![Three juice presses on a kitchen counter with containers halfway filled with green juice.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.allrecipes.com/thmb/evahUZZh87nTMwPHynVPY23bMGw=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/alr-primary-juicers-wdickey-888-906924e88f3746dba61bf3a59343840d.jpeg)
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
For the better part of the 2010s, I was steadfastly on the juicing bandwagon. At first, it was just an occasional green juice picked up post-spin class on my way to work, then it was an entire week’s worth of juices and nut milk for a “digestive reset”. At some point, I decided that I needed to concoct my own juice blends at home, and found myself in possession of my first juicer, an inexpensive centrifugal model that got the job done (and saved me a lot of money in the process). In 2013, I splurged on a pricier slow juicer that promised a more thorough extraction, and I was convinced—home juicing was far superior to anything I could get pre-made.
I am, to this day, a big fan of freshly made juice in the morning, whether it’s a blend of apple-cucumber-celery-kale or a glass of sweet carrot juice. If you’re looking to add a juicer to your kitchen, read on for our top picks of both centrifugal and masticating juicers, tested and reviewed.
About Our Tests
Our testers put 22 juicers—9 masticating, 13 centrifugal—through their paces in our lab, rating each on design, performance, ease of use, ease of cleaning, and versatility. We tested each machine by using apples, carrots, kale, and ginger, noting any preparatory chopping needed in order to fit through the feed chute. We observed the overall juice yield and monitored mouthfeel, as well as pulp and foam (if any) that remained in the final result, then checked the juice the next day to see if there was any noticeable oxidation or change in flavor. We also measured the decibel rating of each machine to assess its loudness while in operation. Finally, we took the machines apart to see how easy they were to clean.
Our Top Pick
Hamilton Beach Masticating Slow Juicer
Why It’s Great: Works well on a variety of produce and nuts; easy to clean; great value
Grain of Salt: Feed chute is on the small side
Our top pick is from Hamilton Beach, a brand that always manages to combine performance with great value. This slow juicer features a 150-watt motor that squeezes and crushes fruits and vegetables without heating the juice. Plus, it comes with a 24-ounce pitcher and dishwasher-safe removable parts.
It excelled in all areas of our tests, producing a large amount of juice with our ingredients of apple, kale, and ginger (and slightly less juice with carrots). We were pleasantly surprised at its effective extraction, producing a smooth, velvety juice with no separation.
While the feed chute requires that you cut down large produce into smaller pieces, it’s fairly intuitive to use and is one of the easiest machines to clean out of the models we tested. It also scored bonus versatility points for its ability to make soy, almond, and rice milk too.
The Details: 13.46 x 12.6 x 7.44 inches; 150 watts; 24-ounce pitcher; 65-70 dB
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Best Centrifugal
Breville Juice Fountain Elite
Why It’s Great: Produces a lot of juice; large feed chute; large pitcher with froth separator
Grain of Salt: Loud; struggles with ginger
This centrifugal juicer from Breville is surprisingly compact, but delivers a hassle-free juicing experience thanks to smart design and a 1000-watt motor. An extra-wide feed chute means you can juice whole fruits and vegetables without additional chopping prep, and the 1.1-quart juice jug has a built-in froth separator for a smoother end result.
We found that this model does best with firmer produce that has a higher water content, like apples and carrots, as juicing kale gave us more pulp than juice, and the fibrous nature of the ginger caused a little bit of clogging. Overall, we thought this juicer did an excellent job for the price, citing that it’s built well and fairly easy to clean.
The Details: 13.2 x 16.5 x 18.2 inches; 1000 watts; 35.2-ounce pitcher; 80-85 dB
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Best Budget, Cold Press
Dash Deluxe Compact Masticating Slow Juicer
Why It’s Great: Well-made; produces smooth juice; fairly quiet; compact
Grain of Salt: Narrow feed chute; doesn’t do as well on leafy greens
For the budget-conscious, this model by Dash is a solid cold-press juicer at an easy price—especially if you get it on sale.
We found that its performance varied across the different ingredients we tested, but overall we appreciated how well it extracted juice, leaving pulp fairly dry. We were surprised at how well this juicer did with ginger, as many other models struggled with this fibrous root. One drawback is that since the chute is very narrow, you’ll have to prep your produce by cutting it into pretty small pieces. The resulting juice was smooth with no immediate separation, and some foam from the kale and apple that could be scooped off.
Cleaning proved to be easy, using the included brush and poker to remove any debris—all removable pieces are also dishwasher-safe.
The Details: 3.9 x 4.9 x 14.23 inches; 130 watts; 18.6-ounce pitcher; 70-75 dB
Allrecipes / Fred Hardy II
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Best Budget, Centrifugal
Beautiful by Drew Barrymore 5 Speed Electric Juice Extractor
Why It’s Great: Works quickly; no need to cut produce beforehand; good value
Grain of Salt: Loud
This centrifugal juicer from Drew Barrymore’s Beautiful brand delivers more than just its good looks. It features an extra wide feed chute that lets you juice whole produce without any chopping necessary and has a modern digital control panel.
The powerful 1000-watt motor allowed for quick processing for apples, kale, and carrots in our tests, though we did find that it struggled to juice ginger. The resulting juice tasted bright in flavor and generally smooth in consistency with just a bit of pulp and foam. Cleanup was also a breeze, as all the removable parts are dishwasher safe.
One thing we didn’t love was how loudly this juicer operates—the second loudest out of the 20+ models we tested. That being said, if you don’t mind the noise, it rated highly in all other areas. it’s a stylish addition to your kitchen counter and is available in five colors.
The Details: 16.5 x 8.42 x 15.86 inches; 1000 watts; 33-ounce pitcher; >85 dB
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Russell Kilgore
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Best Splurge
Omega Vertical Masticating Juicer
Why It’s Great: Super versatile; high extraction; quiet; 15-year warranty
Grain of Salt: Small food chute; pitcher is on the small side
This slow masticating juicer from Omega is an investment, but it is of superior quality and comes backed with a 15-year warranty from the manufacturer. Its 250-watt motor spins at 43 rpm, a super low speed that allows for maximum extraction, minimal pulp, and excellent retention of nutrients.
Though the food chute is small, prepping the produce for juicing was minimal (we were able to keep carrots whole and cut apples into quarters). We liked the bright flavors of the resulting juice, with no immediate separation and only a little foam during our tests.
One advantage to this top-of-the-line juicer is its versatility—you can make nut milk as well as process wheatgrass in addition to the usual lineup of fruit and veggie juicers. It’s equipped with a no-drip tap and an auto-cleaning system to keep the screen clear, making final cleanup much easier.
The Details: 8.5 x 7 x 15.5 inches; 250 watts; 16-ounce pitcher; 65-70 dB
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Most Compact
Magic Bullet Mini Juicer
Why It’s Great: Works well on fibrous foods; overall great juice results; inexpensive
Grain of Salt: Doesn’t do well with leafy greens; chute is on the narrow side
Don’t be fooled by the diminutive size of this juicer from Magic Bullet—it’s surprisingly mighty. Equipped with a 400-watt motor, it made quick work of apples, carrots, and even ginger during our tests, leaving the pulp fairly dry. The one caveat is that it isn’t great at juicing kale, but we could overlook that with how well it extracted everything else.
Its silicone spout cap allows you to control the flow of juice, and you can also let it flow directly into the included 16-ounce cup to keep things tidy. All of the removable parts are top-rack dishwasher-safe, and an included cleaning brush helps free up any stuck debris. We highly recommend this for apartment dwellers, students, or anyone who wants an affordable option for home juicing with a small storage footprint.
The Details: 7 x 6 x 11.5 inches; 400 watts; 16-ounce pitcher; 80-85 dB
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Fastest
Nutribullet Slow Juicer
Why It’s Great: Overall excellent performance; easy to clean; quiet
Grain of Salt: Lots of pulp; best to drink juice immediately
Slow juicers can sometimes be, well, slow. But this model by Nutribullet was the quickest of our masticating juicers, performing well across the varieties of produce we tested.
We found that this juicer left pulp incredibly dry, and yielded juice that tasted great even with a fair amount of pulp left behind. The juicer features a 150-watt motor and a 24-ounce pitcher to catch juice, with an ejection chute for pulp into an additional container. The 3-inch chute is wide enough to fit larger pieces of produce, meaning less prep before you get the process going.
Cleaning was especially easy thanks to the included poker and brush; all detachable parts are safe to put in the dishwasher. We also really liked how quiet this juicer was when it was running, perfect for making your morning juice when the rest of the household is still sleeping.
The Details: 6.25 x 7 x 17 inches; 150 watts; 24-ounce pitcher; 70-75 dB
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Allrecipes / Will Dickey
Our Takeaway
For a highly-rated juicer at a price that’s still very accessible, we recommend the Hamilton Beach Masticating Slow Juicer thanks to its quiet, effective performance. If you’re ready to invest in a splurge-worthy model, the Omega Vertical Square Low-Speed Juicer is a top-tier model that offers a lot of versatility and a solid performance without a lot of noise.
How To Pick The Right Juicer
Power
Generally speaking, the listed motor wattage of a juicer speaks to its ability to break down foods. Softer foods like cucumbers and apples don’t require a high-powered motor, but harder foods like carrots, or fibrous foods like celery and ginger may require a motor with more “oomph” in order to get broken down.
Cold Press vs Centrifugal
There are two main types of juicers on the market: centrifugal and cold press (sometimes called “masticating” or “slow” juicers). Centrifugal models use a spinning blade to slice and pulverize produce, letting juices flow into a collection receptacle. Because of the friction of the quick-spinning blade, there is a very slight, momentary rise in temperature of the juice.
Cold press uses gears to “chew” produce, squeezing and pressing produce to extract juice. This process uses a much lower RPM than a centrifugal juicer, and is therefore much slower to achieve the same volume. Oftentimes, slow juicers do a better job at thoroughly extracting juice compared to centrifugal models.
The Leftovers: Other Juicers We Tested
Hurom H310 Easy Clean Slow Juicer: At first glance, it’s a gorgeous piece of equipment. I’ve owned a Hurom masticating juicer in the past and typically love this brand, but it is very expensive for the limited capabilities of this model—it needs some sort of plunger or pusher mechanism to force foods into the auger if they don’t naturally go down with gravity.
Dash Compact Centrifugal Juicer: While we really liked the cold press juicer from this brand, the centrifugal version fell short. It lacks power, capacity, and versatility, and clogged when juicing ginger and apples.
Tribest Shine SJX-1 Easy Cold Press Juicer: With its above-average price tag, we had high hopes for this juicer, but found it really struggled and began to overheat when juicing ginger. It didn’t produce great juice from any of our tested produce, and we spent more time troubleshooting this model than actually making juice.
Common Questions
What can you do with the leftover pulp?
It depends on what you’ve juiced, but leftover pulp can sometimes be repurposed into recipes— take some inspiration from these Carrot Pulp Muffins. If you’re looking to simply get rid of your leftover pulp, you can place them into a compost bin.
Are there any vegetables that you shouldn’t juice?
Soft fruits like bananas and avocados can’t really be juiced—save them for smoothies. Carrot tops, cruciferous veggies, and rhubarb leaves might cause an upset stomach. Some individuals should avoid the juice of dark leafy greens if they are prone to kidney stones due to the high oxalate content. Always check with the manufacturer’s instructions to see if there are any fruits or vegetables that should not be used with your juicer.
Do you need to peel fruits or vegetables before juicing?
Most fruits and veggies with edible skins don’t need to be peeled before juicing, just be sure to wash them well before processing!
Why Take Our Word for It?
Bernadette Machard de Gramont is a Los Angeles-based writer who specializes in global food and wine content. After a two-year stint at the Williams-Sonoma Headquarters in San Francisco, she now researches and tests a variety of cookware, bakeware, wine tools, and other home and kitchen goods and interviews field experts for their insight.