Easy Recipes Using A Blender

While we all love a good smoothie, every once in a while it’s nice to pull out the blender and put it to use in other ways. Believe it or not – your blender can be your kitchen’s secret weapon, helping to put together sauces, soups, dips and meals you wouldn’t even imagine. Here’s a roundup of blender recipes from around the web, sure to get your blender going.

Snacks

Restaurant Style Salsa

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INGREDIENTS

• 2 (10-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 small red onion, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Tortilla chips, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

• Combine diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper, to taste, in blender until smooth.
• Serve with tortilla chips.

Blender Applesauce

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INGREDIENTS:

• 3 medium apples, peeled and cored
• 1 banana fresh or frozen
• 1 date, pitted
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon (this is the true sweet cinnamon you can get it here at our store)
• dash of allspice

DIRECTIONS:

• Place apples, water, banana, cinnamon and allspice in a Vitamix (or food processor) and push down using the tamper, and blend until creamy. Using a frozen banana will give you a nice cool applesauce.
•  Garnish with sliced or chopped apple, raisins, shredded coconut or additional cinnamon.
• Serve immediately, or refrigerate for later.
• Makes 3 cups

Additional Tips:

I use this when I also need some applesauce for baking, and just omit the date and cinnamon if it would affect the recipe. It’s a great way to use up some extra apples and banana when you don’t want them to go to waste! 

Soups

Tomato Soup

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 of a small onion, peeled and trimmed of the ends
• 1 large celery stalk (leaves still attached, preferably)
• 1 medium to large size carrot, scrubbed and trimmed of the ends, broken in half
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 (14.5) ounce can diced tomatoes with Italian Herbs (or an identically sized can of plain diced tomatoes with 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings + 1/2 teaspoon dried basil.)

• 1/2 to 1 cup milk and/or heavy cream or creme fraiche to stir in at the end.

DIRECTIONS:

• Add the onion, celery stalk, carrot, garlic clove, and both cans of tomatoes with their liquid into the blender. Fix the lid carefully in place and blend on HIGH for 6 minutes, or until steam is coming from the top of the blender. If using milk, add it and blend on HIGH for 45 seconds or until hot all the way through.
• If desired, drizzle heavy cream or creme fraiche in the soup as you serve.

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

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serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into cubes (~3 1/2 cup)
• 2/3 cup onion, finely diced
• 1 cup red onion, finely diced
• 1 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 cup celery, finely diced
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 1/4 + 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 + 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/4 cup water, divided
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup plain Chobani Greek yogurt
• Toppings (optional):
• black beans
• brocolli sprouts
• corn
• tomatoes
• cilantro
• avocado

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400F.  Toss sweet potato cubes with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/8 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.  Flip sweet potato cubes to the other side and then bake for another 15 minutes.
• While sweet potatoes are baking, place frozen corn kernels in a bowl and add about a 1/4 cup water.  Cover with a paper towel and microwave for 2-3 minutes until kernels are thawed and hot.  Drain off excess water.  In a vitamix or high powered blender, combine 1 cup of the corn kernels with 1 cup water.  Blend until smooth.  Set aside corn puree, but leave it in the blender.
• Heat a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and allow it to get hot, ~2 minutes.  Add both types of onions and stir frequently for 5 minutes allowing the onions to slightly soften.  Add in the celery and allow vegetables to soften for ~5 minutes, continue to stir frequently.  Once vegetables are soft, add in garlic and dried thyme and stir until fragrant.  Turn heat to low.
• By this time your sweet potatoes should be done roasting so use a spatula to transfer all of the roasted sweet potato cubes into your blender with the corn puree.  Blend the corn puree and sweet potatoes together until smooth.  Add in 1 cup chicken broth and continue to blend.  Pour this puree into your soup pot with the softened vegetables.  Add in remaining 1 cup chicken broth, remaining 3/4 cup corn kernels, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.
• Partially cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.  Whisk in 1 cup plain Greek yogurt and serve immediately with a variety of toppings.
• Can be stored in the fridge and reheated before eating.

Sweets

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

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Raw Hazelnut Chocolate Coconut Spread

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INGREDIENTS:

• 200g of hazelnuts
• a few tsp of cocoa powder
• optional: 1/4 cup of coconut cream
• 5 dates
• (3-5 dl water or milk or both)

DIRECTIONS:

• Throw everything in your blender, except for the liquids. Sowly add them while mixing, as much as your blender needs.
• variation 1: Do as above.
• variation 2, if you’re in possession of a Vitamix: After soaking the nuts, dehydrate them until fully dry. Add cocoa powder, coconut cream and dates and blend it up until smooth. This one won’t spoil so fast.
• variation 3: Use hazelnut instead of hazelnuts and replace the dates with date paste or maple syrup (not raw but nutritious) if you don’t have a good blender and/or want something fast that doesn’t go bad for a while (weeks to months).

Baked Goodies

Blender Banana Bread

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INGREDIENTS:

 

Spreads

Garlic Mayo

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup oil (use a combination of olive oil and neutral tasting oil like canola)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped (adjust amount to taste)
• salt & pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

• Make sure ingredients are at room temperature before starting to mix. Place eggs in a cup of warm water to speed up the process if needed.
• Add oil, egg yolks and lemon juice into a blending container. Place hand blender at the bottom of the container and turn on. Within seconds you will see the mayonnaise start to form at the bottom. It will begin to emulsify and become thick. IMPORTANT: make sure to not lift up blender until most of the oil has been incorporated; then begin to move up slowly.
• Once your mixture feels like real mayo, add the chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well and enjoy. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge and consume over the next few days (make sure to use the freshest, high-quality eggs available).
• Total Time: 5 minutes
• Yield: Makes about 1 1/4 cups

Hummus

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INGREDIENTS:

Hollandaise

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Do you have any favorite blender recipes to share?