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4 Best Blenders for Protein Shakes (2022) Comparison, Reviews & Buying Guide
Our Picks For The Best Protein Shake Blenders
- Plenty of power for frozen fruits and ice
- Can make smoothies
- Can make nut butters
- Can make acai bowls
- Can make smoothie bowls
- Auto-iQ takes guess work out of blending
- Cups and blade assembly are dishwasher safe
- Great single serve protein shake blender
- A little loud (121.4 dbl), although it is quieter than older Ninja models
- More than you need if you only want to make simple protein shakes
- Great mix of power and affordability
- Auto-iQ takes guess work out of blending
- Can make smoothies
- Cups and blade assembly are dishwasher safe
- Not as easy to make thick bowls
- Loud
- Low cost
- Best hand-held blender for protein shakes
- Detachable blend head is dishwasher safe
- Takes up the least amount of space vs other blenders on this page
- Struggles with ice and frozen fruits
- Lightweight
- Not as powerful as its competitors
- Small footprint
- Cups are dishwasher safe
- Not designed to make thicker blends
- Blade assembly is not dishwasher safe
If you are looking for the best blenders for protein shakes, that’s the quick and dirty buying guide. If you’d like more details on each recommendation, keep reading. Also, be sure to check out our Testing & Review Methodology to see how we arrived at each pick.
A good protein shake blender needs to be able to do more than just mix protein in a liquid. Caroline Burkholder, a registered dietician at Rooted Nutrition, recommends chia seeds, nut butters, and flax seeds. You’ll need a great blender to liquify those ingredients.
Note: If you are primarily interested in blenders for smoothies, check out this roundup article: Best Blenders for Smoothies.
Top 4 Protein Shake Blenders
#1 Ninja Foodi Smoothie Bowl Maker & Nutrient Extractor – Smoothies + More
This Blender is the Best Blender For Protein Shakes... and more!
So you primary need a blender for shakes, but you also want an occasional smoothie or bowl of acai? Every blender listed on this page can–to some extent–make a smoothie. But if you want thicker smoothies or even an occasional acai, this is the blender for you.
- Plenty of power for frozen fruits and ice
- Can make smoothies
- Can make nut butters
- Can make acai bowls
- Can make smoothie bowls
- Auto-iQ takes guess work out of blending
- Cups and blade assembly are dishwasher safe
- Great single serve protein shake blender
- A little loud (121.4 dbl), although it is quieter than older Ninja models
- More than you need if you only want to make simple protein shakes
This Blender is the Best Blender For Protein Shakes… and More!
This is an extremely flexible blender, capable of making protein shakes, smoothie bowls, and more! If you want easy access to smoothies, shakes, and other healthy drinks, buy this blender!
Can the Ninja Foodi Smoothie Bowl Maker Make Protein Shakes & Smoothies?
If you are looking for the best blender to make both protein shakes and smoothies, this is our recommendation!
A Solid Blender from Shark Ninja
It is a bit quieter than the older Nutri Ninjas, has a compact design, and an anti-stall motor. It also has 1200-Watt motor powerful enough to make even thick acai.
Included are the 24oz cup, the 14oz Power Nutri Bowl, and an improved blade design.
The Power Nutri Bowl is the secret to making acai. It is also capable of making nut butters if you are so inclined.
If you want a protein blender that gives you plenty of extra, the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri Duo is our recommendation. The best part, all this extra comes at a marginal price increase over our second recommendation.
#2 Nutri Ninja with Auto-iQ – A Solid Pick Blender for Protein Shakes
If you like to mix up your shakes with frozen fruit or ice, you’ll want a blender with a powerful motor and quality blades. That’s why the Nutri Ninja with Auto-iQ is a good option for a protein shake blender. This blender is a combination of affordability and versatility when it comes to protein shakes.
Nutri Ninja has one of the better names in the personal blending space. This version comes with a 1100-Watts of power. So it has plenty of juice to shred even rock-hard dice!
- Great mix of power and affordability
- Auto-iQ takes guess work out of blending
- Can make smoothies
- Cups and blade assembly are dishwasher safe
- Not as easy to make thick bowls
- Loud
The Nutri Ninja comes with two 24oz cups that are dishwasher safe. In fact, even the blade assembly is dishwasher safe. Its compact design means it won’t take up too much of your counter-space. This makes it a great personal blender for apartment dwellers.
The blender also comes with Ninja’ proprietary Auto-iQ technology. The goal of Auto-iQ is to simplify the blending process and take much of the guesswork out of blending. Use the “Smoothie” option for shakes that contain softer ingredients like peanut butter, protein, bananas, etc. use the “Crush” setting when you need to blend frozen fruits or a lot of ice.
Its main competitor, the Nutribullet Pro 1000-Watt Professional Series Blender, has less power and is more expensive, so it was edged out by the Nutri Ninja.
The Nutri Ninja is not without its drawbacks as it is rather loud. If a noisy blender is a deal-killer for you, check out the Blendtec 800 Professional Blender.
Not going to lie, the Blendtec is overkill for most people. But dang it’s quiet! If you can overlook the noise, this Ninja is clearly one of the best blenders for protein shakes.
#3 KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender – Best Budget Blender
KitchenAid Pro Line Hand Blenders, 2 Speed, Aqua Sky
If you want to step up from a bottle blender, or even a cup and spoon, the KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender is your best bet.
The KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender is one of the most affordable blenders on the market. It’s a dual-speed model, meaning it can blend faster or slower, depending upon your preference.
- Low cost
- Perfect for those who only want to blend simple shakes
- Detachable blend head is dishwasher safe
- Takes up the least amount of space vs other blenders on this page
- Struggles with ice and frozen fruits
Don’t let the three star rating fool you. If all you want is a hand blender for simple protein shakes, the KitchenAid Pro Line is a great choice. In fact, we feel it is the best hand held blender for protein shakes.
But if you are wanting thick shakes, shakes with ice, fruit, etc, your money is best spent elsewhere.
Can The KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender Blend Ice?
Yes, sort of. When we blend ice with this blender, we make sure we use crushed ice instead of large chunks. If you use this immersion blender on large chunks of ice, be prepared to be at it for a while.
Can The KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender Blend Frozen Fruit?
Yes, but only sort of. Using this immersion blender on rock-hard frozen fruit isn’t recommended. But, if you leave your fruit laying at for a few minutes prior to blending, you’ll get a much better result. You don’t want your fruit to thaw complete, just a little so it softens up and is easier to blend.
We debated about whether to include this in our best blenders for protein shakes roundup. However, if all you want is a simple shake of milk and protein powder, this this is the blender for you. Why pay for super-fancy blenders when this is all you need?
#4 NutriBullet Personal Blender – For Those On The Go
Although not as powerful as its competitor, the Nutri Ninja, it is still a capable blender. If you want one of the best blenders for protein shakes, but are frequently on the go, give this device a good look!
- Lightweight, Affordable, & a Small footprint
- NEW Easy twist extraction blade (prevents leaks and blends better)
- NEW Cup design (no more unnecessary lip ring accessory)
- BPA-free
- Cups are dishwasher safe
- Not designed to make thicker blends
- Blade assembly is not dishwasher safe
- Not as powerful as its competitors
- Single speed
- Loud
We choose this as our top portable pick because it’s lightweight and can tackle all kinds of shakes, including those with frozen food items.
The Nutribullet Pro is compact. It is also easy to use and blends very quickly. Although the cups are dishwasher safe, the blade assembly is not.
It is also not designed to process thicker blends like smoothie bowls. But if you are looking for just something that can blend protein shakes, it is perfect.
Also, keep in mind that this blender is small and lightweight, but it isn’t cordless. If you want a cordless blender, check out the Nutribullet Go.
Buying Tips
- To save money, don’t overbuy. If you have no interest in making smoothie bowls, don’t pay for a blender capable of making them.
- Stick to brands you have heard of. Amazon is awash with fly-by-night Chinese appliance makers. The major brands have plenty of options for almost any budget.
Our Testing & Review Methodology
Truth be told, almost any blender can whip up a protein shake. But some are better at blending with ice, some budget blenders are better at blending frozen fruit, and so on.
Before considering blenders, we eliminated many from consideration based on their feature set. So blenders that also cook soup or made toast, for example, were eliminated just because they were overkill for our purposes (totally kidding about the making toast part, btw).
Then we picked blenders for consideration based on their price point. We did this because most shoppers approach a buying decision with a budget. So there is no need to list multiple $500+ blenders on this page, for example.
What was left was a handful of blenders and different price points.
Finally, each blender was tested with the following types of recipes:
- Protein shake consisting of water and two scoops of protein
- Protein shake consisting of protein, milk, and one frozen banana
- Protein shake consisting of protein, milk, one frozen banana, and a half-cup of uncrushed ice
Conclusion
We’ve only listed 4 options on this page for a reason. Protein shakes, at their very core, don’t require a lot of power.
In their simplest form, they are just water and protein powder. Heck, you can almost mix that with a spoon.
But many people want a protein shake that’s well mixed. Also, many people like to throw in ice, frozen fruit, and other items to improve the flavor or nutrition.
We feel very good about this selection of protein shake blenders. As always, if you have a comment please contact us and let us know. We’d love to hear from you!
FAQs
Can you just live off of protein shakes?
No, your body needs carbs, fats, and nutrients that you cannot get by just drinking plain protein shakes.
Can immersion blenders blend ice?
Some are capable of blending ice as long as the ice is crushed. If you want the best results, however, don’t use a immersion blender for ice or frozen fruits.
Is it okay to buy an off-brand blender from Amazon?
We do not recommend it! If it suffers a catastrophic failure and injures you, who are you going to sue for damages? You’ll probably never find out the Chinese shell company that owns the GFXQD brand of blenders.
