The $35 Hand Blender That’ll Be Your Secret Weapon in the Kitchen
Buy $35, amazon.com
Welcome to The Esquire Endorsement. Heavily researched. Thoroughly vetted. These picks are the best way to spend your hard-earned cash.
Most kitchens are just a few appliances away from being cooking competition-level ready. The even bigger surprise is that a good portion of the tools you need for a top-notch kitchen—your secret weapons, if you will—aren’t that expensive. Yes, high-end, high-tech appliances exist, but for anyone outside of a Michelin-star restaurant, there’s no reason that those tools should break your bank. At the top of the list is the Hamilton Beach 2-Speed Hand Blender, a $35 immersion blender that opens up all kinds of doors for your culinary journey.
My first experience with this mixer was about four years ago when my brother bought it for me for Christmas. It was practical and affordable, but I didn’t put much thought into how useful it might be. Four years later, it took me a minute to figure out the brand that made it because the label has completely worn off—not from lack of quality, but because of how much I use it. Let’s break down the ways.
Get sauced. Or souped. Or whatever.
The stainless steel immersion blade is my go-to attachment for the blender. In the winter, I love a good tomato soup, but I had fully settled for the chunky variation because I had no idea how to get it as smooth as it could be. That’s where the blade comes in. Easily snapped into place with one twist, it purees and emulsifies just about any food with ease. If you’ve ever been curious about making sauces, soups, or dressings, this is where you’ll want to turn.
Buy $35, amazon.com
Small batch guac? Don't mind if I do.
My original blender set didn’t come with the chopper attachment, or as I prefer to call it, “The Working Man’s Food Processor.” This glorious add-on is a must-have, though. I decided to really put it to the test with a dill pesto recipe. The blades cut through hard-to-chop nuts, while also managing to navigate the stringy dill stems that typically get clogged in blades. The chopper is perfect for small batches of foods that would normally call for a food processor, and it just so happens that the smaller blades make it easier to work with. Bonus: It all comes apart with ease so you can wash it after use.
It has two speeds: delicious and delicious.
The wand itself has lower and higher speed settings to choose from, depending on what you’re working with. As someone who likes to experiment in the kitchen, it’s nice that you can toggle back and forth between a lower setting, which you might use to draw in those damn tomato chunks I mentioned earlier, to a higher setting when you’re whisking the hell out of some egg whites for a meringue.
And again—it runs you under 40 bucks. Yes, you can invest in something a bit more elevated when you make it on Master Chef one day, but if you’re just someone who loves to take your amateur kitchen adventures to the max, this Hamilton Beach hand blender has you covered.
Buy $35, amazon.com
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