Vitamix Blender Review

I've been using a KitchenAid 5-Speed Diamond Blender for the past 11+ years. The first one broke after less than 5 years and KitchenAid sent me a replacement under warranty (not in the same color as the original I had, which matched my KitchenAid mixer that my mom gave us as a wedding gift). The second blender is now 6+ years old and still works, but every time I blend a smoothie (which is what I use it for the most), I feel like its days are numbered, and it is definitely out of warranty by now. Every now and then I thought about looking for a replacement but I never looked that hard until last week when I started looking at Vitamix blenders. I've heard they're great quality and last a long time and there were some great sales going on so I decided to buy one. The hard part was figuring out which one would suit my needs best.

I narrowed it down to 3 models - the iconic 5200, the Propel 750, and the newer VX1. There are things I liked and disliked about each of these blenders, and every time I thought I finally had my mind made up, I second guessed my decision and did more research. I'll break down my thought process below:

Vitamix 5200

The 5200 is the OG blender that many restaurants and professional chefs use. It's been around forever and has stood the test of time. That also means it's very basic, which is something I like since that means there is less that can go wrong with it. It comes with a tall 64-ounce container that works well with both small, medium and large amounts of food in it. Since the jar is so tall it would not fit on my countertop under my cabinets when it is attached to the base unit, which could simply be remedied by storing the container to the side of the blender or storing both parts out of sight in a cabinet (that's where my KitchenAid blender is now and likely where this one will be too). This has a 2 horsepower motor. The main thing I didn't like about this blender was the Variable/High button. It's an extra step that just seemed like it would leave room to mess something up. I'm sure we would forget to switch it back to variable (the setting it should be on so you can move between 1-10 on the control knob) and then when we turn the blender on to use it the next time it would go right to high speed. If I was the only one in my household using a blender, I'd probably chose this one, but knowing that my husband and eventually my sons would use this too, I thought something more straightforward would be better for us. This classic mixer has a 7-year limited warranty and is highly regarded as the best Vitamix. It was on a great sale ($140 off) so I kept coming back to it, but I knew that button would drive me crazy.

Vitamix 5200

Vitamix Propel 750

That led me to my next best option. The Propel 750 doesn't have the Variable/High button and instead has a pulse button, which I thought would be useful. It has a higher 2.2 horsepower and also has a few presets for smoothies, hot soups, frozen desserts, and dips and spreads, which the 5200 lacks. In addition to the presets, like the two other blenders mentioned in this review, there is also a variable speed control which lets you manually adjust the blender speed. This blender comes with a low profile 64-ounce container and would fit under most cabinets to store the blender on the countertop, however a lot of people seem to not like this container because it is wider and therefore does not blend small amounts well. It does a great job with medium to large amounts though. I read that this was the loudest of the three blenders, possibly due in part to the wider container, so that is one drawback. However, I also read that all of these blenders are pretty loud. It comes with a 7-year limited warranty. I decided if I bought this blender, I would eventually purchase the classic tall 64-ounce container so I could have the best of both worlds. This one was the most expensive of the three but was on the best sale ($250 off).

Vitamix Propel 750

Vitamix VX1

When I couldn't decide between the two blenders above, I came across the VX1, which is a bit of a middle ground. It is basically an updated 5200 with a 2.2 horsepower motor but has a limited 5-year warranty which helps keep the cost lower than those with 7-year warranties. It has a pulse button like the 750, does not have the Variable/High button that the 5200 does, but it also does not have presets like the 750. It comes with the tall 64-ounce container like the 5200. I think the updated sleek look of this one looks the best of the three blenders. I read that this blender was quieter than the other two which was appealing. This is a newer blender so there are not as many reviews on it, and it's also unknown about how long it might last compared to the other two older models. I worried that this one was perhaps not made as well as the other two and did not like the shorter warranty period. The sale on this one was not as good ($50 off) but since it is a lower priced blender to begin with, it was still less expensive than the other two, but not by much.

Vitamix VX1

This shows the difference in the two 64-ounce containers, low profile vs. classic (tall).

All of these blenders were offered with a free Under Blade Scraper that I'm not sure I'll use, but I guess it's a nice bonus.

There are many other Vitamix blenders to choose from but these are the ones that appealed to me. They are highly rated and pretty basic. I did not want electronic controls or smart features, but I did think a few presets could come in handy, so I chose the Propel 750. I applied a $25 off welcome coupon code which helped lower the sale price a bit more (unfortunately I could not apply the 10% military discount to my order since the blender was already on sale). I also use a Capital One Shopping plugin in my web browser which finds coupon codes and lets you earn a percentage reward on eligible purchases. When I went to do an Amazon price comparison, a $150 "price comparison bonus" on a $300 purchase popped up. I activated it before I checked out from the Vitamix website, and once that $150 is applied to my Capital One Shopping account (it takes about a month), I can redeem it for gift cards. This is by far the biggest reward I've ever received (most are only a few cents or dollars) and part of why I chose to purchase this blender now rather than waiting to see what Black Friday sale prices would be. I looked through to see which retailer has a gift card and sells the 64-ounce tall container and Walmart is the only option, so I might use my reward towards that.

One thing I will say about a lot of the negative reviews I read online is that it seems like the people who didn't like these blenders were not using them properly. I watched a ton of videos on how to use this blender (for instance, there is an order in which ingredients should be placed in the blender, starting with liquids on the bottom, then softer items, then frozen items and ice all the way at the top) and I'm excited to try it out. There are lots of tips online on how to use these blenders and some great videos. I think I'll enjoy using the wider container when I make smoothies for more than one person in my household and for blending soups and sauce, but I hope to find the taller container on a good sale soon so I can make individual smoothies when needed.

Another thing that people don't do correctly is use the right speed. You get the best results when you use the blender on high speed (speed 10). The blender will be pretty loud on high speed, but it won't need to run long at all - oftentimes less than a minute. The blender has a cooling fan to help prevent it from overheating. To use the blender correctly, start it on low (speed 1) and then move the speed to high (speed 10) right away. You do risk overheating the motor by blending on low speeds (exception: if you want to make something chunky, like salsa, you would use a lower speed or use the pulse button). So don't be scared - crank the speed up and let the blender do its thing. There is an automatic overload protection safety feature that will turn the blender off if the motor starts to heat up, in which case you should wait at least 30-45 minutes to use it again.

One cool thing I didn't realize these blenders can do is they can blend ingredients into soup until it gets hot - not from a heating element but just from the friction of the blades. It takes about 6 minutes. You can also use this setting to make hot chocolate, simply using chocolate chips, milk and vanilla extract. I'm definitely interested in trying that out and my boys will happily taste test it for me!

All of these blenders come with a tamper which is like a long stick you can put into the lid of the blender to push ingredients out of the corners and into the blades while the blender is running. They are designed so they will never touch the blade, so if you have more than one container, make sure you are using the correct size tamper with it. This is especially helpful for things like frozen berries in thick smoothies or sorbet or for making peanut butter.

There are a lot of different accessories and containers you can buy separately, including various sizes and also different containers for wet vs. dry ingredients.

They also make this easy to clean, and in fact they do not recommend washing the container/blade by hand. You can fill the container half full of water with a drop of dish soap, securely attach the lid and run a self-clean setting to clean the container (or run on speed 10 for 30 seconds). The container should be clean but the lid will likely not be - hold the container over the sink and hold the lid upside down over the sink, dump the soapy water from the container into the underside of the lid (to clean it) and then just rinse the container and lid out. I read that hand drying the container right after washing it can help prevent it from becoming cloudy in the future. I generally let my blender container air dry upside down on a drying rack so this is something I'll have to remember to do. I never put things like this in my dishwasher so I did not even pay attention to which of the containers are dishwasher safe.

Yesterday my Vitamix arrived and last night I used it for my Butternut Squash Soup. In the past I used my immersion blender for this soup, which sometimes left some chunks of squash (it's hard to make sure you get it all) and also left scrape marks all over the bottom of my All Clad 8-qt. stockpot. Using my Vitamix blender made the soup come out so smooth. Maybe I just need a better immersion blender, or maybe the Vitamix is the better machine for the job. I will say the immersion blender makes it easier to blender up hot soup than the extra steps needed to use the Vitamix (drain the veggies, let the veggies and broth cool down a bit, fill the container only half full of veggies and broth which means blending two containers worth of soup, then putting the blended soup back into the pot and heating it up again). Using an immersion blender, you just turn the heat off, blend the soup in the pot, and turn the heat back on. However, my immersion blender definitely does not blend soup nearly as well as my Vitamix blender did, so I will happily keep transferring hot liquids into the blender container in batches in order to blend soup.

This morning I used my Vitamix to make a smoothie for my sons for breakfast. I added orange juice, vanilla yogurt, a banana and 2 cups worth (the cups I put their smoothies in) of frozen fruit. I had to add more juice but it blended really well using the smoothie preset. My boys loved it and loved watching me run the cleaning cycle afterwards.

I'm looking forward to using this blender the next time I make Pastina Soup, as there were small parts of celery that didn't get completely blended when I used my KitchenAid blender. The Vitamix is so powerful I know it'll blend everything completely.

I can't wait to try some new recipes in addition to the smoothies and soups I usually make. If you're looking for a new blender or you are on the fence about buying a Vitamix, I hope this review was helpful. After all the research I did, I can see why they are so popular! It really does live up to the hype.

Note:

If you want to make your own frozen treat recipes, a good ratio is:

1 cup of liquid to 1 pound of frozen ingredients (for the 48-ounce container)

1.5 cups of liquid to 1.5 pounds of frozen ingredients (for the 64-ounce container)

*Liquid could also be yogurt - in the video I saw, they used plain or vanilla yogurt with frozen strawberries.

*Frozen ingredients can be ice or frozen fruit.

Use the frozen treats cycle or blend on high speed for 30-45 seconds, and use the tamper.

It is just slightly too tall to fit under my cabinets
(but I don't store it on the countertop anyway)

Butternut Squash Soup

Fruit Smoothie

Ready to run the cleaning cycle

Fill container halfway with water and add dish soap

Run the cleaning cycle

Pour the soapy water onto the bottom of the lid, then simply rinse both off and you're done!

Pastina Soup (Italian Penicillin)

I've seen this Pastina Soup recipe online a few times and finally made it today. I've had two different back-to-back sicknesses since last week and had a little more energy today so I made this for my lunch. It was pretty amazing!

I can't handle onions and garlic anymore so I only used them for flavor. I kept the onion whole and still used 4 cloves of smashed garlic, but I threw all of them away before I blended the carrots and celery. I also used more carrots and celery than the recipe called for (5 or 6 small/medium carrots and 4 celery stalks). I used two 32-ounce cartons of chicken broth plus half a carton of water.

I made about 3/4 bag of Stelline pasta which seemed like the perfect amount for this recipe. I cooked the pasta separately and spooned the broth over it. I also stored the leftovers separately so the pasta wouldn't absorb all of the broth.

I haven't been eating grated cheese lately so I put some ground pepper and more salt in my soup and it was so good. This is a delicious, simple recipe to make, especially if someone in your household isn't feeling well.

Pastina Soup (Italian Penicillin)

Recipe from Pinch of Yum Blog

 

This soup has become my go-to recipe when my family is sick. The broth is amazing – simple, light, flavorful, and nourishing! It’s absolute comfort food. 

 

For the Broth:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 large carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

2 stalks of celery, cut into large chunks

half of 1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into large chunks

4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

10 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I use 10 cups water plus 2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon chicken base)

1 teaspoon salt

 

For Serving: 

1½ cups pastina (I use Stelline from the Good and Gather brand at Target)

freshly grated Parmesan cheese for topping

 

 

Sauté Veggies: Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the chunky carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pot. Sauté for 5 minutes. 

 

Simmer: Add broth and salt. Simmer for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender.

 

Remove Veggies: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the vegetable chunks to a bowl. Set aside to cool for a few minutes (you don’t want to add scorching hot veggies to your plastic blender). 

 

Blend: When the veggies have cooled a bit, blend them with 1-2 cups broth until very smooth. Add the blended mixture back to the pot; stir to incorporate.

 

Pastina: Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt. 

 

Serve: Put a scoop of pastina in a shallow bowl. Ladle the steaming hot broth over the top, and top each bowl with freshly grated Parmesan. 

 

Makes 6-8 servings.

Apple Bread

It's almost mid-September and even though it's still pretty hot and humid outside, I'm ready for cooler weather and fall meals. I recently came across this Apple Bread recipe and tried it out today. It's very easy to make. I used a scale to weigh the flour and sugar. I grated the apple because I don't like big pieces of apple in breads or muffins. To make this easier in the future, I just bought an apple corer. I also left out the nutmeg and instead added a bit more cinnamon (1 teaspoon instead of 3/4 teaspoon). I baked my bread for 55 minutes and it was definitely done and perhaps a bit over done, so next time I will set the timer for a little less time (I adjusted the time below. The next time I made this bread I baked it for 45 minutes and it was perfect). I also missed the note at the bottom about tenting foil over it, so maybe that would have helped.

This is a quick recipe that tastes delicious and is perfect for fall!

Apple Bread

Recipe courtesy “Preppy Kitchen” Blog

 

Apple Bread is a must-try this apple season! Stir together a simple batter filled with fresh apples and cozy spices, and bake to moist perfection!

 

1 large apple, peeled and cored (such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp)

1½ cups all-purpose flour (180g)

½ cup granulated sugar plus more for sprinkling (100g)

½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg, optional

2 large eggs, room temperature and beaten

½ cup unsalted butter, melted (113g)

½ cup chopped toasted walnuts or toasted pecans, optional (60g)

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8½x4½-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang over the long sides of the pan.

 

Peel and core the apple. You can prepare the apple in one of two ways: Grate it, using the largest holes on a cheese grater. Or, chop the apple into small pieces (about ½-inch cubes). Set aside.

 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add the beaten eggs and melted butter to the flour mixture, and stir together with a silicone spatula until just a few dry streaks of flour remain. (The batter will be very thick.)

 

Add the grated or chopped apple and nuts (if using) to the batter and stir together until evenly combined and all of the flour has been incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Sprinkle with additional granulated sugar, if desired.

 

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and let cool for about 30 minutes more. Slice and serve warm. Any leftovers should be tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to 5 days.

 

Notes:

Tent the loaf with aluminum foil during baking if the top of the bread starts to brown too quickly. Check it after 40 minutes and tent it if needed.

 Add a glaze! For a sweeter finish, whisk together 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or water (adding more or less depending on how thick you want the glaze). Drizzle the glaze over the cooled loaf and let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing.

Best Key Lime Pie

My dad is turning 80 (!!!) this week and my mom is throwing him a big birthday party tomorrow. He loves pie so she and my sister Regina had an idea to serve a bunch of different kinds of pie for dessert. Regina is making banana cream pies, another sister is making apple pies, another is making gluten-free chocolate pies and my mom is making cherry pies. I wanted to add something different to the mix but wasn't sure what - then I thought of key lime pie, which I've never made before. My husband and I went to Key West for our honeymoon so we obviously had delicious key lime pie several times while we were there. I don't think I've hade key lime pie since then though! My sister's Godmother used to make it and bring it to parties at our house. I don't have her recipe but I looked online and found several. The main difference between the recipes I found are that some use egg yolks (more traditional) and some use sour cream (more modern) and others use a combination of both. I decided to use a recipe with sour cream. Key limes aren't sold near me, but instead of juicing a ton of regular limes, I used Nelly & Joe's Key West Lime Juice, which most grocery stores carry. I made this in a classic Pyrex pie dish. I made two since there are 70 people coming to his party!

This pie is very easy to make - it starts with a graham cracker crust that you bake for a few minutes. One packet of graham crackers came out to exactly 1.5 cups of crumbs - use a measuring cup to flatten out the crumb mixture on the bottom and sides of your pie plate. While the crust is cooling off, mix together the pie filling ingredients (I only zested one lime and it was plenty of zest) and bake the pie (hint: put the pie dish on a baking sheet in the oven so it is easier to take out of the oven without getting your finger or an oven mitt in the pie!). Let the pie cool to room temperature and then refrigerate it for several hours or overnight. Make some homemade whipped cream and put it on the pie just before serving. Don't forget to add some lime zest or very thinly sliced pieces of lime on top of the whipped cream to make the pie look nice!

This is a great recipe to make a day ahead, and one that I hope I'll be making more often. Next up - I need to try a recipe with a meringue topping like the one we had in Key West - the photos below are from our honeymoon in 2015!

This pie was delicious - give it a try!

Key Lime Pie from Blue Heaven in Key West

Key Lime Pie from Blue Heaven in Key West

Best Key Lime Pie

Recipe from Mom On Timeout Blog

 

The Best Key Lime Pie recipe EVER! Tart and sweet and incredibly easy, this Key Lime Pie is sure to be a family favorite! A delicious graham cracker crust filled to the brim with an incredibly creamy filling that is just so quick to make! You won’t be able to stop at just one slice!  

 

Graham Cracker Crust:

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

6 Tablespoons butter, melted

 

Key Lime Filling:

28 ounces sweetened condensed milk

½ cup light sour cream

¾ cup key lime juice

Zest from 2 regular limes or 4 key limes

 

Whipped Cream Topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

½ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Graham Cracker Crust:

 

Preheat oven to 375°.

 

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a small bowl. Press the crumb mixture into an 8" - 9.5" pie pan. Bake for 7 minutes. Cool for at least 30 minutes.

 

Key Lime Filling:

 

Preheat oven to 350°.

 

Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest in a medium bowl. Pour into prepared graham cracker crust and bake for 10 minutes.

 

Let pie cool slightly before chilling. Chill for at least 3 hours.

 

Whipped Cream Topping:

 

Beat heavy cream and sugar together in a mixer until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Spread or pipe the whipped cream on top of the cooled pie. Top with additional lime zest if desired.