Food processors are better suited to dryer ingredients like doughs, sauces, purees and thick dips. We filled each work bowl with water, then let the machine rip to check for leaks. Most of our winners did well in this test, leaving behind no more than 25 grams of flour; however, the Cuisinart fell short here, creating nearly twice as many large almond particles as the other top performers. Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about ourreview process here.
Fortunately, these machines are easy to clean with a dish towel and a bit of dish soap. Insert ingredients into the food chute at the top of the lid and press the paddles to start the motor. Watch as your food processor makes quick work of everything, from hardy sweet potatoes to juicy tomatoes. While the machine is running, you can remove the lid on the food chute and drop or pour in ingredients. This is handy when you want various ingredients to have different textures or you’re emulsifying a sauce. To test this, we filled each model with the same ratio of large diced carrots, celery, and onions.
Think about the serving size of recipes you make most often and how many people you cook for on a regular basis. This is good if you’re cooking for one or two people or making sides and garnishes. This is best if you have a large family, like entertaining or making big batches of food at a time. Best yet, the bowl, lid, and blade are dishwasher safe, so it’s easy to clean when you’re done with the cooking, and the cord wraps around for storage. This classic food processor from Cuisinart is almost retro, and while the brand makes many models, this one is as simple as it gets. A single paddle controls on, off, and pulse functions, for no-fuss operations.
A Cuisinart food processor is one handy appliance that can do the work of your chef’s knife, mortar and pestle, blender, stand mixer and even your own dough-kneading hands. Throughout testing, we assembled and disassembled each machine multiple times, swapping out attachments, washing parts, and clicking in bowls, lids, and more. During these steps, we noticed which details made using the machines easier, and which frustrated us. For this test, we weighed blocks of Gruyère and Parmesan cheese, then pushed each through the appropriate shredder. Some models failed to successfully shred as much as 24% of harder Parmesan cheese, which proved to be the more difficult of the two.
All the food processors we tested cut potatoes, but the best ones did it while generating no more than 2% waste. While most machines had the power to slice well, the better ones created smoother, cleaner slices with less waste. In the case of cuisinart griddler elite tomatoes, successful models could slice the fruit without smashing and juicing it in the process. With machines that offered multiple slice-thickness options, we ran tomatoes through a range of widths, from the thinnest up to the thickest.
Black-against-brushed-stainless food processor with a motor so powerful it can knead bread dough—this versatile tool is perfect for making Indian spice paste. Includes medium slicing disc, shredding disc, chopping/mixing/kneading blade, small and large pushers, spatula and detachable disc stem. The KitchenAid 3.5-Cup Food Chopper may be small, but it still performs all of the major functions needed in a food processor.
It, too, has an adjustable slicing disk that made short work of potatoes without excessive waste. When filled with nearly four cups of water, the Breville didn’t leak a drop—which is more than we can say for several of the 14-cup machines we tested. Because it’s such a popular piece of kitchen gear, manufacturers have tried to make a model for just about every budget. You can find some for less than $100, and others for five times as much. And if not, how low can you go before the savings just aren’t worth the piece of crap you end up with? To find the best food processors across a spectrum of price points, we tested 11 models, ranging from 12- to 16-cup capacities.
If you need to process large amounts of food, this Cuisinart model gets the job done. Its sleek design looks good on your countertop and comes in multiple colors and finishes. With 14-cups of processing capacity, it’s the largest model we tested and slightly pricier than the other models we recommend. The Breville Sous Chef diced tomatoes and onions evenly, and it chopped nuts to a more consistent texture than the Cuisinart. The Sous Chef’s grater disk shredded soft mozzarella cheese easily. And though we’re not huge fans of the mini bowls on most of the big processors, we liked the Sous Chef’s 2½-cup bowl best among the ones we’ve tried.
This versatile food processor comes with 3 attachments so you can slice, shred, chop, puree and crinkle cut. The large feed chute fits a whole block cuisinart pots and pans set of cheese to reduce pre-cutting, and it has 2 speeds plus pulse control. Thanks to its smaller size, the 3.5-Cup Food Chopper is easy to store.
Get the job done with this 720-watt large-capacity . When it comes to cleanup, all the accessories can be tossed in the dishwasher, and the base of the unit wiped down easily. A food processor purees, slices, grates, shreds, dices, kneads, and more. The bowl is just over 3 cups, so you can make plenty of hummus for a party or seasoned bread crumbs for breaded cutlets for dinner. Since this doesn’t require power, you can use it outside when you’re barbecuing or take it camping. Donna Currie is a food writer and blogger specializing in recipes and kitchen gadgets.