13 Common Blender Mistakes You Might Be Making

Nearly every home chef owns a blender. Whether you use it daily to blend the perfect smoothie, occasionally purée veggies for soups, or pull it out when entertaining to whip up one of the most popular frozen cocktails, understanding how to use it properly is essential. While a blender may seem like one of the easiest and most intuitive small kitchen appliances to use, there are some common mistakes that can throw everything off.

Depending on the mistake you make, you could end up with your ingredients splattered all over your cabinets and countertops, find yourself with a chunky — and not smooth — concoction, or even damage your blender and render it useless. These mistakes are easy to make, but, luckily, they’re also easy to avoid. Continue reading to learn what you shouldn’t do when using your blender, and what you should do instead, to ensure your, soups, dips, nut butters, frozen beverage, and more come out just right.

One very common mistake people make when using a blender is overfilling it. You may assume that since the ingredients will become compressed and end up taking up less space once blended that it’s okay to fill it to the brim. However, this reasoning is problematic and can open you up to a range of problems. First, if you add too many ingredients to the blender, it is going to put more pressure on the lid. It is possible that this increased pressure causes the lid to pop off, or at least loosen enough for some of the ingredients to leak through gaps.

Overfilling a blender may also damage the motor or decrease its overall lifespan. In order to work properly, a blender needs sufficient space for the ingredients to move around. Otherwise, the blades will have to work harder or could even jam, placing undue stress on the motor. Instead, take note of the location of the max-fill line on your model. Avoid adding ingredients above this line. This will keep pressure to a minimum and ensure that there is enough air in the mix to prevent the ingredients from jamming the blades or forcing the motor to work harder than it should.

This may seem like an obvious, but if you’re rushing or in autopilot, it is a quite common mistake. You should never operate a blender unless you are fully confident that the lid is securely in place. If you’re only blending a few ingredients, you might think that the lid isn’t necessary. With everything so deep inside the blender, one could inaccurately assume nothing will be able to splatter out as the blades rotate. Other times, you may set the lid on the top of the blender and forget to snap it into place. However, both of these are mistakes that could end up with a disastrous mess for you to clean up.

Whether you have a blender full of ingredients or are only trying to purée a few strawberries to make some homemade baby food, it is essential that the lid is properly affixed to the pitcher. The blades on a blender rotate incredibly quickly. Without a lid, they’ll send chunks of ingredients flying upward and outward. Unless you want to be left with such a mess to clean — and don’t actually want to enjoy whatever it is you’re trying to blend — take the few additional seconds to place the lid on and to press or snap it so that it locks securely into place.

If you’ve followed recipes for smoothies, puréed fruits or vegetables, or dressings, then you might have noticed that they all call for some sort of liquid. Failing to add a liquid — or enough liquid — when using a blender is a mistake. Without a liquid, the other ingredients in the pitcher won’t be able to move around properly. They’ll get gummed up around the blade, and you’re likely to find that the resulting mixture is overly chunky. The blades could even get jammed, preventing them from blending properly all together.

Instead, it is crucial to add a liquid before blending. With the liquid, the other ingredients will be able to move effortlessly as the blades spin. If you watch a blender that has enough liquid in it, you should notice that the ingredients spinning around the blade take a similar form to that of a tornado. This is what you want to ensure they are fully incorporated and broken down, and it just isn’t possible without adequate liquid. The ideal quantity of liquid will vary based on what you’re blending, the quantity of ingredients, and how thin or thick you want the finished product to be.

Another false assumption that many people make is that they can toss all the ingredients for their smoothie, frozen cocktail, or soup into a blender in whatever order they grab them. However, the order you put ingredients into a blender matters a lot more than you might think. If you add solid foods — like fruits, vegetables, or nuts — first, you’re creating the perfect conditions for the motor to be forced to work harder than it should and for the blades to clog.

Whenever you’re blending, you want to add the liquid ingredients first. This way, you’ll ensure that they are close to the blades and able to mix with the solid ingredients to keep the blades moving freely. The blender will be able to create that desirable vortex to fully pulverize and incorporate the ingredients with this set up. After the liquids, start adding the rest of your ingredients by weight and density, with the lighter and softer items going first. This will give heavier or denser items the best odds of getting fully broken down.

If you’re using your blender to purée cooked vegetables or other ingredients for a soup, you may be tempted to speed up the cooking process by blending them with boiling water. However, adding any sort of boiling liquid — or even steaming hot ingredients for that matter — will be a mistake. The reason for this is because steam will build up the pressure inside the pitcher. If the pressure becomes great enough, it could dislodge the lid. Beyond splattering the ingredients all over your countertops and making a mess, this could also pose a safety hazard. Because the liquid and other ingredients will be so hot, they could burn anyone they come into contact with.

Let ingredients somewhat cool before adding them to the blender. Avoid any boiling liquids altogether. And, if you are blending warm ingredients, pause periodically to open the lid to give some steam a chance to escape.

Most blenders offer a range of different settings and speeds. Choosing the wrong one for the ingredients you’re working with or the type of recipe you’re aiming to create could spell disaster. For example, choosing too high of a speed could burn the motor out if you’re working with super chunky ingredients, while choosing something like a “chop” setting would prevent you from achieving a smooth frozen beverage. 

Selecting too high of a setting can specifically be a critical mistake to avoid when blending salsa. This is because a high speed, and extra air it circulates, will make the salsa too liquified and potentially a bit frothy as well — and who wants that? As you can probably guess, with a higher speed, the blades will be rotating more quickly and you’ll end up with smoother concoctions. Be intentional with the speed and setting, and keep the finish product’s consistency you’re aiming for in mind. Faster is not always better!  

Blender blades may spin quickly and deliver a lot of power, however, if you fail to do any prep work before tossing the ingredients in the blender, things could go wrong. The blades could become jammed, which could strain the motor. Failing to know the ideal way to cut potatoes for blended soup or fruits for a smoothie could also leave you with a chunky end result.

The solution is simple: Set aside just a few extra minutes of prep time before using the blender to cube fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients in pieces that are no larger than 1-inch. This way, the pieces will be small enough to move around the blades more easily, allowing them to be pulverized and smoothed out. If you’re working with carrots or other harder ingredients, you may find better results if you cut them into even smaller pieces.

A blender can handle a lot of different types of foods. However, these small kitchen appliances are not for everything. There are several foods you should avoid putting in your blender if you want to keep it running properly and prevent accidental damage. One of these items is ice. Unless your blender offers a specific setting for ice crushing, its blades may not be quite up for the task of cutting through ice cubes. Best case, the ice won’t be crushed as desired. Worst case, your blender or lid could end up broken. A way around this is to add some water to the ice and keep the blender on a super low setting.

Similarly, with many models, you also shouldn’t put frozen foods in the blender. Frozen fruits or other items are also too hard. Unless you have a top of the line model that is specifically described as being able to handle them, they could end up damaging the blades or the unit as a whole. Things like whole nuts or coffee beans are likely too hard as well, unless you have a blender suited for them, of course.

Some blenders have a component called a feeder cap. If yours has this part, you shouldn’t overlook the benefits it offers and how it may offer an improved blending experience. The feeder cap is a small stopper that is in the middle of the lid. It has a separate covering that will either twist or pop off.

The purpose of a feeder cap is to allow you to add ingredients while blending by opening up the little cap, instead of removing the whole lid. In many cases, you’ll be able to keep the blender running while doing so, whereas it would have been necessary to shut it off completely if you had to remove the lid. There are many ways a feeder cap can come in handy. One way is when you need to add just a splash or two of liquid to a beverage that is still a bit thick. You can also set the blender to a lower speed and add some mustard, egg yolk, or mayonnaise to emulsify a salad dressing.

If you’re whipping up several drinks to share with others or need to grind nuts to make peanut butter (if appropriate for your blender, of course), you’re going to be asking a lot of your blender. You shouldn’t expect it to make it through all of these tasks without giving it any break. Running it continuously for too long will strain the motor and could cause it to overheat.

So, to protect your blender — and ensure it is still in working condition when you need it — you should avoid leaving it on for more than two or three minutes at a time. The best choice is to blend or pulse the ingredients for 30 seconds, switch it off for a few seconds, and then turn it back on. After doing this for three minutes or so, shut it off completely for about five minutes before starting back up. While this may seem a bit inconvenient, it will be less trouble than you’ll face if your blender breaks and stays off indefinitely.

If you’re using your blender to make a smoothie, soup, or another recipe that should have a very smooth finished texture, you’ll want to use a higher speed. When the blades rotate quickly, they are better able to very finely chop and even purée your ingredients. However, even if you want to blend on a high speed, it will be a mistake to immediately crank the blender up. If you rush to get it going too fast, the blades won’t be able to effectively grab the various ingredients that are around them. Instead, the fruits, veggies, or other items will end up getting sent to the top, where they obviously won’t get chopped up.

Instead of cranking the speed up right away, you should always start on a low speed. Give the blades a few seconds of slowly rotating to let them pull the items you want to mix in. After they’ve started chopping them up a bit, you can increase the speed to the desired levels. Some more sophisticated blenders offer a slow-start feature. Even when you set it to a higher speed, it’ll start slow for this very reason. Then, after the blades have had a few seconds to latch onto the ingredients, it’ll ramp the speed up automatically for you.

We get it — after you finish blending something you might need to run out the door to get to work, move on to prepping the rest of a recipe, or simply wish to sit down with your feet up. Before you do any of these things, however, you’ll want to take a few minutes to clean the blender. Leaving it to clean later will make the task infinitely more difficult. The little bit of your shake or puréed food that was left inside the blender will harden and become caked on. Think about how difficult it will be to chip away at that around the blades. Not to mention, if you leave food residue in the blender for too long, it may also start to smell. These odors could become persistent and very difficult to remove.

Conversely, if you take care of this task immediately, before anything has had a chance to dry or get caked on, cleaning the blender should be very quick and easy. If you add a little bit of water and a few drops of soap to the blender (filling it up about halfway), and blend it for a few seconds, it will lift all the gunk for you and practically clean itself. If you have a higher end model, it may even offer a special self-cleaning cycle that adjusts the heat of the water to provide a thorough cleaning.

While many blenders offer several different modes, it is important not to make the mistake of assuming they are the same as a food processor. Generally, blenders are better suited for puréeing or liquifying ingredients. Food processors, on the other hand, are the better choice if you want to chop, shred, or slice ingredients. Another difference between blenders and food processors relates to their blades. While blenders have a fixed blade, food processors come with several blades or discs. You can add or remove these from the unit, allowing you to choose the best one to match the specific task you need to complete.

Because of these key differences, stick to a blender if you’re looking to make any sort of beverage. Food processors, on the other hand, will be the better choice if you’re looking to achieve chunkier results. There is some overlap between the two appliances, however. Both can be used when emulsifying dressings, puréeing thicker dips, or even chopping and blending dry ingredients.