A smoothie every morning sounds ideal — but this Smeg blender isn't the one for the job

A smoothie in the morning is a great way to cram all of your daily fruits into a quick and easy breakfast. A smoothie has been a staple in my rushed morning routine for years, so I appreciate a blender that works quickly and efficiently.

Having one of the best blenders is crucial for people like me, but after testing the Smeg Personal Blender, I’m not sure it measures up. It only has one negative, but a pretty serious one: the blend performance. It is chunky, leaving some whole pieces of ingredients behind.

And that’s a shame, as there’s a lot to like otherwise. The two plastic blend bottles included turn into a bottle that can be used on the go, so you just screw the lid on and head out the door. The Classic Smeg design and compact size allow it to fit in any kitchen. Unfortunately, none of these justify the lack of core performance.

To find out more about my experience, carry on reading this full Smeg Personal Blender review.

Smeg Personal Blender review: Specs

Smeg Personal Blender review: Price & availability

The Smeg personal blender is available for purchase for $189 at Amazon U.S. and from Amazon U.K., where the price varies between £99 and £109. This price variation depends on what color you buy. The blender is available in black, cream, pastel blue, pastel green, pink, red, and white. I tested the red colorway.

For around the same price, you can pick up the Nutribullet Ultra 1200 ($164), which performs far better and blends to a smooth consistency quickly. The Nutribullet Pro 900W, which is the reigning champion of affordable blenders, is also cheaper than the Smeg, with great performance for just $84.

Smeg Personal Blender review: Design & controls

Smeg is known for its 50s-style appliances, and this blender is no exception to that rule. It has the instantly recognizable glossy finish and chunky lettering on the base. However, the plastic blending bottle on top feels like a modern contradiction. It makes the look feel unbalanced and doesn’t suit the 50s vibe.

That said, the two included 20.2-ounce plastic blending bottles are ideal for taking on the go. They come with a beaker top and lid to turn the blend bottle into a smoothie bottle. But again, while the plastic is convenient, I think it cheapens the look of the blender, especially when it’s sitting on the countertop.

Another option for quick smoothies is the Nutribullet Flip ($99). It offers a compact and reliable solution, and is made specifically for smoothies. The Flip can be used anywhere, whereas with the Smeg, you need to make the smoothie at home first.

The Smeg Personal Blender is compact and measures 10 x 7 x 4 inches, so it doesn’t take up too much counter space. It is also a good size to be stored away in the cupboard when not in use. It weighs just 4 pounds, so it’s easy to move around the kitchen.

There’s a knob on the right side of the base that controls the speed of the blender. There are only two speeds to choose from, and these can be altered when the blender is already running. The knob is backlit so you can see when the blender is in use.

Blending is started by pushing down on the plastic bottle, and stops when the pressure is released. This gave me a lot of control over the blend time, but meant I couldn’t get on with other tasks while blending.

The Smeg blender has a four-point blade with two points angled downward, and two angled up. The downward-facing blades are very low, so they can pick up more of the mixture that would normally get stuck below the blades. However, this means fewer blades are doing the work up top, which could be why the blending performance is so poor.

The blender has a 1-meter power cord attached to the base, so it needs to be near a power outlet when in use.

Smeg Personal Blender review: Blending performance

This is not the best blender I have tested. I was pretty disappointed by it, especially given that Smeg is such a household name. I was testing the Mighty Beast 650 Blender at the same time, and it blew the Smeg out of the water.

The Smeg Personal Blender is mainly for smoothies and milkshakes, but I use my usual Nutribullet Pro 900 blender for everything from pasta sauces to guacamole. So to put it to the test, I made a smoothie, pesto, and hummus.

Smeg has prefaced that this is a blender designed for making smoothies, rather than a high performance blender which can do all of the above, but even the smoothies weren’t great. A better blender for all of these would be the Nutribullet Smart Touch ($99) which can make everything from smoothies to nut milk.

Smoothie

To make the smoothie, I added a handful of frozen berries, a banana, dates, and milk. I ended up blending for about a minute because I could still see some frozen chunks in the blender.

As I was drinking the smoothie, I noticed it wasn’t able to blend the dates properly, and one of the dates was only cut in half. Dates are a great test for blenders, as I’ve not come across many that can mince them small enough to get up a straw. Even the Nutribullet Pro 900 struggles to get it perfect each time, but the Smeg did a truly terrible job.

There were also still some chunks of berries left over. But the smoothie still tasted great, though.

Pesto

To make the pesto, I added basil leaves, pine nuts, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and parmesan to the blender and blitzed it up. Unfortunately, I encountered the same problem as the smoothie.

Not everything was blended, and as you can see from the picture, there are still some whole pine nuts in there after blending four times! The pasta and sauce still tasted great, but I was disappointed that I couldn’t get it as smooth as store-bought pesto.

Hummus

Finally, I made some hummus to go with some lentil chips. To make this, I poured a tin of chickpeas into the blender along with some lemon juice, garlic, salt, and extra virgin olive oil.

You can probably guess what I’m going to say about this one just by looking at the picture, but it didn’t blend! At this point, I was getting pretty frustrated with the blender’s blatant refusal to blend things (it has one job). Chunky hummus just isn’t nice, and no matter how many times I blended, pulsed, or shook the plastic bottle, I couldn’t get it to play ball.

Smeg Personal Blender review: Storage & maintenance

The Smeg Personal Blender will look good on your countertop, especially if you have other matching Smeg products, but it can also be easily stored away in a cupboard thanks to its compact size.

The base of the blender can’t be submerged in water, so it needs to be cleaned with a damp cloth and mild detergent. The bottle and lids are all dishwasher safe, so cleaning these is super easy. If you would rather wash them by hand, you can just use detergent and warm water. But make sure everything is fully dried before storing it away between uses.

Smeg Personal Blender review: Verdict

The Smeg Personal Blender is a convenient option for anyone who needs to make a smoothie for work before rushing straight out the door. The two bottles included with the blender can be used on the go and are dishwasher safe, making cleanup after use super easy.

The compact size of the blender means it can be stored on the countertop or out of the way in your cupboard. The classic Smeg 50s-style design fits in with any retro kitchen, although storing the plastic bottle on top can detract from the look.

However, I was extremely disappointed with the blend capabilities. Everything I blended from smoothies to hummus came out chunky, with whole chunks remaining after multiple blends. So while you may reach for this blender, trusting the Smeg label, there are far better options for the money.