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To choose the best blenders for frozen drinks, first, decide how many frozen beverages you need to be able to make at once, and choose a blender with a large enough pitcher. If you’re looking for the best blender for smoothies, we recommend starting with a powerful motor, durable stainless steel blender blades, and variable speed control. If convenience is a priority, we also recommend looking for a blender with programmed options for different kinds of frozen drinks. In seeking the best blenders for smoothies, we also looked for one-touch blending options for frozen fruit and crushing ice. A touchscreen is another useful feature to look for, making it easy to choose between programmed modes. If you like to customize your blended drink, look for a plethora of manual controls to give you precise adjustments for blender speed and pulse modes.
After analyzing dozens of reviews from kitchenware experts, chefs, and home blender users, and comparing the best high-performance countertop blenders on the market, we’ve determined that the best blender for frozen drinks is the Ninja Smart Screen Blender. Keep reading to learn more about great blenders available for purchase so you can choose the best blender for your kitchen.
Award: TOP PICK
WHY WE LIKE IT: This smart blender has a 1000W base and easy-to-use touchscreen along with pre-programmed smart blending modes, making it a great choice for smoothies and the best blender for frozen bananas and crushed ice too.
The Ninja smart screen blender has a powerful motor that makes quick work of frozen fruit, and it’s one of the blenders that crush ice into snow for smoothies and other frozen drinks. It comes with four pre-set pulse timing patterns that are great for beginners and allow for the convenient, one-touch creation of frozen blender drinks like smoothies, frozen margaritas, and other delicious beverages.
This Ninja blender has a base with 1000 watts of power, equivalent to about a 1.34 horsepower motor. It uses Ninja’s total crush pitcher, which comes with durable BPA-free plastic mortar and stainless steel blades. It breaks up ice cubes in just seconds and can even pulverize coffee beans, making it a great choice if you’re also looking for the best blender for frappuccinos. Plus, its 72-oz dishwasher-safe pitcher is great for larger batches. We think it’s just as good as the best commercial blender on the market.
Award: HONORABLE MENTION
WHY WE LIKE IT: This professional variable-speed blender features precise manual control, pulse and puree modes, and a time-saving self-cleaning feature.
With class-leading precise control, this 10-speed Vitamix professional blender is designed for versatility and high precision blending, making it among the best blenders on the market for frozen fruit and ice, as well as for smoothies and blended juice drinks with protein powders, nut butter, and other challenging ingredients. If you’re serious about smoothies, in other words, you might want to invest in something like this Vitamix blender.
In addition to superb durability and performance, with its stainless steel blender blades and ultra-convenient self-cleaning feature, this model has 10 variable speed options, giving you full manual control over pulse and blend rhythms, allowing for layered recipes and professional juice shop-quality frozen smoothie drinks. If you’re going to be doing a lot of juicing and smoothing, you might also check out the best vacuum blender.
Award: BEST POWER
WHY WE LIKE IT: Powerful motors and heavy-duty construction make this a great blender for making frozen drinks in large quantities. It also works as a food processor capable of handling nut butters, frozen fruit, and ice cubes.
Among the most powerful heavy-duty blenders on the market, this three-horsepower professional blender is well-suited for making fitness drinks and fruit smoothies with frozen fruit, ice, nut butters, and supplements. Variable speed dials and responsive manual controls add versatility, while the built-in plastic handle and robust stainless steel blades allow it to crush ice, making it a good choice if you’re looking for the best blender for snow cones.
While it lacks the fancy self-cleaning mode the Vitamix blender offers, it does feature a BPA-free and impact resistant 64-oz pitcher and a relatively quiet, sealed-ball bearing motor design that promises long-lasting performance.
Award: BEST FOR MARGARITAS
WHY WE LIKE IT: This large-capacity Ninja Professional blender crushes ice with ease and works great for making large batches of frozen drinks, such as margaritas.
This Ninja Professional blender has a powerful motor, a six-bladed design that crushes ice into snow in just seconds, and a large 72-oz capacity, making it well-suited for frozen margaritas and large-batch smoothies. If you’re making meal replacements or fitness drinks for the whole family, this is one of the most practical and useful blenders on the market.
In addition, this model uses one-touch controls and a simple pulse button for mashing up frozen fruit for smoothies and other frozen drinks. It features the “Auto-iQ” technology with 4 pre-set programs for different recipes. The pitcher is also dishwasher safe, making it easy to clean. We think it’s a contender for the best blender for smoothies and frozen cocktails.
Award: BEST FOR SHAVED ICE
WHY WE LIKE IT: With its separate shave ice maker and frozen drink mixer functions, this dedicated margarita and ice blended drink maker is ready for your next gathering or to upgrade your home blended coffee routine.
While it may not have quite the versatility of a professional countertop blender or coffee shop blender, this model blends and shaves ice, using a separate ice reservoir and ingredient pitcher, making it the best blender for margaritas if you’re in a hurry. It even comes with a mixing cup pre-labeled with a suggested margarita recipe.
This model is also notable for its surprising level of manual control. You can set it to independently shave ice and blend ingredients like frozen fruit, frappuccino syrups, rum, and margarita mix. It has a 400-watt motor, which is adequate for working with shaved and crushed ice, frozen berries, and liquids. The pitcher holds about 36 oz, less than most all-purpose countertop blenders. This makes it the best countertop blender on our list.
Award: BEST CONVENIENCE
WHY WE LIKE IT: Thanks to the unique wave-inducing pitcher, this easy-to-use blender makes ultra-smooth frozen drinks with no need for stirring. It also comes with heat-resistant and dishwasher-safe components for easy cleanup.
While it may not be the most extreme blender in terms of power, this countertop blender from Hamilton Beach does a great job when it comes to crushing ice, mixing frozen fruit, and blending chia seeds, protein powders, nut butters, and other smoothie ingredients. The easy-pour jar holds 40 oz of liquid and is heat-resistant and dishwasher-safe.
This model also stands out in terms of the number of programmed options it gives you. it comes with fourteen presets, including pulse mode, settings for smoothies, and dedicated ice crush mode. This makes it one of the easiest-to-use blenders on the market today.
Award: BEST JAM RESISTANT
WHY WE LIKE IT: A dishwasher-safe glass pitcher along with reversing blades distinguishes this convenient and smooth-running personal blender for smoothies and other frozen beverages.
This smallish blender operates smoothly and has the Duralast all-metal drive with stainless steel six-point blades promising durability and easy cleaning. It has seven speeds ranging from low to high pulse, plus the option to custom program settings for one-touch blending. This makes it convenient if you like to use your own recipes for smoothies and frozen drinks.
It has a 1000-watt motor that gives ample performance to crush ice, plus a reverse feature that helps avoid jams when blending frozen fruit and making smoothies and margaritas with ice cubes, nut butters, powders, and other frozen drink ingredients. Unlike most blenders, the pitcher is made of glass. It’s dishwasher-safe, too. If you’re planning to make a lot of soups and other hot liquid items, check out the best blenders for hot liquids as well.
Award: BEST FOR TRAVEL
WHY WE LIKE IT: This Cosori blender for frozen drinks comes with a handy travel glass so you can take your homemade smoothies and frozen ice-blended drinks with you on the go.
This blender comes with a rotary knob that affords full manual speed control, plus a 1000-watt base capable of turning the blender blades at up to 30,000 rpm. This makes it useful for making frozen margaritas, smoothies, and frozen drinks of all kinds. A plastic mortar and 70-oz family-size pitcher are included, allowing you to make frozen smoothies in large batches.
This blender also comes with a personal travel bottle and extra smaller pitchers so you can make small batches of smoothies, blended coffee drinks, or breakfast meal replacement beverages and conveniently take them with you on the go. It’s definitely the best portable blender for travel.
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Award: BEST PRECISION
WHY WE LIKE IT: Eight variable speed control options plus pre-programmed modes for ice crush and smoothie make this countertop blender one of the most user-friendly of the professional type blenders for frozen drinks on the market.
While it may be larger and more industrial looking than much of the competition, this powerful 1450 Watt Homegeek blender is capable and practical for the dedicated smoothie enthusiast. It has durable, hardened steel blades, a large 70-oz pitcher made of BPA-free plastic, and a rotary knob with eight variable speed controls.
Pre-set modes include ice crush, smoothie, and pulse mode for food processor tasks and making salsas and soups. It may not have as simple a user interface as some of the other blenders on the market, but it makes up for it in terms of power and durability. It also achieves great results for smoothness when blending frozen fruit and coffee beans, making it a good choice if you’re looking for the best blender for frappuccinos or the best blender for margaritas. If you’re looking for the best blender food processor, give this model a serious look.
Award: BEST ON A BUDGET
WHY WE LIKE IT: This budget-friendly blender has four convenient auto modes, including crush ice, dessert, and smoothie, plus manual speed control, a 1400 Watt motor, and a dishwasher-safe 70-oz pitcher.
A great high-performance blender for a relatively low price, this model stands out for the 35000 rpm top speed of its blender blades, allowing for friction heating of soups and sauces. It also packs plenty of power for crushing ice and smoothly blending frozen fruit, ice cream, and nut butters for delicious smoothies.
While it may not have as many one-touch features as a few other blenders on the market, it does feature variable speed control and plenty of options for custom frozen drink recipes. Speed ranges from low to high pulse, great for blending frozen bananas, mixing in protein powders, and making smooth ice-blended coffee beverages. If you’ve got little ones at home, we think you might also like checking out the best blender to puree food.
In order to choose the best blenders for frozen drinks, we looked for high-performance blenders with powerful motors–at least 700 watts or about one horsepower was the requirement– and strong blades, preferably made of hardened aircraft-grade stainless steel.
We only included those models with at least some manual speed control, allowing you to fine-tune your blender for your favorite type of frozen beverages, smoothies, margaritas, and shakes. We looked for options like crush ice, high pulse mode, and puree modes. A dedicated ice cube crushing function was considered a bonus, as this feature works great for making frozen daiquiris, margaritas, and coffee frappuccinos.
For ease of use, we also preferred blenders with automatic options and one-touch convenience. We looked for pre-programmed modes for frozen drinks like smoothies and milkshakes, as well as a mode for ice cream and gelato.
Finally, we considered the pitcher. We only included blenders that came with a BPA-free pitcher, and we gave preference to dishwasher-safe blender jars.
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