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 125 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 for crushing ice, the best blenders for smoothies, the best immersion blenders, and the best blenders.
Quick Look
We've tested more than 125 blenders since 2020. We always buy our own products from major retailers, just like you, to keep our reviews independent and unbiased. Each blender goes through the same set of tests, so you can easily compare models, regardless of price or features. We keep the blenders we test even after the review is published, so we can go back and retest them to answer questions from our users.
Check out our How We Test Blenders article to learn more about our purchasing, testing, and writing procedures.
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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 WThe Breville The Q is a great upper mid-range option if you want something less expensive with comparable performance. 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 some extra time and effort to blend small batches, but large batches blend quickly with little 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 WThe Ninja Detect Power Blender Pro is the best blender we've tested for margaritas and other frozen drinks in the mid-range price bracket. Using its 'BlendSense' automatic program, it can crush a big batch of ice very quickly, making it a great option for frozen drinks like slushies. That said, it's not as versatile as our pricier picks. It doesn't blend fibrous ingredients as smoothly, so recipes with fruit will have more unprocessed bits left over.
It comes with a 72-ounce jar that can be used for multiple servings, and it has a lid with a pouring spout, so you can easily serve blended margaritas or slushies from the pitcher without spilling. However, it's louder than the Breville The Q. Its spiral blade design 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. This blender easily makes snow-like crushed ice in its 72-ounce jar, and like the previous pick, it comes with a lid with a pouring spout. The downside is that it doesn't blend fibrous ingredients as smoothly, so recipes like fruit won't come out as smooth.
It has simple controls, with a few manual blending speeds and a pulse mode, but no automatic blending programs. If you want a blender that stops at the end of a blending cycle, you might prefer the Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ, which has an almost identical design with the addition of a 'Smoothie' blending program. However, it's mainly available at Costco (U.S.), so it's not as easy to get your hands on.
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Best Small Blender For Frozen Drinks
Ice Crushing7.4Smoothies (Single Serving)8.4Smoothies (Multiple Servings)7.6Professional Use6.6Main Jar Capacity34.0 oz (1,006 ml)See all our test resultsPower1,100 WIf you like making frozen drinks for a crowd at summer parties, you may want a blender with a large-capacity pitcher, like the other full-size blenders listed here. On the other hand, if you're not usually serving a lot of people or want to save space in your kitchen, the Ninja TWISTi High-Speed Blender DUO is the best small blender for frozen drinks we've tested. In terms of size, it's between a full-size blender and a personal blender. Its 34-ounce main jar can fit enough to serve one or two people and easily crushes ice for recipes like blended margaritas and slushies. There's also a personal jar included if you want to make a smaller batch.
The lid has arms built into it that you can rotate to stir your recipe as it blends. This 'built-in tamper' feature can make it easier to process thicker mixtures, like drinks with a lot of ice or frozen fruit like strawberries. This blender also produces a smooth blend with fibrous elements like mango or pineapple, ensuring your frozen drink is free of unprocessed bits and grains. It's sturdy and offers a few automatic blending programs. Unfortunately, it's loud, which will get annoying if you use it to make several batches in a row.
Notable Mentions
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Blendtec Designer 725:
The Blendtec Designer 725 makes snow-like ice just as easily as the Blendtec Classic 575. It makes a slightly less smooth blend with big batches, but it also comes with a 24-ounce personal jar, which you might prefer if you plan to make single-serve frozen drinks.
See our review -
Vitamix Venturist Pro:
The Vitamix Venturist Pro has a similar blending performance to the Breville The Q. The motor base's metal shell gives it a better overall build quality, but it doesn't perform as well for some purposes, like blending small batches of ingredients for single-serve drinks.
See our review -
Vitamix 7500:
The Vitamix 7500's metal-wrapped motor base gives it a more premium build quality than the Breville The Q, and it easily makes snow-like crushed ice. Its controls aren't quite as convenient since it doesn't have automatic blending programs, and you must manually pulse.
See our review
Recent Updates
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.
Aug 05, 2024: Added the Ninja SMOOTHIEiQ as an alternative to the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 with more convenient controls.
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.