From whipping cream to beating egg whites, these mixers lend a helping hand. Which model is best?
Last Updated Mar. 1, 2023. Appears in Cook's Country TV Season 15: Pork Roast and Orange Cake
We recently tested two additional hand mixers, including a new cordless model from KitchenAid. While we liked the KitchenAid mixer more than the other cordless model that we previously tested, it still didn’t have the power required to muscle through dense cookie dough. We think the Breville Handy Mix Scraper and the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9 Speed Hand Mixer are the best options for most people.
Hand mixers are a useful addition to any baker's kitchen. We often use them to whip cream, cream together butter and sugar for baked goods, and beat egg whites for meringue. They also take up less storage space than a stand mixer and are much easier to maneuver. We were looking for a mixer that was powerful and easy to use and had a range of speed settings, and we found all that and more in our new winner, the Breville Handy Mix Scraper. We also love our Best Buy, the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9 Speed Hand Mixer with Storage Case, which offers similar mixing prowess without the bells and whistles of our winner.
Hand mixers strike a happy medium between combining ingredients by hand and hauling out a heavy stand mixer every time you want to mix. We use them in the test kitchen for whipping cream; beating egg whites into meringue; and combining ingredients for single batches of cookies, cakes, or pies. We think a hand mixer is an especially good option for people looking to get into baking without making a huge investment, people who don’t have much storage space, and people with arthritis or certain disabilities that prevent them from lifting a larger mixer. While hand mixers make many baking projects much easier, we’ve found that they are not powerful enough to mix most bread or pizza doughs, despite some manufacturers’ claims. Still, we think they can be an important and convenient addition to your kitchen arsenal.
All hand mixers include two standard beater attachments; some also include one or two whisk attachments and a pair of spiral-shaped dough hooks. After first testing all the models with their beaters, we tested the models equipped with whisk attachments by preparing an additional batch of meringue. Finally, we outfitted our top two models with their dough hooks and mixed Bagel Bread (more on this below).
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Chase is an associate editor for ATK Reviews. He's an epidemiologist-turned-equipment tester and biscuit enthusiast.