Best Blenders for Frozen Drinks

Here’s what our experts recommend.

Use the best ingredients you can. Starting with the alcohol and fruit juice, use the best you have—and the freshest. The ice should be clean-tasting, with no hints of food odors that migrated from the refrigerator section.

Go easy on the blades. Try using cracked ice rather than big cubes. It’s easier on the blender blades, and it will crush faster. If your refrigerator doesn’t turn out crushed ice, crack the cubes by wrapping them in a kitchen towel, then hitting them with a mallet or small skillet.

Start with the liquids. Whatever your recipe, pour in the liquids first (juice, alcohol), then add the ice. Start the blender at a low speed and gradually increase it. With top-performing blenders, the task goes fast—a couple of minutes or less, depending on your blender. So watch closely to avoid overblending your drinks, or they’ll come out runny.

These full-sized blenders are the only ones that aced our tests for making icy drinks as well as our durability tests. Each model on this list is also very good at crushing ice.

For more details and other options, see our full blender ratings.