BELLA 10-Speed vs Mueller Ultra-Stick Side-by-Side Comparison

The BELLA is moderately capable at pureeing soup. In our test, it took around 30 seconds to blend and combine all the ingredients. However, we still found lots of tiny chunks when we ran the soup through a strainer. On the whole, blending didn’t go smoothly since the blender itself created a bit too much suction. At the highest speed settings, it vacuumed itself solidly to the beaker’s bottom, making it very difficult for us to make any movements. For a better performer overall, we recommend the Vitamix 5-speed or the KitchenAid cordless hand blender.

Despite being a low-priced blender, the Mueller Ultra-Stick wasn’t any slower than the others we tested. It took about 30 seconds to yield two servings of pureed soup packed with carrots, pumpkin, and parsley.

That said, it wasn’t so good at drawing ingredients toward its blades, so we needed to move it around for an even blend. Moreover, it sucked tightly to the pot’s bottom, which didn’t cause as much spatter as the Cuisinart, but did cause small scratch marks on our cookware’s surface. It also made it very challenging for us to stir with the blending wand.

Our Mueller soup’s texture was acceptable but not the silkiest; there were still several large chunks of veggies left behind.

Our BELLA transformed all the ingredients into a drinkable texture in approximately one minute, from start to finish. It didn’t have too much difficulty powering through frozen fruit or kale. The resulting smoothie was acceptable with very few unprocessed chunks.

To ensure this portable machine can do the work of a full-sized blender for making smoothies, we designed this specific test for it. We would award it corresponding points if it could create a homogeneous mixture of just kale and frozen fruit. Disappointingly, we found that the Mueller Ultra-Stick isn’t great at blending solid fruit and leafy vegetables. 

In this task, it had a very hard time breaking up the ingredients. This caused it to demand up to 1 min 15 secs to finish the test. 

And although the Turbo mode is intended to give the blender ​​an extra boost at max speed, we noticed the speed increment wasn’t enough to make any difference. Our smoothie came out pretty smooth, but there were many unprocessed chunks of mango. It was also a bit grainy due to a mass of tiny leafy bits. For about $35 more, you can upgrade to the better Braun MultiQuick-5.

As this blender shouldn’t run for longer than 60 seconds at the time to avoid damage, we took a break after 30 seconds. In the meantime, we used a spatula to dislodge the food that lodged in the blade guard.

Making mayonnaise was easy with this blender. Of all the blenders we tested, it was among the fastest, beating our favorite blender — the Braun MultiQuick-5 by up to 30 seconds. That said, its mayonnaise didn’t come out very smooth and creamy. Still, for such a low-priced hand blender, this result is worthy of praise.

Although the Mueller’s whisk attachment has thin, floppy wires, it got the job done in less than two minutes. That was 10 seconds faster than the Braun, whose whisk is more sturdy and springy. It was nearly as fast as the high-end Vitamix and handily beat the cordless KitchenAid by a full minute.

It was also easier to clean. For the most part, its mayonnaise tailings rinsed off easily under our running tap. Using the blending shafts, on the other hand, caused the food to get clogged in the blade housing. As such, it was very challenging for us to scrub off the residuals on the blade’s backsides.

Our non-dairy milk required nearly a minute and a half of blending, but it still didn’t come out as smooth and creamy as it should. And not only couldn’t the machine blend uniformly, but it also created bad suction, causing a mess when we struggled to lift it upward.

Grinding raw nuts shouldn’t be a challenging task for any hand blender. However, our Mueller couldn’t perform any worse, though part of the reason is due to our blending jar — its small size caused the liquid to overflow all over the countertop every single time we moved the blender. So if you intend to use this blender to prepare watery drinks, it’s best to use a bigger container. 

None of the blenders we tested could avoid suction, but the Mueller’s was so strong that it was hard to stir or withdraw the wand, and when we lifted it up the container came with it. These things caused the liquid to easily overflow.

Not only that, but this blender didn’t grind finely enough for a creamy drink. Our almond milk was drinkable, but quite watery and not as sweet as others.

The BELLA’s whisk attachment drew enough air into the egg whites to create stiff peaks in our test, but its prolonged beating operation left us with exhausted hands and extreme discomfort. So, even though this add-on can do the trick, we don’t think it’s a good alternative to a hand mixer when it comes to preparing emulsified sauces or meringue. There are other immersion blenders that can ensure smoother operations, such as the KOIOS 4-in-1 and the Breville Control Grip.

Before we began this test, we presumed that all the whisk attachments would perform well at  beating egg-whites, though some may be more efficient than others. Surprisingly, Mueller's performance proved us wrong.

First, it had an advantage over the blending wand in incorporating enough air into the egg whites, allowing the egg-protein to form a stiff, airy foam. What was until its motor seriously overheated several times, requiring us to let it stop and cool down. This issue didn’t regularly occur with the other blenders, and spending so long with the Mueller was tiring.

Even worse, after this test the whisk attachment had lost its original bulbous shape. The strands of looped wire were all out of their initial order, which would impair its performance in the next emulsifying and beating tasks.