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Breville the 3X Bluicer Review

This handy blender-juicer combo is a great option for those looking to minimize their appliances
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Breville the 3X Bluicer Review (Whether you're making margaritas or health juice shots, the Bluicer has got you covered.)
Whether you're making margaritas or health juice shots, the Bluicer has got you covered.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Price:  $300 List
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Manufacturer:   Breville
By Hayley Thomas, Genaveve Bradshaw & Aaron Rice  ⋅  Jun 4, 2024
66
OVERALL
SCORE


RANKED
#13 of 16
  • Smoothies - 30% 7.2
  • Convenience - 25% 7.5
  • Ice - 20% 6.4
  • Pureeing - 15% 4.2
  • Grinding - 10% 6.2

Our Verdict

The Breville the 3X Bluicer is exactly what it sounds like: a multipurpose blender capable of blending and juicing. If you're looking for a dedicated juicer, check out our recommendations in our review of juicers. Viewed as a blender, the Bluicer is easy to operate, with three clearly labeled presets for making smoothies, pulverizing ice, blending frozen cocktails, and one for a self-cleaning function. It makes a mean milkshake, a decent smoothie, and will turn out enjoyable, slushy-like margaritas. While it may be uniquely convenient for folks who juice and blend regularly — especially from the perspective of maximizing counter space — its subpar performance in other key areas like pureeing and grinding actually makes it less versatile than other premium blenders we tested. But if you're a fan of multi-use kitchen appliances, the Bluicer is an affordable option. Check out our review of blenders to see how it stacks up against the competition.
REASONS TO BUY
Versatile as a juicer and a blender
Maximizes counter space
Useful presets
REASONS TO AVOID
Subpar puree performance
Unable to heat soup
Not actually as utilitarian as other blenders
Editor's Note: We recently retested the Breville the 3X Bluicer and updated this review with additional information on June 4, 2024.

Compare to Similar Products

 
Awards Top Pick Award
A Unique Blender-Juicer Combo
Best Buy Award
Best Bang for the Buck
 Best Buy Award
Best Buy on a Tight Budget
 
Price $300 List
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Bottom Line This blender doubles as a juicer for those who like multi-use kitchen appliancesConvenient and affordable, this blender is the perfect balance of price and performanceA blender with a pitcher fit to make many drinks, great for smoothies and margaritas but not so great for flour grinding or making soupA solid option for blending frozen beverages, without the same versatility as more expensive blendersA barebones, budget-friendly blender capable of making smoothies but not much else
Rating Categories Breville the 3X Blu... Nutribullet Combo Ninja Professional... Ninja Professional... Hamilton Beach Powe...
Smoothies (30%)
7.2
7.5
6.5
6.2
5.1
Convenience (25%)
7.5
6.7
6.7
6.3
4.7
Ice (20%)
6.4
6.6
8.4
8.1
5.0
Pureeing (15%)
4.2
7.4
5.4
5.6
3.0
Grinding (10%)
6.2
7.9
6.5
4.9
2.0
Specs Breville the 3X Blu... Nutribullet Combo Ninja Professional... Ninja Professional... Hamilton Beach Powe...
Model Number BJB615SHY1BUS1 NBC-12A BN701 BL610 58148A
Power 1.3 HP Peak 1.6 HP Peak 1.9 HP Peak 1.3 HP Peak .94 HP
Pitcher Capacity 68 oz 64 oz 72 oz 72 oz 40 oz
Presets Yes, 4: Smoothie, Pulse / Ice Crush, Auto Clean, Frozen Cocktail Yes, 2: Extract, Pulse, 3 speed settings Yes, 3: Smoothie, Ice Crush, Ice Cream Yes, 1: Pulse, 3 speed settings None
Measured Dimensions (base with pitcher) 18.2" x 9.5" x 7.5"
(when set up as a blender)
17" x 7" x 9.5" 17.5" x 9" x 6.8" 18" x 10.5" x 7.5" 14.7" x 8.7" x 6.5"
Dishwasher Safe All parts except for the motor base and tamper Yes Yes Yes Yes
Accessories Yes
  • Pulp bin
  • Cleaning Brush
  • Juicer attachment
Yes
-32oz Cup with blade attachment
-24oz Cup with blade attachment
-2 To-Go lids
-Tamper
-Recipe book
No No No
Digital Timer Yes No Yes No No
Meant for Heating? No No No No No
Cord Length 3.5 ft 2.5 ft 2.5 ft 2.8 ft 2.2 ft
Wattage 1000 watts 1200 watts 1200 watts 1000 watts 700 watts
Measured Decibels for Standard Smoothie 84.1 83.7 *not measured 84.1 83.6
Measured Soup Temperature 74 145 74 73 105

Our Analysis and Test Results

The Breville 3X Bluicer is a unique combination blender and juicer. It can juice directly into a 50-ounce blender jug to incorporate fresh juice into smoothies or cocktails. The juicer top features a 3.5-inch, extra-wide chute and a 3.2-quart pulp bin. The blender features five-speed settings, four preset programs—including an auto-clean function—and a countdown digital timer for presets.

Performance Comparison


Here we are twisting up some tasty margaritas with the Bluicer. The resulting cocktail was good, but not great.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

A Bluicer, Not a Juicer


While the 3X Bluicer can pull double-duty as a blender and juicer and may come in handy for folks looking to maximize counter space, a jack-of-all-trades isn't always the best option. If you're in the market for a dedicated juicer, it's worth comparing this model against other top-rated options in our review of juicers.

Smoothies


The Bluicer doesn't produce velvety-rich smoothies like other purpose-built blenders we tested, nor does it extract juice as well as other purposed-built juicers we tested. However, considering its versatility as a multi-functional blender, the Bluicer still does a pretty bang-up job in the smoothie department.


Like its Breville blender-specific cousin, the Bluicer features a Smoothie preset, which turns out somewhat average green smoothies but better berry blends. It did a solid job of breaking down frozen fruit, but there were a noticeable number of seeds left behind in the overly thick mixture. We needed to use the pulse setting for a few rounds to help thin the smoothie out enough to drink through a straw rather than having to use a spoon. We appreciate the ability to juice fresh apples into our smoothies, and this ability undoubtedly adds a level of freshness to our berry blends. But it took a fair amount of tamping — and even a bit of supplementary juice — to achieve the desired results.

breville the 3x bluicer - our berry smoothies were not as smooth as we'd like them to be, and...
Our berry smoothies were not as smooth as we'd like them to be, and it took some extra juice to get them to a drinkable consistency.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw,Genaveve Bradshaw

The Bluicer did surprisingly well, however, with the fruit and oat smoothie we blended during testing. The yield was cold, thick, and delicious — a standard outcome with this notoriously difficult-to-blend recipe but one we were happy with, considering the Bluicer's average performance with other recipes using the same Smoothie preset. This result speaks to the capability of the 1000-watt motor, which is a bit lacking compared to the output power of other blenders but clearly still adequate for most blending tasks.

breville the 3x bluicer - examining the consistency of the oreo milkshake we blended. compared...
Examining the consistency of the Oreo milkshake we blended. Compared to other smoothie blends, this was surprisingly runny.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

Convenience


As a multi-purpose kitchen appliance, the Bluicer clearly has a leg-up on other purpose-built blenders in terms of space-saving and versatility. But even in the meaningful ways that we assess convenience for all of the blenders we tested — namely design, interface, functionality, and cleaning — the Bluicer still scores above average.


The Bluicer features four presets — Smoothie, Pulse/Ice Crush, Frozen Cocktail, and Auto-Clean — as well as five juice settings. Like other blenders we tested it alongside, the Bluicer isn't particularly quiet as either a juicer, or a blender on its normal smoothie setting. While our ears couldn't tell the difference, our SPL meter recorded an average decibel reading only slightly above a directly comparable Breville blender.


Unlike other Breville blenders we tested that use plain language for labeling, the light-up buttons on the Bluicer are a mixture of words and icons, which can be a bit confusing as you're learning to use this blender. But like other Breville blenders, the presets are highly practical and coupled with a countdown digital timer for what is essentially a hands-off blending experience.

breville the 3x bluicer - the light-up buttons offer next level user-friendliness.
The light-up buttons offer next level user-friendliness.
Credit: Abriah Wofford


The juicer filter is removable, which makes it easy to wash by hand, but the blender blades are not. Luckily, all of the attachments are dishwasher-safe. But if you don't have a dishwasher, it's important to note that the Bluicer takes up a lot of counter space to dry.

breville the 3x bluicer - unlike other comparable blenders where the container just sits on...
Unlike other comparable blenders where the container just sits on the motor base, the jug on the Bluicer is held in place by an arm that snaps into place.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

Like most blenders we've tested, we lean on the Auto-Clean feature of the Bluicer for the most efficient cleanup. Just pour in some soap and water, click the lid into place, hit the auto-clean button, and let the non-removable blades clean themselves. Unfortunately, the design of the Bluicer doesn't allow you to place the jug on top of the base to dry, and if you're combining blending with the juicer attachment, you can expect to have a full spread of components drying out on your counter.

Ease of cleaning is a big part of our convenience test. Many of our blenders are dishwasher safe and a few of them, like the Bluicer, even have a cleaning preset.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

Ice


The Bluicer can handle ice, but only in limited quantities. Considering the volume of the 50-ounce blender jug, we were surprised by this limited capacity. The maximum is approximately 10 ice cubes to 10 ounces of liquid, yielding a textured ice mix that's more crystalline than smooth.


Despite lacking capacity, this blender crushes ice fairly easily and makes a good — but not a great — margarita. The manufacturer recommends using the pulse setting for ice, and the Bluicer also features a Frozen Cocktail preset. This setting is very easy to use but yields more of a slushy texture than the pleasantly creamy texture of other, higher-performing blenders we tested.

breville the 3x bluicer - not quite as good as it looks, the bluicer isn't as capable as other...
Not quite as good as it looks, the Bluicer isn't as capable as other Breville blenders at consistently chopping up margarita-grade ice.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

Pureeing


While the Bluicer may be utilitarian as a blender-juicer combo, it does not do a great job of other common kitchen tasks, namely blending. While it turned out a fairly tasty nut butter mix, its ability to make soup is subpar.


Unlike other blenders we tested, the user manual doesn't recommend settings to make nut butter, so we decided on a combination of pulsing and Smoothie cycles. After approximately six minutes of assisted blending — including lots of stirring and additional oil — the Bluicer did turn out a smooth, creamy nut butter. Although it took a considerable amount of work, we were happily surprised with the outcome.

breville the 3x bluicer - the blades design on the bluicer just isn't as well suited to...
The blades design on the Bluicer just isn't as well suited to pureeing as are longer, less angulated blades on other top blenders we tested.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

Soup, on the other hand, is a different story. Unlike other premium blenders, there are no soup presets, so we defaulted to the “Carrot” button. But after five rounds of blending over five and a half minutes, the Bluicer yielded a fairly thick soup of uneven texture — it was either thin and watery, or chunky, like a marinara sauce. Consistent with the lack of overall quality, the blended soup barely reached mid-90°F, whereas other premium blenders are capable of blending steamy bowls of soup above 150 °F.

The homemade tomato soup we pureed in the Bluicer isn't nearly warm enough to serve straight out of the pitcher.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw

Grinding


Pureeing with this blender certainly leaves something to be desired, but it's relatively split in our grinding tests. The flour and sugar we milled with the Bluicer were pretty grainy compared to other comparable models, but it chops up hard cheese very well—perhaps that's not surprising, given its roots as a juicer.


The Bluicer is able to able to mill regular crystal into powdered sugar after approximately two minutes. However, having no control over the power level is limiting, and ultimately, we still felt small crystals when we ran the powdered sugar through our fingers. Similarly, milling meal corn into flour (using the “Carrot” button) yielded mostly coarse corn meal. Only about 60% sifting through our sieve, and there were even a few whole kernels left over.

The Bluicer did a good, but not an exceptional job at milling regular crystal sugar into powdered sugar.
Credit: Abriah Wofford

Even though the Bluicer is able to nicely grind hard cheeses like parmesan, the whole blender shakes and moves around on the counter throughout the blending cycle, which is a bit alarming. We deemed it a very real possibility that the blender could shake itself right off the counter, which made this more of a hands-on task. Although it could chop parmesan into fine, restaurant-grade crumbled cheese, cutting the cheese into smaller blocks helped significantly. Between the necessary prep assistance and the racket this blender raised, both clearly show that this was not an easy task for the Bluicer.

breville the 3x bluicer - the parmesan milled by the bluicer was surprisingly good quality...
The parmesan milled by the Bluicer was surprisingly good quality, but it took a lot of effort.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw

Should You Buy the Breville the 3X Bluicer?


The Bluicer is an amazing value, but only if you are looking for a multi-use appliance. This really is a unique addition for any kitchen, and the ability to juice directly into your smoothie blend adds a certain level of freshness that is undeniable. But if you are looking for a top-quality blender to make smoothies and don't plan on making juices, you will likely be disappointed with the capability and versatility of the Bluicer for other common kitchen tasks.

What Other Blenders Should You Consider?


There's no better option than the Breville the Super Q for making perfect smoothies and high-quality, homemade soups. However, this premium blender has a premium price tag to match. If you don't mind spending extra money on a time-tested appliance that is built to last, consider the Super Q against the Vitamix A2500 Ascent Series. But if you're looking for a more budget-friendly option and don't mind foregoing some user-friendly features in lieu of substantial savings, consider the Nutribullet Combo.

Hayley Thomas, Genaveve Bradshaw & Aaron Rice