Best Blender For Ice

Before you buy a blender you are going to want to know if it will crush and blend ice. Because not all blenders will blend ice. And some blend ice better than others.

And if you own a blender, odds are you are going to want to blend ice at some time or another. It might be when you are making a frozen margarita or a frozen blended daiquiri. Or it might be when you decide to blend up a fruit smoothie and decide that you need to blend ice to make it cold.

So, this article is going focus exclusively on the best blender for ice. All ice, all the time!

I’m going to discuss everything you’ve wanted to know: does ice hurt blender blades? What type of ice should you use, how much ice to blend, and what you should add to the smoothie or drink with the ice to make it turn out.

Are All Blenders Able To Blend Ice?

In theory, yes. But in practice, not. Unfortunately not all blenders are capable of blending ice. If by blend ice you mean will the ice be broken up into a smaller sizes, then yes all blenders in theory work.

However, if you mean that the blender will blend up ice into a smoothie of a frozen drink, then, no. Not all blenders will work.

In the old days when there weren’t a lot of different blenders on the market, the odds are that the blender you brought was going to be strong enough to actually blend up the ice. But now that’s not the case. Now that blending is super popular there are so many companies manufacturing blenders and many of them produce them as cheaply as possible in an attempt to capture market share.

But the downside to so many companies producing cheap blenders is that so many of them are not built up to par. They use cheap parts and substandard production method. So, unfortunately many of the cheap brands that you see for sale at your local big box store aren’t going to cut it.

What Type of Ice Is Best For Blenders?

That’s a good question to ask. Primarily there are three types of ice that people get. There is crushed ice, there is cubed ice, and there is block ice.

The best is obviously going to be crushed ice, because it’s already mostly blended. But most people are not going to have access to crushed ice. So let’s move on to the other types of ice.

Cubed ice. That’s the most common type of ice. Either you make it in ice trays, your freezer makes it for you, or maybe you buy it from the supermarket. Either way, this is the main type of ice you will be using when you blend ice. And the good news is that most blenders if you buy one of the better ones, will be capable of blending up cubed ice.

Block ice is not suitable for blending. You will need to chop it into smaller pieces before you put it in the blender. So if you use block ice for any reason, get out the ice pick and cut it up. Or better yet, just get an ice tray and make ice cubes.

Can You Blend Ice and Frozen Fruit Together?

The next question that people come to me with is weather or not you can or should blend ice and frozen fruit together. Some people wonder about blending ice and frozen fruit at the same time because they have a similar texture and consistency. So it makes sense to wonder.

The short answer is that yes, you can certainly blend ice and frozen fruit together. The important part of the process will be to remember the measurements. You do not want to over fill the blending jar. Think of the ice and frozen fruit as the same. Otherwise you will have to blend longer and you will also end up with a much more slushy and cold drink.

There are sometimes when you might want to blend ice and frozen fruit together, such as in a frozen fruit drink that’s meant to have a slushy consistency. But more often than not you are going to want to use ice and fresh fruit or a combo of both frozen fruit and ice…something along the lines of a 50/50 mixture.

Should You Add Liquid When Blending Ice?

Obviously ice creates liquid once the drink begins to warm up. The longer the drink sits out, the longer the ice has to melt. It melts a bit during the blending process due to the heat of the blender. But once it’s poured into your glass and it begins to warm up it melts.

That said, I always advocate that you add liquid when you are blending something. I don’t like the idea of a plain fruit and ice smoothie. It becomes more of a slushy than a smoothie.

So, for example I would suggest that you take a fruits smoothie and add something like coconut water or almond milk when blending with ice. The liquid not only makes the blender blend up the frozen fruit and ice better and easier, it makes for a better tasting frozen fruit smoothie with a nicer texture.

Does Ice Hurt Blender Blades?

Not unless you end up buying one of the chepo blenders that I warn people about. Those blenders can unfortunately end up being damaged by ice. The reason that those cheap blenders get hurt by ice is that they are not made with quality products.

There are some people who are under the impression that ice cubs will actually sharpen the blades in your blender. It comes from the world of garbage disposals where people are dealing with a similar design. In those cases people are told to add ice to the sink so that the ice will sharpen the garbage disposal blades.

It’s the same principal when you are sharpening a blenders blades.The ice will help the blender blades from becoming dull.

Does Blending Ice Sharpen Blender Blades?

The next question people tend to ask about when the question about ice and blending arises is if blending ice sharpens blades.

It makes sense because so many people read articles that discuss using ice to sharpen garbage disposal blades in their sink. The blades in your garbage disposal are similar to the blades in a blender. And so using ice can help keep the blades sharp.

You don’t use a knife sharpener do you? Well, you really can’t use a sharpener to sharpen blender blades. It’s just not feasible. If you have a blender then you could take the blades out of the blender and try and sharpen by hand, but honestly it is just not worth it.

So I recommend that you stick with using ice to keep those blades sharp. It’s simple, easy, and won’t stress you out wondering if you’ve broken the blades by applying too much pressure.

 

 

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My Picks For The Best Blenders For Ice

Ok, here is where I get to the meat of the article. I’m going to completely avoid discussing any blender that is not up to standard. That means that I’m going to skip some of the cheap blenders that I feel will break and not perform up to par.

So, don’t wonder where your local supermarket on-sale blender is. If it’s not here, odds are I don’t think that it makes the cut.

The “Magic Bullet” Blender- Best Small Blender for Ice

This was my go to small blender for quite some time. I eventually moved up to a bigger size blender and gave this one away to a friend. But honestly, sometimes I do miss the convenience of a small blender. There are lots of benefits to a small blender (I have covered this all extensively in my article on the best single serve smoothie blender).

What I did like about this small blender was that it was great at blending ice. It handled everything from a single serve frozen drink, to a frozen fruit smoothie.

Check it out on Amazon and read what other people have to say.

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Ninja Professional- Best Blender For Ice – Budget Option

Everyone would like to have a VitaMix, it’s just a fact. Even if you are not into blending, you have probably heard about Vitamix. But they are expensive. And so it’s off the table for most folks. Which is understandable.

But that doesn’t mean that you have to go and buy a cheaply made blender.  You can find a good budget blender that can blend frozen fruit and ice quite nicely!

My personal pick in the budget blender category is the Ninja.

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Best Blender for Ice- Vitamix- Professional Grade

Ok, so by now you know that the major player in the blending world when it comes to high-end, professional level blenders is Vitamix.

Vitamix is the gold standard when it comes to blenders. If you ever were to go into a restaurant kitchen or a juice bar and see the blenders that they use, odds are that most of the time you will be looking at a Vitamix.

I love these blenders because they are the best at nearly every type of blending you would want to do. Green smoothies? Check. Frozen Fruit smoothies? Check. Blending Ice? Check!

There is a lot more detailed info on Amazon. You can read up about the warrenty and I always reccomend you order from Amazon over buying in a big box store because the customer service is superior.

 

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When To Blend Ice And How Much To Blend

Once you’ve picked out a good blender and are comfortable that it will handle blending ice, the next question is how much ice to blend.

Too much ice in your smoothie or drink and you will not have a good end result. Ice is after all basically frozen water. If you blend up a lot of ice cubes, you’re just going to get a frothy ice cold concoction that’s empty.

You want to add ice sparingly. I think that anything more than a 1/3 of a cup of ice is pushing it. A half cup of ice is fine if you are not using frozen fruit. However, if you’re using frozen berries or frozen spinach and kale, then I would suggest you opt for a lower amount of ice to start with.