Instant Pot Is Launching a Vitamix Blender Competitor

There are a few kitchen tools that our readers love and crave above all others: the stand mixer, Instant Pot, and powerful blender chief among them. And when it comes to blenders, Vitamix is the one you covet.

But there’s a new competitor in town! The geniuses over at Instant Pot — that cult tool that finally persuaded millions of cooks to try pressure cooking— are now moving in on the Vitamix with their own, much lower-cost competitor. This week Instant Pot is launching their own smart blender, the new Instant Pot Ace Multi Use Cooking & Beverage Blender. Um, hello!

It’s available exclusively at Walmart and starts shipping on September 23.

If you’ve been saving up for a fancy blender (say, a Vitamix) for all of your smoothie, soup, pureé, and ice cream needs, the brand new Instant Pot Ace Multi Use Cooking & Beverage Blender, might just change your mind completely. At a price point of just $99 (compared to $400+ for its closest competitor) this version is pretty hard to beat.

Although significantly cheaper, this blender can heat food too, and promises many of the same powerful features as the Vitamix.

The Ace is a “cooking blender” with a helpful dual-display that shows both cooking time and temperature. Instead of preparing soups on the stove and then transferring into a blender and pulsing until creamy, the Ace Multi-Use Cooking and Beverage Blender can do everything at once. (The body of this gadget is made of durable glass so it can withstand simultaneous boiling and blending.)

In addition to making hot soups with the push of a button, the Ace can prepare the gamut of alternative milks, including almond, nut, soy, rice, and oat milks, in a fraction of the time that the process would normally take. (It includes a cheesecloth to help strain smooth filtered beverages.)

These are just a few of the gadget’s eight smart built-in programs, which include smoothie, purée, crushed ice, ice cream, soy milk, rice milk, nut/oat milk, and soup functions. (It also boasts a super-quiet motor, so you don’t have to worry about that typical blender cacophony early in the morning when you prep your daily smoothie.)

Moving forward, all signs point to a growing trend of gadget consolidation. Gone are the days where we need to clutter up our countertops with immersion blenders, ice cream makers, alternative milk makers, and more — especially now that there’s a single appliance that does it all (at a really reasonable price). Bring on the multi-blending!

What do you think? Will your fandom of the Instant Pot extend to this new gadget too? Want us to review it? Stay tuned!