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What Is the Ace Blender?

Shortly after Instant Pot came out with its Ace Multi-Use Cooking and Beverage Blender, the blogosphere started to light up with reviews and a clamoring for recipes that go beyond the usual smoothies. So we had to see for ourselves what all the excitement was about.

In short, this blender is truly a first of its kind. It has eight discrete "smart" functions (more on those below), some of which combine chopping, pureeing, or mixing with heating and that truly set this device apart from other blenders on the market.

The America’s Test Kitchen test cooks were impressed with its ability to both cook foods and complete regular functions you would usually expect from a blender, all in one package. If you are considering giving this blender a chance, you already own it, or are just trying to learn more about the newest invention from Instant Pot, this is what you need to know.

Do you own the Ace Plus Blender? Make sure you check out our recipe adjustments page before you start cooking! 

It has lots of different settings and features.

The Ace Multi-Use Cooking and Beverage Blender has eight smart touch programs: four cold blending programs (Smoothie, Crushed Ice, Ice Cream, and Nut/Oat Milk) and four hot (Puree, Soy Milk, Rice Milk, and Soup) as well as multiple other features. Some programs have two dots on the blender panel which indicates that you can toggle between two options, i.e., chunky versus creamy for style of soup, white versus brown when making rice milk, and soft versus hard when pureeing vegetables or fruit. This blender also sports two LED panels: one tracks the time of the selected preset function, and the other tracks the real-time rising temperature when using a hot function.  

It's safe.

The blender has a substantial lid with a safety lock, a lid brace, and a black silicone seal. It also has a lid cap that click into place and can be replaced with the food tamper for certain applications. It was a bit unnerving for us at first to watch contents boiling vigorously and moving up and down in the blender jar when we weren’t keeping our hands on the lid with a kitchen towel as we usually do when pureeing hot contents in a regular blender. But this blender is designed for these hot functions and we never had any issues with the lid coming loose. You can walk away without fear.

It stood up to our tests (and made impressive soups).

The Ace performed well in our rigorous tests, most notably the soups. It has two preset functions: after preheating (which takes roughly 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the contents), one cooks for 20 minutes and blends gently at the end for a chunky soup, and the other cooks for 22 minutes and 44 seconds and blends vigorously at the end for a smooth soup. The model successfully cooked and blended raw ingredients into piping hot soup, something we’ve never seen a blender do before. Want all the details from our comprehensive testing? Read our full review here.

It's great for making plant-based milks.

For anyone interested in alternative milks, the Ace blender holds a lot of appeal because you can make a variety of milks using the presets and our recipes. What’s great about making the milks from scratch is that they are economical, easy to make, and free of additives like thickeners, and you can control the amount of sugar added.

Alternative milks require straining at the end. The blender comes with a small strainer bag made of finely woven material, but we found it to be a bit easier to line a fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set it over a large measuring cup. The additional surface area of this setup made it easier to maneuver and pour a heavy glass pitcher full of milk without incident.

Buy the Blender

Instant Pot Ace Multi-Use Cooking & Beverage Blender

This "smart" blender truly is one of a kind. It passed most of our tests and earned a Recommended status from our Tastings and Testings Team.