Juicer vs Blender vs Meals Processor

At first look, blenders, meals processors, and juicers all appear to carry out the identical fundamental motion: reworking meals from stable to someplace on the spectrum of spreadable to sippable, however that doesn’t imply they’re interchangeable. Every equipment has its personal strengths and weaknesses, and, other than a number of exceptions, most recipes are finest made utilizing one, and just one, of those time-saving instruments. For probably the most half, it comes all the way down to a matter of mechanics. When you perceive the fundamentals of how every equipment works, you’ll be capable to simply reply when it is best to use which; right here, we break all of it down for you.

How a Blender Works

An upright blender works through the use of a slim, angled carafe to maintain substances engaged with the blender’s blade. Sometimes, blenders pair a super-charged motor with a powerful and durable, moderately-sharp blade. Blenders have the most important quantity capability of the three, that means they haven’t any downside blitzing a batch of soup, however are much less good at super-small-batch duties.

Blenders Are the Finest Equipment For Making Smoothies and Puréed Soups

A blender is the the only option for puréeing liquid-heavy mixtures, like smoothies. A juicer strips away the pulp and fiber, a fascinating trait for a clean inexperienced juice, much less so for a thick smoothie. Overload your meals processor’s bowl with liquid and also you’re heading in the direction of a leaky mess. Texturally, puréed soups and smoothies have a lot in frequent, so like with smoothies, a blender is the way in which strategy to go when taking a soup from chunky to clean. A handheld immersion blender could make fast work of this job, dirtying fewer dishes within the course of, however for the silkiest outcomes, use a high-powered upright blender, like a Vitamix.

Excessive-powered blenders can simply crush ice for frozen cocktails—frozen margaritas, anybody?—and might tackle some recipes usually finest reserved for a meals processor, like nut butter and good cream. They will even be used for juicing when paired with a fine-mesh strainer or jelly strainer bag.

How a Juicer Works

Fruit and vegetable juicers are damaged down into two classes: centrifugal and masticating (a.okay.a. sluggish or cold-press). Centrifugal juicers work by very-finely grating produce after which quickly spinning the pulp with the intention to separate the liquids from the solids. Masticating juicers use a mix of crushing and urgent produce by means of interlocking gears with the intention to break down the cell partitions of the vegatables and fruits, extracting the juice. Masticating juicers have a larger yield and are a more sensible choice for extracting juice from delicate gadgets like leafy greens and herbs. The draw back: masticating juicers are dearer than their centrifugal counterparts.  

Juicers Are the Finest Equipment For Juicing Fruits and Greens

Whereas a high-powered blender can be utilized together with a fine-mesh strainer to juice vegatables and fruits, a devoted juicer is healthier on the job, extracting extra vitamins and creating much less mess. Juicers are additionally the way in which to go when working with both very arduous gadgets like ginger and carrots or delicate gadgets like leafy greens, as a blender may have a trickier time breaking these down. (If utilizing a blender to purée this stuff, first finely chop or grate them.)

How a Meals Processor Works

Meals processors have a large shallow bowl, a very-sharp blade set low within the bowl, and a moderately-strong motor. The mixture of a very-sharp blade and a less-strong motor permits for a movement extra just like utilizing a knife to chop by means of meals, quite than puréeing utilizing pressure. Most meals processors come geared up with quite a lot of interchangeable blades, resembling shredding and slicing disc or a plastic dough blade.

Meals Processors Are the Finest Equipment For Chopping

In comparison with a blender or juicer, meals processors permit for extra precision, and are the superior alternative for mincing and chopping fruits, nuts, and greens, blitzing chunky mixtures, and mixing dry substances. Along with being the only option for making pesto, hummus, and nut butters, a meals processor may also be used to make some doughs like pie crust, shortbread, and pizza dough, and for grating arduous cheeses or making breadcrumbs. When geared up with a shredding of slicing disc, a meals processor may be even be used to shred or slice.

The draw back: meals processors don’t do nicely with giant portions of liquid-heavy mixtures. Liquid tends to slosh round within the bowl (a blender’s steep sides corral liquid higher), and whereas meals processors permit for straightforward swapping of blade varieties, this identical interchangeability implies that the blade is merely fitted over the bowl’s heart quite than screwed in and watertight like with a blender, so liquids can leak out of the middle of the bowl, creating a large number.

A superb rule of thumb to remember when deciding whether or not it is best to use a meals processor or a blender is: if a combination is extra stable than liquid, use a meals processor, if a combination is extra liquid than stable, use a blender.

For those who solely have area or finances for one equipment, take into account what you prefer to prepare dinner most. Usually, we’d suggest investing in a high-quality blender first, because it’s probably the most versatile of the three. Whereas it’s not an entirely-perfect answer, a high-powered blender can be utilized together with a nice mesh strainer to make quite a lot of juices, and may also tackle some duties finest finished in a meals processor, like processing nut butters, hummus, pesto, and different thick purées. That mentioned, if you happen to dream of chopping again on time spent chopping and shredding, or are a inexperienced juice fanatic, your priorities could also be totally different; store accordingly!