7 Things You Should Try in the Ace Blender

Knowing how much I love my Instant Pot, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that I ordered their new Ace Blender the moment it hit stores. Like their famous pressure cooker, it’s a multi-tasking small appliance that can blend and actually cook your food at the same time!

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While some other blenders can cook food through friction, meaning that they blend for so long that the ingredients eventually heat up, the Ace Blender actually has a heating element to cook your food— so not everything that gets cooked has to have a perfectly smooth, pureed texture. (Though it can do that, too.)

What also excites me about the blender is that the pitcher is made of glass. So if you’ve been hesitant to put warm foods into a plastic blender container, like my daily vegan latte, this option is perfect for you. (The glass pitcher also means it’s heavier than most, so you get a bit of an arm workout at the same time.) The blender can even detect when the lid is not securely attached to the blender container and won’t start until it’s sealed, as a safety precaution.

Since the Ace Blender is relatively new to the market, I’ve been taking some time to play around with it to see what it can handle. If you’re wondering if it’s worth the investment, or have already bought one but aren’t sure how to get the most out of it, here are 7 things I think make the Ace Blender appealing.

1. It Makes Ultra-Smooth Smoothies

It’s hard to find an affordable blender that can break down tough ingredients like Medjool dates and chia seeds without leaving small chunks in your smoothie. One way I judge a blender is by making a smoothie with these challenging ingredients, like my Creamy Almond Butter & Spinach Smoothie. It can make any smoothie silky-smooth!

This Sweet Potato Smoothie, made with dates and crushed ice, also turns out perfectly in the Ace Blender. It is important when you’re making a smoothie like this one that you blend the liquid, dates, spinach, and seeds first, and then once that’s smooth, you can add in the ice and blend again until it’s thick like a milkshake.

2. It Makes Easy Non-Dairy Milk

Rice milk can be a pain to make at home, because there is usually a soaking or cooking process required before getting started. Not with the Ace Blender! Simply add raw rice and water, then press the “rice milk” button for a hands-off process that takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

The Ace Blender heats and blends the rice milk, so you don’t have to dirty an extra pot before getting started. It’s so silky smooth that you won’t have to strain any remaining pulp out when it’s done, either! (That’s not the case with almond milk, however, which you do need to still strain.) There’s a setting for making soy milk and one for nut/oat milks, as well.

3. It Can Cook & Blend Sauces All at Once

If you love making homemade spaghetti sauce or healthy cauliflower Alfredo, the Ace Blender can help make that easier.

Once you’ve sauteed the aromatic ingredients for your recipe to help bring out their flavor, you can add the rest of your ingredients to the blender and press the “soup” button. The blender will take care of heating it up and blending it, all in the same pitcher! Because the Ace Blender has the heating element included, you get to decide how smooth or chunky you’d like the final result to be.

4. It Can Make Snacking Easier

Since the Ace Blender has the option of low-speed and pulse options, I can make some of my favorite healthy snacks in there, like my Zucchini Hummus and Spinach Muffins.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can even use the pulse function on the Ace Blender to make my favorite Date Energy Balls. A blender isn’t ideal for chopping up thick and sticky items like this usually, but I found that the pulse function does work in a pinch as long as I’m willing to stop often and scrape down the blender pitcher to keep the ingredients moving.

5. It Can Make Healthy Ice Cream

I usually make my favorite Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream in a mini food chopper, but I found that I can use the Ace Blender to make it even better. You can come up with all sorts of healthy creations, using any frozen fruit you like.

Since the Ace Blender comes with a tamper, you can use that to keep the ingredients moving without needing too much liquid– and that is key to getting a thicker, soft-serve consistency, rather than a smoothie.

6. It Cooks Soup

Several blenders can cook soup by blending for so long that the friction builds up and eventually heats the ingredients, but the Ace Blender is unique in the fact that it can cook soups without having to puree them. This means you could cook any type of soup that you like in your blender, with as much or as little texture as you like.

I made my Panera Black Bean Soup in it, and was able to puree it only enough to make it creamy, with plenty of chunks of beans and vegetables for some bite.

7. It Can Make Creamy Dips & Dressings

Most affordable blenders can’t turn cashews into a silky-smooth Vegan Ranch Dressing, but the Ace Blender can! I actually timed it, and within 1 minute and 30 seconds my cashews were totally pulverized, without soaking them ahead of time.

Things You Should Know About Using the Ace Blender

When using the Ace Blender, you should know that there is an 8 to 10 second delay after pushing any button on the blender before it will start the blending process. This is totally normal for this appliance, but it’s a surprise if you’re not ready for it.

If you like to get creative in the kitchen like I do, I think it’s also important to know which buttons use the heating element. There are 4 settings that use heat, and those are Purée, Soy Milk, Rice Milk, and Soup. I use the soup setting, when in doubt, for any cooking recipes that I want to make directly in the blender.

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I hope my experimenting with the Ace Blender will prove helpful for you if you’ve been considering it! For a machine at this price point, I’m very impressed with how smoothly it blends, and I’m totally in love with the glass container. As far as I know, this machine is only available at Walmart. (I bought mine online from them.)

Reader Feedback: Have you tried the Instant Pot Ace Blender yet? Let me know in the comments below what you’ve tried in it! We can all benefit from your experience.