The Best Hand Mixer Options According to Our Test Kitchen

Taste of Home

While bright and colorful stand mixers often get all the attention in the kitchen, we know that a good hand mixer is indispensable to home cooks.

With a smaller footprint than its standing counterpart, the hand mixer is the perfect tool for whipping up recipes quickly using any mixing bowl. A good hand mixer should make quick work of simple tasks like stirring up cake batter or making homemade buttercream frosting.

This being said, a good hand mixer can be hard to find. Which one has the right features for your needs? Are cordless mixers worth the splurge? To answer all your questions, our Test Kitchen experts put the most popular hand mixers to the test.

How We Found the Best Hand Mixers

Choosing the best hand mixer options is a challenging task, but one our Test Kitchen embraced with gusto. For this test, our culinary team sourced the most popular mixer brands from budget options to spendy models with every bell and whistle. Each was used to cream ingredients, make frosting, batters and more—all while keeping these standards in mind.

• Performance: When you think hand mixers, you think of stirring up cookie dough, quick bread batter, frostings and other bakes. A great hand mixer should be able to tackle these tasks with ease.
• Features: It’s OK for a hand mixer to just be a hand mixer. However, if there are any worthwhile additional features, that’s always a bonus! Even simple things like silicone-coated beaters or a few extra speeds can be the difference between a good hand mixer and the best hand mixer.
• Handling: It’s important that a hand mixer feels comfortable as you use it. Our favorite brands have to be easy to maneuver.
• Price: Hand mixers vary widely in price. No matter the cost, our Test Kitchen wants to know if the mixer is worth the expense.

Our Test Kitchen-Preferred Hand Mixers

After stirring up plenty of brownies with ten different mixers, our team found the brands that deserve the title of Test Kitchen-Preferred.

Best Splurge: Breville Handy Mix Scraper Hand Mixer

Via Williams Sonoma.com

The Breville Handy Mix Hand Mixer has all the bells and whistles you could want. This mixer has nine speeds, plenty of attachments and even includes a light that illuminates your bowl as you work.

But the feature that really stands out is the mixer’s digital display. Not only does it display what speed the mixer is moving at, it also functions as a timer so you know how long you’ve been mixing. You might not think that’s a feature you’ll use, but it’s a great asset for when you need to cream butter and sugar for five minutes or more.

The silicone-tipped beaters are also a major asset. These blades scrape the bowl as you mix doughs and batters so you don’t have to come in after with a spatula. This saves time and dishes (every baker’s dream).

All these features combined with this Breville mixer’s comfortable grip, quiet operation and included storage container make spending a bit more here totally worth it.

• Speeds: 9 speeds
• Attachments: Includes whisk, dough hooks and silicone-tipped beaters that scrape the bowl as you mix
• Additional features: Digital display with a timer to help you track how long you’ve been mixing; pause function; light to illuminate the bowl; available in seven colors
• Price: $140

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Best Budget Hand Mixer: Sunbeam Hand Mixer

Via Amazon.com

When you’re just starting out in the kitchen (or need something affordable to tide you over until Santa comes), there’s nothing wrong with budget-friendly gadgets. This Sunbeam Hand Mixer performed well at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.

While this mixer is on the smaller and lighter side, it still manages to get the job done when it comes to mixing up brownie batter or a box of cake mix. You can even achieve smooth, soft peaks—perfect for making homemade whipped cream.

Now, is this mixer top of the line with all the bells and whistles? No, but it is a great start for beginner bakers or even college students.

• Speeds: 6 speeds
• Attachments: Metal beaters
• Additional features: Soft handle for easy gripping
• Price: $25

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Best Cordless Hand Mixer: KitchenAid Cordless Hand Mixer

Don’t want to be tethered while you work in the kitchen? Have limited outlets in your workspace? Then this KitchenAid Cordless Hand Mixer is the gadget for you. Charge this mixer (and KitchenAid’s other cordless appliances) and you’ll be ready to get busy in the kitchen batch after batch of cookies.

Our Test Kitchen pros love this easy-to-use mixer. The intuitive controls mean you can go from box to baking in seconds. While it only comes with standard beaters, this hand mixer is still incredibly practical. This lightweight machine stirs together batters, cookie doughs and icings with ease—and that’s what most folks are using hand mixers for (save the kneading for the stand mixer).

Another bonus you come to expect from KitchenAid: You can find this mixer in a variety of colors so you can stir up a simple cake mix in style. Find out why the Property Brothers would love this colorful appliance too.

• Speeds: 7 speeds
• Attachments: Standard beaters
• Additional features: Cordless, available in seven colors
• Price: $99

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Best for Bakers: Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer

via Amazon.com

Bakers, add the Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer to your list of must-have tools. This mixer tackles plenty of prep tasks you’ll find in your go-to baking recipes.

Let’s start with the mixer feature, though! This sturdy mixer has nine speeds; that’s a lot, but it makes gradually increasing the speed as you stir together cake batter easier (less flour splashing out of the bowl). This mixer works well for everyday baking and creaming ingredients together.

But this mixer isn’t a one-trick pony. You can also whisk and make dough with the included attachments. The most unique attachment, though, is the two-cup food processor. While small, this attachment is the perfect size for blitzing up nuts and dried fruit. You could even use it to crush up crackers or make bread crumbs. Having a small attachment like this is convenient for these nutty dessert recipes and saves space. The attachment is much smaller than buying a separate chopper.

• Speeds: 9 speeds
• Attachments: Beaters, whisks, dough hooks and a small food processor attachment
• Additional features: Soft handle is comfortable to hold while mixing
• Price: $105

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How to Care for Your Hand Mixer

After all that work whipping up batters, frostings and doughs, you have to take care to clean your hand mixer. To keep it looking and performing like new, be sure to eject the beaters and wash them after each use. Leaving dirty beaters in the mixer can lead to permanently stuck blades. Yuck!

And while you can’t immerse the mixer body itself, you can still give it a cleaning on occasion. Wipe down the exterior with a soft cloth to remove any bits of flour or dried-on icing. And our greatest secret to hand mixer care: a soft-bristled toothbrush. Use a clean brush to whisk away crumbs in crevices.

Check Out More Test Kitchen-Preferred Products

Dutch Ovens

Wine Glasses

Slow Cooker

Kitchen Scale

Microwaves

Rice Cooker

Air Fryers

Toasters

Charcoal Starters

Roasting Pans

Countertop Ovens

Frying Pans