Best Immersion Blender: Braun vs. Vitamix vs. Cuisinart vs. Mueller

An immersion blender, also called a hand blender or stick blender, purees soup right in the pot, blends a smoothie in its own cup, and goes back in a drawer when it's done. The hard part is that the spec sheet tells you almost nothing about how well one blends. Wattage claims run from 300 W to 1,800 W, and the bigger numbers don't win.

Below: what actually separates a good stick blender from a frustrating one, four picks by need, and how to use and clean one safely.

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Quick verdict

• Best all-around: the Braun MultiQuick 5 Hand Blender. Light, easy to grip, two simple buttons and a ventless guard that keeps food off the backsplash.
• Most blending power: the Vitamix 5-Speed Immersion Blender. The strongest on frozen fruit and ice, but heavy and messy at full speed.
• Best value: the Mueller Multistick 5-in-1 Immersion Blender. A budget stick that blends well with little splatter.
• Best simple mid-range pick: the Cuisinart Smart Stick Two-Speed Hand Blender. Its 300 W motor outblends sticks that claim several times the power, as long as you can live with some waves.

The blenders side by side

Blender	Shop	Listed power	Speed control	Weight	Splatter	Best at
Braun MultiQuick 5 Hand Blender	Buy on Amazon	350 W	Two buttons	Light, easy to hold up	Very low	Everyday soups, sauces, smoothies
Vitamix 5-Speed Immersion Blender	Buy on Amazon	625 W	Five-speed selector	About 2.6 lb (1,196 g)	High at top speed	Frozen fruit, ice, silky purees
Mueller Multistick 5-in-1 Immersion Blender	Buy on Amazon	800 W claimed	Multi-speed plus turbo	About 1.6 lb (714 g)	Very low	All-around value
Cuisinart Smart Stick Two-Speed Hand Blender	Buy on Amazon	300 W	Two-speed slide	About 1.6 lb (720 g)	Big waves	Smoothies and frozen berries
All-Clad Stainless Steel Immersion Blender		600 W	Variable dial plus turbo	About 2.5 lb (1,126 g)	High	Deep pots (9¼ in shaft)

Wattage doesn't predict how well it blends

Lower-wattage sticks routinely blend as quickly and thoroughly as higher-wattage ones, and some of the loudest power claims belong to the weakest performers. Given 30 seconds with 10 oz of frozen berries in 10 oz of water, the 300 W Cuisinart leaves just 1.4 oz of fruit unblended. A Color Limo advertised at 1,800 W leaves 6.6 oz, a Turllar claiming 1,100 W barely touches the fruit and leaves 8 oz, and Ninja's 750 W stick leaves more than 6 oz behind.

The difference is the head. A good blade guard pulls food down into the blade with a strong suction vortex. A poor one pushes ingredients up and over the head, where the blade never reaches them. The Cuisinart draws only about 160 W at its peak and still outblends most sticks, because its head lifts food into the blade and shreds it.

What to look for

Simple speed controls you can work with one hand

The easiest blenders to use have either two buttons (low and high) or a single trigger that speeds up as you press harder. Speed dials on top of the handle force you to stop and use both hands mid-blend, and 15 or more speed settings mostly waste time, since many of the steps barely change anything.

A grip and weight you can hold for a few minutes

You hold an immersion blender up the whole time it runs, so weight matters more than it seems. Around 2 lb or less is the comfortable range. The Vitamix and All-Clad are both heavier than that, which is part of the price of their power and solid build. The most comfortable handles are about 5½ inches around or less, coated in soft plastic or silicone so they don't slip in a wet hand.

Length: 15 to 16 inches overall

A shorter blender keeps your hand closer to the food and feels more controlled, while 15 to 16 inches overall still clears hot soup and reaches the bottom of a full stockpot.

A small, bell-shaped, ventless blade guard

A bell-shaped guard lets food flow up and into the blade. Flat guards trap food outside, away from the blade. Guards with vents around the top tend to spray food out and splatter the counter. An eject button that pops the shaft off makes cleanup much easier.

Skip paying extra for attachments

A whisk attachment whips cream to stiff peaks 30 to 45 seconds faster than the plain blade, but it's messy and not worth choosing a model for. Mini chopper jars hold about one small onion at a time. A plastic blending jar is the extra that earns its drawer space, along with a cord wrap.

Splash and splatter

With the head fully under the surface, most stick blenders stay clean. The mess happens when one is switched on before it goes in, or lifted out while still running. Braun's splash-control head, the Mueller and the Ninja handle that powered entry and exit almost perfectly, with only a few tiny droplets. The most powerful sticks are the messiest: the All-Clad pushes a wave of soup over the rim, and running the Vitamix at full speed in a shallow bowl is a lot like running a jet ski in a bathtub.

Power brings a second issue. At its highest setting the Vitamix suctions itself to the bottom of the pot so firmly that it's hard to lift, move or even keep a good grip on it. Middle speeds are quieter and easier to control.

The picks in detail

Braun MultiQuick 5 Hand Blender

The MultiQuick 5 has been one of the most dependable stick blenders for more than a decade, for simple reasons. It's light with a comfortable grip. The ventless bell-shaped guard keeps food flowing to the blade and stops splatter. Two buttons handle the two speeds with one hand, and both speeds are strong enough to pulverize frozen pineapple. The blending shaft is dishwasher safe, and the listing includes a blending beaker and a whisk.

Braun's heads are among the cleanest around, with almost no splatter going in or out, and they turn ice and water into a smooth slushy. The build feels a step above the budget Mueller's.

Braun MultiQuick 5 Hand BlenderCheck today’s price on AmazonBuy on Amazon →

Vitamix 5-Speed Immersion Blender

No other stick here blends harder. It cuts through frozen berries fastest, leaving under an ounce of fruit behind, and it turns ice and water into a slushy in about 10 seconds with nothing left over. It also has the most solid build of these picks.

The trade-offs come with that power. At about 2.6 lb it's the heaviest pick, it's messy at full speed, and on the top setting it locks onto the bottom of the pot. Start in the middle speeds. It's the right pick for someone who blends frozen fruit often and wants countertop-blender texture from a stick.

Vitamix 5-Speed Immersion BlenderCheck today’s price on AmazonBuy on Amazon →

Mueller Multistick 5-in-1 Immersion Blender

The Mueller is the value standout. It creates a strong suction vortex that shreds frozen berries, reduces ice to bits too small to weigh, and keeps soup almost perfectly inside the bowl during powered entry and exit. It's the most consistent all-rounder at any price, strong on smoothies, ice and splatter alike. The catch is build quality, which doesn't feel as sturdy as the Braun's, and a long list of speeds you won't need.

Mueller Multistick 5-in-1 Immersion BlenderCheck today’s price on AmazonBuy on Amazon →

Cuisinart Smart Stick Two-Speed Hand Blender

The two-speed Smart Stick uses a simple fingertip slide for low and high, a stainless shaft and a 300 W motor. It goes straight after frozen berries and makes one of the smoothest berry smoothies of any stick here, and it turns ice and water into a smooth slushy with a single tiny piece of ice left. It's the pick for anyone happy to trade some splashing for strong blending at a mid-range price. Expect big waves and some splatter if you switch it on above the surface, so keep the head submerged.

Older single-speed Smart Sticks leave soup grainier than the Vitamix and struggle with thick frozen-fruit smoothies, so the two-speed version is the upgrade.

Cuisinart Smart Stick Two-Speed Hand BlenderCheck today’s price on AmazonBuy on Amazon →

Also good: All-Clad

The All-Clad Stainless Steel Immersion Blender is built for deep pots, with a 9¼-inch shaft, a variable speed dial and a turbo button. Its smoothies come out nearly as smooth as the Cuisinart's, and it leaves only one small pebble of ice in a slushy. It's heavy at about 2.5 lb, and it throws a wave of soup over the rim at speed.

Immersion blender vs. countertop blender

A stick blender can't quite match a good countertop blender on smoothies. Fibrous greens like kale leave more bits behind. Where the stick wins is anything already in a pot: pureeing soup or thickening a stew happens right where it cooked. It also cleans in seconds, stores in a drawer and usually costs much less. For daily frozen drinks, a full-size machine is still the better tool; see this countertop blender comparison.

How to blend without a mess

• Keep the guard submerged. Use a pot or container narrow and deep enough to cover the whole blade guard.
• Switch on and off under the surface. Starting the blender above the food, or lifting it out while it runs, is what sprays soup across the kitchen.
• Tilt the pot and the blender. In a shallow pot, tilt it so the food pools to one side. Hold the blender at a slight angle rather than straight up and down so food can circulate into the guard.
• Protect the pot. Keep the blender moving and don't drag the guard across the bottom, especially in an enameled Dutch oven, where a metal guard can scratch the finish. The Vitamix's bell guard is designed to reduce suction and help protect cookware.

Safety and cleaning

The blades are small but sharp. Never touch the blade while the shaft is attached to the motor, because it can be switched on by accident. Unplug the blender and separate the two halves before handling the blade, and keep the blade pointed down and away from you while you work.

Rinse the shaft right after blending, even if it's dishwasher safe like the Braun's, since dried food on the blades is hard to remove even in the dishwasher. A quick cleaning trick: blend a cup of hot, soapy water for a few seconds, then rinse. Keep the motor handle out of water; wipe it with a damp cloth instead, since water inside can damage the motor and create a shock risk.

Longer runs are fine for most stick blenders. Over three minutes of continuous blending, the cases of all these models stay cool enough to touch, though Ninja's stick can start smoking near the end of a run that long.

Who should buy which

• Most home cooks, mostly soups and sauces: the Braun MultiQuick 5, light, simple and clean.
• Frozen smoothies, ice and the smoothest purees: the Vitamix, if you don't mind the weight and keep it below top speed in shallow pots.
• Tight budget: the Mueller Multistick 5-in-1, which blends far above its tier with little splatter.
• Simple two-speed control and strong smoothies: the Cuisinart Smart Stick Two-Speed.