You love your blender for all your favorite drinks, smoothies and shakes, but are you getting the most out of your appliance? If you have a multi-speed blender, drinks are only just the beginning. Here’s an easy guide to the best speeds to use for a variety of blender tasks:
Stir
Speed 1 on any blender is always the stir speed. It’s used to reconstitute frozen juices like concentrated OJ, as well as to mix drink powders and condensed soups. You can also use this speed for preparing salad dressings, blending puddings and puréeing hot liquids.
Aerate
Aerating is the process of adding air to food like soups, sauces and beverages—it can be used to add volume and change the texture of liquids. On blenders with less than 10 speeds, you still want to use speed 1 to this. On 10-speed blenders and up, you want to use Speed 2.
Purée
Puréeing is the process of turning softened fruits and vegetables into a liquid for baby food, sauces and side dishes. For a blender with less than 10 speeds, you want to be somewhere around Speed 2; 10-speed and up blenders use Speed 3 for this function.
Crumb
This function lets you take cookies, breads and cereal to make crumbs for breading, pie crusts and more. You want to choose a low-medium blender speed for this—on a 12-speed blender, this is Speed 4.
Chop
This function lets you chop fruits, vegetables and even meats for your meal preparation. You can use a low-medium speed on your blender to chop in place of your food processor. On a 10-speed blender, this is Speed 4; it’s Speed 5 on a 12-speed blender.
Blend
Building on chopping, your blender can also be used to prepare salsas. You want medium power (Speed 6 on 12-Speed, Speed 5 on 10-Speed). This speed can also be used to prepare thicker sauces and remove lumps from gravy.
Clean
This medium speed is used to make cleaning your blender fast and easy. Simply place a few drops of dishwashing liquid and hot water in the blender jar after you finish using it and use the Clean speed to let you skip soaking and scrubbing. 10-speed blenders use Speed 6 and 12-Speed blenders use Speed 7.
Grate
As the name suggests, this speed lets you grate hard cheeses, vegetables and even make superfine sugar. You can make fresh parmesan for your pasta and get baking ingredients just right. Use a medium-high speed for extra power—Speed 7 on a 10-Speed and Speed 8 on a 12-Speed.
Grind
Use this speed to chop nuts, grind coffee beans for coarse-to-fine coffee brewing and grate coconut. You can also use this function to grind cooked meats, instead of chopping them like a lower speed setting. 10-speed blenders use Speed 8, while 12-Speed blenders use Speed 9.
Beat
This is another specialty speed for blenders with more than 12 speeds. It allows you to substitute your blender for your mixer to blend pancake and waffle batter, create smooth cake mixes and beat eggs for omelets and custards. 12-Speed blenders use Speed 10 for this function.
Liquefy
Use a high speed to blend protein drinks and to liquefy frozen drinks and drink mixes. This is always a high speed—Speed 9 on a 10-Speed and Speed 11 on a 12-Speed.
Smoothie
If you’re making thick frozen juice drinks like shakes and smoothies that use sorbets, ice cream and ice cubes, in particular. This creates that smooth texture in your drinks and prevents lumps and chunks. Always use your blender’s highest speed.
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