They are very common appliances in kitchen households today. But 50 years ago, food processors didn’t even exist. We’ve come a long way since then.
The first food processor was invented by Pierre Verdun, a French caterer and small business owner. With all the prep work required of him and his cooking staff, he thought of ways to make it less time-consuming. He created a bowl with a rotating blade inside at the base. Eventually, this concept grew into the first commercial food processor, which was made by Robot-Coupe. In 1960, it was available exclusively to catering kitchens. Over the years, the designs became smaller and cheaper to manufacture, leading to the debut of the Magimix Food Processor in the early ’70s.
Today, just about every major kitchen appliance brand has their own food processor model to choose from: Cuisinart, KitchenAid, and Hamilton Beach among many others.
What To Look For
Food processors these days aren’t limited to chopping veggies in a flash. Depending on the model you get, they can come with dozens of interchangeable parts and blades. You can knead dough, shred cheese, chop fresh herbs, mince garlic, and blend ingredients together for a sauce or dip.
Know what kinds of attachments are out there, think about the types of cooking you do most often, then shop for a food processor that’ll make those tasks easier. For example, you won’t need to spend extra cash for a dough blade if you won’t be making homemade bread that often.
Size matters, too. Or, in this case, size can be deceptive. If you plan to process a lot of liquids, then you’ll only be able to fill up an 8-cup bowl with 4 cups of liquid. That’s because most food processors have an open hole in the center for fitting the blade. Add too much liquid, and it’ll pour inside the hole, possibly damaging the motor. So you’ll generally want to get the largest capacity bowl that you can afford. It’s a bonus if you can find a food processor with both a large and small interchangeable bowl.
Above all, the most important thing to consider is: durability. How strong is the motor? Does it come with a lengthy warranty? Attachments don’t mean jack squat if the food processor is not strong enough to do what you want it to do. And don’t worry about finding a model that has 5 or more different speeds. As long as there’s a pulse option, any fast speed will do.
Products
One of the best food processors that we’ve seen so far is the KitchenAid KFP750, voted best by Consumer Reports due to its powerful 700-watt motor and 12-cup capacity. Plus, it comes with a highly-sought-after mini chopper to tackle herbs, garlic, and other small blends that wouldn’t be possible in a 12-cup bowl.
Some food processors are catered to a specific use, like the Presto Salad Shooter. It processes veggies, cheese, and other ingredients on the spot with no bowl to clean up. Other food processors come as attachments to stand mixers — and if you already own a stand mixer, this will likely be your best bet. Stand mixer motors are stronger than anything you’ll find otherwise.
If you happen to be looking for a blender as well, or are wondering which to get, many manufacturers sell “duet” sets that include both food processor and blender with a common base. Which brings to mind an answer for the question at the back of your mind: Yes, it’s extremely important that both of these appliances are used properly. A blender works best when it has liquid at its base to help move things around. A food processor, however, can work with dry ingredients just as well as liquid ingredients, due to the types of blades it can support. Take a peek at this SmartPower duet set from Cuisinart, for example.
Read all of our food processor reviews below:
The new and improved Cuisinart Prep Plus 11-Cup Food Processor has been keeping steady on top of the best-sellers' lists for quite a while. Is this because it's a quality product, or because there are a lot of places to find it on sale now... or both?
I'd say: both.
It's not ...
Here's a bit of culinary trivia: Did you know that the creator of the food processor was from Burgundy, France? A man named Pierre Verdan came up with the concept over 35 years ago. He put his French catering business sense to good use and created an appliance to ...
Built for slicing, shredding, mixing dough, and blending, the all purpose ten-cup Black and Decker FP 1550S Food Processor can perform well but requires some special care. The ten-cup capacity is misleading, with amounts well below this level being a safe amount for this lightly built machine.
Although the 500-watt ...
Excelling at some common food processing jobs like kneading bread dough and slicing fruits and vegetables, the Cuisinart DLC-5BK Food Processor falls short in other areas. The rated capacity of seven cups is not an accurate working volume -- three cups of liquid is the maximum working load.
Although the useful ...
If you doubt at all the speed and ability of a food processor, try a little race at home. Time yourself slicing, chopping, or shredding with your best knife, and then run the same item through the Cuisinart. Not only is it faster, you will notice that the pieces come ...
With a powerful 600-watt motor and interchangeable processing disc blades, the Cuisinart Prep 11 is backed up by company claims that parts are virtually unbreakable and even tough jobs like mixing and kneading bread dough are within its range. The eleven-cup capacity of the blender pitcher implies the ...
The four-cup capacity Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus is a handy alternative to a full-sized blender, with enough power for small jobs and easy-to-clean features that will give it more use. The Mini-Prep will grind as well as chop dry ingredients, and has push button controls plus automatic reversal for ...
A Kitchenaid Stand Mixer does it all. You can use it to make pasta, fettucine noodles, spaghetti. You can even use it to make raviolis. Yum.
You can use your Kitchenaid Stand Mixer as a food processor, to knead bread, to open cans, to mix cake batter.
The possibilities are seemingly ...
There are times when a machine needs to be complicated and times when it should be simple. Then again, there are occasions where the two sides can come together to improve function on all fronts. The Chef Prep is one of these combinations. It operates from a simple thumb ...
This Wave Action 12 Speed Blender/Food Processor from Hamilton Beach has been designed around special features that somewhat limit its all around effectiveness. It can still be a good choice if you like what it does best--milk shakes and smoothies.
The 700 Watt motor is plenty powerful enough to handle the ...
One of the most popular kitchen gadgets ever, the Presto Salad Shooter has been around for decades--a couple--and still has a faithful following of happy owners and users. Lightweight and compact, it solves what I consider one of the most bothersome kitchen problems--making salads. I'd rather cook, and anything that ...
KitchenAid designed this set for its nine and twelve cup food processors. The five blade collection includes french fry, julienne, parmesan and ice grating, 6mm slicing, and 6 mm shredding discs. The discs are an excellent purchase to expand the use of your food processor and provide back ups for your ...
With 240 Watts of power and full sized features, this three cup blender offers food processing functions in a compact machine that's easy to clean and appropriate for small kitchens and small recipes. Chop everything from nuts to meat and cheese, as well as pureeing sauces and spreads.
The reverse spiral action ...
The Back to Basics Strainer is better than a Foley mill, better than old fashioned methods for processing produce. The mill mounts on the table or counter. It has a hand crank operation, but don't be fooled; this device is FAST.
Food is pressed through a stainless steel screen ...
The Prep 11 Plus from Cuisinart features a massive 11 cup Lexan bowl which is dishwasher safe, practically shatterproof, and able to be exposed to heat or cold. This is a full size processor with six hundred watts of power. The new extra large feed tube (two and a ...
This Hamilton Beach food processor comes with a five hundred watt motor to power through a wide range of chores. Let the ten cup capacity and oversized feed chute do the work for you. A reversible slicing/shredding disc cuts through vegetables, fruits and cheese. The chopping blade is stainless steel and ...
The Cuisinart Food Processor Attachment fits the Cuisinart stand mixer and provides a three cup capacity bowl with a large feed tube to fit all your food selections. With the stainless steel blade, you can chop, puree, or mix. The included reversible slicing/shredding disc can be used to slice veggies and shred ...
It slices. It dices. It chops and purees. It even kneads dough. No, really, the KitchenAid 9-Cup Food processor does all these things. And what's more, it also comes with a 4-cup mini bowl and mini all-purpose blade to zip through smaller jobs such as ...
It seems every appliance manufacturer tries to outdo the other with their offering. Sometimes it's more power or features and often it's more competitively priced.
This food processor from Hamilton Beach promises more power AND better value than others on the market. The first thing you notice about the Big Mouth ...
With the Cuisinart Prep 9, the nine refers to the well sized nine cup Lexan work bowl. Feed tubes can be the make or break point on a good processor. This one has an oversized chute which accommodates full sized, whole fruits or vegetables that can be fed continuously into ...
Cuisinart, the originator of the modern food processor, has so many different models of the same machine available today, they need someone in marketing to just say "enough already!" Currently there are more than twelve varieties available on their website.
Case in point, this model -- the Pro Custom 11. The ...
This is the latest incarnation of the flagship food processor from Cuisinart. No streamlined euro-looks, no sophisticated controls, just a beefy food processing machine, now wearing a new suit of brushed stainless steel.
I believe the reason this model of food processor is still so popular is because Cuisinart gained our trust since ...
Fresh ground peanut butter, cashew butter, almond butter--the list goes on. If you think there's no difference in quality between this and the nut butter you get in a jar, you haven't had the fresh version. Take a look at the label of any popular brand and you'll probably ...
The Cuisinart SmartPower Duet five hundred watt blender gives you all the power you'll need to shred, slice, mix, chop, and liquefy. It also doubles as a three cup food processor. Crush ice at the touch of a button. Pulse at any speed with one simple touch.
The chopping blade is made from stainless ...
If nothing else, the Cuisinart PowerBlend Duet Blender and Food Processor looks sharp. Its chrome base sparkles.
How long that polished chrome will shine depends entirely on how often you use the machine, And, of course, how often you wipe clean the chrome base and its easy-to-use LED indicator.
But it ...
This combo blender/food processor may be the ideal candidate for anyone who values versatility over volume in their food processing needs.
This unit features a 3 Cup food processor bowl, complete with the standard chopping blade and a reversible slicing/shredding disc. The blender attachment is a bit less, um, compact. The glass pitcher ...
Here is a useful addition to the kitchen arsenal, excellent when you need to prepare substantial quantities of chopped, sliced or shredded products for your recipes.
This unit, available in blue, white or red, has some convenience features unique to the genre. There is a storage drawer right in the unit's base for ...
The KitchenAid KFP720OB has a powerful induction motor and durable, easy clean design. This seven cup processor has both a seven cup work bowl and a three cup mini bowl, offering convenient sizes for variable preparation needs. Features include premium quality stainless steel blades and a hassle free replacement warranty, ...
It all comes down to perspective. Which is more important to you: time-saving tools or the feel of dough in your hands? Do you have a dream set of knives that make slicing, dicing, and chopping a breeze or would you be better off with a machine that does it ...
Best Food Processor | KitchenAid #KFP750 Review | 12 Cup - Black, White, Chrome
Yes, I know there are some people out there that prefer using a knife to pushing a button. But what are you going to do when you've got a ton of chopping to do, the kids want ...
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