Whether you like slushies or margaritas, a blender that can crush ice into a fine texture is necessary for the perfect frozen drink. Although some blenders struggle with ice, since it can get caught under the blades, others can make snow-like ice with an evenly processed crush. The best blenders for frozen drinks should also be able to break down frozen fruit and other ingredients into a cold, silky smoothie.
We've tested over 130 blenders, and below are our recommendations for the best options for making frozen drinks. If you're looking for more to consider, check out our recommendations for the best blenders, the best blenders for crushing ice, or the best blenders for smoothies.
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Best Blender for Frozen Drinks
Ice Crushing9.6Smoothies (Single Serving)8.8Smoothies (Multiple Servings)9.7Professional Use7.7Main Jar Capacity90.0 oz (2,662 ml)See all our test resultsPower1,560 WThe Blendtec Classic 575 is the best blender for frozen drinks that we've tested. This high-end blender makes quick work of big batches of ice cubes. In its large 90-ounce jar, it quickly crushes a dozen ice cubes into snow-like crushed ice for cocktails and frozen drinks. It makes a nearly perfectly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients, so it can make very well-blended frozen drinks with fruit like pineapple or strawberries. Plus, it works quickly, and without the need to stop and scrape the sides of the jar, so you can make garnishes or fetch frosty glasses while your frozen drinks come together.
This blender is very easy to clean, which is important if you're making multiple batches or using sticky ingredients. It's decently well-built, too, but it's a loud option, even for a blender.
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Best Upper Mid-Range Blender For Frozen Drinks
Ice Crushing9.6Smoothies (Single Serving)8.9Smoothies (Multiple Servings)9.5Professional Use9.2Main Jar Capacity68.0 oz (2,011 ml)See all our test resultsPower1,800 WIf you don't need quite as much capacity, consider the Breville The Q, our pick for the best upper mid-range blender for frozen smoothies, milkshakes, and pina coladas. It makes fluffy, snow-like ice quickly and easily with its 'Ice Crush/Auto-Pulse' mode, and its 68-ounce pitcher can handle anything from a single-serve slushie to a party-sized pitcher of piña coladas. It makes a nearly perfectly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients, so it's an excellent choice for fruit-based frozen drinks and smoothies. Compared to the Blendtec Classic 575, it takes a bit more time and effort to blend small batches, but large batches blend quickly with minimal intervention.
This blender is well-built, with a sturdy metal base, and it's easy to clean by hand since the jar's wide base makes it easy to reach under the blades. It's decently quiet, too, for a blender, though crushing ice will always create extra noise. If you're having trouble finding this model in stock, you can purchase it directly from the Breville website.
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Best Mid-Range Blender For Frozen Drinks
Ice Crushing9.7Smoothies (Single Serving)7.7Smoothies (Multiple Servings)8.4Professional Use7.6Main Jar Capacity72.0 oz (2,129 ml)See all our test resultsPower1,200 WIf you don't use many fibrous fruits, like pineapple and mango, in your frozen blends, the Ninja Detect Power Blender Pro is a solid choice at a mid-range price. It's not as versatile as the pricier picks above, since it doesn't blend fibrous ingredients as smoothly. Still, while you may have to run its automatic 'BlendSense' program twice and deal with some unprocessed bits in your strawberry or peach slushie, it delivers impressive smooth blends overall. Using the BlendSense, it can crush a big batch of ice very quickly, making it a great option for last-minute margaritas or frozen lemonade.
It comes with a 72-ounce jar with enough space for multiple servings, and it has a lid with a pouring spout, so you can easily serve blended drinks straight from the pitcher without spilling. However, it's louder than the Breville The Q. Its spiral blade design also makes cleaning it by hand annoying. The blades are very sharp, so you must be careful not to cut yourself. That said, all of its components are dishwasher-safe.
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Best Budget Blender For Frozen Drinks
Ice Crushing9.5Smoothies (Single Serving)7.3Smoothies (Multiple Servings)7.8Professional Use7.2Main Jar Capacity72.0 oz (2,129 ml)See all our test resultsPower1,000 WThe Ninja Professional Blender 1000 is the best budget blender for frozen drinks that we've tested. Using its pulse mode, this blender easily makes snow-like crushed ice in its 72-ounce jar, and, like the Ninja Detect Power Blender Pro, it has a pouring spout. So, making and serving frozen drinks with ingredients like juice, simple syrup, coffee, or milk is a breeze. The downside is that it takes much more effort to blend fibrous ingredients, like orange or clementine segments, and it doesn't blend them as uniformly, so recipes with fresh fruit won't turn out as silky, though they're still decently smooth.
While crushing ice is never quiet, this blender makes less noise than most, which is helpful if you want to make frozen cocktails for a party without completely drowning out the music. It can be tricky to clean, though, since it has sharp blades and a few hard-to-reach tight spots. Running it with soap and water can help, but it's not ideal for making multiple batches back-to-back.
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Best Cheap Blender for Frozen Drinks
Ice Crushing6.6Smoothies (Single Serving)8.4Smoothies (Multiple Servings)7.7Professional Use7.8Main Jar Capacity48.0 oz (1,420 ml)See all our test resultsPower900 WIf you're looking for a blender that can make frozen drinks at a truly affordable price, consider the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar. Although this option can't compete with the picks above when it comes to crushing ice, it can still make small batches of bar-quality ice with about six ice cubes in its 48-ounce glass jar. On the other hand, it outperforms the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 when blending fibrous ingredients, easily making smooth blends with fresh fruits like kiwis or apples.
As the name suggests, this model is impressively quiet, though adding ice to your blends will always make more noise. The controls are fairly simple, but with a pulse mode and a dedicated 'Icy Drink' program, it's easy to whip up a batch of strawberry daiquiris or root beer slushies. It's exceptionally easy to clean, too, with removable blades and no difficult-to-reach spots.
Notable Mentions
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Blendtec Total Blender Classic:
The Blendtec Total Blender Classic is a good alternative to the Blendtec Classic 575. It doesn't blend fibrous ingredients quite as smoothly in small batches and it's louder, but it offers similar performance otherwise, and it comes with an optional 'Twister Jar' that helps with thick blends like nut butter.
See our review -
Vitamix Propel 750:
The Vitamix Propel 750 is a fantastic option if you don't need the Blendtec Classic 750's large 90-ounce capacity. It still has a respectable 64-ounce capacity, offers similar ice crushing performance, and is almost as good at blending fibrous ingredients. Plus, it has a sturdier build.
See our review -
Vitamix 5200:
The Vitamix 5200 is another superb alternative to the Blendtec Classic 750. It can't crush as much ice in one go, and it takes a little longer to blend tough ingredients, but it offers better build quality and multi-purpose performance, since it can easily make thick blends like almond butter or hummus.
See our review -
Breville the Super Q BBL920:
The Breville the Super Q BBL920 is a higher end, more feature rich version of the Breville the Q. It has a better build quality, comes with a personal jar, and makes smoother blends with small batches of fibrous ingredients, but it's also significantly pricier.
See our review
Recent Updates
Mar 31, 2026:
We replaced the 'Best Small Blender for Frozen Drinks' category with 'Best Cheap Blender for Frozen Drinks' in order to list all our picks by price, and added the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar to the new category. We also removed the Blendtec Designer 725, Vitamix Venturist Pro, and Vitamix 7500 from our Notable Mentions, as they're unavailable, but added the Blendtec Total Blender Classic and the Breville the Super Q BBL920, since they're good alternatives to our top picks.
Nov 18, 2025:
We replaced the discontinued Vitamix A3500 with the Blendtec 575 as our 'Best Blender For Frozen Drinks.'
Apr 30, 2025:
We've made minor updates to the text for clarity and made sure that the products are available.
Jan 29, 2025:
We've made minor updates to the text and checked that the products are in stock. However, our recommendations have remained unchanged.
Oct 29, 2024:
We've replaced the Vitamix 7500 with the Vitamix A3500 because that model's automatic blending programs make it easier to use for crushing ice. We added the Breville The Q as the upper mid-range pick because its price has recently decreased, and it offers a better overall performance.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best blenders for margaritas, slushies, and other frozen drinks for most people in each price range. We factor in the price (a cheaper blender wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no blenders that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you would like to choose for yourself, here is the list of all our blender reviews, sorted by their performance in crushing ice. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no blender is perfect, most blenders are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you look for them.