juicer-vs-blender-vs-food-processor-how-to-choose

An easier and more efficient way to consume raw fruit and veggies is to break them down to make salads, juice them into healthy drinks or blend them into delish smoothies.

Juicers, blenders and food processors are all well-known kitchen appliances that help make preparation of such meals and recipes within minutes or even seconds. Gotta keep up with fast pace lifestyle!

Apart from doing stuff quicker, there is another factor that most of us consider when deciding to choose between these three almost similar-purpose kitchen machines.

And that is the ability of one machine to cover all the functions. It is hard to use all of them for slightly different things every time.

Cleaning these machines could take loads of time. That’s why you need to know exactly what each of these appliances can do for you, and which one you need to use the most, and frequent.

This article will compare these three machines in order to help you decide which would be best suited for your needs.

Juicer vs Blender vs Food Processor

Basic “textbook” definitions of these machines along with their purpose are given in this section. But we have broken down the real differences and similarities along with their overlapping functionalities in detail in further sections.

A juicer is a device that separates the juice from the pulp of fruits and vegetables.

A blender, on the other hand, mixes ingredients together until they become smooth or creamy in texture, this includes both soft foods like fruit as well as hard foods like ice cubes.

Food processors come with several blades allowing them to chop or shred raw food into pieces (usually small) so that it could cook faster.

Juicer vs Blender

If you are gonna get nutrients fast. You have to either blend or juice your raw food.

Blenders and juicer’s battle is unsettling for long enough. But today we are going to break down this blender vs juicer comparison in detail.

Difference between Juicer and Blender

  1. Healthier option: This is the most important one. In choosing between these two machines, you must go for the one which gives you more health. Some will say that juicers will not oxidize your drinks much and you may get pure nutrition extracts. But, you can only do this for a handful of fruits or vegetables. You cannot put nuts (very healthy) and other fleshy fruits such as bananas or Avacado inside a juicer. But these food items can all go into a blender and be crushed into a super healthy smoothie diet. The oxidation problem is also easy to solve. Either fill the container of a blender so that there is no room for the air inside a closed blender jar. Or, there are many blenders available now with vacuum pumps. These vacuum pumps extract extra air, and foam from your smoothies and provide a fully nutritious product.
  2. Versatility: Juicers have very limited functionality, they only extract from citrus fruits or other juicy options like apples etc. Most fruits are fleshy, if you try to put such items in a Juicer, they will get stuck as gunk inside the Juicer. You can do more than just juice with a blender, thus making it a more capable and usable kitchen staple compared to a Juicer.
  3. Cleaning: Cleaning can be frustrating. The hardest part of making juices or smoothies is cleaning these machines after usage. Juicers are the toughest to clean, you have to dismantle them, remove the sieves clear the pulp out… its a total headache. Blenders on the other hand are super easy to clean. You can even dish wash the blenders by putting them into the top rack of a dishwasher.

Is a Blender better than a Juicer?

If you want thick creamy and icy smoothies with lots of ingredients crushed together. A blender is better for you. You will get the most fibrous product with all the ingredients contained in every food item you have mixed in to make a smoothie.

Is a Juicer better than a Blender?

If you only need green drinks or less oxidized juice from a single product, you can get a juicer. But it is impossible to use a juicer as an alternative to a blender.

You can just sieve out thin drinks from fruit and veggies but no crushing or pulverizing can be done. So, at the end of the day, you will need both a Juicer and a blender if you choose a juicer only.

Masticating Juicer vs Blender

To Have a smooth and consistent texture in smoothies, a blender needs to smash ingredients, tear them apart and pulverize them in a creamy drink.

A Masticating Juicer (also called slow or cold press juicer) is a competing style of the juicer as a competitor to a centrifugal juicer. A simple Masticating style juicer crushes and juice out ingredients by pushing them into a small area at low speed (around 70 rpm).

Masticating means chewing, the “auger” with loose blades inside the juicer pushes the pulp through a fine mesh and extracts the juice from it. The fibrous pulp is removed from the pure nutritious drink. The drinks from Masticating Juicers are less frothy compared to those from centrifugal juicers.

The main difference between a blender and a masticating juicer is that a blender crushes all the ingredients together and pulverized everything into a creamy smooth texture. While the Masticating juicer also crushes pulped ingredients but sieves the drinks from the pulp.

Masticating Juicer vs Vitamix

Common things between these two are the dull blades which are purposedly made so to smash ingredients and crush them like hammers. Both of the machines crush fruit and veggies but the juicer separates the pulp.

While the Vitamix mix everything and also has room for air which make the drinks pulpy compared to masticating juicer.

Juicer vs Vitamix

There is no comparison between a juicer and a Vitamix blender. Both are made for totally different tasks. The Vitamix is and will remain the best blender on market. You can do a variety of tasks with Vitamix from juicing to crushing hard items such as seeds or ice cubes.

The Juicer can do nothing that a Vitamix is capable of. So, apart from the purpose for which you need any of these two machines, there is no comparison whatsoever between these two.

Juicer vs Food Processor

As mentioned earlier, Juicers extract the liquid essence from fruit and vegetables by separating it from the pulp and pith.

There are two styles in which juicers make drinks from raw food. And thus the juicers are named according to these two styles of extracting the juice.

One is called Masticating (Chewing) Juicer or Cold Press Juicer. This kind of juicer press the ingredients into a smaller area to crush food and squeeze them to push all the essence. The produce is pushed into the strainer mesh and the liquid is separated from the pulp.

The other type is the Centrifugal Juicer, which has fast-spinning blades or discs which cut and tear apart ingredients to extract the juice inside. They are cheaper and faster than Masticating Juicers but result in more pulpy drinks. If you try to strain the drink it will reduce the amount of the final product.

Juicers have very limited use and are very hard to clean. The produce is in very little quantity so it is too much work if you want to juice large amounts. Also, you will always need another appliance along with juicers to cover other kitchen requirements.

Food Processors are able to do many different kinds of things. The versatility is the highest compared to both Juicers or Blenders. From Making thick purees and kneading dough to chopping and grating dry vegetables. You can do it all in a Food Processor and also in larger amounts because of the large, open containers that come with a processor.

Food Processors are the best alternative to a Centrifugal Juicer. You can shred and slice ingredients to get a mix of pulp and juice and then strain the pulp out to get fine drinks.

There are also multiple attachments with Food Processors which can make it a super kitchen tool. The only downside is that this machine is bulky. Other than that, it is one for all.

Can a Food Processor be used as a Juicer?

Yes, you can use it as a perfect alternative to the Centrifugal Juicer. The size of the container and the type of blades or discs in both these machines are almost similar. Both can shred and tear apart food ingredients and get the juice out. Both of them give slightly pulpy products.

Food Processor as Juicer

A Food Processor can be used as a Centrifugal Juicer because their basic functionality is too similar. But a Food Processor cannot be used as an alternative to Masticating Juicer. There is no way a Food Processor can crush and squeeze ingredients and take their juice out.

Food Processors with Juicer

Apart from its own versatility, Food Processors can also come with additional attachments for both blending and juicing. Here is one example of such a product. The Cuisinart CFP-800 Kitchen Central 3-in-1 Food Processor has a Food Processor container in which you can mix, chop, puree, knead and shred. The 40 oz. pitcher covers full blending tasks. And the Juice Extractor can turn fruits and vegetables into juice

Juicer with Food Processor

There are no Juicers in the market which can be used as Food processors. Juicer machines are only intended for Juice extraction and can not be used for anything else. There are no extra attachments to enhance its versatility.

Is a Food Processor the same as a Juicer?

A Food Processor is somehow similar to the Centrifugal Juicer. Both have very similar designs and functions. Both can use a cutting disc/blade/grater to tear or shred ingredients and release the juice from them.

Difference between Juicer and Food Processor

Juicer/Juice Extractor

  • Separate Juice from pulp
  • Very Limited Function
  • Make High-Calorie drinks
  • Process smaller amounts
  • Hard to Clean

VS

Food Processor

  • Work as Juicer and much more
  • Versatile
  • Make purees, chops, pulpy drinks
  • Process larger amounts of food
  • Easier cleaning

Tips for Choosing a juicer, blender, or a food processor

Blenders, food processors, and juicers are all very different kitchen appliances.

They each have their own unique benefits that make them the best choice for certain tasks.

How to choose between a juicer, blender, or food processor is based on identifying your needs and budget and comparing the features of these appliances.

Juicer

juicer
Juicer

Features

Juicer is a device with sharp teeth or metal blades that are used MAINLY to extract juice from fleshy fruit or vegetables.

Juicer separates the juice from the pulp using centrifugal force or pressing to extract liquid.

A typical masticating juicer uses an auger that grinds the produce and then presses the juice through a fine-mesh sieve out of the pulp.

It does not grind food into small pieces like a blender would do.

The difference between a blender and a juicer is that a blender can make more than just juice.

Budget

Juicers typically range from around $50-$600. However, the price can vary depending on the quality and durability of the juicer.

For example, a Jack Lalanne juicer costs more because it’s a well-known brand with a lot of durabilities. A normal juicer typically costs between $60-$200 online.

Blender

blender
Blender

Features

A blender works great on many types of foods but its main use remains to mix drinks and to make soups, sauces and salads.

It can blend smooth all types of ingredients very well and give you the desired consistency and smooth texture every time.

Blenders will also allow you to make juices without removing the pulp which contains most of the fibrous content.

Blenders can easily replace food processors for a variety of cooking tasks. So, if considering buying a blender vs a food processor. Go for the blender (especially for the one which has an additional food processing pitcher such as Ninja Kitchen System).

With a large jar and preset speeds, blenders are best to create pureed, smoothed and consistently blended meals that can speed up your cooking process really well with minimal effort.

All you need to do is add your ingredients and push the button. Blenders are also easy to clean.

Budget

Blenders typically range around $40-$500. However, the price can vary depending on the quality and appearance of the blender it is based on (i.e., Oster vs. Vitamix).

Furthermore, personal blenders that are for sustenance only (not used in restaurants) will not need to be as durable due to less wear and tear and are available from $100 to $200 online.

Food Processor

Food-Processor
Food Processor

Features

Food processors are designed to cut, chop and slice ingredients.

They usually have a bowl-shaped base with sharp knives lining the side walls so they can easily shred vegetables and other types of foods.

Unlike blenders, they typically have multiple functions with different attachments for different tasks so you don’t need to purchase several machines for all your kitchen needs.

These appliances are ideal for making dough or pureeing fruits to create baby food or wholesome fruit dishes.

If you need to make hummus, breadcrumbs, or mayonnaise from scratch then you might find this task easier with a food processor as it will do these jobs much faster.

A food processor is more efficient when working with larger quantities as it handles chopping and shredding tasks at once.

if you want something that can do more than just make juice for your fruits and vegetables then a food processor might be the better option.

Budget

Food processors are usually cheaper than blenders and juicers.

They typically range around $40-$300. The price varies depending on the brand and quality of the food processor (i.e. KitchenAid vs. Cuisinart).

Right now, a food processor for home costs around $100 online.

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