Smeg Personal Blender review: Stylish and versatile blending for smoothies and sauces

A decent blender, like the Smeg Personal Blender, is a kitchen essential, in my book. Whether it’s being able to whizz up nutritious smoothies in a couple of shakes, or making quick work of your dinnertime prep, a reliable blender opens up a world of deliciousness.

With the ability to pulverise many common ingredients, and blend fresh and frozen ingredients into tasty drinks, sauces and soups, something like the Smeg Personal Blender should be a good choice for many people looking to inject a little health and convenience into their routine. And with that classic Smeg styling, the Smeg Personal Blender is a very tempting proposition. But is it as good as it looks? I put it to the test: read on to see how I got on with green smoothies, ice, purees and more.

Smeg Personal Blender review: What do you get for the money?

Along with sleek Italian styling, this blender boasts a 300W motor, which isn’t bad for its size. For the price though, you might expect to have a more powerful blending action; jug blenders at a similar price point are easily 600W and upwards. But do you need any more power?

This blender uses a removable stainless steel double blade which slots into the compact stainless steel motorised base on top of one of two 600ml dishwasher-safe ergonomically designed clear Tritan bottles. There’s also a travel cap for carrying your smoothies around safely in your bag. Unlike some personal blenders, this isn’t a portable machine; it’s a plug in. We tested the glossy red model, but it’s available in a wide range of colour ways including a fetching pastel blue, classic cream, black and pink.

Smeg Personal Blender review: What’s good about it?

The Smeg Personal Blender only really bills itself as a machine for making smoothies, and really that is what it’s best at. I blitzed up frozen fruit, protein powder and almond milk to my preferred consistency in 20 seconds on the low setting. I found the fact that you have to hold the blending cup while it blends means you can feel when it has managed to make its way through the frozen fruit, so you’re not left with unexpected unblended bits of strawberry when you’re enjoying your smoothie. It coped equally well when I added tough kale leaves and stalks to the mix; as long as there’s plenty of liquid involved there’s no problem at all.

It also performed really well when I blended up some dry cashews. Not all blenders cope with this; usually the nuts just stick to the sides of the blending cup after an initial blast, leaving the blades burning themselves out with no contact with the ingredients. Here though, the blender managed to pulverise them into something of a fine mix, which once scraped away from the bottle could even be spread onto toast as a kind of DIY nut butter. This also means the Smeg Personal Blender can manage to knock up healthy pesto and dressings using finely chopped ingredients – as long as you don’t expect a very smooth result.

I also loved that this blender is so easy to use. No instructions are necessary, just pop the blending cup on the motor and blend away. And of course it looks beautiful.

Smeg Personal Blender review: What could be better?

The Smeg Personal Blender doesn’t mention anywhere how it might deal with ice, but as with any blender that doesn’t explicitly advise against it (like the Nutribullet Magic) I attempted an iced coffee using a handful of ice cubes, a shot of espresso and a good amount of almond milk.

The ice ended up partially crushed but not really well enough to drink – if you’re set on using ice in this blender then keep the quantity low or start with crushed, not cubes.

The other thing that could be better is how it deals with softer foods when there’s no liquid in the cup. Frankly, it doesn’t. A fresh banana should be child’s play for this motor, but it just got stuck around the blades and sat there, almost whole, however much I shook it about or tried the higher speed. So, if you’re thinking about making purees for a baby, this blender isn’t the one for you. I rescued the banana with a tablespoon of Nutella and milk for a rather indulgent milkshake which went down very well.

Smeg Personal Blender review: Should you buy it?

What are you hoping to use this blender for? If you’re thinking it will encourage you to up your vitamin intake by whizzing up healthy fruit and veg smoothies and shakes then I’d agree. It’s so easy and mess-free to use that having it ready and waiting on the worktop can only encourage you to get busy in the kitchen – and the travel cup is really handy and genuinely leak free (I checked).

It’s also so easy to clean that there are no excuses. The bottle can go in the dishwasher or is easily hand washed, while the blade just needs a whizz with some detergent to get it clean.

It’s unlikely that you’re considering purchasing the Smeg Personal Blender for more cheffy kitchen tasks, but if you are then your money would be best spent elsewhere. If you’re a Smeg devotee, then you’ll need to save up for the new Smeg High Performance Blender, or search out a lower priced high powered blender to suit your needs.