Smoothies are all the rage among health-conscious types – they’re a great way to your five a day without having any of that peeling and chewing nonsense. A dedicated smoothie maker can make it simple to grind up your smoothie and take it with you, as well as cut down on the washing up, as you blend the smoothie in the same cup you use to drink it. Here you'll find our list of the best blenders and smoothie makers that you can buy, along with links to our full in-depth reviews.
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The best blenders you can buy
1. Breville Blend Active Personal: The best blender under £50
Price when reviewed:£20
You don't need to spend a fortune on a smoothie maker to get something that does a great job. It might look garish and cheap – and especially if you buy it the neon-tinged lime green model you can see above – but the Breville Blend Active Personal is something of a steal.
It might not scale the perfect smoothie-crafting heights of the Sage The Boss to Go (see below), but it produces consistently good smoothies time after time. It comes with two plastic bottles with easy-seal flaps so you can guzzle your fruit-based creations without having to reach for a glass. Sure, you might have to blend your creations for a little longer than some of its pricier rivals, but if you just want tasty smoothies without the expense, this is the blender for you.
Click here to read our in-depth Breville Blend Active Personal review
2. Sage by Heston Blumenthal the Boss To Go: The best blender over £100
Price when reviewed:£130
If you really love your smoothies, then you owe it to yourself to save up for the Boss to Go. In keeping with the rest of Sage's Heston Blumenthal-endorsed range of kitchen appliances, this fancy-looking blender is a cut above the average – and so is its price.
For your money, however, you get a very smart, well-built blender. The brushed aluminium looks smart and snazzy, and the two thick plastic blending cups feel as tough and sturdy as you could possibly ask for. Fire up the Boss to Go's 1000W motor, however, and it scythes through fruit and vegetables alike to create smooth, delicious smoothies in a matter of seconds – this is a seriously quick blender.
There are much cheaper blenders here, but if you want the best then it's definitely worth splashing out.
Click here to read our in-depth Sage by Heston Blumenthal the Boss To Go review
3. Salter NutriPro 1000: The best blender under £100
Price when reviewed:£80
You know a blender means business when its manual proudly states that it has "Super Charged 25,000 RPM 1000W Power" and the Salter doesn't disappoint. This smart-looking blender really does hit the mark.
Thanks to a substantial price cut since it first launched, you're actually getting a £150 blender which now retails nearer the £80 mark. It feels expensive, too, with a large, heavy base that houses the super-powered 1000W motor. You also get three blending cups: two chunky 800ml cups, and a third, taller 1 litre cup for when you really want to go on a fruit smoothie frenzy.
The blending performance puts the NutriPro not far off the best we've tested. It struggles a little with tricky leaves such as kale, and requires a little longer than some to create a perfect texture if you use the larger 1 litre cup, but give it an extra whizz and the results are worth waiting for. The only downside? This is a noisy blender. If you can find it going for a song, then you'd be advised to snap it up over the other models here.
How we test blenders
The key test for any smoothie maker is how well it can turn healthy, difficult-to-blend ingredients into a pleasant smoothie. For this reason we make two smoothies with each machine. The first contains kale, banana and mixed berries. The kale in particular is tricky to break down effectively. If the chunks of kale leaf left in your smoothie are too large, they will lead to an unpleasant texture and stick to your teeth.
The second smoothie is rather less healthy, but markedly more tasty. This has one apple, sliced into around eight pieces but with the nutritious skin left on, an orange split into eight segments and a chopped banana. It also has four ice cubes to thicken up the smoothie (smoothie makers can crush ice, but only around four to six cubes at a time) and is topped up with freshly squeezed orange juice. The tricky bit here is dealing with the apple peel; we expect there to be some bits left over, but nothing too large and certainly (yuck) no stringy bits.
If a blender can produce palatable, smoothly-textured results with these ingredients, then it's likely to win our seal of approval.