Cuisinart
And given that this processor is huge—more than 18 inches tall and nearly 20 pounds—you’ll need a big counter to keep it on. We recommend the inexpensive KitchenAid 3.5 Cup Food Chopper for anyone who wants to make small batches of dips, spreads, or mirepoix. It chopped vegetables more evenly than the other mini models we tested. On top of that, its handled jar with push-button activation was the most convenient to use. And this KitchenAid is a great option for people who don’t want to invest in a $200 machine. You can’t knead dough or shred ingredients in it, but you can grind or chop small portions of vegetables or nuts, which is more tedious to do by hand.
My goal here is to encourage you to try out recipes you never thought you could make at home. Furthermore, I also review products that I have used in the past or currently using to make every day buying decisions easier and to ensure you get the best value for your money. Instruction/recipe book, how-to video, detachable disc, compact work bowl cover, and a spatula. There are many models on the market, but the ones you see reviews below represent the best value for money. Food and Wine presents a new network of food pros delivering the most cookable recipes and delicious ideas online.
A swanky yet affordable option is the Cuisinart FP-8SV Elemental 8-Cup Food Processor, whose price has been slashed by 46% on Amazon. Prep is a breeze thanks to the processor’s 350 watts of power and sharp blades, which make quick work of chopping nuts, puréeing soups, shredding cheese, and blending pesto. The 8-cup work bowl is decked out with handy measurement markings, and the bowl can be fitted with a stainless steel blade, adjustable slicing disc, or reversible shredding disc. It also includes a cleaning tool to help clean the nooks and crannies of the cutting accessories and a storage case to keep everything contained instead of rolling around a drawer. The Cuisinart Custom 14 Food Processor has been our top pick since 2013 because it does everything a great food processor should do, without any unnecessary extras.
In the modern kitchen, there are appliances for all the heavy kneading, quick chopping, and endless stirring. I reviewed the Kitchenaid Pro 450 Mixer for Tools & Toys and noted how you could walk away from the Kitchenaid while performing other tasks in the kitchen and come back to a perfectly mixed batter or dough. cuisinart griddler elite However, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like putting good quality dishes or appliance accessories into the dishwasher. If I don’t want to dirty a bunch of accessories, I’ll opt to hand-chop a cucumber instead. Once the “On” button is locked into place, you have to hit “Off-Pulse” to stop the processor.
Avoid abrasive scrubbers that can scratch the plastic and always dry the pieces thoroughly. The shredding disc does just what you’d expect — it instantly turns hard cheeses, fresh vegetables and more into uniform shreds. With a food processor, you can skip the hard-to-clean box grater or hand-crank cheese grater. With a slicing blade, there’s no doubt that every slice is exactly uniform. Fix the bowl onto the motor base by lining up the handle with the front of the machine, then place the blade on the center post until it locks into place.
It also comes with a reversible shredder and dough blade, and has an auto-off safety feature for when the lid is unexpectedly opened during use. Incorporating a food processor into your kitchen can save you tons of hands-on prep time so you can get to the good stuff–cooking and eating–faster. They can also be used to mince herbs, puree baby food, and emulsify dressings. To make tasks even easier, the food processor has a wide-mouth feed tube that can accommodate whole fruits and vegetables. Plus, the machine is outfitted with convenient rubberized controls, including high, low, off, and pulse. We evaluate each model’s ability to chop almonds and onions uniformly, grate Parmesan cheese, and purée peas and carrots into a smooth mixture.
Cuisinart’s food processor includes interchangeable 13-cup and 4.5-cup work bowls — so you can use it to prep salsa or coleslaw for a large party or just for two. It also comes with an adjustable slicing disc, a reversible shredding disc , a dough blade, a dicing disc, a versatile chopping blade, a cleaning tool, and a storage case to hold your accessories. In our tests, this machine earned high scores at nearly every task, including kneading bread dough and shredding mozzarella cheese. This sleek kitchen workhorse speeds along your prep and cooking, with a large capacity work bowl for making quick meals, from weeknight dinners to weekend celebrations.
And Cuisinart’s food processors have a solid reputation for overall durability—anecdotally, we know of some that have lasted for decades. The Cuisinart has a strong motor and a heavy base that keeps it stable. Though its 750-watt motor is less powerful than those on some other models we tested, such as the 1,200-watt Breville Sous Chef , this didn’t negatively affect the Cuisinart’s performance. Making pizza dough was our most motor-intensive test, and the Custom 14 kneaded it effortlessly, without wiggling across the counter like some other processors we tried. They’re versatile and large enough to handle bread dough, and often come with a a second small work bowl for smaller tasks and an assortment of accessories, too.
This has two speeds plus a pulse option, so you’ll always get the results you want. The proprietary drizzle basin on the lid lets you add oil slowly to make emulsified dressings with ease. Not too big, and not too small, the 13-cup Elemental from Cuisinart comes equipped with two size work bowls to handle any size job—small or large. The design is mid-size, so it doesn’t take up as much room as slightly larger processors. It comes with three different size work bowls, including an impressive extra-large 16-cup capacity, that nest for compact storage.