Starting a new juicing routine at home can save you hundreds of dollars while providing serious health benefits, making it a no-brainer choice for those looking to consume more fresh plant nutrients. When choosing the best juicer for beginners you’ll want an affordable easy to use machine with quick clean up.
Below we will review 5 great options that are high quality, high value, and low maintenance:
- Mueller Austria Juicer
- Homevolts Slow Juicer
- Breville Compact Juice Fountain
- KOIOS Slow Masticating Juicer Extractor
- Omega Juicer Extractor & Nutrition Center
*If you’re in a hurry, I’d recommend the Breville Compact Juice Fountain as the best one. This well-known brand produces a powerful, simple to use, and affordable beginner’s juicer that makes a perfect starter machine or gift.
Mueller Austria Juicer
The Mueller Austria Juicer is an excellent value and its 1,100 watts of power combined with its large 3” feeding chute makes it easy to juice a large amount of produce quickly and easily. This choice is likely the most powerful for the price, making it a great choice for someone who wants a heavy-duty unit at an affordable cost.
Many juicers require you to cut your fruits and vegetables into smaller pieces, however, this machine can handle larger pieces, and even thin skins. Minimal produce prep drastically saves time when using a juicer so this is a big benefit. It is also dishwasher safe which can help minimize your cleanup. Make sure to soak all of the parts after use to further eliminate a long and messy clean up.
Because this is a centrifugal juicer, you’ll have to drink the juice right away so it doesn’t oxidize and lose its nutrients. It also may be a bit louder than some other models because of its motor power.
Customers report that the company is highly responsive and will offer a full replacement if a piece breaks off. If you don’t take their word for it, this unit comes with a 2-year warranty to protect your purchase.
Homevolts Slow Juicer
This juicer is an excellent value, making it perfect for beginner juicers. It is a simple system with only 5 parts and has a convenient vertical shape that is perfect for smaller kitchens or a permanent setup. It is also a masticating juicer, which means it can produce cold pressed juice that will stay fresh for up to 3 days after extraction and preserve most of the plants’ nutrients.
Usually extra features are reserved for higher-end machines. However, this juicer comes with a couple of additional components that will allow you to experiment with making more than just juice. It comes with a small mesh juice strainer, a large mesh strainer that can be used for making fresh jam, and a sorbet strainer that can be used with frozen fruit.
It also includes a small cleaning brush that is custom-designed to reach into hard to get areas for easy fast cleaning. It’s feeding chute is rather narrow but can easily fit in thin produce such as stalks of celery.
Breville Compact Juice Fountain
Breville is a trusted name in the kitchen appliance industry and this juicer has gathered over 7,000 reviews raving about its benefits. People find it very easy to use, clean, and good at producing a pulp-free juice, making it an excellent choice for beginner juicers.
The Juice Fountain is also highly efficient, and several users describe the pulp as being pasty and dry. This means that most of the juice is being pulled out of the produce, so you aren’t wasting a lot of liquid, which is common with lower priced juicers.
The juicer is also relatively clean and some report that cleanup takes only 5 to 10 minutes when done right after use. It also comes with an extra wide feeding chute and a juice jug that reduces bubbles and froth and leaves more room for liquid.
KOIOS Slow Masticating Juicer Extractor
The KOIOS slow Masticating Juicer is a high quality cold-press juicer at a fair value. It is BPA-free and FDA-certified, making it safe for all uses. It’s auger, the part of the machine that breaks apart the produce, has a three stage spiral that is highly effective at extracting juice.
For celery, you’ll get about 78%-86% of the liquid extracted. For oranges, you can expect 82%-92% of the juice. Wheatgrass will yield about 80%-86% of the juice, and carrots will create about 60% – 70% of juice. As you can see, this juicer can handle all kinds of textures and types of fruits and vegetables. The machine also comes with a delicate filter that filters out almost all of the pulp.
The company offers a 10-year support plan where they will replace any broken parts on your machine for free, so you can rest assured that your juicer will be with you for longer than most other models.
Omega Juicer Extractor & Nutrition Center
The Omega Juicer is an industry standard in the juicer world. In addition to juicing, you can use this machine to grind coffee, mince herbs and vegetables, make soft serve out of frozen fruit, make nut butters, shape dough, and even puree homemade baby food. Since this is a larger and heftier model, it’s helpful that it’s a multipurpose machine.
Because of the complexity of this system, it may take a little time to learn how to assemble yoru machine and use it for all of the functions it’s built for, especially for beginners. However, it’s a great investment for those looking to make juicing and homesteading a long-term addition to their lifestyles.
This powerful juicer uses a dual extraction process that completely extracts juice from your fruits and vegetables. Customers have noted how dry the pulp has been after the process. Some say that this machine produces up to 30% more juice with celery and wheatgrass than it’s main competitors, which can save you a tremendous amount of money in the longrun.
You can rest assured knowing that your entire machine is covered for parts and performance for 15 years after your purchase.
How To Pick The Right Juicer
Here are some of the main considerations when buying your first juicing machine:
Choose Your Budget
Juicers come in a range of prices and you can start for as little as $40 or invest up to a few thousand dollars for a commercial unit. Juicers under $150 are perfect for making small amounts of juice and are therefore best for individuals looking for single servings. Higher end machines can create more juice, last longer, and even be multi-use, with additions such as food processors and pasta makers. You can expect to spend about $60 to $200 for a reliable beginner’s juicer.
Consider The Maintenance Level Of Your Juicer
Juicers can have lots of little pieces and areas that are difficult to clean out. Furthermore, plant pulp can dry like cement and be tricky to clean off if you don’t address it right away. Carefully reading consumer reviews will save you a lot of pain when choosing your device.
Small accessories such as a cleaning brush can be very helpful and sometimes are included with your machine. If not, you may want to consider purchasing a separate brush or pipe cleaners to make your clean up super simple.
How Efficiently Will Your Juicer Extract Juice?
If your juicer isn’t able to extract a lot of juice from your fruits and vegetables, you’ll have to buy much more produce, which means a bigger grocery and a lot of waste. Reading reviews is one of the best ways that you can determine how efficient a juicer is. Users will describe a highly efficient juicer as leaving a completely dry pulp that has no moisture when touched.
You don’t need the perfect extraction to get a lot of juice. One tip for higher amounts of juice is taking your pulp and running it through your machine 2 to 3 times for best results.
What size juicer?
When choosing the size of your juicer, you’ll need to decide how much juice you want to make, and how frequently. If you are just making juice for yourself, or only using your juicer every week or month, you will probably want a model that you will store in a pantry when you’re not using it.
If you plan on daily juicing, you may want to consider a vertical juicer that can live on your kitchen counter without taking up lots of space.
If you’re juicing for several people, you may want to consider a larger model that can hold lots of produce and also stand up to frequent usage. You may want to purchase a small rolling storage rack or shelving unit to provide your juicer with a dedicated space.
How Does A Juicer Work?
Centrifugal juicers are common and economical machines. They work similarly to a food processor or blender by using spinning blades to break up your fruits and vegetables. This releases the juices in the plant, which then moves through a filter that separates the liquid from the pulp.
This type of juicer works very quickly. The speed of the blade creates heat. Heat will oxidize the plants in your juicer, which means that they will “expire” more quickly and should be consumed within an hour of extraction.
Masticating juicers are also known as slow juicers and produce a cold-pressed juice. These machines do not use blades to quickly dice fruits and vegetables. Instead, they crush and grind produce slowly, much like the process of chewing food.
Although this is a much slower method of juicing, it creates very little heat, which leaves you with a fresher and oxidant-rich juice that you can store up to three days after processing.
What Is A Masticating Juicer?
A masticating juicer is also known as a cold press juicer. Cold press juicing is believed to be the healthiest way to extract juice from fruits and vegetables. A cold pressed juicing machine quietly and slowly grinds the plants and limits the use of heat. This prevents temperature sensitive nutrients from being overheated in the juicing process.
The mastication method is the process of breaking down food by chewing it. This method is very quiet, which is perfect for those who want to juice early in the morning while others are still asleep.
How To Clean A Juicer
Juicers are fairly easy to clean if they are cleaned shortly after use. Start off by turning off the machine and detaching all removal parts. Throw your pulp away (or store it for another use) and wash all of the pieces of the juicer. For areas that are hard to reach, use a small juicing brush or a toothbrush to dig a little deeper. Make sure you let all of the juicer pieces dry separately to avoid unwanted mold growth.
If you have stains or mineral deposit build ups in your machine, create a mixture that is 1 part vinegar, 1 part water, and add the juice of 1 lemon. Allow the juicer parts to soak in this solution for anywhere from 1 hour to overnight. Diluted bleach mixtures can also be used for more heavy duty cleaning.
Health Benefits Of Juicing
Juicing is a great way to quickly consume all of a plant’s nutrients, excluding its fiber. In short, it makes it easier to enjoy vitamins, enzymes, and minerals.
- Juicing can save time, especially if you can prepare your juice the day before and grab as needed.
- It makes it easy to add variety to your diet. One of the easiest ways to maintain a healthy diet is by eating a diversity of plants. Juicers make it easy to try different fruits and vegetables without needing to learn complex recipes.
- Juicing is a great way to get kids to eat their veggies. Parents or caretakers can easily “mask” the flavor of vegetables by making clever tasty juice blends that add a little additional fruit.
Summary
Now that you have a good understanding of the basics of juicing at home, it’s time to choose your favorite one and get started on your path of nutrient-filled wellness! Remember to consider the price, size, quality, and functionality of your machine when selecting the best juicer for beginners.
Let us know what juicer you like the best, or what tasty juices you’ve been making, in the comments below!
