6 Things You Should Never Put in a Blender

Unless you have a high-powered blender that’s up to the challenge, putting ice cubes in your blender can dull the blade. Ditto for big chunks of frozen fruit. So what’s a smoothie (or chilled cocktail) loving gal to do? Use slightly thawed fruit (ten minutes out of the freezer should do the trick) or crushed ice instead. Cheers.

Sorry, but your blender’s blades are too powerful to create that fluffiness you’re after. Instead, they’ll overwork your spuds, release way too much starch and give your potatoes a weird, gluey consistency. Your best bet for perfectly light and airy mashed potatoes is to work ’em by hand.

A bowl of velvety homemade soup? Wonderful. Scalding liquid all over your kitchen floor? Not so much. All that steam from hot ingredients can cause the lid to explode, resulting in a potentially dangerous kitchen disaster. Instead, let your liquid cool for a few minutes before putting it into the blender, and don’t fill it more than halfway. Then blend slowly while holding the lid tightly in place.

Blitzing dried dates, apricots and prunes can leave a sticky residue on your blender’s blades, which isn’t just tricky to clean up; it could also damage your appliance. The key to pulsing dried fruit (and sundried tomatoes, too) is to add liquid or soak them in warm water first. Or invest in a high-powered blender that can tackle the tougher texture. And remember to always clean your blender properly after use (relax, it’s easy).

We get it—you want all your green juice ingredients to blend together in perfect harmony, but the spinach is just sitting there. While it’s tempting to quickly use a spoon to push the ingredients down, trust us on this one—don’t do it, unless you want to ruin your spoon, blender and green juice all at once. Instead, turn your blender off (and take the pitcher off the base) and then stir.

Trying to make bread or cookie dough in the blender will most likely result in a too-tough texture. That, or the ingredients won’t properly incorporate. If you want to rely on an appliance (hey, kneading dough is hard work), use that food processor or mixer sitting in the back of your cabinet instead.