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3 Best cooking Blenders–Reviews & Buying Guide
Are you looking for the best cooking blender? Perhaps for making hot soups, or maybe you need something to replace your Instant Pot?
Kidding aside, this category still blows my mind. Who would have thought that you can cook a meal with a blending machine? A blender that cooks soup is nothing new. But sautéeing? Well, that’s a totally different story.
If that’s not enough, these blenders with heating element are also fantastic at making sauces, fondues, infused drinks, etc.
So, without further ado, here are your options for the best cooking blenders.
- Best Overall – Instant Pot Ace Plus Blender
- Most Budget-Friendly – Ninja Foodi HB152 Hot and Cold Blender
- Best Looking – Pampered Chef Deluxe Cooking Blender
Fortunately, your choices are quite narrow. I’m sure you can effortlessly pick a winner from those three products.
You can either click the links above to read my full review of each cooking blender, or we can continue discussing your options.
What is a cooking blender?
A cooking blender is a subcategory of countertop blending machines that features a built-in heating element. To put it another way, it’s like a smoothie maker combined with an electric range (or stove) that can heat up to 212ºF (100ºC). So, with a cooking blender, you get a 2-in-1 kitchen appliance bundle.
Now, let’s talk about its advantages and disadvantages.
PROS
- Affordable to midrange budget
- Built-in heating element
- Can reach boiling point
- Cook, simmer, sauté, infuse
- Make both smooth and chunky hot soups
- Non-toxic glass container
- Beneficial cooking functions like keep warm, delay cook, adjust the temperature (not for every model)
- Lots of automatic programs (hot and cold)
- Heated-wash preset
CONS
- Uncomfortably heavy pitcher
- Hard to clean since you have to make sure that no water will enter the container’s base
- The vessel gets really hot, so you have to be careful, just like you would when you cook on an electric stove
But wait, let me tell you something:
Suppose you have mobility issues, then this blender isn’t for you. Instead, check out all these other lightweight blenders—NEW Vitamix One, KitchenAid K150, Breville Fresh and Furious, or perhaps portable blenders.
Otherwise, let’s get on with the best blenders available for cooking!
Top 3 Best Cooking Blenders
#1 Instant Pot Ace Plus – Best Cooking Blender
The Instant Ace Plus is easily the best cooking blender, thanks to its fantastic extra features. Also, it looks aesthetically pleasing and powerful—strong enough to be considered a high-performance blending machine. Even better? This machine is the best Instant Pot Blender.
Anyway, here’s what I mean by extra (and exclusive) features:
The Ace Plus Blender has a “delay start,” so you can prep your ingredients hours before, and when you go back, it’s ready to eat/drink. More importantly, you have complete control over the presets since you can adjust the duration and temperature depending on your recipe.
For the next best thing:
It’s the sole blender that has rice and soy milk walkaway settings. If you don’t know, both these alternative milk must be cooked (or soaked in hot water). So, using the Instant Ace Plus means there’ll be fewer tasks and more minor cleanup to worry about.
Other notable peculiarities include keep warm, 10-speed selections, touchscreen control panel, and auto-clean function.
You can read the full review of Instant Pot Ace Plus Blender here.
#2 Ninja Foodi Blender – Best Affordable
The Ninja Foodi HB152 is the best inexpensive cooking blending machine. Even finer? It’s just as powerful (stronger even) as the Ace Plus blender, so they’re in the same league in terms of regular blender tasks.
What does this mean for you?
Well, other than the price, you have to choose between the functions you actually need. To make it simple, here are the unique auto-iQ presets to Ninja Foodi Blender:
- Sauces and Dips
- Infuse Mixer/Water/Cocktails
With that said, the Ninja Hot and Cold blender is the best choice for making infused drinks, hot sauces and dips, and cocktails (both hot and frozen). If that coincides with your needs, then this appliance is undoubtedly worth considering.
You can read the full review of Ninja Foodi HB152 Blender here.
#3 Pampered Chef Blender – Best for Jams
The Pampered Chef Deluxe Cooking blender has the most straightforward control and most tech-savvy design among the three. For context, it uses a dial for selecting the program and adjusting the speed or timer (for custom blend).
However, considering it’s a tad pricey, the question has to be asked: Is the Pampered Chef blender worth it?
For starters, it’s just as powerful as the other two, capable of making advanced blender recipes. Although, the best one-of-a-kind feature you’re going to love is the pre-programmed setting for jams.
If you’ve made jams before then, you know how time-consuming it can get. Essentially, with this blender, all you have to do is add the ingredients and wait. All the guesswork, simmering, and mixing are reserved for the machine.
With that said, if jams are your “jam,” then you’re going to benefit from the Pampered Chef Blender by a lot.
Cooking Blenders Vs. High-Performance Blenders
Here’s the deal:
High-powered blenders can also heat soup, but only up to 158-165ºF (70-74ºC). Mainly, they rely on friction to achieve this temperature, so sadly, it’s limited to hot pureed soups.
On the other hand, cooking blenders have heating elements. So, they can make all types of soup, especially chunky ones—chicken noodles, minestrone, etc. Of course, numerous recipes are superior to make on a cooking blender.
For now, here are other significant differences between the two:
| Type of Blender | Cooking Blenders | High-Power Blenders |
| Price range | $$-$$$ | $$-$$$$$ |
| Container weight | Heavy pitcher | Lightweight pitcher |
| Container material | Non-toxic glass container | BPA-free plastic container |
| Cleanup | Hard to clean | Straightforward maintenance |
| Can it cook? | Heating element | N/A |
| Motor rate | Mid to high-performance motor | High-Performance Motor |
| Warranty | Up to 1-year warranty | Up to 10 years of warranty |
What can I make with a cooking blender (that regular blender can’t)?
Here are the recipes that are exclusive to blender with heating element:
Usually, these recipes are made with several appliances and tools, which also means more work and cleaning.
That’s where the major advantage of a cooking blender comes in. Primarily, making these recipes will be quicker and more effortless. And most importantly, there will be fewer tools for the post cleanup.
Over to You
Suppose your main goals for getting a blending machine are to make hot soups, alternative milk, sauces, infused drinks, or jams. In that case, a cooking blender is genuinely the proper appliance for you.
With all that said, let me leave you with the best cooking blender—Instant Pot Ace Plus Blender.
