Immersion Blender Vs Hand Mixer

However, cooking enthusiasts often seem to engage in immersion blender vs hand mixer debate. Some favour immersion blenders, while others vouch for a hand mixer.  This leaves you in a tricky situation when to use one as opposed to the other. Or should you invest in both devices? 

Many novice cooks are confused if both these devices are the same thing. To explore answers to all these questions, keep reading this article until the end as we explore these appliances in detail and help you to decide which appliance is suitable for your kitchen requirements.

It’s a common question one encounters while deciding between immersion blender and hand mixer. After all, both these appliances seem to perform similar tasks and function in a similar fashion. Moreover, both these devices produce liquid ingredients.

If you look from an expert’s viewpoint, you can easily make out both these are different appliances with distinct uses. While an immersion blender functions more like a blender, the hand mixer resembles a stand mixer. 

Both these appliances produce liquid ingredients by following different processes. Some food items are better prepared by using an immersion blender, while other meals require a hand mixer. 

An immersion blender resembles a stick-like handheld appliance equipped with a motor and rotating chopping blades. These chopping blades are meant for breaking solid foods into liquids or puree where ingredients form a smooth, thin, and desired consistency. 

You can immerse your immersion blender directly into a bowl or other container filled with food items for blending it. That’s why it is called an immersion blender.  It works differently from a regular blender, where you put ingredients into the blender and start the machine.

Don’t you think that inserting an immersion blender into a container filled with a liquid food item and turning it on may create a mess in your kitchen? It doesn’t happen as the strong blades of the immersion blender are designed to reduce splashing significantly. 

The immersion blender blades are fully protected and strong enough to break down solid food items into liquid form with a smooth consistency. 

This handheld appliance provides easier grip and enhanced control over the tool for holding it firmly during blending. 

Immersion blenders are best suited for chopping and pureeing foods. You can use it for creating a puree by immersing directly into a container of boiled vegetables.  It is widely used for blending up a lumpy and hot soup.

The best part is that you can do the immersion blending within the original bowl or any other container. It functions similar to the large blender without requiring you to put food items in the blender.

An immersion blender comes in handy when your regular blender is not suitable for blending.

It happens when you have many ingredients to blend together, and your regular blender alone can’t handle the blending all alone. That’s where the immersion blender does the job.

Use an immersion blender when you want to make a puree, sauce, and smoothies quickly by inserting it directly into the container. 

However, your immersion blender does not work great for mixing wet and dry ingredients. Also, as it does not allow enough air in the mix, it doesn’t work great for whipping things and preparing cake batter. Thus, using a hand or stand mixer works great in such scenarios.

A hand mixer is a handheld appliance equipped with two or three mixing blades. You can adjust the speed of the attached blades for mixing a wide variety of food items.  

A hand mixer is powered by a wall socket and generates more force than an immersion blender. 

Although hand mixers are compact devices with attached whiskers, these are larger than immersion blenders. 

It works great in mixing both wet and dry ingredients. However, unlike immersion blender, it does not produce liquids with a smooth consistency. 

With a hand mixer, you get a mixture with varying consistency depending on the ingredients being mixed in the container. You can use it for making dough or batter. It may produce a mixture containing the improved form of ingredients.

The compact hand mixers are a better alternative to heavy stand mixers that occupy more space.  

A hand mixer generates more power for mixing ingredients than an immersion blender, even with its compact size. 

Generally, hand mixers are used for small mixing tasks. It comes in handy when your stand mixer is preoccupied with bigger mixing assignments.  You can use a hand mixer for combining batters, beating eggs, creating icing, and whipping cream.

It allows you to avoid the need to take your stand mixer from storage and keep it on your kitchen platform at all times, even for small mixing tasks.  

A hand mixer is best suited for mixing a small number of ingredients. It works great for kneading the dough.

A hand mixer is designed for mixing ingredients instead of blending them. You should not use them for mixing very hot or runny liquids like soups. Also, avoid operating it in full power while immersing it in a bowl or container filled with liquid. 

As we have discussed above, both these appliances operate differently. So, do you need both these tools in your kitchen?  It largely depends on your individual preference and style of using these appliances.

Some cooks find it easier to use an immersion blender to mix everything from cake batters to soups, while others prefer to use a hand mixer to prepare mashed vegetables like potatoes.

You will find various scenarios when an immersion blender gives better results than a hand mixer and vice-versa. 

Generally, immersion blenders are the preferred choice for making baby food, creaming soups, making smoothies, and cooking sauce. While hand mixers deliver better results in whipping eggs or creams, creating cake batter, and beating eggs.

Each tool has its own set of expertise; however, many things can be done by both these appliances. Some cooks may get their work done by using either one of them, while some prefer both these tools available for improved and convenient cooking experiences.

Are you wondering about when to use which tool? Simply, remember to use immersion blenders when you need to turn the ingredients into the liquid.  On the other hand, use a hand mixer when you need to incorporate air or other ingredients into one another.

Mixing: An immersion blender is suitable for mixing puree, sauces, eggs, smoothies, soups, and batter, while a hand mixer works great for mixing eggs and batter.

Kneading: An immersion blender is not compatible with kneading, while a hand mixer is suitable for kneading dough.

Grinding: An immersion blender is not compatible with grinding food items, while a hand mixer is suitable for grinding food items like nuts, vegetables, etc.

Features: Immersion control offers better control of consistency, provides easier grip, and shows versatility in blending tasks. While a hand mixer is more compact, generates more power, and is required for pasty making.

No, you cannot replace a hand mixer with an immersion blender.  It is because both these are different appliances. An immersion blender cannot do a similar job as a hand mixer.

An immersion blender is suitable for blending ingredients, while a hand mixer works better for mixing dry or loosely-mixed ingredients.