If you fuel yourself with protein shakes, a good blender can make preparing them quick and easy. While you don't necessarily need a blender if you only use protein powder and water, the best protein shake blenders can crush ice, make a smooth blend with fruit, and are easy to clean when you're done. Personal blenders are a great option for preparing your pre- or post-workout snack, since you can blend right in the travel jar and take it on the go without making extra dishes. If you want to blend your shake at the gym or right after a run, consider a portable model. These battery-powered blenders have a motor base built right into a travel jar, so you can whip up a fresh shake anywhere.
We've tested more than 125 blenders, and below are our recommendations for the best blenders for protein shakes. If you're looking for a full-size blender, the best blenders for smoothies also work well for protein shakes. Of course, no one can live on protein shakes alone. Check out our recommendations for the best toasters if you're looking for the best way to prepare your morning carbs. If you need a compact way to prepare a crispy snack or a healthy meal, you might want to find space on your counter for one of the best small air fryers.
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Best Blender For Protein Shakes
Smoothies (Single Serving)9.2Ice Crushing7.3Build Quality7.5Jar Capacity3.0See all our test resultsNoise5.8The best blender for protein shakes we've tested is the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO. This personal blender comes with a pair of 24-ounce jars with resealable spout lids, so you can easily blend a shake and head out the door without pouring it into another bottle. It easily blends ice cubes and stubborn fibrous elements like kale into a virtually perfectly smooth mix. Its 'Smoothie Bowl Maker' jar is unique and can be helpful for preparing ice-heavy drinks or making homemade nut butter for your protein shakes. It features rotating arms that can stir your ingredients without requiring you to stop the machine, which isn't usually possible with personal blenders.
It's a very versatile but noisy blender. It has blending programs, so you can step away from the machine while it runs, but its high noise level can still get annoying. Once you're finished blending, however, it's very easy to clean. Overall, it's a fantastic pick for protein shakes that offers good performance for a range of other uses, and you can occasionally find it on sale for even less than our upper mid-range pick, the Beast GO Cordless.
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Best Upper Mid-Range Blender For Protein Shakes
Smoothies (Single Serving)8.4Ice Crushing5.9Build Quality8.0Jar Capacity2.7See all our test resultsNoise8.7If you want to blend a quick shake at the gym or during your lunch break, consider a portable blender like the Beast GO Cordless, our pick for the best protein shake blender at an upper mid-range price point. This sturdy blender comes with a 22-ounce jar that screws onto the motor base, so you can take the whole thing with you and mix up a shake when you need it most. Its lid has a carrying handle, or you can replace it with a straw lid for on-the-go sipping. Although it can't compete with a plug-in blender, like the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO, for ice crushing, you shouldn't have much trouble adding a few cubes to a protein shake. It does an excellent job blending tough ingredients like pineapple or mango, too, though you have to give the jar a shake partway through.
This blender has a very simple design, with just one button to control its functions: pressing the power button for two seconds starts a 30-second blending cycle, while repeatedly pressing and releasing it quickly allows you to pulse ingredients. Like most battery-powered blenders, it has a relatively short battery life, lasting for around a dozen 30-second blending cycles. It's amazingly quiet, which is a huge plus when you want to blend in a public space without disturbing others. Clean-up is reasonably easy, though it can be tough to reach into the small jar, and you have to be careful to avoid the sharp blades.
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Best Mid-Range Blender For Protein Shakes
Smoothies (Single Serving)8.0Ice Crushing5.1Build Quality8.0Jar Capacity2.1See all our test resultsNoise8.1The nutribullet Flip is another great option for blending on the go. This portable blender comes with a 20-ounce plastic jar or an insulated stainless steel jar, which helps keep your drink cold longer. Even the stainless steel variant is a little lighter than the Beast GO Cordless, making it easy to carry. Plus, it comes with a couple of options for enjoying your shake on the go: the motor base has a built-in drinking spout, or you can replace it with a straw lid if you prefer. It blends fibrous ingredients nearly as smoothly as the Beast, so it'll produce good results if your protein shake recipe includes fruit or leafy greens. While it's a mediocre ice crusher, it can handle a couple of cubes in a shake.
Like the Beast, you control this blender with just the power button: pressing it starts a 30-second blending cycle, and pressing it repeatedly simulates a pulse program. Its battery lasts about seven minutes, and you're not meant to use it for more than a minute at a time without letting the motor cool down. Additionally, since the blades are attached to the motor base, they can't be immersed in water, which makes cleaning somewhat challenging. Still, if you're looking for an easy and relatively quiet way to blend a fresh shake when you're out and about, it's a good option.
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Best Budget Blender For Protein Shakes
Smoothies (Single Serving)8.8Ice Crushing6.1Build Quality7.0Jar Capacity1.4See all our test resultsNoise6.8If you want a budget-friendly blender for protein shakes, consider the Ninja Fit. It has fewer features than the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO, making it less versatile, and it's not portable like the nutribullet Flip, so you can't use it to blend a fresh shake mid-run, but it has the essentials. It makes a smooth blend with a variety of recipes, so whether your usual shake is limited to ice, liquid, and powder or includes additions like fruit and leafy greens, it'll deliver consistent results. When you're finished blending, it's easy to bring a shake to go, since its two 16-ounce jars come with resealable lids.
This model is easy to clean by hand, and all of its components are dishwasher-safe. It doesn't have buttons or blending programs. Instead, you need to push down on the blender to keep it running, which can be annoying. If you want a blender with a more convenient design, the Magic Bullet Blender is a cheaper option with better controls. It's not as well-built or easy to clean by hand, and it only comes with one resealable lid for three jars. However, the jars lock into place on the base, so you can do something else while blending.
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Best Cheap Blender For Protein Shakes
Smoothies (Single Serving)7.2Ice Crushing1.0Build Quality6.0Jar Capacity1.4See all our test resultsNoise7.3The best cheap blender for protein shakes we've tested is the Beautiful Personal Blender. This simple blender is usually available for less than $40. It's small and easy to store in a cupboard or on a shelf. It blends fibrous ingredients like fruit, seeds, and leafy greens almost as smoothly as the Ninja Fit, allowing it to create a well-blended shake with most recipes. Plus, the jar locks into place on the motor base, so you don't need to keep your hand on it to keep blending. It comes with 16-ounce and 13.5-ounce jars, as well as some handy accessories like a grinding blade for coffee or spices, a shaker lid, and a lid with a built-in straw, so you can take your shake on the go.
The main drawback is that it can't process ice on its own, and while that's an annoying limitation, you can use it to crush ice as part of a protein shake recipe. That said, it's easy to clean, decently quiet, and very affordable.
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Best Full-Size Blender With Personal Jars For Protein Shakes
Smoothies (Single Serving)8.3Ice Crushing3.4Build Quality7.0Jar Capacity9.0See all our test resultsNoise7.0If you want the flexibility to make either a personal smoothie or a bigger batch for you and some friends, the nutribullet Blender Combo is a convenient choice. This relatively inexpensive blender isn't the most versatile, but if you're shopping for a blender specifically for protein shakes, it offers a good balance between performance and price. Like the Beautiful Personal Blender, it's not designed for crushing ice without liquid in the jar. However, it comes with a 64-ounce jar and a pair of 32-ounce personal jars, so it's well-suited for either big or small batches. Using any of its jars, it easily purees fibrous fruits and vegetables.
The personal jars come with resealable lids, allowing you to easily take your drink on the go. Its controls include a blending program for recipes like smoothies and shakes, so you don't have to stop the machine manually. However, it also offers limited speed adjustment; even the lowest blending speed is quite fast, which doesn't help when blending thicker recipes, such as nut butter. Still, if you're looking for a blender for protein shakes and other beverages, it's a good option that bundles full-size and personal jars together at a budget-friendly price.
Notable Mentions
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Beast Mini 600 Plus:
The Beast Mini Blender Plus is about the same price as the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO. It doesn't blend fibrous ingredients as well as the Ninja or the bigger Beast Health Blender, especially when working with small batches, and it struggles to crush ice on its own. However, it's much quieter than the Ninja.
See our review -
nutribullet Ultra:
The nutribullet Ultra is a more expensive option with a 32-ounce and 24-ounce jar, so it's a good choice if you want a larger jar capacity than the Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO offers. However, you can't use it to crush ice without liquid in the jar, and it doesn't blend fibrous ingredients quite as well as our top pick.
See our review
Recent Updates
Apr 02, 2026:
We reorganized this article to list our picks by price and added the Beast GO Cordless as our upper mid-range pick.
Nov 18, 2025:
We replaced the Magic Bullet Mini with the Beautiful Personal Blender as our 'Best Budget Blender For Protein Shakes,' as the former is mostly unavailable.
May 06, 2025:
We've made minor updates to the text and checked that our products are in stock, but our recommendations haven't changed.
Jan 29, 2025:
We've replaced the Ninja Blast with the nutribullet Flip as the 'Best Portable Blender For Protein Shakes' because the nutribullet offers a better blending performance.
Oct 30, 2024:
We've made updates to the text and removed the full-size pick to focus the list more on personal blenders.
All Reviews
Our recommendations are what we think are currently the best blenders for protein shakes for most people. 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 want to choose for yourself, here is the list of all our blender reviews, sorted by smoothie performance. 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.