Most people love trying new stuff, but the kitchen appliances recommended for use tend to be a bit confusing to newbies specially when it comes to common tools such as hand mixer and a hand blender. For this reason, this article is here to give an extensive overview on hand blender vs hand mixer to help you compare and distinguish the differences.
These two blender types can put you in a tight spot if you are not sure which suits your kitchen needs. After all, both can blend and mix foods. There is an exception; you use a hand mixer on dry ingredients, but you need to add some liquid to blend for blending.
With so many kitchen tools to offer in the current market, it becomes difficult to figure out which appliance is suitable for your daily requirements and needs. Worst of all, most of them use interchangeable names; that’s why these two devices call for a common debate.
What’s a Hand Blender?
This kitchen appliance offers the best solution to your kitchen woes. Also named as a stick blender or an immersion blender, it gets you out of multiple problems that your household faces. A blender has several uses, but it’s commonly known to liquidize chunks cut into small pieces. It has multiple uses, but it’s commonly known for making smoothies, stews, and liquefy soaps, among others in the pot.
It’s very convenient and easy to use. You don’t need to blend your soup using your hands; you only need to put your chunks close, and it will do the business for you. It makes an ideal creamy soap in a blink of an eye. Though the hand blender takes up a huge space on the countertop, it will do the largest part of your work.
Special Use Case
- Homemade mayonnaise
- Creamy soup
- Smoothie
- Tomato sauce
- Whipped cream
- Cheese sauce
- Waffle and pancake batter
What Exactly is a Hand Mixer?
It’s an electric mixer held in hand over a bowl while preparing a dough or making cake batters. Mostly, people use it for small jobs, though if mixing for a long duration, your arm and hand might feel tired. It handles the lighter, smaller tasks superbly and quickly.
This device has a round handle that is ergonomically designed for comfort while holding the tool. Its inbuilt handle has a switch that you activate to turn on the beaters. You can easily control the speed by pressing the buttons on the handle to fine-tune your ingredients.
Precisely, it sweeps away stand mixers and whisks! To know which hand mixer is best, you have to understand what suits your kitchen needs. Otherwise, there are numerous mixers, and purchasing one is not a major problem; first, know what you need to buy one that satisfies you.
Special Use Case
- Whipping eggs or cream
- Mixing cookie dough and cake batter
- Making icing
- Salad dressings
- Whipping boiled potatoes into mashed potatoes.
The Key Difference Between the Two
Though hand blender vs. hand mixer is two categories that may sound the same, they have differences in their specialties. Here is a list of differences between a hand mixer and a hand blender;
Normally, you use the hand mixer for baking; it uses the dough beater to stir together ingredients such as sugar and fats. It works in a way that the two whisks move to complement each other so that there are no dead zones in the mixing bowl; the other whisk will automatically clear any slacks left behind, meaning that it’s suitable for mixing. On the other hand, you primarily use commercial immersion blenders to prepare smooth fluids such as sauces, pastes, smoothies, and soups.
A blender has a metallic component, known as a blade, that you use to blend. It’s often sharp to chop and liquefy ingredients, while its whisks are often blunt for the mixer.
Another main difference between hand blender vs. hand mixer is that the mixer has a different speed that you can adjust. It works on ingredients that would call for different speed levels during the mixing process, but the speed is constant for the blender.
Benefits of Using Hand Blender vs. Hand Mixer
Any kitchen could reap the benefits of having both the hand blender and hand mixer for cookie dough. They have a very compact size that is good for even a small kitchen.
Advantages of Using the Hand Mixer
- You can suitably use a hand mixer for cookie dough in everyday activities and at different speeds.
- Its compact and lightweight design is useful in all kitchens since it takes up a very small room in your kitchen. Mostly, you use them for light tasks such as putting eggs in a French omelet or else mixing pancake dough.
- A hand mixer is perfectly used for aeration while making the icing, baking a cake, or whipping cream and mousse. The electric hand mixer is suitable for beating egg albumen and quickly adding air to the mixture. The best way of getting the perfect texture is by using an electric mixer other than doing it manually.
- Cleaning and setting up the mixer is easy and quick; you assemble the hand mixer in a few minutes, beat the eggs, and disassemble the mixer to clean it and keep it for the next task. You set up the device in seconds without wasting valuable time as you cook.
- Hand mixers are usually portable – would you want to carry them or need more room on your workstation? You can easily carry your hand mixer around since it’s light in weight.
- A hand mixer is usually flexible and you can use any mixing bowl; they can handle various batch sizes, consistencies, and several applications. Whether you’re breaking down your chocolate chips to create dozens of your favorite cookies, trying out savory or sweet pie fillings, or you need to make yourself some whipped cream, the hand mixer will do it all.
Advantages of Using a Hand Blender
- Since hand mixers are suitable for compact and small kitchens, you can store them easily and safely.
- Hand blenders are usually affordable, even when you opt to go for the top brand and best quality.
- It can reduce cleaning work because no additional boxes or containers are needed to complete the very fast processing.
The Problems of Using Both Mixer Types
Despite the usefulness of hand blender vs. hand mixer, it gets to the point that it starts showing specific faults and damages. When that happens, it limits your speed levels. Here are some of the common problems and how to solve them.
Disadvantages of Using Hand Blender
- A blunt blade; you realize this after your blender grinds the chunks coarsely, and so you need to replace it.
- A leaking jar; a great blender has a lifespan of over three years, after which it wears out due to excessive use. You might find a crack on it, making your ingredients leak while blending. Here, the only choice is to get another one.
- A broken coupler; coupler attaches the base of your device to the jar. It wears out if you usually blend frozen ingredients at high speeds, thus breaking or damaging it. It would be best if you avoid that.
- Slow-moving blades; it’s a common problem in most blenders. It can be irritating since the ingredients or chunks take a longer time before mixing or churning. Mostly, it is due to a clog on your blade assembly, therefore always cleaning well to ensure the blades are in a good state.
Disadvantages of Using Hand mixer
- Your mixer overheats; while using it, the mixer extensively gets hot, which means it might be overloaded. Overheating will happen when you mix heavy ingredients for a long time. The solution is to unplug and leave it for 30 minutes to cool down.
- The mixer fails to start; if it’s not receiving power from the source, check its cord. You should ensure there is no cut, twist, or split; if it still doesn’t work, use another appliance to check if the source is perfectly working.
- Unusual noises; suppose the mixer has strange noises when turned on; it could be due to lack of lube, loose parts, or a faulty worm gear.
So, Which One Should be the Right Choice for You?
To answer the question, it all depends on the set of work that you regularly perform in your kitchen. Therefore, you base your decision about hand blender vs. hand mixer on your personal preferences.
Generally, a hand mixer is great for baking and cooking, while a hand blender is designed for soups, smoothies, shakes, etc. With that information in mind, you have to know the recipes that you commonly deal with before deciding on the device to purchase.
Takeaways
To summarize, the core difference between the hand blender vs. hand mixer is that a blender blends while a mixer mixes. Without further, you definitely will need these two in your kitchen since they perform different tasks. If you need one of them, your real choice will fall on your kitchen needs and necessities.
