As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page are affiliate links.
What size blender do you need?
Updated
Enter who you blend for, the hardest thing you make, and the gap under your cabinet. The checker works out the batch size, sets a floor for listed watts, and drops any pick whose listing numbers miss. It is a rule of thumb, and it uses listing numbers only.
Blender size and power checker
A rule of thumb, ours. It uses 16 oz per serving and only the numbers on each listing: the most the jar blends at once, the watts in the spec table, the height with the jar, whether a tamper is in the box, and whether the maker says the jar takes hot liquids.
The rules behind it
- Batch size: 16 oz per person. That is our figure for one large smoothie or a bowl of soup. The jar must blend that much at once. We use the max liquid or blending capacity on the listing, not the jar size in the title.
- One person: we only match picks with a narrow jar or single serve cups. Vitamix describes its narrower 48 oz container as the one for 1 to 4 servings, and the Vitamix 5200 listing says its classic container suits small to large blends. The nutribullet Blender Combo comes with 32 oz and 24 oz cups. Wide jars can leave a small batch under the blades.
- Power floor: 1,000 listed watts for smoothies, ice and soup, and 1,200 for nut butter. These floors are ours, not a standard. We read the spec table watts, never a peak or horsepower claim.
- Nut butter and thick dips: the pick must include a tamper, or its maker must say the jar is built to work without one.
- Hot soup: the maker must say the jar takes hot food. Vitamix says blade friction can make steaming hot soup in under 10 minutes. Blendtec says its FourSide jar heats soups by friction and lists a hot soup cycle. nutribullet says its pitcher lid is vented for hot ingredients.
- Height: the listing height with the jar must be at or under your gap. Blendtec's FourSide jar has a max liquid fill of 32 oz per Blendtec, and its listing does not give a height with the jar, so we flag it.
Worked examples
| Household | Batch | Picks that match |
|---|---|---|
| One person, smoothies, 18 inch cabinet gap | 16 oz | nutribullet Blender Combo |
| Two people, smoothies, 18 inch gap | 32 oz | Vitamix Propel 750, Blendtec Total Blender Classic (check the height, the listing does not give it with the jar), Ninja Professional Plus BN701, nutribullet Blender Combo, KitchenAid K400 (KSB4027) and Breville Fresh and Furious |
| Four people, smoothies, 18 inch gap | 64 oz | Vitamix Propel 750, Ninja Professional Plus BN701 and nutribullet Blender Combo |
| Four people, smoothies, blender kept in a cupboard (30 inch gap entered) | 64 oz | Vitamix 5200, Vitamix Propel 750, Ninja Professional Plus BN701 and nutribullet Blender Combo |
| Two people, nut butter, 18 inch gap | 32 oz | Vitamix Propel 750, Blendtec Total Blender Classic (check the height, the listing does not give it with the jar) and nutribullet Blender Combo |
| Four people, hot soup, 18 inch gap | 64 oz | Vitamix Propel 750 and nutribullet Blender Combo |
| Six people, crushed ice drinks, 18 inch gap | 96 oz | None of the picks here. Blend in two batches or change one answer |
Look at the two rows for four people. With an 18 inch gap the Vitamix 5200 drops out, because its listing says 20.5 inches. Store it in a cupboard and it comes back. Six people is 96 oz, more than any jar here blends at once, so plan on two batches.
Hot liquids: Vitamix's own guide says to let hot liquids cool for 3 to 5 minutes before they go in a blender, and warns that spray or escaping steam can burn and that pressure can build under a lid that is not vented. Only blend hot food in a jar whose maker says it is made for it, with the vented lid on. Never in a sealed cup.
Match a blender to your household with the size and power checker, or compare all seven picks on the roundup page.