For these models, while the button is pushed in it’s blending. To turn off, one simply releases the button. One can toggle between pulse and blend with these types of “one speed” hand blenders.
3. Included Attachments- Many designs of immersion blenders will come with various attachments included for whisking, chopping, fine pureeing, and such. Generally speaking, more expensive models will come with more attachments, however some cheaper priced hand blenders will come with attachments like a whisk and chopper attachments as well.
4. Ease of Cleaning- Choosing a design that is very easy to clean is going to increase the overall enjoyment of the device. Does the blade come off easily and is it dishwasher safe? Can the blade cover be removed and be cleaned in the dishwasher as well?
5. Cord vs. Cordless Blenders- Most models will have you blending with a cord attached to the device, however there are some designs that have rechargeable batteries, like the Cuisinart CSB-78 Smart Stick. Keep this in mind if you are looking for mobility in a blender.
Top Rated Hand Blenders
Here are some of the most popular and top rated hand blenders on the Amazon.com shopping website. These products have consistently a LOT of high ratings and very few complaints.
#1- Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick (200 Watt)
Look up hand blenders on Amazon.com and you’ll see that the highest rated and most popular hand blender is the Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick seen at left. It’s got one speed with push button sensitive control, coupled with blending and pulse modes. It’s obvious people like the fact it’s lower priced as well as top quality. Plus it comes in 7 different colors. Click here to visit at Amazon.com.
#2- KitchenAid KHB 100 ER Hand Blender
Another very popular model for sale online is the KitchenAid KHB ER Hand Blender. It’s a powerful mixer that’s quiet. It’s also stylish and just like many Kitchenaid products, comes in a variety of colors. It comes with a mixing beaker as well.
There’s 9 speeds on this blender for various blending requirements. You can get more information at Amazon.com.
#3- DeLonghi Professional Immersion Blender- (380 Watt)
The DeLonghi Immersion Blender is an ultra powerful model that has a “tri-blade” blending arm that can blend through the toughest of foods. This is a little more expensive model, but most reviews at Amazon say the same thing, “you get what you pay for”. And this blender proves itself as top quality.
Notice it comes with a lot of attachements, including a whisk, chopper, extra large chopper, and beaker.
#4- Cuisinart CSB-77 Smartstick with Chopper
The Cuisinart CSB-77 Smartstick has a 200 watt motor much like the CSB-76BC, but it comes with more attachments. Therefore it’s a little more expensive, but you are getting the same great design with more functionality.
This blender comes with a chopper, whisk, and beaker to compliment the blending blades and allow you to do more tasks in the kitchen with this one tool.
So What’s The Best Hand Blender?
It’s ultimately up to the shopper how heavy duty they need their blender to be in the kitchen and how many attachments they will need. Just remember that the less wattage means less power and make sure to scour some customer reviews at a shopping site like Amazon.com to really get inside the mind of the customer. Whichever model turns out to be the best hand blender for you, enjoy the handy appliance in all your juicing, souping, mixing and the many other uses it will provide!
