PROS / The Dash Chef blends nut butter and smoothies to near perfection.
CONS / This blender stands tall, making it hard to stow discreetly under kitchen cabinets.
VERDICT / The Dash Chef is an excellent multipurpose blender that performs equally well as a food processor, blender and juicer.
The Dash Chef Series Premium Digital Blender makes use of six preset functions to juice fruits and vegetables, process food, and blend smoothies, soups, dips and desserts of all kinds. In our tests, this affordable blender outperformed the competition in most categories. It makes piping-hot soup and consistent, tasty smoothies. While the entire unit comes with an unimpressive one-year warranty, the motor has a lifetime warranty. The Dash Chef is easily among the best blenders that we tested, earning our Top Ten Reviews.
Utility
The Dash Chef performed well in all of the utility categories we tested. In multiple tests, it created mixed-berry smoothies worthy of the name by melding the frozen berries into a creamy mixture that was as tasty as it was smooth.
We were especially impressed with the blender’s nut butter test results. We used an almond butter recipe and tested the blender for smoothness and consistency. Unique tines on the top of the blade appear to be responsible for the extra smoothness it produces in puree mode. It shuts off automatically when it is finished so you don’t overdo it.
This blender’s ice-crushing capabilities are also impressive, though not its strongest feature. Other blenders in our lineup were better at shredding ice for blended drinks. The Dash’s ice shreds contained little chunks, unlike competing products from Ninja, which produced perfectly shredded ice. However, the longer you let the ice crusher run, the better the results.
The Dash was one of the top performers in the soup test. In terms of temperature, it performed better than most other blenders, producing piping-hot soup of 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Other than a slightly frothy consistency, its soup was perfect.
Design
This blender has many virtues, but quietness isn’t one of them. This is one of the louder units in our blender reviews, registering a 94 dB reading in our tests. For comparison, the loudest blender we reviewed came in at 96 dB. It’s not small either. This may not be a blender that you can stow away discreetly under the kitchen cabinets when you’re done using it. At 19.6 inches, it’s quite tall, which seems to be a common characteristic among the best blenders.
With that said, it is an attractive blender that will enhance the look of the space it occupies. It displays its functionality with designated buttons for soup, frozen items and smoothies.
Prep & Cleanup
While this is a rather bulky blender, it has some of the best prep and cleanup features of any blender in our lineup. The jug and lid are dishwasher safe. The cord stows away in the unit while not in use so it doesn’t take up extra counter space. The buttons on the main control panel lay flat, so you can easily clean them off after each use. It assembles and comes apart easily, so maintenance is never a problem and you won’t have to spend extra time cleaning up after yourself.
Warranty & Support
In terms of the warranty, the Dash Chef is the best and the worst. The entire unit comes with a one-year warranty, which is tied for the least generous of any blender in our lineup. However, the motor comes with a lifetime warranty, which is by far the best and what you would expect for a blender of this quality. We just wish the entire warranty package reflected the high quality of the product.
The website has a lot of helpful information and access to tutorial videos. You can contact customer service via email or phone with your questions or concerns. You can also post questions on the website and get feedback from other users.
Summary
The Dash Chef is one of the best products we tested in our blender reviews. It pureed nuts to perfection and created smoothies worthy of the name time and again. While it was effective at crushing ice, this isn’t its strongest feature, but for both frozen items, like ice cream, and hot items, like soup, it’s one of the best. The soup came out nice and hot. Maintenance is easy with this blender, with dishwasher-safe detachable parts and flat controls. While this is not the most compact blender out there, it is an attractive, relatively affordable blender that performed well in our tests.