10 best hand blenders for blitzing sauces, dips and soups

Score: 97/100

Our best hand blender came close to scoring full marks for its all-round outstanding performance. Our tester enjoyed a smooth milkshake, creamy mayo and perfectly whipped cream. It pureed chickpeas evenly with ease – hummus fans, take note – and produced a glossy, if slightly thin, batter. It whisked egg whites to stiff peaks and the included grinder blitzed hazelnuts in a flash.

Intuitive and comfortable to use, it comes with a generous array of attachments, including an ice blade for chopping large cubes down to slushy-sized shards. They all proved easy to fit, but you'll need to think about where to store them if you’re short on cupboard space.

Score: 96/100

Home chefs looking to control the texture of their soups, sauces and more will appreciate this good-looking stick blender's adjustable speed, which lets you switch from mixing to whipping in one squeeze of the button. Got a pile of veg to prep? Simply add the chopper attachment and rubber pan guard (a feature we haven't seen elsewhere) to whizz up a dish without scratching your cookware.

Our tester gave this blender the thumbs up across the board, especially when mixing soft ingredients such as those used for making mayo. They found it intuitive to use and appreciated its numerous attachments, which cover every culinary need. Choose from five colours, including red, black and cream.

Score: 94/100

This do-it-all hand blender comes with a masher for making everybody’s favourite comfort food: fluffy mashed potato. Its three-blade blending arm marks it out from its competitors, ensuring speedier results, and its rubber handle makes it comfortable to hold at full power.

On test, it made light work of blending liquids, creating an evenly mixed, powder-free milkshake. It whisked egg whites and cream to perfection and produced top-notch mayo. The speed switch proved slightly awkward to use one-handed, but that’s hardly a deal-breaker.

Score: 93/100

This powerful stick blender made light work of most tasks we threw at it in the lab. Blending up a milkshake took 28 seconds on the maximum speed setting, while our batter needed just 18 seconds to form a thick, creamy consistency.

Its worst result was when making mayonnaise, which (if we’re being picky) could have been thicker. Even so, it still had a glossy appearance, with no curdling.

The blender doesn’t come with as many accessories as others in this list, but it does come with a beaker and storage lid, making it a good pick for those who frequently make their own condiments at home.

Score: 91/100

Another excellent hand blender – our tester found it straightforward and quick to use. It scored full marks for its speedy egg whisking abilities, but it also truly excelled when pureeing. It created a smooth chickpea dip with a professional glossy appearance in 90 seconds.

The included chopping blade attachment did struggle to turn out uniform pieces of onion and hazelnut, with some food also getting stuck on the blade. It’s also worth noting that this hand blender isn’t suitable for crushing ice, but it’s easy to overlook those small complaints when you consider how quickly it gets the job done. All in all, a great option for those short on time who also want versatile blending capabilities.

Score: 89/100

This cordless blender delivered some impressive results, earning full marks for blending mayonnaise, chickpeas, a milkshake, and egg whites. Tougher ingredients such as nuts and ice proved a challenge though, with pieces getting stuck under the blade or spitting out of the top of the goblet. However, our testers liked that you could increase the speed of the blade by simply applying more pressure to the button.

The model also comes with an interchangeable battery that can be used across the rest of KitchenAid’s cordless appliances including its hand mixer and food chopper. As it’s battery-powered, the blender isn’t restricted by a power cord, plus you’ll get up to 30 minutes of blending time before you need to recharge!

Score: 88/100

With its sleek design, this hand blender will certainly spruce up your kitchen gadget collection. It's versatile thanks to its array of attachments (including a potato masher and a dual whisk for perfecting your stiff peaks) while variable power allows for added precision.

The powerful blender is easy to use, and impressed across the board, especially when making mayonnaise, mixing batter and whizzing up a banana smoothie. It was less effective as a chopper though, with testers struggling to achieve even results when tackling both an onion and parsley.

You’ll never be out of ideas to blitz, as it comes with recipe inspiration via Haier’s app. And once you’ve finished preparing your latest invention, clean-up will be done in a jiffy as you can pop the accessories in the dishwasher (apart from the main blending head).

Score: 86/100

Finely chopping herbs and nuts was fuss-free with this blender. But that’s not the only culinary challenge it impressed on; our tester said it was excellent for pureeing chickpeas too.

Things were a little messy when it came to blending liquids such as mayonnaise, egg whites and cream, as the whisk caused some splash back, but the end results were good. And switching to a slower speed is simple – the accessible dial at the top of the handle allows you to easily change settings and have more control over the blender.

Score: 82/100

This eye-catching blender produced creamy milkshakes, smooth mayonnaise and well-mixed batter. The whisk attachment was similarly reliable, blitzing egg white and cream so fantastically that our testers said the results compared to those of a dedicated electric whisk.

Chopping and pureeing saw a more mixed performance; testers were left with uneven chunks of chickpeas and nuts and found pressing the power button down for the extended period required to complete the tasks slightly uncomfortable.

But our superficial side is willing to forgive these flaws because of the classic Laura Ashley print.

Score: 81/100

Despite not being able to match some of the other blenders on performance, our testers were big fans of the Dualit's instruction manual, which includes an extensive selection of recipes and cooking tips – ranging from a dinner party-ready salmon pâté to a five spice sweet potato mash.

It also made quick work of chopping and blending, although the full speed setting caused some vibration and light suction issues. Our tester also found the thick handle became a little uncomfortable when used for longer periods. Nevertheless, it has a sleek modern look, and the attachments are dishwasher safe, which will come in handy as you work your way through all those recipes.