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There’s a lot you can make with a high-powered blender, from smoothies and salsa to hummus, pesto and nut butters. Yet while it takes no time at all to whip up tasty concoctions and dips, cleaning up afterward is a different story, especially if your blender pitcher isn’t dishwasher safe.
To be honest, I’ve avoided making smoothies at times because I didn’t want to clean the blender afterward. But that all changed when I learned an embarrassingly simple time-saving trick for this dreaded chore.
My 60-second blender cleaning trick
After you’ve emptied your blender, add a few drops of dish soap to the container, then fill it halfway with warm water. Put the lid back on and run your blender on high for about 60 seconds. That’s it.
Unless I blended a particularly sticky substance, like almond butter, this tends to completely clean the blender container without requiring an extra hand scrub. But if it does, I find a bottle brush much easier to use than a sponge since it also keeps your hands away from the sharp blade.
My blender, the Vitamix VX1, CNET’s pick for the best blender overall, has a self-cleaning mode that essentially does what I’ve described above but switches speeds about halfway through to ensure a deep clean. Although it’s a nice feature that not every blender has, I don’t think it’s necessary since high speed on its own works just as well.
I’m aware this trick is incredibly straightforward, and I probably should have figured it out on my own by now, but just in case you’re still shoving your hand into the blender pitcher like I was, here’s your sign to make your life simpler by letting the blender handle the dirty work. I’ll add this to my list of things I wish I’d known sooner.
Our favorite dishwasher-safe blender
If you’d prefer to have a blender with a container you can throw in the dishwasher, CNET recommends the Ninja Professional. You can put the pitcher, lid and blade assembly in the dishwasher, so there’s no need to worry about cleaning tricks in the first place.
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