We tested popular juicing machines that suit all budgets and requirements to find which was best. Discover our top buys, plus find juice recipe inspiration.
Whether you’re trying to increase your fruit and veg intake or just want to know what all the fuss is about, it might be time to give juicing a go. Here’s our guide to help you find the best juicer for you.
How does juicing differ from smoothie-making, you ask? Simply put, most machines extract juice from fruit and veg, then separate the juice from the pulp. Smoothie makers, on the other hand, cannot extract any juice, and merely blend the chosen ingredients together, meaning the results are often thicker.
Although there are plenty of options on the market, there are fundamentally two options to choose from: fast or slow juicers.
Centrifugal (or fast) juicers are popular as they’re speedy, easy to use and tend to be fairly budget-friendly. Masticating (or slow) juicers will do a much better job at breaking down the fruit or veg, particularly those hard-to-blend leafy greens.
Masticating juicers are notorious for being slow, but the Philips promises a full glass of juice in just one minute, and creates exceptionally smooth and balanced juice by cold-pressing ingredients. We were impressed with several things about this juicer.
The lidded feeder chute conveniently feeds a whole apple into its corkscrew mechanism, which you can reverse to help any stubborn ingredients through. Juice is collected in a container below the machine through a spout with a tap, which effectively prevents mess from dripping, a common problem for juicers.
It has a modern design and is button-activated, but the machine itself is quite deep and narrow in width. If you have the space, this is a great mid-range machine. It comes with five juicing recipes, is easy to assemble, clean, and safe to wash. All in all, this is a great juicer.
This juicer arrives practically pre-assembled in three stackable pieces, making it quick and easy to put together. There are also no exposed blades, other than inside the juicing drum.
It has a comparatively small footprint, so would be a smart choice if you don’t have a lot of kitchen space.
The juicing function was very efficient, extracting a high volume of juice quickly from the ingredients. Small apples can be juiced whole thanks to its wide feeder funnel. It’s small, modest and powerful.
This is an effective juicer with a bunch of added features to make it particularly easy to use – exactly what you’d hope for with the price tag.
The stacker build style is marked with red dot indicators to help you line things up. Its wide feeder funnel and key screw mechanism deals particularly well with whole fruit and veg like crisp apples or carrots.
The feeder funnel features a lid lock for keeping in unruly ingredients whilst they descend into the juicer drum. There’s also a built-in pulp sieve so the juice extracted is clean and fresh.
We were pleasantly surprised at the innovative design of the electriQ juicer, the first to have a see-through component to display the fruit and veg travelling through the machine.
It’s excellent value for money. Although we found the machine harder to clean than others, it would be perfect for anyone new to juicing.
As you might have guessed, this machine is a juicer-blender hybrid, and it has an impressive capacity for doing both. Sage’s 3X Bluicer Pro is undoubtedly a versatile piece of kit.
It’s not small or lightweight. We recommend a smaller product if your kitchen space is limited, or if you’re looking to juice small quantities at a time. But its size means a lot can be put through the juicer in one go.
It’s great for larger families or groups looking to save time, make batches of juice, and find a product that can multitask (thanks to its large feeder chute and 10 speed options). It’s also dishwasher-safe.
The juicer function produced a smooth, balanced juice with a slight foam. The side spout and silicone feeder tube allow you to direct the juice directly into a glass but we recommend using the jug provided.
If you’re not in a hurry and want seriously high-quality juice, the BioChef will make the most out of any ingredient fed into it.
It deals well with fibrous and crisp fruits and veg well. A handy feeder dish also allows you to chop and chuck bits in at the same time without any need for rushing, but make sure fruits like apples are quartered. The funnel itself is quite small.
Its corkscrew masticating mechanism means there are no exposed blades to worry about when cleaning.
You can do a surprising amount with this machine – it has the capacity to make nut butters, pasta and sorbets. This is a slow and sturdy juicer.
If you like your greens, this juicer happily chomps through tough, fibrous veg and extracts a large quantity of smooth, foam-free juice.
The Sana comes with a host of attachments, including a juice sieve, and offers seven different functions alongside juicing for grinding, homogenising and even making pasta.
However, it’s a bulky bit of kit with some fundamental design flaws. The feeder chute is very narrow – apples must be chopped smaller than quarters. The additional parts were fiddly to clean, and its corkscrew mechanism felt clunky. You can get the same quality juice from a machine with a lower price tag.
We tested all the juicers using the same quantities of carrots, apples, ginger and kale. We looked for a smooth, green juice that told us the machine could handle leafy greens. The juices that came out orange told us the machine didn’t process the kale properly. We also measured the amount of juice produced in each batch.
What we looked for when testing juicers
Ease of use: Although assembling the machines can be quite time-consuming, we noted how easy the instruction manuals were to use and the simplicity of each machine’s functionality once put together.
Smoothness: As we were looking to juice a variety of fruit and veg, it was important the juicers could handle everything we threw their way. We also made sure they weren’t too noisy for an everyday kitchen.
Ease of cleaning: We looked for machines with removable components that could be washed in a dishwasher or by hand.
Ease of storage: Although all juicers tend to be big due to the nature of the work they do, we looked for compact appliances that could be stored in a kitchen cupboard.
Features: Any added bonuses, like different options for frozen juices or veg prep, were taken into account.
Types of juicers
Although there are plenty of options on the market, the two main options are fast or slow juicers.
Centrifugal (fast) juicers: These seem to be the most popular choice because they are speedy, easy to use, and tend to be fairly budget-friendly. Most of the time, they work by feeding whole chunks of fruit or veg down a tube where it is then chopped and separated at the bottom.
Masticating (slow) juicers: For anyone who considers juicing a vital part of their diet, masticating is often deemed preferable. Although not as speedy, it will definitely do a much better job at breaking down the fruit or veg, particularly those hard-to-blend leafy greens. It’s often said that you will yield more juice from these, so they’re considered more cost-effective in the long run.
How to use a juicer
Follow one of our simple juice recipes to get the best results from your machine:
This review was last updated in August 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.
Advertisement
Have you tried juicing yet? Will you be investing in a juicer? We’d like to hear your thoughts.
Beer 52 exclusive offer: Get a free case of craft beer worth £24.
