Depending on what you like to eat every day, a blender is either a small kitchen appliance that you tuck away in your cupboard and bring out when you want a smoothie or a milk shake or a staple on your counter top: something you use every single day.
I fall into the second category of users. I use my blender every single day, but I rarely make smoothies with it. That’s because I’ve learned, after a lot of testing and review of some really great blenders, that professional level blenders aren’t one trick ponies. Blenders like the KitchenAid Professional, which I was able to test out over this past week, go well beyond simple blending and are actually a real helping hand in the kitchen when creating any number of homemade dishes.
Soup, crepes, creams, sauces, and yes, ingredient packed smoothies and juices; when you have a blender like the KitchenAid Professional, these types of dishes and drinks become so easy to make that the first few times you turn it on, you’ll really wonder why you didn’t upgrade your blender a long time ago.
Features of the KitchenAid Professional Blender
- Has a 3.5-peak-horsepower motor
- Thermal Control Jar heats up soup in 5 minutes and keeps it hot
- 11 variable speed settings plus pulse and boost
- Includes pre-set Adapti-Blend recipe programs for soup, smoothies and juices, and crushed ice
- Self-cleaning cycle lifts food particles from the blender
- Lid, plunger, and thermal control jar are dishwasher safe
- BPA-free
Setting up the KitchenAid Professional Blender
Before you can use the KitchenAid Professional blender you’ll have to set it up. That involves taking it out of the box, plugging it in, and placing the thermal control jar on the base of the blender. That’s it.
You’ll be able to tell when you lift the box that this is a heavy blender. Because of the weight it’s one that you’ll place on your countertop and leave there, so it’s nice that it’s sleek, stainless steel, and not as tall as some professional blenders are.
Testing the KitchenAid Professional Blender
The KitchenAid Professional has three Adapti-Blend recipe programs you can use to automatically make a few different things: juices and smoothies, crushed ice, and hot soup. You can also use the pulse and speed dial to select your blender settings, but if you plan on making any of the above, the easiest thing to do use the recipe program and then you can walk away until it’s finished.
Take soup for example: with a KitchenAid Professional on your counter top you can easily make blended soups without using extra pots, pans, and an immersion blender to whip it all up. All you need are cold ingredients, the thermal control jar, and the soup setting on your KitchenAid. Once you add your cold ingredients you can set it to soup, hit start, and wait.
Here’s one thing you won’t know about the KitchenAid Professional blender before you use it: at it’s highest speeds it runs really loud, and because it has to run at the highest speed to generate heat for the soup, it can sound a little like a jet engine taking off in your kitchen. Don’t worry though: during the five minutes it takes to make the soup it will dial down the speed a bit until it stops automatically.
The soup I made in my KitchenAid review video was a tomato basil, and although it wasn’t scalding hot like you’d get from a pot on the stove, the soup was hot and ready to eat. All you have to do is pour it into a bowl and you’re ready.
I had planned on doing French crepes for dinner one night last week, so I decided that I was going to make them in the KitchenAid Professional. I didn’t use a recipe program, but added all of the ingredients and hit blend. After pulsing for a few minute the batter was ready.
The best part? I made a mess in a single jar and that’s it. There was no extra bowls for batter, and all I had to do was pour straight into the pan on the stove and I was making crepes. You can see how I made them in my video, but here’s the recipe if you’d like to try them too:
Simple blender crepes
Recipe from Martha Stewart, but the photo is my own.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Directions
In a blender, combine flour, sugar, salt, milk, eggs, and butter.
Puree until mixture is smooth and bubbles form on top, about 30 seconds. Let batter sit at least 15 minutes at room temperature (or refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 1 day; whisk before using).
Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium. Lightly coat with butter. Add 1/3 cup batter and swirl to completely cover bottom of skillet. Cook until underside of crepe is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
Loosen edge of crepe with a rubber spatula, then with your fingertips, quickly flip. Cook 1 minute more. Slide crepe out of skillet and repeat with remaining batter. (Coat pan with butter as needed.)
Cleaning up the KitchenAid Blender
There are two ways you can clean a KitchenAid Professional blender. I recommend using both to get it sparkling clean, and to never put your hands in the thermal jar near the blade. Even wiping a cloth inside could result in you cutting your fingers.
The clean program on the blender will lift debris from the blades and the sides of the blender. All you have to do is add lukewarm, soapy water, turn to the clean setting, and watch the blender run for approximately 30 seconds.
Because the jar, lid, and plunger are dishwasher safe, you can dump out the dirty water and put your blender right in the dishwasher so it’s ready to use for another recipe.
Overall thoughts on the KitchenAid Professional
I’ve tried enough blenders over the past few years to know that a professional blender is not just another counter top blender. Professional blenders will never let you down when it comes to crushing ice, nuts, and frozen fruit, and once you realize how much you can rely on them, a blender like the KitchenAid can be your indispensable best friend in the kitchen.
The KitchenAid Professional blender is one that I’d put on my counter and use every single day. If you’d like a new blender to kick off a new year, you can’t go wrong with the KitchenAid Professional. Check it out on bestbuy.ca right now.
