The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is a corded immersion blender with a five-speed dial. It comes with a variety of blades and accessories, including an 's-blade' for ice crushing and a food processing bowl with its own blade assembly. There's also a beaker you can use for blending. These accessories can all be stored in a plastic case that comes included, and all of the blender's components are dishwasher-safe.
Our Verdict
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is okay for multi-purpose use. It can hot blend and offers more versatility than most immersion blenders, thanks to its various included accessories and blades. It can crush ice and make smooth, spreadable nut butter without too much effort on your part. There's also a frother/beater blade assembly for making milk foam or mixing batter. However, it struggles to fully blend fibrous ingredients like kale or broccoli, so it may not produce a completely smooth soup or sauce, depending on your recipe.
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Okay for crushing ice.
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Hot blends.
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Comes with many attachments and accessories.
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Somewhat plasticky build.
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Doesn't fully blend fibrous ingredients.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender isn't good for single-serve smoothies. It comes with a beaker you can use for blending that's a convenient size for a smoothie, but it struggles to fully blend common additions like leafy greens or blueberries. It's also annoying to use for smoothies since you'll be blending for a long time. That said, as long as you use the dedicated 's-blade', it can crush ice cubes, which isn't always the case for immersion blenders.
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Okay for crushing ice.
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Somewhat plasticky build.
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Doesn't fully blend fibrous ingredients.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is mediocre for multiple servings of smoothies. Since it's an immersion blender, you can blend in your own pitcher, which allows you to make big batches. However, it's slow to blend bigger batches of fibrous ingredients, and even if you blend for several minutes, it doesn't fully liquify leafy greens or fruit skin. Fortunately, it can crush ice if you use the 's-blade' assembly. It's also quiet when it's running.
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Dishwasher-safe.
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Okay for crushing ice.
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Somewhat plasticky build.
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Doesn't fully blend fibrous ingredients.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is good for crushing ice. It's fairly sturdy and has an extra set of blades meant for crushing ice. The blade guard is big enough to allow the blades to reach the ice cubes, and it makes fairly uniform crushed ice. It takes a minute or two and leaves behind some unprocessed chunks, though.
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Dishwasher-safe.
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Okay for crushing ice.
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Somewhat plasticky build.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is excellent for making soups. Since it's an immersion blender, it's meant for processing hot ingredients directly in a pot or pan. It has a range of speed settings, so you can start at a lower speed and ramp up, and isn't very loud when it's running. However, if your recipe includes stubborn fibrous ingredients like kale or broccoli, it won't make a smooth blend. It's less of an issue with softer elements like cooked potatoes or carrots.
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Dishwasher-safe.
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Hot blends.
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Doesn't fully blend fibrous ingredients.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is good for professional use. It comes with plenty of different attachments and accessories, which helps make it more suitable for making nut butter and crushed ice compared to many immersion blenders. However, it's not ideal if you want smoothly blended soups or smoothies since it struggles to fully process fibrous ingredients. It's fairly well-built, but for daily use, you might want something with a more premium, durable-feeling build.
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Dishwasher-safe.
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Hot blends.
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Comes with many attachments and accessories.
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Somewhat plasticky build.
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Doesn't fully blend fibrous ingredients.
- 6.5 Multi-Purpose
- 5.4 Smoothies (Single Serving)
- 6.0 Smoothies (Multiple Servings)
- 7.6 Ice Crushing
- 8.5 Soups
- 7.7 Professional Use
- Updated Mar 15, 2023: Updated text to match Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Feb 27, 2023: Updated the result for jar capacity to N/A, because immersion blenders are meant for blending in your own container like a pot or pan.
- Updated Sep 16, 2022: Added a note that the newly-reviewed Ninja Foodi Power Mixer System has a sturdier build quality.
- Updated Aug 30, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Jul 06, 2021: Review published.
- Updated Jun 29, 2021: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender KHB2561 is available in a few colors: 'Coco Silver', 'Onyx Black', and 'Contour Silver'. We tested the 'Contour Silver' variant, and you can see the label for the unit we tested here.
There's also a model KHB2571 variant that comes with the same accessories, plus a 13" blending arm. We don't know how the length may affect the blender's performance; otherwise, we expect our results to be valid for that variant as well if you use the 8" blending arm. If you come across another variant or your blender is different, please let us know in the discussions below, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is a corded hand blender with many extra accessories. Unlike most immersion blenders, it comes apart in two places. The blending arm detaches from the motor body for easier cleaning or when you want to use the whisk attachment. The bell-shaped blade assembly also comes apart from the blending arm, allowing you to use the other blade assemblies for different purposes, like ice crushing and milk frothing. However, compared to models with similar accessories, like the Breville Control Grip or the Ninja Foodi Power Mixer System, it makes a grainy blend with fibrous fruits and vegetables.
If you want to see other options, check out our lists of the best immersion blenders, the best budget blenders, and the best blenders.
The Ninja Foodi Power Mixer System is better for most purposes than the KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender. It's sturdier, easier to clean, and makes a smoother puree of fibrous ingredients. It converts into a hand mixer and comes with a whisk. On the other hand, the KitchenAid comes with an additional blade that you can use for ice crushing and comes with a food processing bowl. It's also quieter.
The Braun MultiQuick 9 is better than the KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender for most purposes. The Braun is much sturdier and makes smoother blends with fibrous ingredients like kale, so it's a better choice if you make a lot of soups or smoothies. On the other hand, the KitchenAid comes more attachments, including an 's-blade' for ice crushing and a food processing bowl with its own blade assembly.
The KitchenAid Variable Speed Corded Hand Blender is better than the KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender for most purposes. The Variable Speed makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients, which is important for well-blended smoothies and soups. It's also quieter when it's running. However, the KitchenAid comes with more attachments for different purposes, which helps make it better for ice-crushing and making nut butter.
The KitchenAid KHBBV53 and the KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender have different strengths. The KHBBV53 is cordless, which you might prefer, and it can produce a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients, so it makes better-blended soups and smoothies. However, the 5-Speed comes a lot of accessories and attachments, including a food processing bowl and an 's-blade' assembly that helps it do a better job of crushing ice than most immersion blenders.
The NutriBullet Immersion Blender and the KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender have different strengths. The NutriBullet is a more basic immersion blender that doesn't come with many accessories. It has a better build quality and makes a smoother puree with fibrous ingredients like kale or broccoli, meaning you may prefer it for soups or smoothies. The KitchenAid comes with several jars and blades to help with different cooking tasks. There's a food processing bowl that makes it easier to use for nut butter and an additional blade assembly that helps it crush ice. It also comes with a whisk, a frother/beater attachment, and a jar you can use for blending.
The Bamix Mono M133 and the KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender have different strengths. The KitchenAid makes a smoother blend with fibrous ingredients, so it can produce silkier smoothies or soups. It comes with a food processor bowl that makes it much better for making dips and spreads like nut butter. There are also a few different blade assemblies, including an 's-blade' for ice crushing, which most immersion blenders can't really do. On the other hand, the Bamix is a much sturdier, quieter blender, so you might prefer it if you're just looking for a straightforward hand blender.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender and the All-Clad KZ750DGT have different strengths. The All-Clad makes a smoother blend with stubborn ingredients like kale and broccoli, so it's better for recipes like soups and smoothies. However, the KitchenAid is sturdier, quieter, and more versatile, since it comes with a variety of accessories, including a food processing bowl and a blade assembly for frothing milk or mixing batter.
Test Results
It's a compact immersion blender with a long blending shaft that you can use to blend directly in pots and pans. It'll easily fit in most kitchen drawers when not in use, and the shaft is detachable for easier storage.
It has an okay build quality. The blending arm is stainless steel, but the mechanism that connects it to the motor base is cheap-feeling plastic. The twist-on connection between the bell-shaped blade attachments and the blending shaft is also plastic, as well as the jar, lid, and blade guards. The handle is rubberized to help make it easier to grip, but unfortunately, the speed dial doesn't rotate very smoothly and can be hard to turn if you have wet or oily hands. If you're looking for a sturdier immersion blender, look at the Ninja Foodi Power Mixer System.
This immersion blender comes with a 34-ounce beaker for blending recipes like smoothies, but since it's meant for blending directly in a pot, pan, or another container, its capacity isn't limited by the size of the beaker.
The beaker and lid are made of plastic and are top-rack dishwasher-safe. The beaker has measurement markings up to 34oz (1000 ml).
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender has three interchangeable blade assemblies. They all have blades fixed to a bell-shaped assembly that twists onto the bottom of the blending shaft. The multi-purpose blade assembly (pictured) has four sharp blades and is advertised for purposes like liquifying fruit and making gravy. There's also an 's-blade', which is designed for purposes like crushing ice and making frosting while the 'frother/beater blade' is intended for mixing batter or frothing milk. There's a food processing attachment with its own blade assembly too. However, we only tested the s-blade and the multi-purpose blade. You can clean all blade assemblies on the top rack of your dishwasher.
The beaker comes with a 2-part lid. These 2-part lids allow you to add ingredients without stopping the machine. That's not possible with an immersion blender, but you can keep the outer ring of the lid on when you're blending in the beaker, which is meant to prevent splashes. You can use the removable center piece as a measuring cup (it has markings at 1 and 2oz) and put it back in place if you want to store what you made.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender has a long power cord that can reach an outlet near your counter. There's no stowaway compartment for the cord, but you can use the built-in strap to wrap it up for easier storage.
- KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender motor body
- Blending arm
- Jar with two-part lid
- Chopper bowl and blades
- Gear box for chopper bowl (adapter)
- Whisk attachment and adapter
- Multi-purpose blade assembly
- S-blade assembly
- Frother/beater blade assembly
- 3x bell blade guards
- Pan guard
- Storage case
- Manual
It isn't good at processing small batches of fibrous ingredients. If you use the star-shaped multi-purpose blade assembly to make something like a kale smoothie, the ingredients can get stuck in the blades, forcing you to stop and clear them with a knife or spatula. You also have to move the blending arm up and down constantly, and since you need to blend for several minutes for the best results, it's not an easy process. It doesn't fully process the ingredients, so the final mixture has many unprocessed bits and pieces left over.
It's not good at processing big batches of fibrous ingredients. If you're making something like a big batch of broccoli soup in a deep pot with the multi-purpose blades, you need to blend for a long time to get the best results. Leafy greens like kale can get stuck in the blades, forcing you to stop the blender and clean them. At best, it makes a somewhat uniform blend, but it has lots of leafy bits and unprocessed pieces left over.
It's okay for crushing ice. Unlike most immersion blenders, it comes with an 's-blade' assembly intended for ice crushing. The blade guard is wide enough to allow the ice cubes to reach the blades, and if you hold the blender at an angle, it has no trouble making crushed ice. There may be a few unprocessed chunks left over, but it does a much better job than most immersion blenders we've tested. You have to be sure to use the right blades, though, because the star-shaped multipurpose blades can't grab onto the ice cubes and can't crush them.
The KitchenAid 5-Speed Hand Blender is decent for nut butter. The chopper bowl has a lid that the motor body attaches to, which stops ingredients from splattering out of the container and means you don't need to work the blending arm up and down like you do with most immersion blenders. The rubber on the bottom of the beaker does a good job of keeping it in place. You still have to detach the blending arm a few times to shake the bowl, and you need to blend for a long time to make smooth nut butter, but it's an easier process than with most immersion blenders, and the final result is great.
It's not too loud for an immersion blender, so it's less irritating to use than louder models like the Vitamix Immersion Blenders, especially if you have a lot of blending to do.
It has a wide range of speed settings for an immersion blender, so you can adjust the speed depending on what you're making.
It has a power button and a speed dial with five settings on top of its handle. You have to hold down the power button continuously to blend, and it's possible to turn the dial to change the speed at the same time. You can also simulate a pulse mode by pressing and releasing the power button in short intervals.
It's decently easy to clean. Running the blender with soap and water in the bowl or beaker can eliminate some residue on the blades. You also need to scrub the blades with a brush. The chopping blades are sharp, and residue can get stuck in the hole where the assembly connects with the jar, so if you've been working with sticky ingredients, it takes a bit of time to clean by hand.