This slow juicer helped me ditch store-bought juice

If you’re unsatisfied with store-bought juices that lack customization, you should probably consider buying a juicer. And if you’re wondering which type of juicer to buy, we can help with that. Centrifugal juicers grind produce using fast-spinning blades that separate juice and pulp—they tend to be big and loud. Masticating juicers, also known as slow juicers, use an auger that twists to slowly squeeze all the juice out of produce without the use of blades, and are relatively quiet.

Though the former are more affordable than the masticating models, centrifugal juicers generally can’t compete when it comes to juice quality, as the heat and introduction of oxygen may negatively impact the nutritional integrity of the juices. NutriBullet, the brand that behind some of our favorite blenders, recently launched a slow juicer that we knew we had to try.

About the NutriBullet Slow Juicer

The NutriBullet Slow Juicer is on the slender side of the juicers we’ve tested and will probably have no problem being tucked under overhead cabinets on your kitchen counter. Despite arriving in multiple parts, assembly was straightforward and it took less than 10 minutes for me to put the pieces together. The auger was a little trickier: I had to pry a little to get it in place.

To find out if this slow juicer is worthy of your hard-earned money, I put it through our the same tests we used to find the best juicers on the market, from carrot to apple kale to citrus juices. I also chose a recipe from the complimentary recipe book to see how it turned out.

What I like

The temperature stays consistent throughout juicing

It’s a powerful juicer that grinds down the ingredients thoroughly without increasing the temperature of the juice like a centrifugal juicer. This is believed to help retain nutrients in the juice, and though the scientific community hasn’t thrown their support behind this claim, many juice bars and bottled juice makers still operate with this in mind.

It can handle all kinds of produce with ease

Every ingredient went down easily and quickly, beating an average slow juicer on speed. For the strawberry juice, I didn’t even need to take the stems off and the strawberry juice was refreshingly crisp and silky.

Troubleshooting is a breeze

This may be one of the most no-frills juicers I’ve tested. In addition to the easy assembly, I liked how detailed the user manual is when it comes to troubleshooting, as I suspected user-error and had to refer to that section early into the testing process.

What I don’t like

This juicer didn’t fully eliminate pulp

Compared to the best slow juicers we’ve tested, the juices the NutriBullet produced weren’t the most smooth, with significant amounts of pulp and foam remaining. This was especially pronounced when juicing leafy greens such as kale.

However, I noticed when juicing smaller objects such as chopped skinny carrots, there was much less pulp and foam in the juice. The NutriBullet wasn’t the loudest juicer we’ve ever tested but it was definitely noisier than an average slow juicer.

Should you buy the NutriBullet Slow Juicer?

If you’re eyeing a value option for a slow juicer, the NutriBullet may be your best bet, as masticating juicers are typically pricier. It’s compact in size and decent in performance, and has great potential for becoming a popular model in years to come. If you don’t mind your juices being on the thicker side, then you’ll absolutely fall in love with this slow juicer.

However, if you’re dead serious about pulp- and foam-free juices, the Omega J8006HDS is the best juicer we’ve tested. It’s heavier and bulkier than the NutriBullet, but our tester observed consistently crisp and almost foam-free juices with minimum effort required during testing.

Pro tip: Don’t throw away the pulp (unless it’s citrus fruit, you can throw that away)! I’ve had success baking stone fruit pulp into quick breads, as well as working carrot and kale pulp into kimchi pancake batter.

Get the NutriBullet Slow Juicer for $199