All-Clad Corded vs. Vitamix 5-Speed Side-by-Side Comparison

The All-Clad’s strong motor pulverized carrots and pumpkins easily, but it fell short in handling leafy veggies. After 30 seconds of blending time, several chunks of celery remained quite intact because they got lodged in the blade guard’s holes. The blender somehow couldn't draw them toward the blades. Ultimately, the soup failed to reach the perfect texture. At this price point, we expected a restaurant-quality soup rather than this grainy one.

Pureeing hot soup wasn't challenging the Vitamix thanks to its powerful motor and razor-sharp blades. Although it wasn’t any faster than its counterparts in pureeing time, it warranted the higher cost by providing us with a nutrient-dense purée of silky smooth texture. It also stood out from the rest with a non-suction performance that helped keep splashing to minimal.  

Indeed, the Vitamix is the most suitable hand blender for preparing restaurant-quality soup at home. It’s a great bargain for any recipes that involve fibrous food, too. If you’re now looking for a tool that can consistently ensure the smoothest blends, we particularly love and recommend this blender.

In this test, the All-Clad 10942212300 blended the thick mixture without struggle. It completed its task in about one minute, which was much faster than average. All the frozen fruits were broken down into the finest of bits. There were a smattering of kale flakes in the final smoothie, but that didn’t affect our taste buds.

The Vitamix took only 1 minute and 5 seconds to complete this test. By comparison, its counterparts such as the UTALENT 5-in-1 and the Hamilton Beach 2-speed required nearly double the time. 

Regarding the smoothie’s texture, of all the blenders we tested, only the Vitamix could churn out a thick, creamy smoothie with almost no solids left behind. Plus, despite being longer and heavier, it operated well in our 24-oz blending jar while the BPA-free plastic bell guard helped prevent scratches on the jar’s surfaces.

For this test, we tried to whisk together three egg yolks and 240ml oil using the blending wand. To avoid broken mayonnaise, we ran mostly at medium speeds and only sped up once the oil started emulsifying. Each blender is put through the same testing procedure. However, this was the only hand blender that couldn’t reach the emulsion stage. After about 2 minutes of operating, all we got was a jumbled mixture that looked more like broken eggs than an emulsion.

Technically, it’s hard to conclude whether or not the All-Clad can make mayonnaise in the real kitchen since there are many external factors that prevent the emulsion from forming. This also means that the emulsifying capability of this blender is still an open question.

In this test, most of the blenders produced acceptable outcomes and only our culinary expert could tell the differences between them. However, the Vitamix didn’t have the fastest performance, requiring about one minute and forty seconds to incorporate all the ingredients. This was around 30 seconds slower than the winners, including the Cuisinart Smart Stick, KOIOS 4-in-1, BELL 10-speed, and Chefman cordless. 

This is because when the mayonnaise emulsified and started to thicken, the blending wand generated a suction force, pulling itself against the container’s bottom. That made movement more difficult and slowed the whole process down. We don’t necessarily consider the time to be a deal-breaker. Since the blender itself is quite heavy, though, the longer the process takes, the more it will fatigue your hands. 

In conclusion, despite this drawback, the Vitamix is an acceptable alternative to a hand mixer for preparing mayonnaise or other emulsified sauces. Still, it is not the best hand blender for this job and ideal results may require extra effort.

Considering how evenly and easily it blended frozen fruits, we weren’t surprised that the All-Clad had no trouble pulverizing raw nuts. After the mixture reached our preferred consistency, we extracted the liquid using a nut milk bag. The pulp was finely ground, so the final drink looked creamy and very milk-like. It tasted rich and almondy, exactly as it should. The whole procedure lasted one minute, which was 50 seconds faster than the worst one, the Chefman 6-in-1.

The Vitamix took just 40 seconds to yield one serving of drinkable almond milk.  

That said, from start to finish, its crushing process didn’t go very well. The almond skins, along with peeled chunks, became lodged in the blade guard. We had to stop the blender temporarily and use a spatula to dislodge the food, which we didn’t have to do with other models, such as the Braun MultiQuick-5.

That said, from start to finish, its crushing process didn’t go very well. The almond skins, along with peeled chunks, became lodged in the blade guard. We had to stop the blender temporarily and use a spatula to dislodge the food, which we didn’t have to do with other models.

Not only that, but because the Vitamix couldn’t create a consistent vortex, everything got close to overflowing when we increased the speed. 

Suction was a problem again as well. As a result, we got some almond spatter when we tried to lift up the wand. Most of the splatter-related issues could probably be avoided, though, if we blended it in a taller or larger jar.

Any whipping task will likely exceed your All-Clad’s capability, but that’s mainly because it doesn't include a whisk attachment. We haven’t tried a single hand blender that could whip egg whites using just the blending wand. More often than not, the whites never even reach the soft-peak stage. In the end, we were left with a cloudy liquid composed of two separate layers of bubble film and eggy water.

The Vitamix could be a great all-around blender if it included a whisk attachment. This is because, in our test, there was no way the immersion blender could beat egg-white with its ordinary blending shaft. Unlike a whisk attachment, the blending shaft can’t force air into the egg whites, which is the way to create an even, bubbly foam. Consequently, the result was a cloudy liquid with two separate layers of bubble film and eggy water. We awarded it no points for this test.