How to Deep Clean Your Blender Jar
The title of this post may sound silly since Blendtec jars nearly clean themselves. But for those who have only known old-fashioned blenders, where you have to untwist the blade to clean the blender and have the worry about protecting the rubber gasket and not poking yourself with the thin crisscross blade...let me walk you through how I clean my Blendtec blender jars.
First off, let me start by saying I use multiple jars every day: Twister, WildSide* and FourSide, depending on what I've decided to create. I actually use my jars like mixing bowls. If I am blending up a quick bread, I grind my wheat berries into flour in the FourSide jar, place my wet ingredients in the WildSide jar, dump a third of the flour from the FourSide into the WildSide, and ta-da! Quick bread batter in mere minutes.
To clean up, I add a little water, one drop of dish soap (note the words "one drop") and then just put the jar back on the blender with the lid. I hit "pulse" a few times, dump the sudsy water, rinse the jar with running tap water, turn it upside down on a dish towel to air dry and I am on to the next task. Easy peasy!
Just one drop of soap in your Blendtec blender jar Now, if I have made fresh nut butter in the Twister jar, I admit cleaning the jar is a longer process – but not that long. Here's what I have learned. I use the Spectacula spatula to pull out all that fresh yummy nut butter. Then I put the Twister jar back on the blender with the Twister lid on and hit "Pulse." This throws the nut butter that was clinging under the blade to the sides of the jar. I scrape the jar clean again, then add to the jar a few tablespoons of water, plus a tiny drop of dish soap. Pulse, pulse, rinse, rinse. I tilt the jar so I can see all angles, and if it meets my approval, I am done. If not, I put the jar on the top rack of the dishwasher and that's it!
Ok, so it's canning season and I've canned several batches of salsa. Cleaning the blender jar is just as easy. But to be sure there is no leftover heat from a hot chili pepper, I just put the jar in the sink filled with suds and a little bleach. I rinse the jar, then turn it upside down to dry. All the water runs off the jar with the help of the little drain holes on the bottom of the jar. Thank you, gravity! (And thank you engineers!) As I said, the jars nearly clean themselves.
How do you clean your jar? Here's some more tips on how to maintain your blender jars. Here's some more tips for removing stains from your jar:
- Juice of 1 lemon, 2-3 tbsp of baking soda, and some water. Then, run to Speed 10 and scrub with non-scratch sponge.
- Vinegar mixed with baking soda (and some water) will also work. Then, run to Speed 10 and scrub with non-scratch sponge.
- 1-2 tbsp powdered dishwasher detergent dissolved in 1-2 cups hot water, left to soak for 1 hour. Then, scrub with non-scratch sponge.
- To get 'smells' out, just grinding up a lemon works like it does for your garbage disposal.
- Put in six squirts of Bleach in the jar. Let it sit in the jar for about 5 minutes and rinse well before blending.
- Lemi Shine® is a dishwasher detergent additive. Combined with your auto dish detergent, Lemi Shine® Original removes tough hard water spots, stains, and film during the main wash cycle.
- Protein powder – Lemi Shine® will also help with the protein powder. Let soak in the jar for 20 min with some powdered dish washer detergent.
Your post title mentions deep cleaning but then proceeds only to cover normal cleaning. To me, a deep cleaning is what I need after I get back to the house to discover dense dried-on smoothie gunk left over from having to rush out of the house with the jar half-full of smoothie sitting on the counter on a hot day.
We generally soak it in hot soapy water for an hour or so and then scrub with a dish brush before sticking it back on the motor to pulse the soapy water. After losing several Vitamix blade assemblies to the dishwasher over the years, we’re hesitant to believe the Blendtec manual that the jar is safe for the dishwasher top rack), but I’d love to hear your take on how to do an actual deep clean, since I’m sure I’m not the only parent who is occasionally too busy to clean my blender immediately after use.
i am having trouble making anything with more than a few cubes of ice.
I had a recipe calling for 15 ice cubes…
i added the almond milk, the other ingredients to taste, then the ice and hit ice/ice cream and the ice kept jamming up…
i had to constantly stop, stir, and start again
So the next time i tried crushing the ice before hitting start…
worked well until a little cube lodged under the blade (i’m assuming)…then it jammed again and i had to stir it
A $400+ machine shouldn’t jam up when using ice…what am i doing wrong?
thanks,
jain
Hi Katie,
The white vinegar and warm water solution helps to remove hard water build up. However, since our jars are made from a copolyester material crazing may occur from a chemical interaction with a cleaner or an oil, such as an essential oil. Crazing may appear as a cloudy fog or tiny cracks. These effects are only cosmetic and you can still use your jar(s) without any problems, but the white vinegar solution will not remove any crazing. I hope this helps.
I am having trouble with the mineral buildup on my jar. Can you elaborate on the white vinegar solution? Thanks so much in advance! I love my blender!!! :)
Thanks for the question. This could be answered with a simple, “No, you cannot remove crazing, and yes, you can prevent crazing,” but here is the longer answer.
Our jars are made from a copolyester material. Crazing on copolyester generally occurs from a chemical interaction with a cleaner or an oil, such as an essential oil. Crazing may appear as a cloudy fog or tiny cracks. However, these effects are purely cosmetic and do not impact the integrity of the jar. There is a great definition of crazing on Wikipedia, if you are interested. If you have further questions, our Customer Service Agents are always willing to assist. Happy Blending!
Leave a comment