Are Juicers Hard To Clean?

Are juicers hard to clean or are they something you can wash quickly and put away easily? The answer will help you decide if you’re going to buy a juicer, so you want real info, not sales copy.

And that’s what I am going to do. I’ve been making juice at home for years. And that means that I’ve been cleaning juicers at home for years!

I’m here to give you the no-bs answer to your question. Because it’s no fun having something that is hard to clean and expecting it to be easy. So I’ll clear up any misconceptions about juicers and discuss the do’s and don’ts of cleaning them.

First up…the question of the day:

Are Juicers Hard To Clean?

No, juicers are not hard to clean. As a rule. That can change depending upon the type of juicer that you buy. But as a rule, juicers are not hard to clean.

What is that rule? Well, it all has to do with the type of juicer you buy. If you are buying a cold press juicer, then you’re not going to have to scrub out a cutting disc. That’s because cold press juicers use an auger.

Think of an auger like a big screw. It presses and squeezes juice out of the fruits and vegetables.

A regular juicer (aka a centrifugal juicer) uses a cutting wheel. These juicers cutting discs or wheels have tiny little blades that cut up the fruit and vegetables. It’s like a big cheese grater.

They will take longer to clean than an auger juicer.

When you’re cleaning an auger juicer all you have to do is wash it under running water. With a regular juicer, you’re going to have to use a scrubbing tool. And you can’t use a regular sponge because these can get cut up with the tiny blades.

My summary:

• Cold Press Juicers = Easy To Clean
• Regular Juicers = Not Easy To Clean

Are Juicers Dishwasher Safe?

The next question that people have is wheather or not they can put their juicers in the dishwasher. Are juicers dishwasher safe, or is it something that requires you hand wash them?

Well, for the most part, I would suggest hand washing your juicer. Especially if you own a rather straight foward cold press juicer.

They are super fast to clean. It takes me less than a minute to run water on them and then put them in the drying board.

But, some people hate to clean anything by hand in the sink, and so of course they want to know if juicers are dishwasher safe.

The answer is that yes, except for the motor on the juicer, all parts tend to be dishwasher safe. This means that the “juicing base” which houses the motor, needs to be hand cleaned with a paper towel.

But the auger, and the feeding chute cap, the plunger, and most other parts on the juicer can be cleaned in a dishwasher.

 

Do You Have To Clean A Juicer After Every Use?

Well, you don’t, but you should. I mean, you do not have to clean your blender after every use, or clean your food processor, but why wouldn’t you?

I know that seems a bit snarkey, but if you want your juicer to function optimally for years and years, it’s a good idea to clean it before you put it away.

What’s important to note is that if you are planning on making a second juice soon after the first one, you don’t have to clean it out.

So, in actualliyty you really do not have to clean a juicer after every use. Let’s examine that situation.

You make a morning juice at 8am. It is made with apples, kale and a lemon. Then you want to make a second juice at 9am before you start work. Well, you don’t have to clean the juicer in between.

However, I would suggest that if there is going to be a siginifcant ammount of time between juicing, that you do clean the juicer out. You don’t want the auger to have juice dry on it, or have the bit of pulp that sticks to the juicer sreen get dried and stick.

So, I’d make it a habbit of quickly rinising off and washing the juicer after making a juice.

How Do You Clean A Juicer?

Ok. So, now that you know how often to clean a juicer, the next question is how do you actually clean it?

My own method is pretty simple. I disassemble the juicer and place the parts in the sink and wash them under running water. The auger, cap, plunger, and juice hopper. I wipe down the juicer body with a sponge or paper towel if any juices has splashed on it.

Then I take the parts and let them dry in the drain board.

If you are using a dishwasher, then you should simply follow the directions that come with the juicer.

The main body of the juicer does not have to be cleaned that often. The only thing you might want to do is wipe it down occasionaly with sopy water and a sponge or vinegar to make sure that it doesn’t have any splashs that dry and make it unattractive.

Can You Damage A Juicer By Cleaning It?

Yes, sadly, it is possible to damage and even destroy your juicer if you clean it the wrong way. And what constitutes the wrong way?

Placing the body (which is the housing for the motor and other electrical parts for the juicer) in water will risk ruining it.

The reason for that is that you’re dealing with electrical parts. Mixing water and electical parts is a bad idea.

That’s the reason that I suggest that you only wipe down the juicer body with a sponge or else with a paper towel. You don’t want to get the motor wet and risk damaging the juicer.

All of this is specifically spelled out in the brochures and all material provided with a juicer when you buy it, but it doesn’t hurt to go over it once more.

How Hard Is It To Clean A Cold Press Juicer?

It’s actually easier to clean a cold press juicer than it is a regular style juicer. Why? Well, as discussed, regular juicers don’t use a press style juice extraction method. They use a cutting method. This means that you are going to end up with lots of tiny little pieces of fruit stuck in the juicer that need to be scrubbed out.

I dealt with this when I used the old Juiceman Jr style juicers. They were great juicers for the time, but they also required a bit more scrubbing and cleaning than my Omega cold press juicer.

The whole concept of a “cold press” means that you are not dealing with shreded and diced fruit and veggies. What you’re dealing with are simply pressed.

The pulp is pressed and seperated via a screen. And the screen doesn’t get clogged and gunked up. It is not hard at all to clean. Sometimes I only have to use running water to wash off the pulp.

What Are The Easy To Clean Juicers?

Rather than go over this in detail again, I will refer you to 2 prior articles that I wrote that cover this exact topic.

1. What Are The Easiest Juicers to Clean
2. Easiest To Clean Juicer

The first one is basically an overview of the different types of juices and discusses what makes them easier or harder to clean. It delves deep into why a masticating juicer is so easy to clean.

The second one is more of a review and suggestion piece that gives you some ideas about which juicer to buy if you’re looking for an easy to clean juicer.