Best smoothie blenders 2024, tried and tested by reviews experts

We've put smoothie blenders to the test across a number of criteria including budget, sustainability, ease of use and design from some of the biggest brands out there like Ninja and Nutribullet. Read on to find the right smoothie blender for you.

Looking for some inspiration of what to make in your smoothie blender? Read our best easy smoothie recipes, plus find our favourite acai bowl recipe.

Jump to:

• Best smoothie blenders at a glance
• Best smoothie blender to buy 2024
• What type of blender is best for making smoothies?
• What is the difference between and blender and a smoothie maker?

Best smoothie blenders at a glance

• Best portable smoothie blender: Ninja Blast portable blender, £45
• Best smoothie blender for frozen fruit: Nutribullet Smart Touch blender, £99.99
• Best blowout smoothie blender: Sage The Super Q blender, £539.96
• Best bullet smoothie blender: Nutribullet 900 Series, £59.99
• Best sleek smoothie blender: Smeg BLC02WHMUK high-performance blender, £408
• Best cordless smoothie blender: KitchenAid GO cordless blender, £179
• Best large capacity smoothie blender: ProCook blender and smoothie maker, £149
• Best Ninja smoothie blender: Ninja 2-in-1 blender with Auto-IQ BN750UK, £99.99
• Best affordable smoothie blender: Nutribullet portable blender, £29.99

Best smoothie blender to buy 2024

Ninja Blast portable blender

• Available from John Lewis & Partners (£45), Amazon (£45), Ninja Kitchen (£49.99)

Best portable smoothie blender

Star rating: 5/5

With an affordable price point, attractive look and quiet blending this machine ticked a lot of boxes for us on test. From Ninja, this smoothie maker is portable and is rechargeable via a USB cable. It has a slim, compact design which is great for taking on the move and is available in a range of attractive colours including Denim Blue and Cranberry.

It's also really easy to use. All you need to do is press the button once to activate the 30-second blending cycle. We found that it only took one cycle of blending to produce a consistent, lump-free and very drinkable smoothie. Plus, once we were finished we could put the jug and the lid in the dishwasher.

Nutribullet Smart Touch blender

• Available from Nutribullet (£99.99), Currys (£118), Amazon (£118)

Best smoothie blender for frozen fruit

Star rating: 5/5

This jug-design blender is intuitive to use with a brightly lit touchscreen display and clearly labelled settings. There are four speeds to choose from with additional pre-sets for frozen drinks, smoothies, soups and purées.

There's no getting around that with a wide base and tall jug, this large blender won't be well suited for smaller kitchens. But the 1.85-litre jug means it's ideal for making smoothies for a crowd, or batch blending other ingredients like soups and sauces. On test, we made three portions of our smoothie recipe in under a minute, doing a brilliant job of cutting through berry seeds to produce a smooth drink.

Sage The Super Q blender

• Available from Amazon (£539.96), Harts of Stur (£598.95), John Lewis & Partners (£599.95), Sage (£599.95)

Best blowout smoothie blender

Star rating: 5/5

There's no getting around the fact that, compared to some other models on this list Sage's The Super Q blender carries a hefty price tag. But for your money you get a high-powered, versatile blender with a range of functions to take you beyond smoothies. Blenders are a notoriously loud piece of kitchen equipment but this one is remarkably quiet.

It comes with a jug and personal blender attachment, meaning you can blend a large batch of smoothie or create one portion, taking the cup on the go. There are two smoothie pre-sets for green smoothies and silkier dairy smoothies, plus ones for soup, frozen dessert and ice crush. The final results were excellent on test and if you're looking to invest in a high quality blender this would be a brilliant option.

Nutribullet 900 Series

• Available from Nutibullet (£59.99), Amazon (£59.99), Very (£69)

Best bullet smoothie blender

Star rating: 5/5

In Nutribullet's recognisable bullet design, this smoothie maker has a cup where you add the fruit, screw on the blade like a lid and then invert it to twist it into the blender. It's simple to operate with no buttons and only one speed on offer — simply twist the blade into place and run until the mix is smooth. This design means that the model isn't suited to mixes other than smoothies and some sauces as it needs a minimum amount of liquid in the mix to be able to blend, plus you can't blend anything hot as it can form a vacuum inside the jug.

This model comes with two cups at 909ml and 680ml, plus a choice of lids and handles making it easy to take your smoothie on the go. Our smoothie came together in just 10 seconds with no lumps and was delicious.

Smeg BLC02WHMUK high-performance blender

• Available from AO (£408), Amazon (£438), Smeg (£499.95)

Best sleek smoothie blender

Star rating: 4.5/5

Although Smeg might be best known for its retro 1950s style, this blender takes a leap into the 21st century with a sleek, boxy look. There are nine speeds to choose from, controlled by a large dial on the front of the base which also acts as a brightly lit display. There are also buttons on the top which determine your choice of pre-set from smoothie, green smoothie, frozen dessert or ice crush, plus there's single-serve and family-serve (three portions) options which dictates how many seconds the blender runs for.

This product lost some points on cost and sustainability. It came with a large amount of plastic packaging and there was little to no information available on buying spare parts or recycling.

KitchenAid GO cordless blender

• Available from Harts of Stur (£178.95), KitchenAid (£179), Amazon (£183.75)

Best cordless smoothie blender

Star rating: 4.5/5

This compact, cordless smoothie blender is brilliant if you have a limited number of sockets in your kitchen, or if you want to be able to make smoothies on the go, or cocktails in your garden without worrying about being plugged in.

This is part of KitchenAid's GO cordless range which is designed to have one battery that you can switch between different cordless appliances in your kitchen. We really like this concept, but it certainly pushes up the price of this piece of kit. We were impressed with how powerful this blender was given its size, and our smoothie was blended very well without many seeds.

ProCook blender and smoothie maker

• Available from ProCook (£149)

Best large capacity smoothie blender

Star rating: 4.5/5

Although this choice features a Tritan BPA-free plastic jug, it’s of such good quality we’d expect it to withstand heavy use. It’s also square, which means you don’t have to twist it on or off – simply place it on the motorised base.

Batch cooks will love this model, as the generous two-litre capacity jug gives you the space to blend family-size recipes without fear of overspill. Turn the dial for increased power, 0-10, or use special ice, juice or pulse buttons that vary the strength and frequency of blending bursts. Even at full capacity, this wasn't too noisy.

Once in place we liked the added safety clips to hold the lid firmly and the suction feet did a great job of keeping this heavy blender stay steady.

Ninja 2-in-1 Blender with Auto-IQ BN750UK

• Available from Amazon (£99), Ninja Kitchen (£99.99), John Lewis & Partners (£99.99)

Best Ninja smoothie blender

Star rating: 4/5

This is a bulky blender with a large footprint that means it's best if you've got ample countertop real estate and cupboard storage. It's a highly versatile piece of kit which can be used for smoothies thanks to the 700ml beaker cup, or other dishes like soups, sauces and more via the 2.1-litre jug attachment.

There is a choice of pre-set programmes that do all of the hard work for you, or you can opt for manual controls. Although no plunger is included, the powerful 1200W motor means that ingredients are drawn in from the top down to be blended effectively.

Nutribullet portable blender

• Available from Nutribullet (£29.99), Amazon (£29.99), JD Williams (£29.99)

Best affordable smoothie blender

Star rating: 4/5

The Nutribullet portable blender is simple to set up – simply charge the base unit and you're ready to whizz ingredients once you’ve screwed the 385ml capacity container on top. It comes in a range of smart colours including light blue, magenta and purple.

This personal blender is brilliant for mornings when you just want to grab a smoothie and go. In fact, you could easily take the whole thing along with you as it’s powered via a USB cable, so it doesn't take up much space at all.

There’s only one speed setting, and we found it worked well on frozen berry mixtures and protein shakes. However, there’s not a huge amount of power in its 100W engine compared to tabletop blenders which may have up to ten times the oomph. We struggled with fibrous, heavier mixes, so not the best for heavy-duty kale smoothies, for example.

What type of blender is best for making smoothies?

To make smoothies you'll need a blender with sharp blades and a motor powerful enough to tackle fruit, seeds in berries and tough, fibrous ingredients. We'd always opt for an encased blender rather than using an immersion blender as they might be powerful but they're far more likely to cause a mess.

For smoothies, we'd also recommend buying a bullet blender, or a blender with a cup attachment. This way you can put your ingredients directly in the cup which cuts down on mess.

What is the difference between a blender and a smoothie maker?

Generally, when we talk about blenders and smoothie makers the difference is in the design and functionality of these machines. A blender tends to refer to a model with a base which connects to a jug attachment with a built-in blade function. These tend to be versatile pieces of kit that can blitz dry ingredients like breadcrumbs or spice mixes. They can also cope with blending hot ingredients like soup since the jug will have a removable lid with options for letting steam out.

Smoothie makers are also known as bullet blenders. On the whole these have a more compact base unit which houses the motor, a cup, and a blade which screws into the cup, doubling as a lid. The cup is usually inverted to screw onto the base unit, and often these machines only have one speed setting and no pre-sets. They are less versatile than jug blenders since they can only be used to blend cold ingredients with liquid, so are best suited to smoothies.

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