Amazon Basics Hand Blender kit: Can a $35 hand blender really be any good?

Amazon Basics kit.

Hand blenders can be… handy. They can puree, whip, chop and generally make kitchen tasks easier. I like having a hand or immersion blender, but I got to wondering if you need an expensive brand name model, or if a budget version would still do just as well. I recently picked up the Amazon Basics Multi-Speed Immersion Hand Blender to test out. At about $35USD it’s crazily low priced so I wanted to see if it’s really any good. I’ll tell you what you get, how well it works, what the parts are best for, and if I can recommend it for you.

What’s in the Box?

There’s the motor handle and main immersion blender attachment, plus a whisk. There’s a separate chopper bowl, like a mini food processor which is powered by the motor handle.

The accessories consist a beaker that can hold about a liter but you can really only fill it partway to avoid splashing.

This hand blender is corded and needs to be plugged in to operate. The power cord for the unit is six feet long, so you should be able to use it wherever you need it within your kitchen.

I was interested in this hand blender because it’s very well-rated for the price, with very few negatives from buyers. Let’s take a look at what you get and how the parts work…

Immersion blender

The mixer is about 16 inches in height with the blending attachment on. The handgrip has two buttons, a simple power on/off button, and a turbo button for higher-speed operations. The top of the unit has a dial to determine the blending speed.

I will say this dial configuration means you can’t really adjust the speed while it’s in use; you need one hand to operate it and the other to hold your bowl or beaker, so it’s not really possible. You need to stop to make adjustments.

When it comes to the main blending attachment, it can be used to mix or blend soups, milkshakes, smoothies, dressings and other liquids. You can use it for making hummus or reintegrating peanut butter.

When I used it on an herby dressing, it created a nice smooth finished product. Similarly on a thick peanut sauce, it did a great job without me having to endlessly whisk my sauce. I will make a note here on that though that the sticky sauce got pretty stuck up in the immersion cup.
The blender attachment is quite domed and it’s really hard to get in there to clean stuff out.

With most hand blenders, you can fill a jar with warm soapy water to clean the attachments easily, but this wasn’t enough.

Since the outer diameter of the blade is under 2.5 inches, you can fit the Hand Blender in most cups, mugs, pots, and pans. Unlike some other hand blenders, there’s no blade guard so you will need to take care to avoid scratching any pots or pans you put it in. If you’re using a softer plastic bowl, you’ll need to be careful that you’re not placing the blades against the plastic itself.

Chopping bowl

The chopper is handy for making dips, or anything you want to keep contained. I tried it on a variety of dressings including a Caesar with anchovy fillets, and it was able to incorporate them smoothly.

I will note the blade and lid assembly don’t fit together easily on their own. Because the blade sits on a small pin, and it held down with the pressure of the lid, it’s a bit awkward to get it seated.

This chopper is also ideal for things like chopping or grinding more rigid food like nuts, or hard cheeses, and it makes really quick work of veggies like onions and peppers for omelettes or recipes.

Whisk attachment

The Amazon Basics hand blender kit comes with a whisk that can be used for folding air into whipping cream, eggs, etc. It did a great job on whipped cream, egg whites for meringue pie and with deviled egg filling.

Cleanup

It was easy to use and easy to clean up. All the parts except for the motor are dishwasher safe.

Notably, Amazon recommends not exceeding two minutes of use with a resting period of two minutes between. While I’m a bit surprised by this, I can’t think of a time when I needed to blend for longer than 2 minutes, so it’s probably not an issue.

Overall review: Amazon Basics Immersion blender kit

Overall, this is a great budget hand blender kit. It has all the attachment you’ll need for many common kitchen tasks., it’s effective and efficient and there wasn’t much it couldn’t handle.

Downsides? There’s no pan guard so you’ll need to be careful with scratching, and the very domed immersion attachment can be hard to get clean. The chopper bowl can also be difficult to seat cleanly. But these are kind of minor annoyances only. They don’t detract a lot from its overall effectiveness.

But if you’re looking for a very inexpensive hand blender kit, this is a solid pick and even its downsides don’t detract from it too much..(pause)
It sells for an absurdly low $35USD.

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