Are you thinking about buying a portable blender? If you are, then you have come to the right place.
There are many reasons to buy portable blenders. Maybe you have a small kitchen and want something small to clear up your counter space. Perhaps you live life on the go and need a blender to take on the road or just have it at your side while you zip around town.
For this article, we have looked at the top brands in personal blenders. Most you will recognize and few you may not. Every compact blender on this list has in common: it comes highly recommended both by us and, to avoid any bias, the larger blending community as a whole.
To the best of our ability, we have also attempted to arm you with the knowledge you will need to choose the best portable blender to fit your wants and needs.
If you don’t have time to read, check the table below. Let’s dive right in.
The Best Portable Blenders Comparison Guide
Ninja Fit Personal Blender
Ninja Kitchen has long been one of the front runners in the personal blender sector, and the Nutri Fit personal blender is a large part of the reason why.
One of the most powerful compact blenders on the market, it is consistently rated as “a best portable blender” no matter whose list you are looking at.
Simple to use, built to extremely high standards, and backed by a company with a reputation for sterling customer service, a Ninja is a great portable blender for those new to blending or those with years of personal blender experience.
Powered from an electrical outlet, it supplies a full 700-watts of blending power to crush frozen fruit or ice with ease, and if you still want more muscle than that, there are 900 and 1100 watt models available.
Pros
- As much muscle as full-sized blenders
- It comes with two dishwasher-safe 16-ounce travel cups
- The travel cup has a screw-on lid to prevent accidental spills
- Can blend ice cubes and frozen fruit for chilled smoothies
Cons
It is not battery powered for off-grid use
Not suitable for hot drinks
BlenderX Cordless Home & Portable Personal Blender
Widely considered the best portable blender powered by rechargeable batteries, this BlenderX offering is the least affordable and portable blender we know of in this category. The upside is that if you don’t mind the extra weight and the price tag, it delivers exceptional performance and versatility anywhere you care to take it.
Its 600-milliliter travel cup is larger than most of its competition, and it can be charged from any electrical outlet for the ultimate in portable convenience.
Blender X isn’t just about portability, and it performs on a level that comes close to many corded blenders and has a very large power cell for long battery life.
Pros
- More powerful than most travel blenders
- Long battery life
- Can blend ice and frozen fruits
- ETL certified
- Two-year warranty
- It comes with a waterproof carry bag
Cons
- Heavy at over 4.5 pounds
- It is larger than other portable blenders
PopBabies Portable Personal Blenders
Considered the best portable blender for long battery life, PopBabies travel blenders have built a strong following due to their consistent quality and performance.
The PopBabies blender’s heart is its 4000mAh Lithium battery pack, which supplies 7.4 volts of power to drive the stainless steel blades at 22,000 RPMs. This gives this travel blender the muscle to power through one-inch chunks of ice and blends frozen fruit into delicious smoothies in seconds.
What many people find astounding about this cordless blender, and we consider a testament to the quality of its construction, is that it is whisper quiet. Of course, you hear the motor running and the sound of hard ingredients bouncing off the glass container, but that is it. There are none of the jumpings and vibrating that many lesser machines display.
Pros
- Extremely long battery life
- Smooth operation
- It comes with an ice tray and funnel
- The cup lid is also a carry handle
- It comes in a variety of colors
Cons
Heavy due to glass jar
Taller and less stable than some of the competition
Gracejoful Portable Blender
A favorite travel blender among the budget-minded, the Gracejoful Portable Blender packs a lot of performance into a compact and relatively inexpensive package.
This USB chargeable blender features a 2000mAh battery which gives it about ten minutes of constant blend time, and stainless steel six-bladed cutter for more efficient blending.
The lid for its 380-milliliter blender cup has a built-in strainer for added convenience. A magnetic induction switch prevents the blender from operating if everything is not aligned correctly and seated.
While this blender doesn’t have the power of some other blenders, it is quite light at just over a pound and compact, measuring just 9.45X3.14X3.14 inches.
All of these features, coupled with a price tag that hovers around the twenty-dollar mark, combine to make this one of the highest-rated portable smoothie machines on Amazon and other online shopping sites.
Pros
- Lightweight
- Compact size
- Built-in safety features
- BPA free cup
Cons
Not suitable for hot liquids
Not stout enough to blend ice in smoothies
Magic Bullet Personal Blender
No list of best portable blenders would be complete without mentioning the blender that started it all, the Magic Bullet.
The latest in this ever-evolving line is the Mini. It is smaller and more compact than its namesake; it has slightly less power with a 200-watt motor but claims the same performance.
Its small size and tough blades make it ideal for blending baby food and making nut butter, but a tiny cup limits its usability when making any but the smallest smoothies or batches of sauces and dips.
On the positive side, It is built to the same exacting standards that built the Bullet name and will accept the wide variety of accessories that have been developed for the Bullet line.
Pros
- High power to weight ratio
- Wide variety of cup sizes available as accessories
- The smallest offering in the Bullet family
- Ideal for small batch blending
Cons
Some users have had issues with the drive coupling shearing loss
It doesn’t have the power of versatility of previous Bullet models
Beast Blender Hydration System
One of the most advanced blenders on our list, the Beast Blender is large for a portable but worth extra size and weight.
This Beast is a smoothie lover’s dream, Billed as a hydration system. It has an intelligent blade system that automatically speeds up and slows down blades to provide optimum results while minimizing energy use.
It comes standard with a 1000 milliliter travel cup, but 800, 750, and 500-milliliter cups are available as accessories or as part of packages. These are designed to use the same cup lids that double as carrying handles and drinking spouts.
While all parts other than the motor base and blade assembly are dishwasher safe, it is recommended that you purchase the Beast Cleaning Brush (sold separately) to make maintaining your Beast easier and more hygienic.
Pros
- Highly fashionable and functional design
- Multiple cup sizes are available
- Multiple safety features
- Intelligent speed control
- The travel cup has a screw-on lid to prevent spills
- Power to turn ice into snow
Cons
Larger and bulkier than other travel blenders
Doesn’t allow for manual control of the blending speed
Cuisinart RPB-100 EvolutionX Cordless Rechargeable Compact Blender Bundle
Cuisinart has long had a reputation for quality products that stretch the limits of what kitchen appliances can achieve. The RB-100 continues on that trend.
The EvolutionX bundle comes with four blending travel cups and lids, but the star of the show is a blender unit that can easily blend ice and make frozen smoothies on the go.
It has amazing battery life powered by a set of high-capacity lithium-ion rechargeable cells and built for efficiency. It makes an ideal companion for weekends at the beach or in the forest.
It is a little heavier at four pounds than some other travel blenders, making it less suitable for backpacking, but as long as you aren’t traveling on foot, its performance is hard to beat in a cell-powered blender.
Pros
- High-capacity power cells
- Simple to Operate
- Dishwasher safe other than the motor base
- It comes with four sixteen-ounce cups
- Strong motor and drive system
Cons
It cannot be used while charging
Blades are extremely sharp, and some users complain of frequently cutting themselves when cleaning.
Hamilton Beach Personal Blender
The Hamilton Beach Personal Blender is one of the most economical blenders on our list. Even with a price point that hovers around the twenty-dollar mark, it is a surprisingly capable machine that punches way beyond its weight class.
It comes with a fourteen-ounce cup, and a standard household current drives its 175-watt motor. This makes it capable of making smoothies, dips, sauces, and many other blending tasks. However, it is underpowered for tough jobs like grinding ice cubes or frozen fruits.
Pros
- Compact at 5.2 x 4.2 x 11.9 inches
- Lightweight at just two pounds
- BPA free cup and lid
- Excellent for smoothies
- Very affordable
- Easy to maintain
Cons
Low powered for a corded blender
Fairly small capacity smoothie cup
QCUQ Portable Sized Personal Blender
QCUQ (Quality Control and Ultra Quick delivery) may not be a household name. Still, they quickly build a strong reputation for delivering top-shelf kitchen and personal care appliances at more than reasonable prices.
Measuring just 10.55 x 9.37 x 6.14 inches, this blender is compact, and its cup is the perfect size to fit in water bottle holders on exercise equipment, including bicycles and treadmills.
It is a little heavy for a portable at just over four pounds, but performance comes at a cost.
It is powered by a standard electrical cord that allows its 1000-watt motor to generate 30,000 RPMs of blending power to its nutrient extractor blades to create the perfect smoothie or frozen deserts without any issues.
If you don’t mind the slightly larger size and weight in exchange for sterling blending results, this blender could be your ideal gym and office companion.
Pros
- FDA, ETL, CE, LFGB certification
- Eastman Tritan to-go cup
- Silicone covered cup for security and toughness
- Plenty of power
- Easy to care for
Cons
Some users have complained that the sippy hole in the lid is difficult to keep clean.
Large and heavy for a personal blender
Tenswall Portable Blender, Personal Size Blender USB Rechargeable with 6 Blades
At the heart of the Tenswall portable blender is a 4000mAh battery up to twice the capacity of many of its competitors. The company claims it can power this travel blender by making up to twenty smoothies.
While we have found this to be an overestimation, this Teswall portable blender does perform well and provides a reasonably long run time.
Six blades outperform portable blenders that only have four blades, and their stainless steel construction makes them easy to keep clean with dish soap and water in the field.
We found this blender to be an excellent backpack and gym bag companion, but its blender jar only has a 380-milliliter capacity making it small for many uses.
Pros
- Highly portable blender
- Large capacity rechargeable battery powered
- USB power bank charging port
- Six blades for more efficient blending
- BPA free
Cons
Small capacity
Non-removable blending cup
How do I choose a good portable blender?
Choosing a good portable blender is not rocket science, but it does require a bit of thought and consideration. This section will outline what we consider to be the most important points to consider before spending your hard-earned cash on a portable blender.
How much should I spend on a portable blender?
Unless you are one of the lucky few to whom price is no object, how much you need to spend to buy a great portable blender is always a concern.
The honest truth is there cut and dry answer to the question of how much you should spend. There are simply too many variables that come into play.
Do you need a powerful blender that can crush ice and frozen fruits for a smoothie, or is the extra weight of a blender of this type a deal-breaker?
Maybe you just want a USB blender with a smaller capacity jar for grinding coffee beans. That is a completely different animal.
The point is that no portable blender will deliver a perfect score on anyone’s checklist. How much you will need to spend depends on your requirements and desires.
In general terms, a best value personal blender with minimum capabilities will run just north of twenty dollars. From there, you can spend as much as you like.
As with most things, from houses to baby rattles, the more you can spend, the wider range of options you will have available to you.
One thing to keep in mind is that quality and capability usually comes at a price. When looking for the best portable blenders to choose from, don’t expect top-shelf quality at bargain-basement prices.
You will generally get what you pay for.
What are your priorities in a personal-size blender?
Once you have established a budget, you start asking yourself your wants, needs and have to-haves.
These are three very different categories, and it can be very difficult for some of us to distinguish between the three. However, we must make an effort if on a tight budget when considering portable options.
Most of us would love to have a powerful blender that will blend frozen fruit, crush ice cubes, have rechargeable batteries that provide long run-times, is incredibly easy cleaning, and accomplishes all this in a super convenient compact design.
While we are at it, we might as well throw in lightweight, highly portable, and can be run with a standard cord, USB powered, or from its batteries.
Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, this blender doesn’t exist. So, ask yourself how you will actually use your blender.
Are you a gym rat that will only really need a portable blender to get the lumps out of protein powder? If you are, then most portable blenders can accomplish this feat with no trouble. There is little, if any, need to spend big money on a powerful machine.
Are you an outdoorsman that will be off-grid? Then a battery-operated blender with a high capacity rechargeable battery pack might be your top priority.
Just being honest, it is easy to get caught up in all the different features and the versatility that portable blenders offer today. As the old saying goes, it is hard to find anything if you don’t know what you are looking for.
Consider what you really want a blender to do and create a hierarchy of requirements. Then stick to it when shopping.
What type of Portable blender do you need?
When shopping for a portable blender, you are going to find that they generally fall into two categories. There is some crossover between them in terms of terminology, but the most commonly understood categories are personal blenders and cordless blenders.
Their small size makes portable blenders ideal for tossing into a gym bag, tucking in a suitcase, or taking to the office in your briefcase. They are perfect for people who travel a lot or live active lifestyles, and there are even completely cordless blender models that can be taken on camping trips far from the madding crowd.
By definition, a portable blender is small and therefore is going to be less powerful and have less capacity than a top-quality full-sized blender. This is especially true of battery-powered models, which may be great for protein shakes, but have trouble with difficult blending jobs like crushing ice cubes for frozen drinks or grinding tougher ingredients like frozen fruit or kale in green smoothies.
Still, if you choose wisely, there is no reason that an affordable portable blender can’t supply all the blending power you need for daily use at home or on the road.
Personal Blender
When people talk about a personal blender, they usually mean what amounts to smaller versions of full-size blenders. These draw power from an electrical outlet the same as larger blenders but have travel mugs or a smaller blender jar than their larger cousins.
Though limited in power by their compact size and emphasis on portability, many are capable of blending ice cubes, frozen foods, and hard vegetables for a tasty smoothie.
They almost universally come with BPA-free dishwasher-safe travel cups as a blending cup, and some come with a smaller chopping cup for grinding coffee and making nut butter.
Cordless Blender
Cordless blenders are in a class by themselves. They differ from other portable blenders by having either a rechargeable battery pack or a built-in power bank.
Most have a USB charging port, and there are still a few on the market that charge from an electrical outlet. There are solar-powered models or travel blenders designed for survivalist types who use alternative charging methods in rare cases.
As said, these are rare and generally don’t have a good reputation.
A cordless blender offers the ultimate in portability, but as with most things in life, the freedom to use them anywhere comes at a cost. Their power packs, in many cases, give them a heavier weight to power rating, and they will not generally deliver the performance that a corded blender can provide.
While most can blend smoothies from soft fruits or make baby food with ease, crushing ice cubes, frozen fruit, hard vegetables will place a strain on their drive systems. Even with models that can handle such difficult blending jobs, you should expect a much shorter battery life when performing these tasks.
How much power should a travel blender have?
How much power (motor-wattage) you should look for will depend on the type of blender you want and what you will do with it.
If you want to crush ice for frozen drinks or smoothies, you will need a minimum of 1000-watts of power. This is going to limit you to mostly corded blenders. Some battery-powered blenders perform these blending functions, but even the best USB blender will struggle with hard-to-blend ingredients.
If your priority is protein shakes, you can pick about any small blender that meets your size and weight needs. Blending protein powder is not a difficult blending task. Any name-brand portable blender should provide more than enough power for this simple job.
The one advantage that these smaller capacity blenders have over a full-sized blender is their limited size does make blending more efficient. A travel blender doesn’t need to be quite as powerful because of this.
You can generally reduce the power requirements for any task by about thirty-three percent when using a portable blender.
Best Portable Blender Tips
If you are used to a full-sized blender, then using a portable blender can take a little getting used to. Here we offer a few tips to help you get the best results and longest service from your blender.
Cut ingredients into small pieces.
Even smaller countertop blenders can get bogged down or even stalled when fed large pieces of fruits, vegetables, or ice. With lower-powered portable models, this problem only gets worse.
To help guarantee the best blending results and avoid overheating. Portable blenders cut ingredients into smaller pieces before feeding them into your blender or placing them in the blender cup.
Keep your blender clean and dry.
The entire idea of a portable is the ability to take it with you wherever you go. Unfortunately, this can lead to them being left in less than a clean condition for periods of time. Try to avoid this.
Even if you can not completely wash your blender, at least rinse the blender jar and blades when you are finished with it. Even stainless steel can rust when wet ingredients are left on it for long periods, and many common smoothie ingredients can be corrosive.
Beyond this, if food material is left to dry on bushings and bearings, it can cause undue wear and parts to fail prematurely.
Soften nuts before grinding.
Next to ice, hard nuts are one of the toughest ingredients that you can place in a blender. To help reduce the wear and tear, it is always a good idea to soften the nuts placed in your blender before adding them.
This can be done by soaking them in water for some time before blending, but this can leave some with a washed-out flavor.
Roasting, parching, sauteing, and blanching will also soften nuts and offer the opportunity to add other flavors to them.
Regardless of the method you chose, the softer your nuts are, the happier your blender will be, and the longer it will last.
Wrap-Up
Whether you enjoy nothing more than a smooth after a hard workout, making nut butter, or are a true foodie who loves to use their blender daily for various tasks, there can be advantages to owning a compact blender.
In the kitchen, they don’t take up much counter or cabinet space, making it possible for you to enjoy all the health and nutrition that a blender brings to the table even when you are away from home.
As seen in these blender recommendations, some models can fit perfectly into any scenario that you could dream of, even if you enjoy being miles from civilization and having access to power.
Which blender is the perfect one for you is a decision you have to make for yourself. As we often say in these articles, everyone lives a different life and has different priorities. Every blender has its pluses and minuses. There is no perfect blender that will fit the needs and desires of every user. People’s needs are too unique and individual.
Our hope here is to show you the best of the best in our somewhat educated opinion. We hope that our guidance is of some help to you.
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
