How To Make Juice Without A Juicer
While it’s relatively standard to keep a blender in the kitchen, a juicer is a little more niche. Juicers are a little more expensive. Bulky. Hard to clean! But say you really want to see what all the juicing hype is about. This post will show you how to make juice without a juicer.
How would I know?
Well, recently my beloved Nutribullet juicer* broke. By no fault of the manufacturer, she fell off the shelf and was dented beyond repair. (*As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases.)
How did she fall off the shelf, you ask? When we moved into our house a few years ago, we assumed the sturdy kitchen shelves with screws in them were anchored to the wall. Turns out, they were not!
*Always* use an anchor, people!
Anyway, when the adrenaline wore off of having a shelf fall down towards me, I realized I was stuck without a juicer. After much research, I decided my replacement would be the Breville juicer, a little upgrade!
While waiting for my Breville, I had to figure out another way.
I used to be pretty hardcore about juicing every day, but I’m often so busy these days that it falls to the back burner.Still, I make a conscious effort to get a variety of fruits and vegetables into my body each week, and one of the easiest ways to do that is by juicing.
I make a heck of a lot more smoothies than juices–particularly to get that good fiber in–but juices are a nice way to mix things up and get nutrients I might not otherwise get.
Case in point: carrot tops.
Now you may be thinking huh? What? Carrot tops? Yes. I am talking about the delicate green leaves that take up half the bag when you buy whole carrots. Those pretty stems and bits that often end up in the trash because we’re like… what do we do with carrot tops?
It’s just an example, since you can juice anything without a juicer. But carrot tops are a good one, because they are tough to swallow after just a blend. There are plenty of fruits and veggies that make delicious smoothies: berries, bananas, kale, spinach, oranges… even cauliflower!
But if you put carrot leaves in your blender, you will end up with some decidedly pulpy, lumpy, chewy liquid that will make even the most adventurous of us gag. And some veggies are just like that.
Yet, these pulpy leafy beings are so chock-full of nutrients that it’s still awesome to get them in somehow. They don’t translate well to cooking and, as I’ve discovered, are pretty rough in a smoothie.
Enter: the sifter.
How To Make Juice Without A Juicer
It’s an easy two-step process, and it’s all about the sifter! Anytime you want a smooth green juice, or you want to drink a certain fruit or vegetable that leaves too much fiber in your cup, you can easily learn how to make juice without a juicer as long as you have two things: a blender and a sifter.
I’m talking those round metal strainers with teeny little holes. You know, the kind you use when baking.
This handy tool is awesome to have around; to sprinkle confectioner’s sugar nicely, to strain the bits from homemade broth, to rinse a couple local berries. And, as it turns out, to catch the lumpy bits of fibrous produce.
How To Make Juice Without A Juicer – Step 1: Blend
It’s really pretty simple: put your veggies or fruit in your blender, then add the minimum amount of necessary water to make it blend. Obviously, you don’t want your “juice” to be super watery. And if you were using a juicer, you wouldn’t be adding water at all.
We want this to have the taste and texture as close as possible to juice from a juicer.
So, add enough h2o so that your stuff actually blends, then blend on whatever setting seems right. I usually use medium strength for just about everything, but if your veggies are really delicate then low might work just fine. Alternately, if you are trying to make juice from thick stems or something extra fibrous, then blending on high might be in order.
How To Make Juice Without A Juicer – Step 2: Sift
Once you’ve got a blender jug of your smoothie juice concoction, it’s time to sift.
Find a container that is big enough to hold your juice and has a wide enough lid for sifting. It doesn’t have to be enormous, but the bigger it is the quicker your sifting will go. For smaller jar tops, you will have to sift in more batches to prevent spilling.
What I do is put the juice destination jar in the sink in case of spills–some little drips are kind of inevitable, at least when you’re me (lol). Then I place a sifter on top that is the closest matching size to the jar top (I have several different-sized sifters).
It is no big deal if your sifter and jar top sizes aren’t close at all, it just might make things a little easier if they are.
Next, grab a spoon and your blender and begin pouring the liquid through the sifter. As you go, use a spoon to press down the fiber and release more juice. When your sifter is getting too full of fiber to sift properly (after every one or two pours), dump the fiber in the trash and start again.
If you don’t like wasting food, there are plenty of ways to juice leftover juice pulp you can search online (making muffins, bread, etc.)
Rinse your sifter and blender, put a lid on your juice jar and you’re done!
More Ideas For Your Blender
Feeling like something a little sweeter? You’ll love this strawberry banana peanut butter smoothie. It’s as fruity and sweet as can be!
Feeling A Little More Like Chocolate?
(Me too. Pretty much always.)
This chocolate smoothie is a healthy take on desserts like chocolate pudding. Seriously, I eat it for dessert ALL. THE. TIME. So fast. So adaptable. So good.
