Summer Sips: Best Shakes, Smoothies And Juices To Make At Home

Best Appliances For Summer Blends

With a blender, juicer or stick mixer at the ready, there’s a whole lot of healthy smoothies to make at home. Choose a small appliance as you would a batting partner for backyard cricket – look for versatility, power and a speed setting that’ll get you over the line.
Blenders have sizeable blades and a high-performance motor to get through tough ingredients such as ice and frozen fruit. Stick mixers work like a small-scale hand-held blender for quick mixes in your cup, while a juicer is a must-have for separating juice and pulp.

“Blenders and stick mixers are smoothie superheroes, while juicers are experts at, well, juicing. They combine spinning blades and pressing mechanisms to remove pulp, leaving you with just the juice,” says Tracey Ellis, The Good Guys Buyer – Portable Appliances.

The best summer smoothie is done with your resident blender, which can chop and mix even the toughest ingredients with ease. Depending on your recipe, a powerful stick mixer can also do the job – it’s best for blending fresh fruits and soft ingredients in the convenience of your cup.

Let’s get blending!

Shop Our Top 5 Blenders This Summer!

VITAMIX ASCENT Series A2500i High-Performance Blender - Black

Sunbeam Two Way Classic Blender Black

Kambrook Blitz2Go - Active  

Watermelon And Friends

Bring out the best in a summer favourite with this vibrant recipe from NUTRIBULLET. For best results, load all your ingredients into the Nutribullet Ultra 1200, which has a 1200W motor and easy click activation for pureed perfection in seconds.

Prep: 5 minutes

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 cup watermelon, fresh
• ¼ cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 ½ tsp lime juice
• 1 ½ cups coconut water
• 120g ice

Method:
Add ingredients in the order listed and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Love this one? Here’s some more inspiration for summer blends.

Tropical Smoothie

A smorgasbord of summer flavours, this one combines seasonal fruits in a smoothie that tastes how an island holiday feels. Chop and load into a blender your choice of tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango, orange and banana, along with a cup of coconut water or fruit juice. 

Essential kit: Ninja Nutri Ninja Blender with Auto-IQ

Summer Smoothie Bowl

Love an acai bowl from your local cafe? Save money and flex your culinary skills at home with a DIY smoothie bowl. Freeze your fruits before hitting the blender, and mix to create a super-smooth result. For a meal with the crunch factor, serve in a bowl and decorate with the likes of granola, seeds, nut butter and fruit.

Essential kit: KitchenAid K400 Blender – Pistachio

Protein Smoothie

Protein powder is a superstar of the smoothie world, starring in the breakfast shakes of many wellness warriors. A scoop of protein powder in your smoothie will keep you fuller for longer, and is easy to add to your blender. Otherwise, up your smoothie’s protein punch with foods such as nut butter, oats, milk or yoghurt.

Essential kit: Breville The Super Q Blender

Shake Up A Classic

You can’t go wrong with a classic! Nail the much-loved milkshake with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, a cup of milk and some quality store-bought syrup. Whether you’re team chocolate, strawberry or vanilla, choose your fave and mix with a blender or stick mixer. Choose a blender for its jug-like capacity when mixing for the masses, or a stick mixer for quick milk-shaking with minimal clean-up. 

Classic Banana Smoothie

Afternoon tea for the kids is sorted with this time-honoured crowd pleaser. Simply place banana, milk, natural yoghurt, a sprinkle of cinnamon and ice in a blender. Just blitz and serve. Job done!

Essential kit: KitchenAid Onyx Black Blender

Dessert Thickshake

This unashamedly calorific dessert is bound to please at family movie night. Go for the milk and ice-cream staples, then bring your thickshakes to life with a flavour theme. Rocky road lovers will enjoy some strawberry syrup, marshmallows and crushed nuts. More of a honeycomb fan? Add chocolate syrup and top with a crumbled honeycomb bar.

Essential kit: Smeg Personal Blender 50's Style Pastel Blue

Berry And Watermelon Juice

The very definition of smooth and refreshing, this one’s best served over ice at poolside drinks. Just send watermelon, strawberries and raspberries through your juicer, or blend with ice for a kid-friendly slushy.

Essential kit: Cuisinart Kick Start Personal Juicer and Blender

Green Juice

Nothing says health like a glass of green goodness. Made possible by your juicer, these evergreen flavours scream summertime and offer a world of vitamins and nutrients. Try green faves such as kale, spinach, celery, cucumber and apple. Flavour kickers like lemon, parsley and ginger are also a handy addition.

Essential kit: Breville The Juice Fountain Max Juicer

Make your own liquid sunshine with the perfect blender, stick mixer or juicer from The Good Guys. Visit us in-store or online to find your soulmate small kitchen appliances.