The right food processor can make your life in the kitchen easier in so many ways and will make you feel like you have your own personal sous chef in the kitchen, making it the perfect kitchen appliance for experienced and aspiring home cooks. If you don't yet own one or are looking for a better replacement for the one you have, it's a good idea to do your research before you buy. We're here to help. In this guide, we go over what makes a good food processor a good food processor, so you can buy the best food processor for your chopping, shredding, or kneading needs.

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Food Processor vs. Blender
Best Food Processor Types
Electric
Manual
Best Food Processor Capacity
Best Food Processor Features
Frequently Asked Questions

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Food Processor vs. Blender

First thing's first: A food processor is not the same thing as a blender. Though both are countertop kitchen appliances with bases, container jars, and rotating blades, they aren't interchangeable. Check out our What Is a Food Processor? guide for examples of what you can make using a food processor, and review What's the Difference Between a Food Processor & a Blender? for an in-depth comparison of these countertop appliances.

Best Food Processor Types

Electric

Electric processors are large, countertop appliances that can facilitate several different kitchen tasks, including chopping, shredding, grating, slicing, dicing, kneading, and more, making it feel like your personal sous chef when prepping meals. The key to a processor's ability to do such versatile tasks is its rotating blade attachments. Many electric food processors come with a multitude of blade attachments (like dough blades), each suited to a different task. If you're in search of a standard processor that can handle a wide range of tasks, we recommend an electric processor. These appliances are powerhouses; you won't realize how many tedious food preparation tasks you do until your food processor is doing them all for you in the blink of an eye.

Electric food processors consist of a heavy base with buttons and settings, a container or bowl that mounts atop the base, blade attachments that insert into the bottom of the container or work bowl, and a container lid with a tall feed tube. The settings located on the base can control the blades' speed and allow for pulsing. The work bowl and blades are mounted onto a motor-driven shaft that protrudes from the base. Most food processor containers are wide and can typically hold a significant amount of ingredients. Electric food processors are topped off by a secure lid that locks into place. The feed tube in the lid allows you to add ingredients as you process with a plastic plunger top that you can use to push food down the chute toward the shredding disc blades. Most electric processors require that all parts be properly locked into place before their motor will start rotating the blades. Electric food processor blades are easy to remove for replacement with other blades or for cleaning.

Mini Chopper

Smaller, lighter, and easier to clean than full-size electric food processors, mini food choppers are best for someone looking for a more user-friendly appliance or someone who has limited storage space. Their smaller size limits their efficacy and makes them best suited for small batches of salsa, chopped vegetables and nuts, or ground spices and herbs. If you see yourself using a food processor mainly for small side tasks while you cook (chopping garlic, for example), opt for a mini food chopper.

Mini food processors can have capacities of 1–6 cups, and 3–4 cup capacities are the most common. Most mini food processors look exactly like downsized electric food processors, while others look slightly different due to their offset bases. Don't let their small size fool you, mini food choppers can do more than just chop; with several blade attachments, some are just as versatile as full-size electric processors.

Manual

As their name suggests, manual food processors are not powered by an electric motor. Instead, they rely on your labor to do the job.

Manual food processors tend to be much smaller than electric processors, so they can only handle a certain amount of ingredients at a time in their work bowl (typically 1–3 cups). Most manual food processors have a small clear plastic container body, a set of small attached blades, and a lid with a hand-powered crank or large push button. To use a manual food processor, you simply fill the work bowl container, close the lid, and operate the manual mechanism – turn the crank or push the button.

As you might expect, these inexpensive devices are not on the cutting edge of food processor innovation. Their blades are lightweight and not so durable, so we recommend avoiding using manual food processors too often or for tough ingredients. Despite the fact that manual processors do require you to put in a little elbow grease, they still make some repetitive, messy food prep tasks a lot quicker, cleaner, and easier than they would be if you did them completely by hand, allowing you to lessen the amount of pre-cutting. If you want a quick and easy way to make rough salsa or guacamole, the manual processor might be the perfect vegetable chopper for you.

Best Food Processor Capacity

Food processor capacity describes the size of the container in which ingredients are processed. There are four main food processor sizes: mini, small, medium, and large. Depending on your intended use, you might want to choose a smaller or larger appliance. Larger food processors tend to be the most versatile and durable, albeit more expensive, heavier, and sometimes more difficult to clean. Smaller food processors are inexpensive, lightweight, and easy to rinse but most likely won't withstand the test of time. Large food processors are best suited for handling major food prep tasks for family-size meals or kneading bread dough, while mini food processors are better at accomplishing accessory tasks you'd rather not get your hands dirty doing, like mincing garlic, and being used mainly as a vegetable chopper.

Mini: 1–2 cups

Small: 3–4 cups

Medium: 5–10 cups

Large: Over 11 cups

Tip!

Most food processors can be filled almost to the brim with ingredients and still function fine. To learn more about how to use a food processor, check out our guide How to Use a Food Processor.

Best Food Processor Features

Dishwasher-Safe Parts: Cleaning your processor shouldn't take so long that it eats up all the time the processor saved you. With dishwasher-safe parts, cleaning your food processor is as easy as cleaning any other dish in your kitchen.

Interchangeable Blades: Ensure that your food processor can do more than just chop by narrowing your search to include only food processors with interchangeable blades. If you love cooking pizza or bread at home, opt for processor with a dough blade to help you knead pizza dough or bread dough. Interchangeable blades, like dough blades, will help you speed up these usually time-consuming tasks.

Pulse Function: Achieve a higher level of control over your food processing with a pulse function that allows you to stop and start the blades at the touch of a button.

Blending Feature: Interested in a food processor that can handle a blender's tasks? Look for food processors with a blending feature that allows them to handle wet and dry ingredients at the same time.

Continuous Feed: Food processors with a continuous feed feature don't stop processing when the feed tube cap is opened. This allows you to add ingredients into the feed chute and through the shredding disc continuously throughout the food preparation process.

Double Feed: Double-feed tubes are twice as wide as typical feed tubes, allowing you to insert larger ingredients. This will cut down your prep time, as you won't need to cut your ingredients as small to fit in the feed tube.