If your New Year’s resolution starts in the kitchen, it’s likely you have one of the following goals on your 2018 to-do list – incorporate more smoothies into your morning routine, save some money by making your own juice at home (those wheatgrass shots and juice bar drinks add up), eat more fruits and vegetables. These are all achievable goals if you have the right appliances in your kitchen and the right information to get started.
Fresh juice and smoothies are extremely popular post-holiday season as people put away the casserole dishes and the cookie tins. If you can’t decide whether a juicer or a blender (or both) is right for your kitchen, our Test Kitchen experts are here to help.
While juicers and blenders are both great appliances to help add more nutrition into your diet, there are some key differences.
Juicers make it easy to get all the fruits and vegetables you need in one thirst-quenching glass. Juice is extracted from the fruits and vegetables leaving little pulp or fiber. The result is concentrated nutrition in a cup that’s easy to drink and digest. What’s great about juice, experts say, is the nutrients are highly concentrated, so you don’t have to drink a lot of it to reap the benefits. Some of our favorite juice recipes include carrot turmeric tonic, energizing green juice with broccoli, celery and apple, and dawn delight red juice with beets.
Blenders can create hunger-satisfying smoothies that are thicker and packed with fiber, so you may feel full longer. But they can also make so much more – like soups, nut butters, marinades, and salad dressings. Unlike juicers, blenders let you add in extra ingredients like yogurt, protein powder, and chia seeds to provide additional nutrition and flavor in your smoothies. You can even swap the straw for a spoon and add toppings like honey and granola to a smoothie bowl. We’re currently loving these smoothie recipes – cucumber melon smoothie, berry blast protein smoothie, and everything green power smoothie. You can also use your blender to make whole juice. Blend fruits and vegetables together without removing the pulp or adding anything extra to the mix (like yogurt, something you might add to make a smoothie). Try our detox whole juice with apple cider vinegar.
Both appliances are great ways to increase the nutrition in your diet by introducing more fruits and vegetables (remember your goal to eat more fruits and veggies? Check). Selecting the appliance that fits best into your lifestyle is the true key to success. Do you want to ward off hunger by drinking nutrient-rich smoothies packed with fiber and enhanced with nut butters or yogurt? A high-performance blender fits your bill. Or, do you want a juice that’s nutrient-dense and thirst-quenching? A juicer will do the job.
Whether you’re juicing your way through January or want your mornings to be smooth(ie) sailing – it’s all about the end product and your nutrition goals.
