Besides making juice and smoothies, what else can I use my Vita-Mix for?
December 26, 2009 9:52 AM   Subscribe

Besides making juice and smoothies, what else can I use my Vita-Mix for?

It's a Christmas present I want to put to good use and I need some ideas other than the obvious juice and smoothies.
posted by MaryDellamorte to Food & Drink (8 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Have you seen their little trade show demos? You can make ice cream that freezes in place, and then two minutes later you can make hot soup! You can make it healthy, just the way you want it!
posted by Madamina at 9:54 AM on December 26, 2009


Response by poster: Never seen a trade show demo.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 10:04 AM on December 26, 2009


Then why don't you watch one?
posted by acidic at 10:12 AM on December 26, 2009


The question is What can't you make?


Let's see.

The "Whole Food Recipes" book that came with our Vita-mix has recipes such as
  • Cheese Dip
  • Salsas
  • Butter
  • Mayonnaise
  • Soups (you don't even have to cook them. The friction of blending everything heats it up)
  • Stir-Fry sauce
  • Fondues
  • All sorts of salad dressings
  • Syrups
  • Pancake batter
  • Crepes
  • Ice cream
  • Sorbet
  • Pudding
  • Pie filling
  • Pie Crust
  • Cookies
  • Whipped Topping/Cream
As best I can tell,a lot of these are online, too.

These are also a lot of fun to make. There's nothing quite like a chicken breast, whole tomato, some tortilla chips, carrot, squash, and pepper sitting in a blender on the counter to make conversation about the sound you'll be making in 5 minutes. Seriously, go crazy. We've even used this to prep ingredients for other recipes - the most recent being evaporated milk that needed to be made more fine for some homemade hot chocolate mix.
posted by niles at 10:41 AM on December 26, 2009


I was at my parents' place over the holidays and was mesmerized by their Vita-Mix. Two things that haven't been mentioned that you can make:

* peanut/almond/cashew/etc. butter
* nut milk - my mom and I made a decent almond egg nog in the thing. You will need something meshy to strain the milk from the chunky stuff.
posted by baxter_ilion at 11:25 AM on December 26, 2009


The Vita-Mix is a great appliance. You could probably use it as a rock tumbler if you wanted to. (NOT TRUE)

It's great for making soup! Tomatoes, chicken stock, a splash of cream, fresh basil, salt and pepper and you've got just the thing to go with your grilled cheese sammich.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:09 PM on December 26, 2009


I powder granulated sugar, grind whole grains into flour, make mayonnaise, tahini from sesame seeds, emulsified salad dressings, salsa, hummus, chopped veggies (pulse a couple of times with veggies in water, then strain and use water for broth), batter for sweet breads...take a look at your grocery list the next time that you go to the store and see what prepared foods you can now make at home using this awesome machine.
posted by mezzanayne at 1:57 PM on December 26, 2009


Soup! Lots and lots of velvety gorgeous soup.

I'd personally stay away from trying to make mayo in it as a newbie; you're liable to over-mix and split the emulsion.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:47 PM on December 26, 2009


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