How to Use a Vitamix Blender for Healthy Meals
A couple months ago my beloved vitamix blender of 12 years died. I immediately ordered a new one, that’s how important it is to our daily lives. We use our vitamix multiple times a day everyday. We eat a predominantly plant based diet and a high speed blender is crucial for our meals. It is easily the most used of all my kitchen appliances! A lot of people just assume a blender is for smoothies. While we use it daily for smoothies that is just the tip of the iceberg! I can’t wait to share all the ways we use a vitamix blender for healthy meals and how you can too! Check out my post all about our weekly meal prep for some meal ideas.
Why a ?
A vitamix is a high speed blender that has a powerful motor. There are many different options, you have to find the vitamix model that is best for for your needs. There are options like colors, the size of the container, different motors, etc. The blades are stainless steel so they are powerful and won’t rust. They come with a full warranty, many accessories (food processor attachment!) and great customer service. They have lots of tips and recipes on the vitamix website and youtube channel. I have used lots of different blenders
How to properly use the vitamix
Let’s go over a few recommendations so you can get the most out of your blender. You ALWAYS want to start with the blender in the lowest speed and with the “high power” button off. It is meant to always be started on the lower speeds and slowly worked up. Place the ingredients in the canister, turn it on, and slowly turn the dial to the highest speed (or lower if you don’t plan to go all the way to high). The last step will be to turn the boost mode button up. You only want to go to boost mode from the highest setting on the dial, you will get much better results going up slow on the variable speed dial. In other words don’t go from low speed straight to boost. When I’m finished blending I always put it back on the lowest settings so I don’t accidentally turn it on to high the next time I use it.
Top ways we use our vitamix for healthy meals
- smoothies
- hot soup (yes it even heats the soups)
- homemade nut butters
- salad dressings
- sauces
- flours
- plant milk
- (n)ice cream aka ice cream
Smoothies
We drink smoothies almost daily. They are a great way to get lots of fruits and leafy greens into our diet. Smoothies are especially great for getting nutrients from greens into kids that may be hesitant to eat a salad. A high speed blender completely blends the greens so there aren’t chunks or pieces that may be unappetizing to children. A vitamix can easily handle a container of frozen fruit and blend it smooth, it’s that powerful.
Hot Soups
From cold smoothies to hot soups. The vitamix is so versatile. I use our vitamix when making a lot of my soup recipes. There are many soup recipes that include raw cashews to add creaminess in place of dairy. A traditional blender can’t pulverize nuts and seeds and soups would be chalky. No one wants that. When you put your soup into the blender let it run for a few minutes and you’ll start to see the steam. Blending for 3-5 minutes will fully heat your soup just in the blender! One of our favorite soups to make in the vitamix is my tomato bisque recipe.
Plant Milk
I love making our own nut milk at home. While buying it at the store is definitely convenient it is also filled with preservatives and additives that aren’t the best. Making nut, seed, oat, or coconut milk at home it so simple and you know just what is going in it. We make almond and oat milk most often. For almond milk I take 1 cup of raw almonds, 3.5 cups filtered water, blend well and then strain through a nut bag or cheese cloth. Most often I add 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to make vanilla almost milk. If you want it sweetened you can add one pitted medjool date. Don’t get rid of that almond pulp, you can make almond flour. We’ll get to that in a bit.
Fresh Juice in the vitamix
The benefits of juicing is huge but juicers are so expensive. You can make juice with your vitamix. The difference between juicing and blending it the fiber has been removed from the juice. To make juice in your blender just blend up what you would want in your juice and then strain it through a nut bag or fine mesh cheese cloth. The pulp is all removed and you are left with fresh juice.
Flours
A vitamix can also blend dry ingredients. I often throw a couple cups of rolled oats in my vitamix and make oat flour. You can also make almond flour from the pulp from the almond milk. Take the pulp, lay it out on a parchment paper lined baking tray and dry it out in a warm oven. Once it is dry through it in the blender and you have fine almond flour! You made the milk and wasted nothing after turning the pulp into flour. There are different canister options
Nut butters
Homemade nut butters are one of my favorite treats. Nut butters from the store are again often filled with unwanted ingredients. Making them at home is simple! To make peanut butter simply put raw peanuts into blender and blend for 10-15 minutes. This process takes a bit of time and you’ll often have to stop and scrape down the sided of the container, but is so neat to watch. After blending for 5-7 minutes the nuts release their natural oils and it will go from a flour to a paste-like consistency. Keep going and as the oils release it will become creamy and thin. Wild huh? I often life to add a pinch of salt to my peanut butter. Almond butter with a bit of coconut oil added is so yummy!
Healthy ice cream in the vitamix
Say what, you can make ice cream in a blender?! Well not conventional ice cream but you can make a healthy and delicious “nice cream”. We always have ripe frozen bananas in our freezer and this is one reason why. Just put frozen bananas in your blender with a tiny splash of plant milk and blend slowly increasing the speed while pressing the bananas down into the stainless steel blades with the tamper. Watch the magic happen! You’ll be left with the perfect blend of soft serve ice cream.
We like to make lots of different flavors, mint chocolate, strawberry banana, vanilla, peanut butter chocolate just to name a few.
Sauces and dressings
I love to make sauces for the week when I meal prep on Sundays. I will typically always have a homemade dairy free cheese sauce and ranch dressing in the fridge. If you are making single serving dressings or smaller amounts of sauces the vitamix may not be the best choice. I would use an immersion blender or the Ninja.
How to clean a vitamix blender
To extend the life of your vitamix do not put it in the dishwasher. They are easy to clean by filling it with warm water adding a drop of dish soap and blending for 1-2 minutes. Dump out the soapy water and give it a quick rinse to get all the soap out and it’s good to go. If you need to wipe it out with a rag be careful of the very sharp blades.
Vitamix blender on a budget
A vitamix is definitely an investment but one we used daily for over a decade so it was more than worth it! There are ways to get a vitamix at a better price. A refurbished model has been inspected and approved by Vitamix and is a great option. . I can tell you from personal experience they are so much more powerful and effective than a cheap blender. Coming from a long time vitamix owner they are worth the extra money.
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to use a Vitamix blender and tips to get the best experience using it. It really is the best blender out there!
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