The Breville Q Blender is a full-size blender with a 68oz main jar, a 2-part lid, and a tamper. It's very sturdy and performs well for most recipes, including hot soups. It's equipped with several automatic blending programs, including an 'auto-pulse' mode useful for ice crushing, but has a limited number of speed presets.
Our Verdict
The Breville The Q Blender is incredible for multi-purpose use. It has a great build quality and a 68oz main jar for big batches. It performs well for different recipes, including smoothies, soups, frozen drinks, and thicker mixtures like nut butter or hummus. You can use it to hot blend and even heat ingredients for soups and sauces. However, it gives you limited options for adjusting the speed manually, which might bother you if you like to have a lot of control over the blend. It's somewhat inconvenient to use for small batches, like single-serve smoothies.
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Hot blends.
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Well-built and easy to clean.
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Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients like kale.
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Big 68oz jar.
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40-oz capacity for hot ingredients.
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Limited speed presets.
The Breville The Q Blender is excellent for single-serve smoothies. It makes a very smooth blend with small batches of fibrous ingredients like kale and easily crushes ice in its main jar. However, when working with small amounts, ingredients can sometimes splash up the sides of the jar, making it less convenient than the best single-serve blenders. Still, it's very sturdy and easy to clean.
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Well-built and easy to clean.
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Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients like kale.
It's fantastic for multiple servings of smoothies. In its 68oz main jar, it efficiently blends fibrous ingredients like kale and blueberries without leaving any unprocessed bits behind. It easily crushes ice cubes or chunks of frozen fruit. However, some blenders can process big batches faster.
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Big 68oz jar.
The Breville The Q Blender is decent for crushing ice. This well-built blender has an Auto Pulse mode that doubles as an Ice Crush preset. It makes bar-quaItlity ice, but the mix is clumpy, and some cubes may not be fully processed.
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Well-built and easy to clean.
The Breville The Q is fantastic for soups. You can use it to hot blend ingredients, and there's even a dedicated preset button for warming up cold soups. Overall, this blender is well-built, easy-to-clean, and capable of fully blending fibrous ingredients like kale into a smooth blend. However, when blending hot ingredients, only fill up the jar to the 40-ounce capacity line to avoid splashing.
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Hot blends.
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Well-built and easy to clean.
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Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients like kale.
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Big 68oz jar.
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40-oz capacity for hot ingredients.
The Breville The Q Blender is superb for professional use. This blender has an impressive build quality and its 68-ounce main jar is ideal for blending large quantities of food. It makes a smooth, spreadable nut butter, snow-like ice, and a very smooth puree with fibrous ingredients. It's also safe to use for hot blending. However, some full-size blenders are even studier and might stand up better to daily use.
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Hot blends.
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Well-built and easy to clean.
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Smoothly blends fibrous ingredients like kale.
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Big 68oz jar.
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Limited speed presets.
- 9.2 Multi-Purpose
- 8.9 Smoothies (Single Serving)
- 9.5 Smoothies (Multiple Servings)
- 9.6 Ice Crushing
- 9.6 Soups
- 9.2 Professional Use
- Updated Sep 25, 2024: We've updated the results to more accurately reflect the blender's performance. The score for Fibrous Ingredients (Small Batches) processing changed from 8.5 to 6.5 because of the blending time and the need to use a spatula. The score for Fibrous Ingredients (Full Capacity) processing changed from 9.5 to 8.5 because of the blending time.
- Updated Apr 24, 2023: Updated text to match Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Aug 25, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Feb 16, 2022: Retested 'Power Cord'. The length was updated from 1.7 m to 1.2 m.
- Updated Nov 11, 2020: Review published.
- Updated Nov 09, 2020: Early access published.
- Updated Nov 02, 2020: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Oct 30, 2020: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Oct 24, 2020: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
- Updated Oct 18, 2020: The product has won our suggestion poll, so we'll buy and test it soon.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Breville Q Blender comes in one color variant: Smoked Hickory. You can see the label for the model we tested here. In Europe, Breville has a partnership with Sage Appliances, and they market this blender under the Sage brand name in certain countries.
If you come across another variant of this blender, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Blenders
The Breville Q Blender is a well-built full-size blender with a 68oz main jar. Like the similarly priced Vitamix 5200 or Vitamix Venturist 1200, it has a versatile blending performance, meaning it can produce great results with most recipes. It blends ingredients like kale a little more slowly and has five speed presets instead of a variable speed dial, giving you a little less control over the blending speed. However, it has automatic blending programs, including an 'auto-pulse' setting, so you might prefer it if you want to multitask while the blender runs.
For more recommendations, check out our recommendations for the best blenders, the best blenders for smoothies, and the best blenders for crushing ice.
The Vitamix A3500 is better for most purposes than the Breville The Q. The Vitamix has a better build quality and delivers better performance for crushing ice and processing fibrous ingredients. Its control dial gives you more options for fine-tuning the blending speed. However, the Breville is easier to clean by hand. It's also remarkably easy to use to process tough ingredients like nuts.
The Breville The Q is better for multi-purpose use than the Breville the Fresh & Furious. The Q is sturdier, better built, and has a bigger capacity. It performs better for tough blends like crushing ice and making nut butter. You can use it to hot blend as well. On the other hand, the Fresh & Furious is smaller and lighter.
You might prefer either the Vitamix 5200 or the Breville The Q. Both offer good blending performance for a variety of recipes. The Vitamix has a much better build quality and a speed dial that gives you more control over the blending speed. On the other hand, the Breville can crush more ice at once. It's also less noisy and has a few automatic blending programs.
The Breville The Q is better than the Vitamix A2500. The Breville is easier to use for thicker recipes like nut butter. It's also quieter and easier to clean by hand. On the other hand, the Vitamix is sturdier and has a longer warranty, depending on where you buy it.
The Breville The Q is a better blender for most uses than the KitchenAid Diamond. The Breville is sturdier, comes with a tamper, and performs better for most recipes, including smoothies and nut butter. It can heat room-temperature ingredients. However, the KitchenAid also offers versatile performance, and it's quieter.
The Vitamix Explorian E310 is a bit better than the Breville The Q. The Vitamix has a better build quality, offers a wider range of speed settings, and is easier to use to process small batches of fibrous ingredients, making it more suitable for single-serve smoothies. On the other hand, the Breville has a bigger capacity and is easier to clean by hand. Some may prefer it because it's much quieter when it's running and has automatic blending programs.
The Breville The Q is a better blender than the Ninja Mega Kitchen System for most uses. Unlike the Ninja, the Breville can hot blend, so you can use it to make soups and purees from warm ingredients. However, the Ninja is better for crushing ice, and it comes with two additional personal jars and a food processor attachment.
The Breville The Q is better than the Blendtec Chef 600 for most purposes. The Breville is much sturdier, has a bigger capacity, and is a little more versatile since it's fantastic for making recipes like nut butter. It's also quieter when it's running. However, the Blendtec's dull blades make it easier to clean by hand.
The Breville The Q is a better blender for most uses than the Ninja DUO. The Breville is quieter when running and much easier to clean by hand. It's also much easier to use for thick recipes like nut butter and hummus. However, the DUO comes with personal jars for single-serve smoothies and its main pitcher, allowing it to blend small volumes of ingredients more efficiently.
The Vitamix Explorian E520 is slightly better than the Breville The Q. The Vitamix is better built and has a speed dial that gives you more control over the blending speed. It's somewhat better for making nut butter. However, the Breville has the edge when it comes to crushing ice. It's also much quieter when running and easier to clean by hand.
Test Results
The Breville Q Blender is a tall and bulky full-size blender. You can store it on your kitchen counter or in a tall cupboard, and you can even remove the main jar for easier storage.
It's impressively well-built. It has a solid, sturdy metal base that doesn't move around a lot when blending. The buttons are easy to clean, and the materials feel durable. However, the main jar wobbles a bit when mounted.
The jar holds 68oz but has a 64oz liquid capacity. The manufacturer says the maximum capacity for hot liquids is 40oz, indicated on the jar. It comes with a 2-part lid and has a pouring spout.
The plastic jar, lid, and tamper are all dishwasher-safe. The measuring marks are printed on the jar and not embossed, meaning they can fade over time.
There are four sharp blades fixed to the main jar. They have a serrated design, which can help cut through tougher ingredients. They're also dishwasher-safe for easy clean-up.
The lid seals on the jar using friction. You can remove the center of the lid to use the tamper or to add ingredients while you're blending. There are measurement markings on the removable center part of the lid, so you can also use it to measure ingredients.
The cord is long enough to reach an outlet near your counter. There's a place to stow it out of the way inside the motor base when not in use.
- Motor base
- Tamper
- 68-ounce main jar
- Blender lid with small access lid
- Instruction book
- Warranty paperwork
The Breville The Q does a fantastic job with small batches of fibrous ingredients. It can make a nearly perfectly smooth blend for single-serve smoothies and other recipes with fibrous ingredients like kale. However, it's a somewhat long and inconvenient process since ingredients can splash up the sides of the jars and get stuck, and you need to stop and scrape the sides of the jar with a spatula to get the best results.
The Breville Q Blender is incredible for processing fibrous ingredients at full capacity. It quickly blends ingredients like kale and broccoli and doesn't leave any unprocessed bits and pieces. Some blenders, like the Vitamix A3500, can make an equally smooth blend faster.
The Breville The Q is fantastic for ice crushing. It takes a bit longer than the very best ice-crushing blenders but still makes snow-like crushed ice quickly. The 'ice crush/auto-pulse' mode is helpful for ice crushing, since you don't need to hold down a button the whole time.
The Breville The Q is fantastic for nut butter. It only takes a couple of minutes of blending to make very smooth, spreadable nut butter. You need to use the tamper a few times to encourage the ingredients towards the blades, but otherwise, it's as simple as starting on a low speed and ramping up to high.
It's decently quiet. The noise isn't extremely irritating, especially when you're just blending for a few minutes. There are quieter full-size blenders, though, like the Wolf Gourmet Pro-Performance.
The Breville The Q has several preset modes, including a Pulse feature. The presets on the top row have set timers, and the blender counts down the time left for your blend. There's also a Power Trip Reset button on the bottom of the unit.
The Breville Q Blender comes with lots of programs and modes. On the top row, there's an on/off toggle, Quick Cancel, Auto Pulse/Ice Crush, Smoothie, Green Smoothie, and Soup (Cold to Hot) buttons. The 'auto-pulse' mode allows you to pulse without holding down or pressing a button repeatedly. On the bottom row, you can choose from Mix, Chop, Blend, Puree, and Mill, which act as five different speed presets (low to high from left to right). There's also a self-clean program and a timer that lets you know how long it takes to complete each of the preset modes.
This blender is very easy to clean. Running the blender with soap and water helps remove sticky residue from the blades and the walls of the jar. The jar is wide enough to easily fit your hand into to scrub the sides. The 2-part lid also requires some scrubbing, but it's not a very long or tedious process.