Best Juicer: The 2023 Tasting Table Awards

Freshly-squeezed juice is a great part of any morning or post-workout routine. But as good as that sip might be, there's nothing worse than paying $10 for a simple beverage you could make at home — with the right equipment, of course. Whether you're thirsty for the perfect glass of OJ in the morning or planning to whip up a detoxifying turmeric concoction, the right juicer can make all the difference. 

You want to extract as much nutrition, flavor, and, well, juice, as you possibly can out of whatever produce you're using. The real question is: What kind of juicer do you choose? Should you go with masticating or centrifugal? Single or multi-speed?  With those queries in mind, we tested some of the most recognizable juicers priced at $200 or less and evaluated them based on five primary factors: noise, speed, mess and cleanup, graininess, and extraction ability. Here are the machines that earned our highest marks along with what to expect from each one and how to purchase any that suit your juicing needs.  

Read more about the 2023 Tasting Table Awards methodology and all the top picks here.

When it came to our criteria, there was only one machine that passed them all with flying (bright orange) colors. The NutriBullet Slow Juicer may be pricy, but what you get is a top-quality masticating juicer that's quiet, efficient, and compact on your counter. It's the best vertically designed juicer we tested, which also means it's straightforward: just drop your fruit or veg in and watch it work. Plus, the masticating auger is so massive, the food pusher is really more of a suggestion (but still, for your own safety, take advantage of it). You can also forget about the splatter you might normally expect from centrifugal juicers — this one runs low and, per its name, slow, but still juiced up both hard carrots and soft oranges with ease.

And the juice itself? Almost shockingly smooth and easy to drink. There was a bit of graininess, which is to be expected when juicing fibrous fruits, but almost no pulp. Cleanup was easy enough, as the NutriBullet's many pieces are simple to take apart and, other than the auger, dishwasher safe. The NutriBullet is a bit heavy when fully assembled and its noise level is fairly loud (though not bad as far as juicers go) but those are minor quibbles. If juicing is part of your daily routine, make this machine your main squeeze.

Purchase the NutriBullet Slow Juicer on Amazon for $200.

You might say we have a thing for horizontal design because we absolutely love the way the Ninja JC151 NeverClog Cold Press Juicer looks. The metallic grey color with silver accents, the wide base, and even the handsome pulp-catching cup are all credits to this machine. It's the kind of juicer that you can proudly sit on your counter as a kitchen centerpiece (at least as far as appliances go).  It's also easy to use and, apt to its name, as quiet as an actual ninja. (The silence was so deafening that we were worried it might not be working properly.)

Fortunately, the juice it produced assuaged all those fears. There are a number of pieces, which could be a drawback since they're not entirely intuitive to disassemble, but they're all dishwasher safe, which is a massive plus. The Ninja JC151 might take up a little extra counter space, but for the easy-on-the-eyes matte finish and its exceptional juicing ability, we think it's worth it.

Purchase the Ninja JC151 NeverClog Cold Press Juicer on Amazon for $106.

If you're in the market for a centrifugal juicer, the Breville Juice Fountain Compact Juicer flies clear of the competition. There's a lot we can talk about with this machine, but we'll start with the wide mouth that makes tossing in whole fruits and veggies a breeze. The locking bar stabilizes the entire ordeal and ensures no wobbly parts and with a single on-off switch, it's as easy as it gets.

The blade runs at an incredibly high speed and absolutely pulverizes whatever you push into it. While this makes it prone to splatter, it also means the juice is as smooth and pulp-free as you could ever hope for (though it does get a bit frothy, as is commonly the case with centrifugal juicers). The mouth and primary chamber might seem large, but this machine is also relatively compact, at least as far as other juicers go. We also quite like the design of the pitcher that comes along with it. If speed is at the top of your priority list, Breville is the way to go.

Purchase the Breville Juice Fountain Compact Juicer on Amazon for $100.

It makes sense that if you're making enough juice to warrant an entire machine dedicated to doing so, you might as well spend top dollar. But we also know that's not entirely realistic — after all, budget constraints are real. Enter the Mega Chef Wide Mouth Juice Extractor. With a price tag under $60, it's the most inexpensive juicer we tested and was on par with several of the other more expensive centrifugal juicers we tried.

So what exactly are you getting here? The answer is a solid, straight-up juicer with an extra-wide feeding mouth, so don't worry about cutting up your produce before tossing it in. We also love that it has two speeds to deal with harder and softer fruits and vegetables. We'd like to say that produces less splatter, but it doesn't really — just slightly less noise if you're juicing something that doesn't require full force. (And we do mean slightly less — this thing is loud, especially when the blade slows after it's shut off.) But perhaps our favorite feature is on the pitcher, which contains a lip that separates the froth from the juice as you pour it out. Since centrifugal juicers run at such high speeds, they're prone to letting extra heat and oxygen into the mix, so the separator is extra useful assuming you don't want your juice to have an airy texture.

Purchase the Mega Chef Wide Mouth Juice Extractor on Amazon for $60.

So you thought a juicer with two speeds was cool? Meet the Gourmia 6 Speed Big Mouth Extraction Digital Juicer, which, if you couldn't tell by its name, offers triple the settings. We like the digital display and appreciate that the speeds are rated according to what you're actually juicing. But we love that it includes a pulse button — a feature not commonly associated with juicers.  

That's not to say the Gourmia is without its downsides. The extra piece held down by the locking bar is a little too easy to shake loose, which makes the unit feel janky unless you have it all just so. There are a lot of pieces here, some of them quite big, which can certainly be a downside, and the juice it made came out a little pulpier than expected. Even for all its moving parts and pulp, though, the added features are worth it — including a self-cleaning feature, which feels more for form than function, but we appreciate that it's there. The pitcher even includes a froth separator, so we'll give it a few extra points for that, too.

Purchase the Gourmia 6 Speed Big Mouth Extraction Digital Juicer on Amazon for $80.