If you’re in the market for a premium blender, chances are you’ve realized two names sit alone atop the market: Vitamix and Blendtec. Both brands offer sturdy build quality, professional-level performance and motors so strong they’re measured in horsepower. In fact, years ago I shot a half-gallon stream of tomato soup all the way to the ceiling the first time I ever used one in a restaurant kitchen.
But if you’re about to drop the equivalent of a car payment on a countertop appliance, you want to be sure you’re picking the best option. I put the most highly recommended blender from each company, the Vitamix 5200 and the Blendtec Classic 575, through a series of tests to figure out which model is worth the investment.
Vitamix vs Blendtec: What We Think
After putting our units through the testing gauntlet, the Vitamix emerged as the superior machine due to two key design features: container shape and blade style.
The Blendtec has a patented five-sided “WildSide+” container, which is supposed to eliminate the need for tamping and scraping. While this tamp-less design worked wonders on tasks with plenty of liquid, I was left having to stop the blender occasionally to push the ingredients back down toward the blades when we prepared more viscous recipes.
The Vitamix’s tall, tapered container and razor-sharp offset blades, however, worked together to create a continuous blending vortex. Paired with the perfectly designed tamp to keep thicker mixtures moving along, the blender effortlessly handled every test I could throw at it despite its less-powerful motor.
While the Blendtec does have the ease of preprogrammed settings and blunt blades (which may be a plus in households with children), the Vitamix’s next-level design makes it the more worthwhile investment for serious home cooks.
The Blender Contenders
- Dimensions: 20.5” x 7.25” x 8.75”
- Container: 64 oz BPA-free plastic, tall tapered jar
- Blend Mode: 10-speed manual control
- Blade Style: 4 stainless steel sharp cutting blades
- Dimensions: 15” x 8” x 7"
- Container: 90z BPA-free plastic, wide 5-sided jar
- Blend Mode: 5-speed manual control, pulse button, 4 preprogrammed settings
- Blade Style: 2 stainless steel blunt pulverizing blades
Test One: Creamsicle Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 1 medium orange (120g)
- 1 ½ cups frozen mango chunks (175g)
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt (170g)
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon honey (7g)
Preparation:
- Zest the orange before peeling and cutting it into quarters.
- Add the orange zest, quarters, and all other ingredients to a blender. Process on high until smooth. Serve immediately.
A good-quality blender should be able to whip up creamy, thick smoothies that rival your local juice bar, and neither brand disappointed. Each of their powerful motors transformed fresh and frozen ingredients into silky smooth drinks in mere seconds. However, the Blendtec’s preprogrammed smoothie setting made the process entirely hands-off, giving it the edge on this test.
Test Two: Cucumber and Coriander Gazpacho
Ingredients:
- 2 large English cucumbers (350g), seeded & rough chopped
- ½ packed cup cilantro (22g), plus additional for garnish
- ¼ jalapeño (12g), seeded
- 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice (20g) (juice from 1-2 limes depending on size)
- ⅔ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt(170g), plush additional for garnish
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (10g), plus additional for garnish
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (3g)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander (2g)
- 2 ice cubes (40g)
- Cooked shrimp to garnish (optional)
Preparation:
- Add all ingredients except for the cooked shrimp to a blender. Blend on high until smooth, and refrigerate until serving.
- Garnish with reserved cilantro, sour cream, olive oil, and cooked shrimp if using.
While both of the blenders were able to make equally flavorful cucumber gazpachos, the Blendtec required some manual prodding of the ingredients to get things moving initially. Its blunt blade design left visible flecks of cilantro in the final product, while the Vitamix’s sharp cutting blades produced an impressively consistent soup with a more refined texture.
Test Three: Hazelnut Butter
Ingredients:
- 4 cups raw hazelnuts (255g)
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, spread your hazelnuts out in an even layer, and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown, stirring after 4 minutes.
- Allow the hazelnuts to cool until they are safe to handle but still warm to the touch. Pour them onto a clean kitchen towel, gather up all sides of it, and rub vigorously over your baking sheet to remove a majority of the skins.
- Add skinned hazelnuts to a blender and process on low until they are chopped into small pieces. Continue blending while gradually increasing the speed until a cohesive nut butter forms, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Stored in an airtight container, the nut butter will last for 1 month at room temperature or 3 months if refrigerated.
When it comes to revealing the true capabilities of a blender, there stands one ultimate test: nut butter. The Blendtec flung the hazelnuts up the sides of the container and away from the blades, requiring a few stoppages to push them back down. The Vitamix, meanwhile, was able to run continuously to churn out a luxuriously smooth product in half the time.
