Cuisinart Hurricane Pro Review

Delivering a comparable performance to the Cuisinart, both the Vitamix A2500 Ascent Series and the Vitamix Pro 750 tied for the top score overall. The A2500 is a little more expensive, but held up very well to our grueling testing process, showing no signs of wear. The Pro 750 scored very well, but it is a bit on the pricey side.

Our top performing and Editor's Choice winner, the Cuisinart Hurricane Pro.

Performance Comparison

To determine which blender is truly the best of them all, we bought the top models available on the market today and tested them head-to-head. We conducted over a dozen different assessments for each product, grouped among five weighted metrics: Smoothies, Ice, Convenience, Pureeing, and Grinding.

The Hurricane made deliciously smooth and tasty smoothies!

Smoothies

Earning the most weight out of any of our rating metrics, the set of tests comprising our Smoothie metric take credit for 30% of the total score. We ranked and compared the performance of each blender at making a green smoothie, fruit and oat smoothie, and a berry smoothie, as well as an Oreo malt. The Cuisinart performed exceptionally well.

The Hurricane started off with an excellent performance in our green smoothie test. We used the "Green Smoothie" preset which ran the blender for 1:30.

The Hurricane stormed right through the tough cell walls of our greens making a smooth leaf free beverage.

This smoothie was exceptionally smooth, almost completely passing through the sieve without any issue.

The Hurricane tore through the greens leaving not much left in its path of destruction on the sieve.

The Hurricane Pro continued its stellar performance into our Oreo malt test, creating an awesome malt when we followed the manufacturer's instructions and didn't even require any intervention on our part to stop and scrape the inside of the pitcher. This model did continue into the berry smoothie assessment with a strong performance, but it was surpassed by all three Vitamix blenders.

Just a touch of a preset away from an ultra smooth berry smoothie.

We used the "Fruit Smoothie" setting, which ran the Hurricane for about 45 seconds.

A berry good smoothie made by the Hurricane.

The smoothie was well-blended, but there were still some berry seeds that did not get pulverized which got caught in the sieve.

The Hurricane left very little behind in the berry smoothie test.

The Cuisinart finished out our test with a good showing in our fruit and oat smoothie. This is a difficult recipe, as it only has strawberries, bananas, almonds, yogurt, oats, and maple syrup in it — not a huge amount of liquid.

Tying for 2nd top performer in our super thick smoothie of oats and yogurt.

The finished product was drinkable, but still thicker than the smoothie made by the Vitamix 5200.

The Hurricane Pro was a top performer for making frozen drinks.

Ice

Ranking next in terms of importance, our Ice metric takes responsibility for 20% of the total score and was one of our favorites to test. This metric consisted of two tests: crushing ice only and blending a margarita. The Cuisinart crushed it, earning the highest score possible and tying with a few other models.

We followed the manufacturer's directions for crushing ice and the Hurricane Pro rose to the occasion. This blender crushed all of the ice without difficulty and didn't even require us to use the "Pulse" function. This appliance also produced a stunning blended margarita that was extremely well-blended and incredibly smooth. To do this, we ran the blender at speed 10 for 45-90 seconds, per the instructions.

The Hurricane's pitcher and lid are dishwasher safe.

Convenience

On par with our Ice metric, our Convenience metric is also responsible for 20% of the overall score. We rated each product if it is dishwasher-safe, if the pitcher could adequately dry when placed on the motor base, whether or not each appliance has a digital timer or preset functions, and their labeling, as well as the difficulty in washing the components by hand and removing the lid. The Cuisinart again scored very well, tying for the top spot.

The Cuisinart is all set for the dishwasher, with the pitcher, blades, and lid all completely fine being put in the dishwasher. The pitcher is large enough to wash easily by hand and can be placed back on the base to dry. This model has a digital timer and a handful of presets, like Clean, Soup, Smoothies, and Ice Crush. You also have the option of selecting Fruit or Green for the smoothie preset. The presets are clearly labeled and easy to understand.

The Hurricane Pro showing off its nice digital display.

The lid seals well, so it can be a little difficult to remove and this blender is relatively quiet, measuring in at 83.5 dba on our meter.

The Hurricane ready for making some mouthwatering nut butter.

Pureeing

Our next metric takes credit for 15% of the total, with the score for each product based on how well it made nut butter, and pureed tomato soup, as well as if the blender could actually heat the soup. The Hurricane Pro did quite well, earning another perfect score of 10 out of 10, tying for the best performance with a few others.

The Hurricane did extremely well in our nut butter test, creating a nice and creamy spread after about 8 minutes of blending. We used a pound of almonds and honey roasted peanuts, as well as some oil for our recipe. This blender also made quick work of our tomato soup, creating a silky-smooth soup that poured right through our sieve.

The Hurricane also heated up the soup more than enough, ending at 150°F after 6 minutes of blending.

The lid seals on tight preventing leakage.

This model also doesn't leak when filled to its maximum fill line, holding 8 cups of water without issue.

Grinding a lot of hard foods dented our blades slightly, we don't recommend consistently grinding with this blender.

Grinding

Taking credit for the remaining 15% of the overall score, our Grinding metric consisted of three tests. We ground corn meal from popcorn, made powdered sugar, and grated parmesan cheese. The Hurricane finished out our review with a solid performance, earning an 8 out of 10 for its showing.

Following the manufacturer's directions for making powdered sugar yielded poor results, but the Hurricane actually made excellent powdered sugar when it was given some additional time.

The Hurricane delivered one of the best performances of the entire group, creating finely ground parmesan cheese, similar to what you would find in a shaker in a pizza parlor. This blender also did very well in our cornmeal test, grinding the popcorn into a flour so fine that 95% of it passed through our sieve without issue.

Get ready for making some cornbread with the Hurricane, it performed great in our flour testing.

Value

While the Hurricane Pro isn't an exceptionally great value, it is still a decent one for a premium blender, costing significantly less than the other Editors' Choice award winner, the Vitamix A2500 Ascent.

Conclusion