Making your own fresh, healthy juices at home not only saves you money compared to store-bought options, but also leaves you in charge of exactly what goes into your juice. You can tailor it to your specific tastes and dietary needs. Unlike masticating and slow press juicers, centrifugal juicers extract juice by spinning fruits and vegetables at hundreds of miles an hour. Because of that, the best centrifugal juicers get the job done faster than anything else on the market, offering speed, efficiency and ease of use, not to mention a lower price point than some other types of juicers. Read on for our top buying tips and our pick of the best centrifugal juicers now.
Where to buy centrifugal juicers
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Best centrifugal juicers 2022
You’ll notice that Breville comes up a few times in this list, and that’s for good reason. It produces fantastic fast juicers at a range of prices, and this one has to be one of the best all-rounders you can buy, balancing features, performance and value for money. There’s a myth that centrifugal juicers spin so fast that they heat up the juice and therefore destroy some of the nutrients. We go into more detail later on, but for know just know this isn’t true - they don’t produce enough heat to cook juice. However, Breville has introduced its Cold Spin technology here all the same. This keeps the juice away from the base of the juicing chamber, which is where you’ll find the majority of the heat in a centrifugal blender. This results in less than 1.8°F of heat transferred when extracting juice, which should allay any concerns that might remain over heat and juice quality. The 3.3-inch feeding chute ensures this juicer is a breeze for those with very little time in the morning - there’s little need to pre-chop your ingredients, just throw them in. The powerful 850w motor and two speed options on this juicer will do the rest. The juice jug is a generous 70 fluid oz too, and with a large external pulp basket, you should be able to make enough juice for all the family in one sitting. Even better, a twist of the lid allows you to extend the fridge life from 24 hours to around 72 hours, by minimizing oxidation. When you’re done, clean up is easy thanks to most of the removable parts being dishwasher safe. You will need to wash the juice jug, cover and sealing lid by hand, but all the complicated bits can be handled by your dishwasher, leaving you more time to enjoy your juice. Its affordable price tag is going to be a big part of the draw here, and the value for money it offers is undeniable. You’ll need to expect a few quirks - like the fact it can only run for a minute or so before needing some cooling off time - but has an automatic thermal cut-off switch so you’ll never overheat it. Its powerful 1100W motor means it can quickly process a lot of fruit and veg, delivering a simple juice in a seconds. It has a slightly narrower feeding chute than some, but should be able to take most ingredients whole, with only some quick prep required for larger things, like apples. This juicer shines with dense produce like celery and citrus fruits. Softer fruits like berries can be included in recipes, but it won’t produce the best results if juiced alone, due to the speed it juices at. The juice it produces can be stored for around 24 hours in its 35 fl oz jug, which is a good capacity at this price point. It’s easy to clean thanks to all removable parts being dishwasher safe - just be sure to check the filter basket and blade assembly are clean, and tackle manually with the included cleaning brush if they need it. If you’re looking for a no-frills juicer, the Big Mouth Extractor by Hamilton Beach is all you need. It’s the perfect juicer for ease of use and great value for those on a budget. Its single-speed motor means you can’t adapt its performance to the ingredients you’re juicing but it does a good job with most fruits and vegetables anyway. It produces a lot of juice, and leaves an admirably dry pulp with both hard and soft produce. There’s perhaps a little more froth and pulp in the juice than pricier machines would produce, but nothing a quick strain can’t fix. There are only five removable parts, which makes it easy to take apart and put back together, and easy to clean too because these parts are dishwasher safe. Most of its components are made of plastic, but they’re sturdy enough. There’s a generous three-year warranty too. It doesn’t come with any juicing jug, which means you’ll need to add your own, but the spout is a great height for putting a variety of different-sized glasses or containers underneath it. There’s also a very generous pulp container, so you can keep juicing glass after glass without needing to empty it too often. If you’ve got a larger budget, the Juice Fountain Elite is one of the best juicers that Breville produces. It offering premium materials for improved durability, a bigger output and a more powerful motor at 1000W. It looks gorgeous thanks to its stainless steel design, which even extends to the three inch feeding chute. It’s on the larger side, so you’ll need to make some space for it on your countertop, but then this juicer is designed to be a statement piece. It’s a hugely efficient juicer because its titanium reinforced blades will cut through anything you throw at it, with dual-speed controls operating at 6,500 and 13,000RPM. The pulp it produces into its extra-large pulp bin is pretty dry too, so you know you’re getting the most out of the ingredients you’re juicing. Foam is kept to a minimum thanks to its foam-blocking mechanism, and cleaning up is quick, as all removable parts except the food pusher are dishwasher proof. Whether it offers absolute value for money will depend on your outlook. You’re certainly paying out some of its $300 price tag for its design, but the added durability makes that seem very much worth it. Hamilton Beach’s second appearance in our list comes from this slightly more expensive model, which offers two speeds to 67601’s one, which gives you more control. As we’ve come to expect from Hamilton Beach, it offers fantastic value for money, and delivers a lot of the performance and features you’ll find in some of its pricier competition, including the well-respected Breville Juice Fountain Plus JE98XL. One of the big selling points is its large 40oz pitcher with lid and froth separator alongside an extra-large pulp bin, so you can make lots of juice in one sitting. The quality of the juice is good too, and its three inch feeding chute means only minimal prep is required for the largest of ingredients. We particularly liked how easy this was to clean. It comes with the company’s Easy Sweep tool for cleaning the strainer in half the time, while the plastic parts of the juicer can be thrown into the top part of your dishwasher for quick clean ups. Not only that, it was also designed to create less mess, with a drip-free adjustable spout to keep things clean and tidy in between juicing batches. As its name would suggest, the Breville Juice Fountain Compact is great if you’re a little short on space, as it collects the pulp within the unit itself instead of in an external bin. This has the added bonus that there’s one less part to mess around with during assembly and disassembly. That in turn makes it easy to clean, especially when you consider that all of its parts except the food pusher are suitable for dishwashers. You’ll need to scrape out the pulp first, of course, but this no problem since the unit is quite shallow. While its 700W motor might look a little underpowered on paper, the titanium cutting disc works hard to produce an impressive juice yield, managing a massive 14,000RPM. In fact, its yield is on par with that of pricier machines, performing well with both hard and soft produce. The 32 fl oz jug certainly isn’t have the biggest capacity on the market, but that’s inevitable with a smaller footprint. Plus, at just under $100, it offers great value for money.
Which is better, centrifugal or masticating?
That entirely depends on your priorities. The best centrifugal juicers are fast and cheap. Masticating juicers are slower and more expensive, but their cooler running temperature reportedly helps to retain more nutrients in the juice. That’s why you’ll see a lot of juicing experts recommending this type over centrifugal. However, there are conflicting reports as to just how much is lost in the juicing process, with some suggesting very little at all. It seems increasingly unlikely that a centrifugal juicer produces enough heat to cook and destroy ingredients, and newer centrifugal models make a point of running cooler than ever. The more likely loss of nutrients is in dietary fiber, which in centrifugal juicers is discarded as pulp. That said, it’s inevitable that you’ll lose a little fiber in almost any juice because you’re literally removing the fibres of the fruit that make it solid. If you’re just dipping your toe into the juicing world, or are on a tighter budget, there’s no harm in trying a centrifugal juicer to see how you get on with the process first. The best centrifugal juicers definitely come with their benefits over masticating ones too. They’re faster, easier to clean and simpler to use. They’ll be a little bit more noisy, but considering they take much less time, it’s not too much to put up with.
How do I choose a centrifugal juicer?
Firstly, look for one within your budget and then ensure its dimensions suit your circumstances. If you want to keep it out on the side all the time, you might want to consider a more compact option. Once those boxes have been ticked, the rest are nice-to-haves. Variable speeds will allow you to adjust the speed for different types of fruit and vegetables to get the most out of them - slower speeds are better for soft fruits like berries and grapes, while you’ll need more power for things like apples and carrots. A wider feeding chute is helpful when it comes to speeding up the juicing process, so you don’t need to spend time pre-chopping your fruit and veg. If you’re juicing for the family, be sure to look out for larger capacity juicers too, with a jug to hold bigger batches of liquid. It’s also worth checking if your chosen juicer comes with a foam separator. Centrifugal juicers tend to create more foam in the juicing process than other types, and having something to help remove that will leave your juice much clearer and easier to drink. You should also consider how the waste pulp is collected. Compact juicers will often collect it in an internal basket, while others will put it in an external container. The latter is better if you’re making large amounts of juice, as you won’t have to empty the pulp bin as regularly. Finally, if you hate washing up, see if the juicer you’re considering is dishwasher safe. Some can only be washed by hand.
How much should I spend on a fast centrifugal juicer?
If you’re on a budget, centrifugal juicers are the way to go. That’s because you can spend a lot less on a centrifugal juicer than a masticating one, and still pick up a good performer for under $100. That’s particularly handy if you’re just testing the waters with homemade juice and aren’t sure how often you’ll make it. However, if you think juicing might be for you, we’d recommend spending a little bit more to be sure that you’re investing in a good quality, well-made juicer that has been built to last. By spending between $100-200 you’ll find a solid selection of juicers that offer additional features, such as larger feeding chutes and bigger capacities to make your life easier.
Do centrifugal juicers destroy nutrients?
As mentioned above, there has been a long-standing argument that centrifugal juicers destroy nutrients in the juice due to the heat created by their faster running. Some arguments also say that oxidation caused through the faster grinding creates a poorer quality juice. We know that some nutrients and enzymes do start to break down when exposed to heat or oxygen. However, not only do most remain stable, there is no evidence that the heat from a juicer is so extreme that it can destroy nutrients in the time it takes the ingredients to pass through. However, some of the argument about oxidation holds up. The faster juicing of a centrifugal blender means some oxidation is inevitable. You’ll notice this in the different colour of the juice and how long it stays fresh after it’s been made. However, even though they might look different, there’s no evidence to suggest that a more oxidized juice is any worse nutritionally than a less oxidized one. You just might have to drink it quicker. While masticating juicers can extract larger amounts of certain nutrients, that’s about the extent of it. Don’t feel scared into parting with more money over the idea that centrifugal juicers are producing poor quality juice, because that simply isn’t proven as true.
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