Whether you like ice 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. These blenders should also be able to break down frozen fruit and veggies into a cold, silky smoothie.
We've tested over 120 blenders, and below are our recommendations for the best options for making frozen drinks. If you're looking for more blenders, check out our recommendations for the best blenders for crushing ice, the best blenders for smoothies, the best immersion blenders, and the best blenders.
The Vitamix A3500 is the best blender for frozen drinks that we've tested. This high-end blender makes quick work of big batches of ice cubes with its 'Frozen Drinks' blending program. Using its 48oz jar, it quickly crushes a dozen ice cubes into snow-like crushed ice for cocktails and frozen drinks. It also makes a nearly perfectly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients, so it can make very well-blended frozen drinks with fruit like pineapple or strawberries.
It's very well-built, which is especially important if you blend a lot of hard ingredients like ice cubes. It's decently quiet, easy to clean by hand, and comes with dishwasher-safe components. However, it's an expensive option, and you can find cheaper blenders that crush ice just as well. If your frozen drink recipes mostly include ice and liquid, and you don't care as much about performance with other types of recipes or build quality, you might prefer a cheaper option below.
The Breville The Q is a great upper mid-range option if you want something less expensive with comparable performance. It's not quite as well-built as the Vitamix A3500 and doesn't perform quite as well for some purposes, like blending smaller batches of ingredients for recipes like single-serve smoothies. However, it makes very uniform, snow-like crushed ice in its 68oz pitcher. The 'Ice Crush/Auto Pulse' blending program makes it a very easy process, although the Vitamix can do it a bit faster.
It makes a nearly perfectly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients, so it's a good choice for fruit-based frozen drinks and smoothies. This blender is decently quiet, like the previous pick, and even easier to clean by hand since the jar's wide base makes it easy to reach under the blades.
The 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 the previous 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 72oz jar that can be used for multiple servings and 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.
The 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 72oz 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.
If 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 makes a smooth blend with fibrous elements like blueberry skin, so your frozen drink will be free of unprocessed bits and grains. It's sturdy and offers a few automatic blending programs. Unfortunately, it's the loudest blender on this list, which will get annoying if you use it to make several batches in a row.
The Blendtec Designer 725 makes snow-like ice almost as quickly as the Vitamix A3500. If you plan to make frozen drinks at parties, you might prefer its bigger 90oz jar. However, its maximum liquid capacity is 36oz. It also struggles to blend thicker recipes like nut butter smoothly, which isn't a big deal for frozen drinks, but the Vitamix is a better choice if you want a versatile machine.
See our reviewThe Vitamix Venturist Pro has a similar blending performance to the Vitamix A3500. 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-serves smoothies and other drinks.
See our reviewThe Vitamix 7500's metal-wrapped motor base gives it a more premium build quality than the Vitamix A3500, 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. It's also not quite as versatile overall, but you might prefer it for its simplicity or somewhat lower price point.
See our reviewWe've made minor updates to the text for clarity and made sure that the products are available.
We've made minor updates to the text and checked that the products are in stock. However, our recommendations have remained unchanged.
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.
May 14, 2024 : Added the Vitamix Propel 750 as an alternative to the Vitamix 7500 since it's close to the same price and has automatic blending programs.
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.