Vitamix 6500 review 4

If you love blending fresh fruits and frozen treats into delicious, healthy snacks and meals for you or your family, then this is a review that you need to read. The Vitamix 6500 blender comes with a 1.9L container and a powerful, long-lasting 1,500-watt motor that’s going to blow you away.

What’s in the box of the Vitamix 6500 blender?

In the box of the Vitamix 6500 blender, you’ll first find the blender base, which is heavy and sits securely on the countertop. (No need to hold your blender down from the top when it comes to Vitamix.) The 6500’s base comes packed next to the its 1.9L BPA-free Tritan plastic container (that’s the brand’s 64 oz “Classic” size), which has a silicone lid and a Tritan lid plug.

You’ll also find a “Getting Started Guide,” a giant cookbook, and a plastic tamper in this box. This blender’s power cord is stored neatly in its base using flexible, non-removable cord organization clips.

Vitamix 6500 what's in the box

Vitamix 6500 blender features

The Vitamix 6500 is an awesome choice if you just want something simple. This is my kind of blender: No bells, whistles, or fragile parts. The 6500 is a purely analog machine, with a physical speed dial and two switches. Its Tritan plastic components are beautiful and durable—it’s honestly one of my first-choice materials when it comes to kitchenware. Well-made Tritan plastic, like the kind Vitamix uses, is super strong and haa a bright, brilliant finish that I find stays looking brand new for years.

The speed dial on this blender offers intensity settings of 1-10 if you turn it clockwise. However, if you turn it anticlockwise, it offers three preset functions:

  • Smoothies
  • Frozen desserts
  • Hot soups

To the left and right of the dial, you’ll find a pulse switch and a start/stop switch. Vitamix recommends that you use a combination of the variable speed control and pulse features to refine any texture, giving you the ability to blend just a little for the perfect, chunky salsa or a lot for a hot, fresh, puréed soup.

The Vitamix 6500 comes with a 1.9L BPA-free container made from Tritan plastic. It’s the brand’s soft-grip product, with a handle and lid that you’ll notice are different from the rest of the line.

Vitamix 6500 review 7

What you can make in the Vitamix 6500

I know well by this point in my life what I want to be making in the kitchen. I want to make a lot of cold, healthy smoothies and frozen yogurt treats with fruits and vegetables. This blender can do that easily on a preset function and I don’t even have to worry about timing it or turning it off. I also want to make a lot of hot soups that don’t go on the stove. This blender can do that, too. Finally, on Saturday mornings, I want to blend a perfect, lump-free crêpe batter. The Vitamix 6500 stand blender can do that for me, too.

Here are a few samples recipes from Vitamix that I think sound particularly delicious:

  • Breakfast zinger juice
  • Apricot-ancho barbecue glaze
  • Pomegranate rye cocktails
  • Apricot, carrot, ginger, and fennel juice
  • Pear mango avocado baby food (honestly, kind of want to try this one as a smoothie)
  • Pumpkin walnut spread
  • Acorn squash and turmeric soup
  • Chicken potato spinach soup

Vitamix 6500 quick start guide

What I made in the Vitamix 6500 blender

I’ve mostly made frozen smoothies with this blender so far. For this review, however, I wanted to make a point of using recipes from Vitamix’s own cookbook. The cookbook that comes with this blender is full of photos and recipes. You can make every single one using your 6500.

I pulled an asparagus and cashew soup recipe from the Vitamix cookbook and it was ridiculously good (and so easy, too!). I didn’t have to pre-cook any ingredients and I already had everything I needed on hand. From start to finish, my soup took less than seven minutes including time to wash my asparagus spears. It made enough to serve five with leftovers for all of us.

Just think about that for a second: seven minutes. I made and cooked an entire fresh soup (that honestly tasted pretty fancy) in less time than it would have taken me to make boxed macaroni and cheese.

I also made a little bit of fresh strawberry milk in this blender, just to live out my summer drink dreams. The way it turned out really changed how I viewed my experience with this blender—in a great way.

Vitamix 6500 asparagus cashew soup

My experience with the Vitamix 6500

The Vitamix 6500 is the perfect blender for someone who wants a lot of control and doesn’t need a lot of preset functions. I’m not joking when I say that I feel like it’s my perfect blender. It’s ridiculously powerful, easy to care for, and easy to use. Its functions make perfect sense, each dial and lever turns or flicks with satisfying pressure, and the machine has a separate power switch that faces down and illuminates when in the “on” position. Even the lightweight plastic tamper feels great to use, with a back-end stopper that’ll prevent it from ever touching your Vitamix blades.

I was blown away by how creamy and smooth my Vitamix hot soup was, but my strawberry milk was awesome, too. You know how you usually make smoothies or juices with fresh or frozen berries and then you’re left with little bits of pulp and seeds? In a Vitamix, you can choose to just… not have that happen. There was no settling nut milk from my blended cashews; no crunchy seeds from my strawberries.

On slower or shorter settings, sure, there’ll be a bit of texture to your final product. That’s normal, and you can choose your Vitamix setting to produce or not produce that. But I even put my milk through a sieve when it was done and there was simply nothing to strain out. It was so smooth; so creamy; so sweet and fragrant from my fresh strawberries and just a tiny dollop of honey. And when I finished blending it, it was vividly pink and still nice and cold.

Vitamix 6500 strawberry milk

What makes Vitamix blenders special? 

Here’s a fun fact: Vitamix blenders were designed to be more than just a blender. They were first marketed as a health product—one with the ability to help you and your family enjoy whole, healthy produce in your meals. Over the years, the brand branched out to produce blenders that each prioritize freezing smoothies, mixing ice cream, warming soups, self-cleaning, and more.

The core of the brand, however, has really stayed the same. These machines are all about giving you and your family more ways to consume a balanced diet. Personally, I find that the Vitamix brand ethos translates into a noticeably high-quality blender. I notice higher quality blades and motors that help you get the most out of every piece of produce, and even the blenders’ switches and knobs feel different from everything else on the market. Vitamix blenders feel special because they just work so well. They’re essentially a commercial-grade product sitting in the comfort of your home kitchen—powerful and slick.

With a “hot soup” function like the Vitamix 6500 has, you can actually purée and cook certain soups right in the machine. There’s no heating element. Instead, Vitamix uses intense, sustained speed to cook your ingredients through friction. It’s a really handy, unique feature that Vitamix is well-known for. To find out what kind of soups you can fully cook in a Vitamix, refer to the brand’s included cookbook or online recipes—some recipes will have you cook or bake ingredients on the stovetop or in the oven; others will direct you to place them right into the blender.

Vitamix 6500 review 5

Final thoughts

If you’ve been considering adding a Vitamix to your kitchen, I think the 6500 is a great model to choose. It’s well-made, easy to use, and does a stellar job of pretty much anything you could ask it to do. With a 1.9L container, it’s large enough to make treats and meals for an entire group or family, and handy measuring lines on the side of the container help streamline your food prep process even more.

The Vitamix 6500 belnder is a pricy small appliance, but in terms of value for money, I think it delivers very well. Make sure to keep it in mind for morning juices and smoothies, after-school snacks, dinnertime soups and sauces, and frozen margaritas and daiquiris on the weekend.

Shop the Vitamix 6500 stand blender online at Best Buy today.

Rae Chen
Rae Chen
http://thenotice.net
Rae Chen covers everything from handbags to speakers here on the Best Buy Plug-in Blog. They can also be found at thenotice.net, where they've been writing about beauty & wellness since 2007.
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481 COMMENTS

  4. My top 3 things that I would make with the Vitamix would be:

    1. NUT BUTTERS.. Cashew, Honey roasted Peanut, and Almond with Maple Syrup
    2. SLUSHY Cocktails & Mocha Frappuccinos
    3. DIPS .. Pesto and Hummus

  6. I would make cream of potato and leek soup, strawberry and banana smoothie, and fresh peanut butter.

  12. I would say the top 3 things I’d make with a blender would be smoothies, soups and milkshakes! 🙂

  15. The top 3 things I can’t wait to make are:

    1. My mom’s famous pasta sauce. Yummm.
    2. Homemade dips.
    3. Get my smoothie on!

  17. My top 3 things to make are:
    1. Pureed beans or curried dahl
    2. Cream of Broccoli soup
    3. Mango oatmeal smoothie

  18. The top 3 things I would make are curried butternut squash soup, fresh fish paste to make fish balls and my favourite mixed berry oatmeal smoothie!

  20. I would love to use the Vitamix 6500 blender to make my top 3 favourite foods: Chinese Black Sesame dessert puree, Hummus and fresh soy bean milk from soybeans.

  23. I would love to make milkshakes, soup, and vegan spaghetti sauce with this fabulous blender

  24. I would make Smoothies, milkshakes and fresh salsa with this wonderful blender

  26. The top 3 things I would make would be cream of broccoli soup, a kale smoothie and non-alcoholic margaritas.

  27. I would make lots of different soups, smoothies and my own peanut butter that is dog friendly!

  28. First of all I would make pureed Soups…I haven’t found a better way to use up all the extra veggies each week. It would be great.
    Secondly smoothies- with teens in the house smoothies and protein drinks are a must
    Finally hummus and healthy dips! Helps the vegetables go down!

  29. I would use the blender to make smoothies, hummus (I love hummus!) and to blend up fresh salad dressings.

  31. Would like to make the chicken potato and spinach soup mentioned above – along with my favourite strawberry,banana ,raspberry smoothie – and different variations of hummus which I have just started making.

  35. I would definitely make mixed berry smoothies with mixed berry yogurt and a dash of milk, homemade salsa…would need my sister’s recipe and chicken noodle soup for my husband.

  36. My top 3 to make would be vegetable soups, smoothies, and customized bread crumb mixtures.

  38. With a Vitamix, I would make a curried potato soup, chickpea & peanut hummus and a nutritional green smoothie (yogurt, spinach, apple). Thanks!

  39. my 3 choices that I would make would be a fruity pineapple, cream and coconut juice smoothie, a spicy and comforting puree’d mashed potato and chili soup served still hot, and my final choice would be making up a batch of dad’s “does it all” marinade, a summer favorite!

  43. The top three things I’d like to make with a Vitamix blender, Caesar salad dressing, smoothies and hot soups

  46. If I owned a Vitamix blender I would make almond milk 1st , then 2nd I would make a strawberry smoothie and 3rd I would make homemade applesauce.

  48. I would love to make more soups and I think with this machine it would be so easy. I love ice cream so would like to try to make some more healthy ice creams with this machine. Another thing I would like to make is healthy smoothies.

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