We all know that moment too well when we buy an immersion blender or just a regular blender and wonder if we can make full-fledged meals from them. There’s nothing wrong in wanting your money’s worth and we want to help you with it. So here are some popular blender recipes that you can whip up in seconds.
Blender Recipes
We’ve got some healthy blender recipes that will make you want to clean up the entire plate!
1. Tomato Soup:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 cup of vegetable broth
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
Method
This no-cook tomato soup recipe is only possible if you have a heavy-duty blender – one that comes with a strong motor and doesn’t get destroyed by heat. When you combine all the ingredients and blend in a heavy-duty blender, the heat cooks the tomatoes and warms it enough for immediate consumption.
You can garnish the soup with a bit of parsley and have it with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side.
2. Hummus:
Ingredients:
- 2 15 ounce cans of chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons of tahini
- The juice of 1 lemon
- 2 peeled garlic cloves
- A drizzle of olive oil
- ¼ th teaspoon roasted cumin seeds
- Salt, chili powder, pepper and smoked paprika to taste
Method:
If you want to replace canned chickpeas with fresh ones, you can soak 1 cup of chickpeas in 2 cups of water and soak it overnight. Usually, this makes it soft enough for blending. However, if you want to make it even softer, you can cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles or until they reach the desired softness.
Start by adding the chickpeas at the bottom of the blender, followed by the garlic cloves and all the other ingredients, and blend until smooth. You can save a little bit of that chickpea water to add later to bring it to your desired consistency.
3. Pesto Sauce:
Ingredients:
- A hand full of fresh basil leaves
- A few pine nuts/walnuts/almonds
- A generous helping of parmesan cheese
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- Salt to taste
Instructions:
Ideally, a pesto is made best in a food processor, however, a heavy-duty blender that has a pulse feature can make the perfect pesto.
Pulse all the ingredients together, except the olive oil, and slowly add the olive oil from the top until everything is combined.
4. Salsa:
Ingredients:
- Freshly diced tomatoes
- Preferably red onions (but other varieties of onions will work just fine); diced
- Fresh cilantro
- Jalapeños/Serrano pepper for more heat
- Lime juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Just like pesto, salsa is also made best in a food processor. However, blenders with a pulse feature can give you the right consistency. Start by adding the onions, followed by the tomatoes and all the other ingredients. Make sure you incorporate fresh cilantro because that’s what separates a regular salsa from a restaurant-style salsa. Pulse the ingredients in the blender until you reach a chunky consistency, that iconically distinguishes a salsa from other condiments.
5. Peanut Butter:
Ingredients
- Dry roasted peanuts
- Salt to taste
- A drizzle of olive oil
Method
Add the peanuts into the blender followed by a drizzle of olive oil and salt. Blend it in small segments so as not to tire the blender. Blend until it becomes smooth and pasty. You don’t require too much oil because the fat from the peanut shows once the mixture is smooth. However, feel free to add more oil, if needed, to bring it to the desired consistency.
Portable Blender Recipes
If you’re traveling a lot or have that ultimate trailer life, you probably don’t have the space for big equipment. A portable blender is really handy for those who have smaller kitchens or tend to travel a lot. Here are some recipes you can make in your portable blender.
1. Strawberry Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup strawberries (frozen or fresh)
- 1 (8-ounce) container of plain yogurt
- ¾ cup of 2% reduced-fat milk. You can reduce the milk by stirring it in a hot pan. You can also replace it with skimmed milk to lower the calories.
- Sugar to taste
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Method
Assemble all the ingredients and pour them into a blender. Pro tip – always remember to add the hard ingredients first; followed by the softer, powdered ingredients. So in this case, add the sugar first (if it is not powdered) followed by the fresh/frozen strawberries before you add all the other ingredients.
Blend the ingredients until smooth. Serve and have immediately.
2. Vanilla Milkshake
Ingredients
- 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Method
This is a perfect recipe for a portable blender. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve it immediately.
3. Pancake Batter:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 3 Tablespoons of baking powder
- 2 tablespoons of sugar (or as per your taste)
- a pinch of salt
Method
Now I know this recipe is not complete without a nonstick pan or griddle, but combining all the ingredients is the hardest part. With a blender, all the ingredients come together in seconds.
Simply start by adding all the wet ingredients into the blender, followed by the right ingredients. Blend all ingredients until smooth. You can blend it in smaller batches if you are making it in a smaller portable blender.
Spray a bit of oil onto the nonstick pan or griddle and pour the batter onto it as per your desired serving. Serve hot, optionally with a drizzle of honey and butter.
Immersion Blender Recipes
An immersion blender or a hand blender will reduce grocery costs in the long run because you can make condiments from scratch. Here’s a list of things you can make with an immersion blender:
1. Whipped Cream:
Ingredients
- Whipping cream
- Sugar (optional)
Method
With a handy immersion blender, you can stop buying whipped cream from the store anymore. You can make whipped cream much faster with immersion blenders that also have a whisk attachment. However, a traditional immersion blender will work just fine.
Use a tall glass and fill it halfway with heavy whipping cream. If you have a whisk attachment you can blend it until you have a whipping cream consistency. If you have a traditional immersion blender, you can blend it with a down-to-up action. Make sure not to over mix it, or else that will give you the next recipe on this list.
2. Butter
Ingredients:
- Whipping cream
- Salt (optional)
Method
Don’t we all love butter? Earlier, it would take hours to make butter by hand, but now thanks to the immersion blender, you can whip it up in minutes. The butter is the next stage of whipped cream. So if you want to make butter, you can start with the steps mentioned above and just keep blending.
Those who used the whisk attachment, need to switch to the traditional immersion blender once the cream looks like it is ready to separate. Keep emulsifying the cream until the solids separate from the liquids. Transfer the liquid, i.e. the buttermilk, to a separate container. Buttermilk is great on pancakes. It is also great for the stomach; you can drink it on its own with a little salt and pepper.
Transfer the butter to a separate bowl and add some water. Rinse the butter in water. You will notice that the water turns a milky white color. Although unnecessary, this step removes all the remaining buttermilk from the butter and improves its shelf life.
3. Lemon Vinaigerette:
Ingredients
- ½ a cup of lemon juice (usually takes 3 medium sized lemons)
- 1-2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 piece of shallot
- 1 small garlic clove
- ¼ teaspoon dijon mustard
- Salt to taste
- 2 pinches of finely ground black pepper
- 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup of avocado oil
Method:
Add all the ingredients, except for the 2 oils, in a tall glass. Blend until the garlic and shallots are pureed. This should take about half a minute. Once that is done, add the oils and blend again until everything is combined. The end product should look slightly yellow and frothy.
4. Mayonnaise:
Ingredients:
- 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
- The juice from 1 lemon or vinegar
- Dijon mustard
- 1 cup of olive oil; you can eyeball this part, there’s no need for exact measurements
- Salt and sugar to taste
Method
An immersion blender makes this process so easy. The trick is to keep the blender at the bottom so that it is constantly in contact with the eggs. The blender will pull the other ingredients inward and turn the whole thing into a thick creamy mayonnaise.
Conclusion
We hope you add these recipes to your daily cooking. Some of them are real-time savers and let’s not forget how amazing they taste! You can customize them the way you want and the best part is, they don’t have all the preservatives you find in store-bought recipes and condiments.
