Blenders are an essential part of the modern kitchen. Cooking without blenders seems almost impossible. What if your blender stops working, or you have to blend a tiny portion for baby food? Let us find out how to blend without a blender.
I know that sometimes it can be hard to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. That’s why I want to help by giving you some tips on making delicious meals without using a blender. It might sound crazy but trust me, these methods will change the way you cook forever!
How to blend without a blender?
The first thing that most people think about is their food processor or blender. But did you know that there are other ways to blend your ingredients together? You could use a mortar and pestle, fine-mesh sieve, potato masher…the list goes on and on! And if none of those work for what you need them for then maybe they can serve as inspiration for something else entirely! There really is no limit when it comes to creativity in the kitchen.
So let’s get started with my top 9 favorite alternative methods below…and don’t forget – this doesn’t just apply to blending; any time an ingredient needs breaking down into smaller pieces (like garlic), these techniques will do the trick perfectly every time:
1. Mortar and pestle
If you are ready to make a puree but your blender stops working, don’t get disheartened or rush to market to buy one; use your mortar and pestle to make a paste of the food.
Mortar and pestle are centuries-old methods to crush fruits, vegetables, and even spices. Moreover, you can make nut paste, groundnut, or powder the herbs using this equipment.
A blender is much faster but mortar and pestle will do the job with the use of your own energy.
How to puree with the mortar and pestle:
- Cut the fruit or vegetables into small pieces
- Add them to mortar and pestle
- Start crushing the food items by using the pressure of your hands on mortar and moving it in a grinding motion.
- Circular motion with pressure works best.
- I still make my onion and mint chutney the good old way because it gives chunks in a chutney that taste so good.
2. A potato masher
If you are in a process of pureeing vegetables, the best option is to boil them or steam them and then start mashing with the potato masher. It will be quite hard work but the results are awesome.
I use a potato masher to puree carrots and tomatoes for soup. The reason is that blenders blend everything and I lie the soups to be a little chunky. Potato masher helps in retaining the chunks and hence the texture of soups.
3. Use a rolling pin
One more very interesting method to blend food items is using a rolling pin. First, place the food in a ziplock and keep it on the cutting board. Then, start moving the rolling pin back and forth with pressure on the food item.
You can easily crush biscuits, bread, or nuts using a rolling pin. It is my go-to way for crushing cardamom to use in tea or any other food item. I have even used it to crush oreo biscuits to make a small cup of oreo cake.
To puree vegetables, you can boil them and then start cruising with the rolling pin.
4. Boil the food and crush with the fork
Boil the food and puree it using the fork. This works very well if you want to crush a small amount of food. For example, you can easily make a smooth paste of apple sauce or banana to use in pancakes.
5. Make a smoothie with an immersion blender
An immersion blender is a convenient tool to blend the food. It may not make the smoothie that smooth, but it will solve the problem. I use my immersion blender a to for soups and for gravies. But, of course, the food particles are not crushed like that in a blender.
Still, it gives a good chunky style soup or smoothie.
6. Mix everything in a blending jar
Add the food you want to blend in a mixing jar along with a liquid and then shake everything with speed. You cannot crush nuts this way, this method is good for soft foods. Blend boiled vegetables or fruits like bananas easily with this method.
7. Puree everything using a mixer
Blend all ingredients (including liquids) into one container using a hand mixer or whisk attachment on your stand mixer for 10 minutes at low speed or 5 minutes at medium-high speed.
8. Use a chef’s knife
You can also use a chef’s knife to cut the food into very small pieces. This method works well to crush hard food like nuts. I love to crush nuts into smaller pieces to use in vermicelli or rice pudding with a knife. It saves from making nuts too small and keeping them in good particle size.
9. Grater
A cheese grater is excellent not only for grating cheese or potatoes but also for grating other vegetables. Grate your ginger or garlic if you don’t gave paste available. I grate carrots to make carrot pudding with a cheese grater.
It is a great handy tool in the kitchen that does a lot of work. The only drawback is that it can sometimes injure the figures. So, be very careful while using a cheese grater.
The important thing is that this works and tastes amazing! So go ahead and try out one of these methods today!
Can you make a smoothie without a blender?
Of course, you can make a smoothie without a blender. Choose one method from the above-written methods and start. Choose the fruits or vegetables you want to add to your smoothie.
Boil the veggies to make them soft. Crush them using any method listed above. Mix the required amount of protein and blend everything together.
You can use a mixing jar to mix all the ingredients vigorously. You can also use a hand mixer to whisk everything together.
I hope these methods will help you make your own smoothie without using a blender.
