Did you know the Instant Pot company sells appliances other than just pressure cookers. The Instant Pot Ace Multi-Use Cooking & Beverage Blender is their newest appliance and here’s my Instant Pot Ace Blender review.
When Instant Pot asked me if I’d like to review their new Ace Blender I jumped at the chance. I love their pressure cookers, and was impressed with their Gem slow cooker, so I knew their blender would probably be awesome too.
The Ace Blender uses Instant Pot’s advanced microprocessor technology and has 8 Smart Built-In One-Touch programs: Smoothie, Purée, Ice Cream, Soy, Rice, Nut/Oat Milks, Soup and, Crushed Ice programs. In addition. the Ace features 3 manual blending speeds and a Pulse / Clean button that self cleans the blender.
Four of the programs are for blending cold items, and the other are hot blending programs. The cold blending programs are for making smoothies, ice cream and other frozen treats.
What’s cool about the hot blending programs is that they actually heat up the ingredients to boiling before blending. So it’s not the friction from the blades that creates the heat like most blenders. There’s actually a heating element so you can create one-pitcher meals.
The Ace has a large 60 ounce heavy duty glass pitcher which includes the heating element and 8 stainless steel blades. The digital display gives you additional information, including time remaining on your blending cycle. While the hot programs are working, the display will tell you the temperature of the food inside so you can check on the progress.
The Ace includes a food tamper to help break down food, 5oz measuring cup, cleaning brush with bristles to clean under and around the stainless steel blades and a food-safe strainer bag with drawstring for filtering soy, rice, oats nuts or seeds resulting in a smooth filtered beverage.
Instant Pot Ace Multi-Use Cooking & Beverage Blender Features
- 8 Smart Built-in Programs – Smoothie, Purée, Ice Cream, Crushed Ice, Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Almond, Nut/Oat Milk, and Soup
- 3 Manual Blending Speeds – Low, Medium and High, blender will beep 3 times and begin blending at the selected speed
- 4 Cold Blending Programs – Smoothies, Ice Cream (similar to a sorbet), Crushed Ice, and Almond (Nut)/Oat Milk
- 4 Hot Blending Programs – Purée, Soy Milk, Rice Milk and Soup, with the ability to toggle between 2 options for purée, rice milk and soup
- Pitcher – Premium-quality 60 ounce (1.75 Litres) glass pitcher which includes a concealed heating element and 8 machine ground stainless steel blades
- Accessories include – Food tamper, 150mL / 5oz measuring cup, cleaning brush with bristles, and a food-safe strainer bag with drawstring. The strainer bag is made with lint-free material and machine washable.
- Size – 60 ounce | 1.75 Litre
- Watts – 700 Blending & 600 Heating
- Weight – 11.7 lb | 5.3 kg
- Dimensions – 9.21 L * 8.27 W * 19.17 H / cm: 23.4 L * 21 W * 48.7 H
- Warranty – 12 months
There’s more information, including a great FAQ (frequently asked question) section on the Instant Pot website. The Instant Pot Ace Manual is online if you’d like to learn more about the Ace before buying.
What You’ll Love About the Instant Pot Ace Blender
- It has a powerful motor with a speed of 23,000 RPM but it’s relatively quiet.
- The Ace is well made and Instant Pot has a great reputation for good customer serve.
- The $99 price is well below what you’d pay for most high end blenders.
- It has a self-cleaning / function.
- You can heat, boil and blend a recipe with a touch of one button.
- There’s only one-pitcher to clean.
- The blender clicks into place and you don’t have to worry about twisting on the bottom, nor the bottom leaking.
- It does a great job of blending.
What You May Not Love About the Instant Pot Ace Blender
- The glass container is very heavy, over 5 lbs., and it can’t be submerged in water
- The blender is too tall to fit under kitchen cabinets, and steam comes out of the lid while cooking hot foods, so you’ll need to make sure it’s not too close to your cabinets.
- Currently a recipe booklet is not included with the blender. The manual only has recipes for creating soy, rice, nut and oat milks. However, Instant Pot has teamed up recipe creators (bloggers like myself) in the past to create amazing recipes for their products. I’m sure they’ll continue this tradition with the Ace Blender and you’ll see recipes soon.
- The silicone seal absorbs odors.
Putting the Instant Pot Ace Blender to the Test
The first recipe I used to test out the Ace was the almond milk recipe in the manual. It couldn’t have been easier, especially since a nut milk strainer bag is included with the blender.
The manual suggests soaking the nuts, so I left them soaking on the counter while I was gone to the gym, about 2 hours. I decided to peel the skins peeled off; which was super easy after soaking they just popped out. The manual said taking the skins off is optional.
Next, I used my freshly made almond milk to make a protein smoothie. I followed the layering guide in the manual.
You’ll want to add the liquid first, then your protein powder, followed by your greens, and finish with your frozen fruit. I also added some chia seeds for a little extra protein and fiber.
Later that day for dinner, I made a blender version of my Pressure Cooker Creamy Tomato Basil Soup. Since the blender is smaller than the pressure cooker, you’ll have to divide the recipe in half. But the good news is your don’t have to dice the ingredients. Just give them a rough chop and add them to the blender.
Instant Pot Ace Blender Tomato Basil Soup Recipe
Making the soup in the blender is not quicker than making it in the pressure cooker, but you do get a smoother, creamier soup than when I blend it in the pressure cooker with an immersion blender. It was about 30 minutes to make the soup because it has to bring the ingredients to a boil before it blends the soup the last 2 minutes of the cycle. Urvashi from Two Sleevers did a video of using the blender that explains the heating process well.
When I tried making almond butter in the Ace, but since almonds are such a dry nut, there wasn’t enough moisture to blend. I would get an error message and the blender would stop. I switched the almonds over to my Blendtec and it struggled as well. So I brought out my food processor and it was a better fit for making almond butter.
Marci from Tidbits recently posted her Vanilla Cashew Cream recipe where she combines the pressure cooker and the new Ace blender.
Instant Pot Ace Blender Review Conclusion
I’ve been a big fan of the Blendtec blender for years. I felt the Instant Pot Ace Blender performed as well if not better than my Blendtec blender. Often I have to use the smoothie program twice on my Blendtec to get my smoothie as smooth as I like. But just one cycle on the Ace gave me the result I was looking for.
The Ace blender is big and heavy and doesn’t fit under my counter. But the jar is sturdy enough that if you want to leave it on the counter, you could set the jar on the counter next to the base.
If you’ve been wanting a high quality blender at a more affordable price, the Instant Pot Ace may be just what you’ve been waiting for.
Currently the IP Ace 60 Blender is only available at Walmart. Two other models of the Instant Pot Ace Blender are available on Amazon.
Disclosure: I was sent an Instant Pot Ace to review, but all opinions expressed are always my own.
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Abby Timm
could you make regular flour like from wheat berries in it?
Ethel Lovelace
I’m having a issue with my blender jar it leaks bad I need a new replacement 56 oz jar !!!!!
Esmeralda
My instant ace nova blender is leaking from the bottom and I will like to know if that is fixable and where can I to have it fix? I hope you can reply to me thank you!!
Nina
Sorry to say that less than a year since I bought it, my Ace is now leaking its contents through the bottom seal every day. And I’m seeing lots of reviews from others who report same, along with rusting parts in the seal assembly. 😔
Barbara Schieving
Thanks for sharing Nina – that is frustrating. Have you reached out to Instant Pot?
Yvon L.
I was wondering whether or not the Instant Pot Ace Blender was appropriate for making almond flour and other nut flours, so I emailed Barbara and received a response from her in no time flat. She confirmed that indeed, the Ace blender does the job. I am stoked about buying my own!
Thanks to you, Barbara, for your insight.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Yvon – Yes, it makes almond flour easily. I tested it out for you and followed these directions https://foolproofliving.com/how-to-make-almond-flour/ Thanks for the question!
George
outstanding review! love mine. only exception, if I do anything with ice it shuts down and gives the E03 error.
Which is a bummer because I bought it for that almost specifically.
In theory it’s the thermostat. No trouble shooting has helped thus far.
makes awesome soup though!
Toni Smith
I currently have a Vitamix that is mostly used for smoothies of all sorts and cold soups. I use it for my sweet potato pie during the holidays.
I wanted to know if the Instant Pot Ace is worth getting? I read your thorough review of both pros and cons and I appreciate it. I want to start making even more soups being hot ie beet soups, more butternut turmeric soups etcetera, but don’t want this to be just another kitchen gadget (I Love Kitchen Gadgets!) if it isn’t really necessary.
Looking for a GREAT way to sell this to my husband 😊
Barbara Schieving
I love kitchen gadgets too. Good luck!
Lisa
Has anyone tried milling flour in the IP Ace blender?
Anna
Have you tried the Thermomix? It’s my favorite all in one appliance. More expensive but much better quality (german ingeneering) and 12 functions. (Mixing, cooking, grinding, sautéeing, kneading, steaming…)
This looks like a very cheap version of the Thermomix.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Anna – I have not tried a Thermomix. It sounds great.
Krupa
Have you tried making nut butter in the IP ace?
Barbara Schieving
I only tried making almond butter and the Ace didn’t do a very good job with almond butter.
Kat black
I have tried all the fancy blenders and so far I’ve burned a bunch of motors up…in only a few days. I use the same ingredients I’ve used for years but it seems like blenders don’t work as well as they used to. I want to know if this machine can handle my protein shake. Here is what is in it: a bit of coconut oil, 2.5 cups of coconut milk, walnuts, flaxseed, chia seed, peanut butter, half a frozen banana, 6 to 8 frozen cherries, protein powder and about a cup of frozen blueberries. That is the order the ingredients are added. Batter blending, I add about 8 ice cubes..the ones shaped like half moons. Can this machine handle this?
Kat black
Blenders and I have a war going. So far blenders have not lasted for me. I’ve tried all the fancy popular ones and engines don’t last…some only a few days. Here is my protein shake I make daily..and in the order I put things in. 2.5 cups coconut milk, a bit of coconut oil, walnuts, flaxseed, chia seed, peanut butter, half a frozen banana, 6 to 8 frozen cherries. Blend. Then I add 2 cups protein powder and about a cup of frozen blueberries. Blend. Then add maybe 10 ice cubes, the ones shaped like half moon. Can the Insta pot handle this without breaking
Barbara Schieving
Sounds like a super healthy start to the day. I haven’t tried frozen banana in the Ace but I have in other blenders and they are difficult to blend. Have you considered freezing your banana in slices instead of whole? That might be easier on the blender motors. Also the Ace has an ice function, so you might consider crushing the ice and then dumping it into a container and then proceeding with your recipe. Your blend time should be quicker too.
Angie
Have you tried using the Ace to mix blender muffins? If so, how did it do? Thank you!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Angie – I haven’t tried blender muffins, but I did make blender pancakes and use pulsed the batter and it worked great. https://www.barbarabakes.com/whole-wheat-pancake-and-waffle-blender/
Jan
I’m hoping YOU write a cookbook for the ACE soon or start including recipes on your blog. Love your Electric Pressure Cooker Cook Book…great recipes.
Brenda Summers
I bought it!!! I just made my first soup! It’s butter nut squash soup and it was delicious and so easy! I can’t wait to try other things. I’m going to love it!
Barbara Schieving
So exciting! Thanks for sharing Brenda. Have fun 🙂
Pamela Abbott
I bought my daughters the Ace for Christmas. First thing made was butternut squash soup! Mind bending! So, so good. I don’t even like butternut squash. We can’t wait to start experimenting with other soups.
Barbara Schieving
That’s awesome – thanks Pamela!
Roxanne
Thank-you for your thorough review! I always appreciate knowing both the pros and cons before I buy any appliance. The ability to fully heat soups is very appealing. I’m sure I’ll add this to my growing instant pot collection!
Carol
That’s quite the machine alright! I had no idea Instant Pot made other small appliances besides the pressure cooker and slow cooker.. I imagine they’ll e coming out with even more new gadgets down the road.