Your Vitamix machine works hard to keep you happy and healthy, so it’s important to take steps to keep your blender happy and healthy, too. This includes keeping it clean and taking steps to ensure it runs smoothly.

First up, our two best cleaning tips:

For Cloudy Containers

Does your blender container have any white buildup? If so, you’re not alone. The good news is that, while it may not be the prettiest thing in the world, the cloudiness isn’t harmful—it’s simply from minerals getting released when you blend your food, similar to calcium deposits in a water dispenser.

If you don’t have any buildup yet, your best bet to prevent it is to fill the container with 50% water and 50% white vinegar. Let it soak overnight, then clean it in the morning.

If you already have buildup, make a paste out of baking soda and water. Using a soft cloth, apply the paste to the inside of the container in a circular motion. (Be sure to avoid the blade!) It may take some time and elbow grease, but your effort should pay off.

One thing to keep in mind is that when you blend a lot of hard substances like spices and grains, those can etch the container. There’s nothing you can do to avoid or fix that, so just consider those etchings a sign of a well-used blender.

For Stains

If you’re one of the many people who use curry or turmeric in your Vitamix, your container likely has a yellow stain. The simple solution is to put your container in the window for a few days and let the direct sunlight help bleach out the stain.

Fizzy Myth-Busting

You may have seen the Alka-Seltzer® cleaning method on YouTube. While that does technically work well the first few times, it’s not a long-term solution. Our customers have found that, over time, this method actually made their containers worse.

Of course, you don’t just want to keep your Vitamix looking great, you want to keep it working great too. Here are our four best practices for maintaining a smooth-running blender:

Load Your Blender Correctly

This might not seem like a big deal, but it really does matter. Unless stated otherwise in the recipe, always load ingredients in the following order:

  • liquids first
  • soft fruits and leafy greens in the middle
  • frozen and dense fruits and vegetables at the top

  • Put the Pedal to the Metal

    You should always start your Vitamix on low speed, but you want to ramp up quickly to the desired speed (usually the highest option unless you’re making something where you want some texture, like salsa). Think of your Vitamix like a race car—it’s built to go fast!

    Why do ingredient and speed order matter? Because the low speed lets the blades grab the nearby liquid and soft ingredients first. This creates a vortex that then pulls the tougher foods toward the blade. By the time your frozen and dense ingredients reach the blade, it’ll be moving at the right speed to blend them.

    [Bonus tip: If you want to cut through seeds like raspberries, chia, and flax, make sure your speed is set to high for at least 40 seconds.]

    Stop, Then Go.

    Make sure the blade has completely stopped moving before you take the container off the motor base. If the blade’s still moving, you’ll create wear on the teeth on the drive shaft, which may affect your blending experience over time.

    Use Both Hands

    When you use the tamper, place your free hand gently on the top or base of the blender to help with eye-hand coordination. Do not hold onto the container handle, as that might slightly rock the container, which will cause wear on the drive shaft’s teeth.

    As you can see, with just a little bit of effort and care, it’s easy to keep your Vitamix looking good and working well for many years to come.