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If you’d asked me mere months ago to describe the shape of a blender pitcher, I probably would have replied with something along the lines of, “I don’t know? Blender-shaped? Roundish? I don’t know! Why are you asking me such a weird question?” So if you haven’t given much thought to the shape of your blender, you’re certainly not alone. But if you’ve ever been frustrated because your blender won’t do what you think it’s supposed to, I invite you to go down this little physics rabbit hole with me.
Late last year we invited a mechanical design engineer into the Epi test kitchen to explain to those of us without an engineering degree exactly why a $600 Vitamix works so much better than a $25 blender. It seemed pretty obvious that the Vitamix would outperform the budget-friendly Oster based on horsepower alone (okay, and maybe sharper blades). But as we learned from Vincent Valderrama, the associate director of engineering at Smart Design, these high-end components are only part of the equation.
Square blender pitchers vs. round blender pitchers
It turns out there’s more to the Vitamix than its 12-amp motor and laser-cut stainless-steel blades—and this is where good engineering comes in. Because in order to properly handle everything a powerful motor throws around, a blender pitcher needs enough space for its contents to move freely and it has to be the right shape.
“When the motor is throwing things away from the blades, there needs to be some sort of physical geometry to throw it back into the blade so you can get a consistent blend,” Valderrama told me when we geeked out over small kitchen appliances on a Zoom call. For breaking down solids in a high-watt blender like Vitamix or Blendtec, he says the ideal shape is square—but not necessarily a perfect square. In the Professional Series Vitamix Valderrama tested, inverted corners work as baffles to help knock ingredients back to the blades. Similar models have a square form with various divots and curves to keep things agitated (in a good way) inside the pitcher. Using a round pitcher with a Vitamix motor would mimic what happens on a spinning barrel amusement park ride. Without hard angles or baffles to throw the food back to the blades, centripetal force would cause the contents to hang on to the wall and just spin around and around until manually tamped or scraped down.
So why then aren’t all blender pitchers square? According to Valderrama, that’s because less powerful motors actually perform better in smaller rounded containers.
“If you put the Oster motor in a square-shaped vessel, you’re not going to get a good result,” he says. “And lower-powered motors with larger vessels don’t do much. They don’t have the power to take advantage of the extra space.”
Of course, bigger isn’t always better, and sometimes a smaller, weaker blender is just what you need. As Valderrama demonstrated in the video above, the $25 Oster emulsified mayonnaise better than the much pricier Vitamix. And you should always keep in mind that no matter what you’re trying to blend, if there’s too little of it in a giant pitcher, it won’t work well—no matter how powerful the motor.
Unfortunately, there is no single best blender shape or size for blending everything, and it really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. The best blender for emulsifying has a less powerful motor and a slender round pitcher, while the best blender for pulverizing solid ingredients has a high-powered motor and a spacious square pitcher.
The good news is that round blenders will still get most jobs done (but not all of them, as we learned from Valderrama’s, er, illuminating almond butter test), they just might require some extra patience and work on the part of the user. Conversely, if you have a beast of a blender that sometimes feels like overkill in your kitchen, play around with the lower speeds and look into alternative vessels; many brands offer secondary pitchers and smaller blending cups for recipes that don’t require a 64-ounce capacity.
Blenders with a square pitcher
These blenders with square pitchers came out on top in our testing.
Round blender attachments
Round attachments can make smaller jobs a little easier in a big blender. Just make sure whatever you get is compatible with your specific make and model.
Personal blenders
These space-saving personal blenders have slender round vessels perfect for making individual smoothies as well as small batches of sauces and dips.
Immersion blenders
An immersion blender can do most of what a countertop blender can do and eliminates any issues with pitcher shape or size.
