Food Processor Reviews and Buying Guide

Whether you love to cook or hate to cook, a good food processor can be your best friend in the kitchen. The only hard part is deciding which one will work best for you. This guide is the best place to start!

My individual product reviews provide complete details on bestsellers and top rated models, but you may want to start with this Food Processor Reviews and Buying Guide – this page gives a broad overview to help you quickly find what you’re looking for.

There’s lots to cover here – Scroll down, or click on the Table of Contents and select a link to skip down the page.

Introduction

There are lots of great models available that range from basic little choppers to full featured powerhouse machines that can handle the most challenging food prep tasks. You can make quick work of everything from chopping a few pods of garlic to slicing up a bushel of squash fresh from your garden.

Zoom through those jobs so you can hurry up and get back to binge-watching Netflix get on with creating your culinary masterpiece!

Food Processors Vs. Blenders

Before you begin comparing models, it’s important to understand that food processors and blenders are not necessarily interchangeable. Each one will do some of the jobs the other is designed for, but results will differ greatly. One reason is basic design. Food processors sling foods outward toward the sides of the work bowl, whereas blenders draw ingredients inward and down toward the blade.

Can a food processor make smoothies? Most cannot because chopping ice will damage the work bowl. A few can, but there are two drawbacks. One is that you aren’t likely to get that smooth-as-velvet consistency you like. The other is limited volume. Generally speaking, the maximum liquid capacity of a food processor is only about a third of its total work bowl capacity, even less on some models.

If you’re buying a machine mainly to make things like smoothies, you probably don’t want a food processor. In a nutshell, here’s the difference:

• Blenders are designed to mix and blend liquids, and they are awesome when it comes to getting the smoothest consistency possible. By design they don’t do well with completely dry foods because you need at least a little liquid in order to help draw ingredients down toward the blade for processing. Without liquid, instead of chopping a container full of food, it’s easy to end up pulverizing food at the bottom while that at the top remains untouched.

  Blenders are best for shakes, smoothies, margaritas and other frozen drinks, soups and salad dressings. If pureéd food is a top priority, then a blender is what you want. (See the top sellers in Amazon’s huge collection of models.)

• Food processors are designed to chop, slice, grate, and shred, and they really shine when working with dry foods. They also do well mixing batters and many other soft foods, and some will knead dough. Where they fall short is in working with liquids. You just can’t achieve the same consistency – even the amazing Breville Sous Chef can’t pureé as smoothly as a good quality blender. Besides that, with any food processor the maximum work bowl capacity for liquids is very limited. To get an idea, see the chart below.

  Food processors are the champions of chopping, grating, shredding and slicing, and they work best with vegetables, fruits, some meats, nuts and cheeses. They’re great for making dishes like nut butters, hummus, and dips. They will also mix batters and soft doughs or knead stiffer dough.

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What Size Food Processor Will Work Best For You?

The three basic categories are Large, Medium, and Small, based on the total capacity of the work bowl. This seems the most logical way to sort them out because it also nicely separates them according to power, capabilities, and the number and types of features they offer.

Note that bowl size can be a little deceiving, so be sure you know what you’re getting. For the most part, the only time you can fill the work bowl completely full is when you are slicing. Otherwise, no matter how large the work bowl, there is a limit as to how much you can process at once and still achieve good results. To give you an idea, here’s a chart showing actual capacity of a 14 cup work bowl for various foods.

As mentioned above, liquids are another matter entirely. Almost all food processors are very limited as to the amount of liquid foods they can handle without leakage. You can use only about a third of your work bowl capacity at most. Overfill it, and you’ll create a bigger mess than you have time to clean up.

Large Food Processors: 10 to 16 cup capacity — 450 to 1200 Watt motor

For serious cooks who want the most features and the best results, this is the category to check first. Models of this size offer the user more options and control, plus a variety of accessories for specialty jobs. There is a great deal of difference in quality and performance among these models, so be sure to read the reviews to get all the details before you buy.

Top Seller – Large: Top of the line, but also most expensive, is the Breville Sous Chef. Read my review, or click here to see it on Amazon. For a much less expensive (but still very good) option, read my review of the Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY or click here to see it on Amazon.

Medium Food Processors: 7 to 9 cup capacity — 300 to 600 Watt motor

Here again, there is quite a difference in performance among these models, and my reviews cover the details. Some offer a good alternative to those in the Large category as they are smaller and cost less. If size is an issue in your kitchen, these units take up less counter space are are also lighter so they’re easier to move in and out of cabinets for storage.

Top Seller – Medium: The Cuisinart DLC-10SY Pro Classic is a long time consumer favorite, now shown as discontinued by the manufacturer but still readily available on Amazon. Read my review, or check it out on Amazon. For a good model at a bargain price see my review of the Hamilton Beach 70740 8-Cup Food Processor, or check it out on Amazon.

Small Food Processors: 1.5 to 3 cup capacity — 70 to 250 Watt motor

These models are no substitute for any of the large or medium food processors, but they’re perfect for little everyday tasks. They’re very inexpensive, and cleanup is quick and easy. If you don’t cook very much this might be all you ever need. Even if you own one of the big workhorse models, it’s still nice to have one of these choppers on hand too. Cleanup is a lot faster when all you need to do is just chop an onion.

Top Seller – Small: The Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus wins this category! Read my review of the best small food processor, or see it on Amazon.

Points to Consider As You Shop

• How often will you use your food processor? Do you need lots of power so it will hold up under very frequent use, or to process large batches at once without overheating?
• What types of tasks will you do? Will the standard chopping & mixing blades serve your purposes, or do you want a model with extras like a Julienne disk or dough blade?
• If you want those fancy extras, are they included with the unit or sold as separate accessories? (Some models may look like a bargain but cost more in the long run if the extra blades and discs are expensive.)
• How much counter space do you have in your kitchen? What about overhanging cabinets? Do you have enough clearance for a large model?
• How much storage space do you have in your cabinets or pantry? Keep in mind that some of the large models are quite heavy, which makes them harder to move around.

Finally, unlike some other review sites, I don’t recommend basing your choice of size on the number of people in your family. That just doesn’t make sense. Plenty of people who have large families don’t need or want anything more than a basic little food chopper that will speed up routine tasks.

By the same token, the large models aren’t just for big families. Maybe you’re single and enjoy entertaining and cooking for crowds. If you garden, you’ll love that big processor at harvest time. Or maybe you like to buy in bulk when you find a good bargain, and maybe you enjoy using your dehydrator or vacuum sealer to package for you and friends and family and gifts. No matter what the circumstances or lifestyle, anyone who anticipates doing a lot of large batch processing will appreciate the speed and power and capabilities of the largest size models.

Unless you’re buying a gift, your approach to shopping for a food processor should be “It’s all about me!” Just this once, it’s okay.

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Food Processors Quick Reference Chart

Not sure where to start? Use the table below to help narrow your choices. You can sort the food processors by Model, Brand, Category, Capacity, Power, or Price Range. Just click the little arrow beside one of the headings. (For example, click the arrow beside “Brand”, and items will be grouped by brand name and listed in alphabetical order.)

This site includes reviews for the top rated and best selling models, and you’ll find a “Read Review” link to each one in the chart below. Some other popular models are also included here, and you can click the “See it at Amazon” to learn more about them. (You can see complete specifications on all of these models in my Detailed Food Processors Comparison Charts.)

For complete specifications on all of the above models see my Detailed Food Processors Comparison Charts.

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Complete List of Food Processor Reviews

Side-by-Side Comparison of All Food Processors

• Food Processors Comparison Charts
  All three comparison charts on one page:
  Large Capacity Food Processor Comparison Chart
  Medium Capacity Food Processor Comparison Chart
  Small Food Processor Comparison Chart (food choppers)

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