Juicing VS Blending: Which Is Better

Time and time again I see people online ask about juicing vs blending and which is better.

Should I buy a juicer or should I buy a blender? 

If I had a penny for every time I’ve read that in some forum, or even heard someone say this while shopping, then I’d have… a lot of pennies.

But I get it. It’s a reasonable question. Especially if you are not someone who is already well versed in blenders and juicers. After all, they are two completely different kitchen appliances, yet they do similar things.

You are going to want to know which is better if you’re getting ready to buy a juicer or a blender and can’t decide on which one would best fit your health and fittness goals.

So, once you’ve read my article, you will know which is best suited for your lifestyle. And I’m not going to play favoriates. Really.

Even though this website is geared towards discussing juicers and how to make fresh green juice, that doesn’t mean that everyone would do better with a juicer. There are some people who would do better with a blender. And I will not try and sway them.

I’m going to give you just the cold hard facts.

What qualifies me to discuss juicing vs blending? Why, just the fact that I’ve been making juice since the early 1990s and have been blending and making smoothies since before that. And I’ve tried out and tested out more juicers and blenders than you could count!

So, let’s get going and see which is best for you!

Juicing VS Blending: The Big Question

So, the main question that most people have is what’s the better option: Juicing or Blending.

That’s the big question that I am going to cover here. I will break down the question into several smaller , bit sized questions.
After reading these, you are going to have a good understanding of what the difference is between Juicing and Blending and also which is going to be a better fit for your own personal health goals.

After all, if you don’t own a blender or juicer, and you are deciding between Juicing Vs Blending, it’s important to have all of the facts before you make that purchase.

My Methodology: How I Compare Juicing and Blending

I didn’t want to write a long, boring article that drones on and on about blenders vs juicers.

Instead, what I wanted to do was create a highly readable piece that covers the basics about what a blender is capable of and what a juicer is capable of.

Then I wanted to discuss which is best for which application. Because, it’s important to know where you stand when it comes to blenders and juicers.

My metholodology is as follows:

1. Assess current data on blenders and their nutrient output.
2. Assess all current data on juicers (both masticating cold press juicers and centrifugual).
3. Compare Health Goals And Assess Which Is Better: Blenders or Juicers
4. Review Consumer Reviews on Blenders vs Juicers
5. Analyze Consumer Complaints on poula Juicers and Blenders

I will have a list of revelant studies linked at the bottom. As always, I suggest that when buying a juicer or a blender, you choose one that is both popularly reviewed with positive feedback, and also order from a reputable vendor. I’ve had issues buying from big box stores in the past, so I do suggest avoiding an in-person purchase unless it’s a store you’re very comfortable with.

Ordering online, especially if you are an Amazon prime member, has extreme advantages such as free returns and customer support round the clock.

Is A Juicer Better Than A Blender?

First off, I would not say that a juicer is better than a blender. Those sort of blanket statements are no good to use. There are ways in which a juicer is far superior than a blender, and there are also ways in which a blender is better than a juicer.

For instance, suppose your goal was to intake more fiber than you are currently getting. Obviously in that case a blender would be a better choice than a juicer. Why? Because when you blend up fruits and vegetables into a smoothie, you are getting the fiber in the drink.

If you were to make fresh juices, then you would not have all of that fiber. The reason behind using a juicer is in fact it’s ability to remove the fiber from the juice.

On the other hand, if you eat enough fiber in your daily diet, and are looking to get a lot of nutrients from the fruits and vegetables, then a blender wouldn’t be ideal. Most nutrients (vitamins, phytochemicals, plant antioxidents) are in the juice. So, a juicer will supply much more nutrients than a blended smoothie.

The simple truth is that the answer to wheather or not a juicer is better than a blender depends on what you want to use it for.

A juicer is obviosuly better than a blender at making fresh juice. You cannot make juice in a blender. Even with all of the “blender hacks”.

On the other hand, if you own a masticating cold press juicer such as an Omega, you can mare a puree, pasta, and nut butter. So, cold press juicers are a bit more versitle than regular blenders.

What Are The Benefits of Juicing Vs Blending?

Juicers are my prefered tool. I also use a blender to make smoothies, but I juice more than I blend. Why?

It’s because I find that juicers have several benefits vs blenders.

First, a juicer will allow you to get the nutrients from more food, and quickly. This is somethign that a blender is incapable of doing.

For instance, spinach and kale have many nutrients that are strictly found in the juice. The fiber of kale and spinach, and all other vegetables and fruits, are healthy but the juice is where all of the vitamins and antioxidants are.

If you don’t own a juicer, then you will be limited to making smoothies. You will not be able to extract the juice from fruits and vegetables. Don’t even try any of those online “hacks” that say you can juicer with a blender. You can’t.

So, no carrot juice. No orange juice. No lemon juice (can you imagine blending a lemon and trying to drink it?).

That’s the main benefit to using a juicer.

It’s a question of quantity. With a juicer, you can take 3 carrots, a bunch of kale, celery, and a whole lemon and make a single glass of juice. All of the fiber will be removed.

If you were to put that into a blender, you’d end up with a huge, multiple serving smoothie.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you get a cold press juicer such as Omega, then you are also going to get attachments. Some of these attachments can be used to make things such as purees, pasta, cold pressed fruit sorbets, and other healthy treats. All things considered, it is a much more well rouned machine. You can simple do more things with a juicer than you can with a blender.

Aside from making smoothies, a juicer wins out.

 

Why Juice Instead of Blend Whole Foods?

You will often hear health experts on television attest to having whole foods instead of supplements. The thinking behind this is that whole foods are more bioavailable. All that means is that the nutrients in the food are more readily absorbed into the body.

So, if you’re looking to get more vitamin C, for instance, you would do better drinking some organic citrus juice or even a green juice (green juice has a lot of vitamin c). Even sweet peppers can be jucied and they provide more vitamin C than oranges, for instance.(see link to study at the bottom of the article #1).

The advantage to juicing is that it provides you with real food, whole foods, and avoids the supplement problem.

The second advantage to juicing, over blending, is that you will get a more concentated mix of the essential vitamins and nutrients. It’s not possible to get as much nutrients from blending and making a smoothie.

If you lay the same amount of food side by side, and then run it through a blender and through a juicer, you will see what I mean.

A blender will keep all of the fiber. So you’ll be left with the same volume of food. 

A juicer will remove the fiber. That will mean that you’ll get a concentrated ammount of vitamins and nutrients.

It simply comes down to extrtactnig more nutrients.

Also, smoothies are really filling. A nice green juice or a fresh fruit juice can be a nice drink in the morning, or after work, and it won’t fill you up too much.

Some people get bloated with smoothies due to all of their fiber. This is not an issue with juices made with juicers. Again, we are focusing here on fiber and fiber removal. This is the main advantage to usign a juicer.

Fresh juice has less fiber, produces less bloat and gass, and gives you more nutrients.

Does Juicing Provide More Nutrients Than Blending?

This one is going to be a bit of a contraversial answer, but I am going to confidently say yes. Juicing does provide more nutrients than blending. And there are a few simple reasons.

First, a juicer will remove more (not all) of the fiber from fruits and vegetables. As we have seen in the above sections, fiber is not bad but it is not also something that doesn’t contain the vitmains, enzymes, and antioxidents.

The real health benefit that you are looking for is in the liquid. Things like lutein, chlorophyll, vitamin C and A and E, are all found in vegetable and fruit juice. Not in the fiber.

So a smoothie is good for you, but a juice will provide more nutrients. The only thing that a smoothie is better at providing is fiber and fats (in the instances where you add nut butters or yogurt to the smoothie).

A green juice, for example, made with spinach kale and lemons, is going to have more vitamin C than a smoothie made with fruit. Simply for the reason that the juice will have less fiber (which is devoid of nutrients).

When Is There A Case for Blending over Juicing?

Of course, this doesn’t mean that there is never a reason to blend instead of juice. There are times when you would want to use a blender over a juicer. Here’s a few to consider.

       If you want a smoothie.

It seems obvious, but if you’re looking to make a smoothie, then you are going to want to use a blender. You cannot achieve this with a juicer.

I like to make protein smoothies sometimes, and they’re quick and easy to make using a blender. All you need to do is add some protein powder to a blender, toss in some frozen fruit and some almond milk and you’re done!

    If you want to blend soup.

This one sounds like a given, but if you’re looking to puree and blend soup, you need a blender. You can’t process soup in a juicer.

    If you want to get more fiber in your diet

If your goal is to get more fiber into your diet, and you are not someone who wants to eat lentils, salads, and other grains, then a blender is a good choice. While it’s easy to get enough fiber if you eat salads or fruits and vegetables, many people simply don’t like that sort of food. And an easy solution is to simply make a smoothie every day.

I personally like to have both a juicer and a bledner. But, if you only could have one, I’d reccomend you probally buy a cold press masticaging juicer. It can handle the following:

• Make Fresh Green Juice
• Make Fresh Fruit Juice
• Make Nut Butter (read my article on nut butter made with a juicer)
• Make Berry Sorbet
• Make Pasta (organic)
• Puree Tomatos For Soup

The only thing you really can’t acomplish without a blender is to make a smoothie and puree soups.

Can You Juice with a Blender?

I cover this at some length elsewhere, but it’s an important question and one that deserves to be addressed here as well.

While there are plenty of so called “hacks” online that discuss how you can use a blender to make juice. But the sad fact is that this is basically just a huge waste of time.

Not to mention it’s a mess.

The idea goes something like this.

Blend up all of your fruits and veggies for as long as possible. Then strain them through a strainer and then maybe even use cheese cloth.

Imagine what that mess would look like. It would be disgusting. Not to mention not efficent at all.

So, while you might be tempted to juice with a blender, you simply can’t. You will only be left with a complete and utter mess.

In a similar vein, you can’t make a smoothie with a juicer. You could make a juice puree and mix it with water, but please, just stick to using the juicer to make juice and the blender to blend. It’s much similer and easier to acomplish your goals if you use the right tools for the job.

Can You Blend with a Juicer?

Again, I like to keep it simple. Use a juicer to make juice and use a blender to blend up smoothier.

That said, there are times you want a smoothie and all you have is a bledner. And in this case, it is something that you can do. Especially if you are going to be making a fruit smoothie. I’d not reccomend that you do it using greens.

The way you can blend with a juicer is to use the puree attachment. Sometimes this is called different things:

• Nut Butter Attachment
• Pasta Attachment
• Puree Attachment

They are all basically the same design and idea. The attachments will prevent the pulp and juice from seperating. In the Omega, it’s a seperate cone that you simply slide over the auger.

What you would do is make a puree out of fruit and then I would add that puree to maybe a blender bottle and shake.

A simple recipe for using a juicer as a bledner would go something like this:

Puree the fruit and keep it in a hopper. Take a mixing jar or a blender bottle and add the puree to a liquid such as almond milk, or coconut water. Shake well.

There’s your smoothie made with a juicer! I’ve done it before and it’s pretty good.

What To Look for When Buying A Juicer?

I’ll keep this short and sweet. When you are looking to buy a juicer, make sure that you choose a cold press juicer. Make sure that you are getting an auger juicer.

There are a lot of other details to consider. Is the juicer vertical? Is the juicer a self cleanign juicer? Does the juicer have a pulp extractor?

But the most important question and the most important thing to look for when buying a juicer is to choose one that is a cold press design.

Cold press juicers have augers that squeeze the juice from fruits and vegetables. If your juicer does not have an auger press, it simply won’t work.

Here’s a short video that shows you how a cold press juicer operates. It’s much faster and more efficent than a cutting style disc.

 

This is one of the cheapest Omega juicers. For a long time Omega juicers were at the higher price point. But they’ve made strides in improving their affordablity and turning out a really excellent product.

You can check out the reviews online and see what others have to say.

 

What to Look for When Buying a Blender?

Even though this site is dedicated to discussing juicers, I would like to take the time to talk about blenders. There are many people out there who are intersted in using a blender, so it is important that they understand what to look for when buying a bender.

So, let’s first get rid of the notion that you can blend with a juicer. There is no such thing as the best blender for juicing. It doesn’t exist. It’s marketing hype!

What do you look for when buying a blender?

• BPA Free
• Strong Blades to Blend
• Strong Motor

There is a whole lot of other things to consider, but those are the main ones. If you want to blend hot soup, for instance, you will want to choose a blender such as the Vitamix that can handle hot liquid. And if you want to make big smoothies, you will want to get a blender that can handle large ammounts of frozen fruits and vegetables.

Here’s a few selections to consider. The bullet style blenders are great for single use purposes (you can get two smoothies out of them if you’re not looking to make really big smoothies). The Ninja is a good mid point model blender. And the Vitamix is a top of the line pick.

 

The Judgement: Juicer vs Blender

As I wrote in the earlier sections, I’m not keen on making too much of a value judgement about juicers and blenders. In fact, the question itself isn’t even a great one in my opinion.

But, it is one that I’ve done my best to answer. Because I know that a lot of you out there have serious questions about blenders and juicers and are not going to buy one of each. So, it’s helpful to have a breakdown of the pros and cons.

Overall, I would suggest you go with a juicer. It’s simply capable of handling more things than a regular blender is.

What I suggest you do is determine if you want to make juice or smoothies. All other questions stem from that basic statement. Do you want to skip meals, have healthy fiber, and make fruit or green smoothies? If so, get a blender. If you want juices to get the nutrients that can help you, then get a cold press juicer.

 

My Reccomendations for Juicers and Blenders

 

 

Resource Links and Articles To Studies Cited

1. Peppers and their Vitamin C content
2. Study Examining Cold Pressed Juice