Cuisinart Food Processor 14
The Sous Chef’s thoughtful design was what really sold us on this machine. Other machines require you to fit the bowl over a shank on the base, but the Sous Chef has a flat attachment, with the shank attached to the inside of the work bowl. This means that, if you like to cook by ratio, you can put the bowl on a kitchen scale and measure ingredients into it with the blade attached, and then seamlessly connect the bowl to the motor base.
Thanks to Cuisinart’s squat shape and large blades, more of the bowl’s contents come into contact with the blades during blending. Blenders use gravity to move food in a circular motion within the pitcher, so food on the bottom has to be fully broken down before making room for food at the top to drop down toward cuisinart soup maker the blades. On the other hand, a food processor can more uniformly chop, puree or shred its contents. Depending on how much food you plan to prepare at one time, Cuisinart offers food processors in a variety of sizes, starting with their Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor, which can handle up to three cups.
Though the 3 cup version is more popular, they are fundamentally the same machines featuring differently sized work bowls. Standard Cuisinart safety mechanism and turn-to-lock for the cups and lid are expected. With much, much less pressure on the buttons, oil from your fingertips are to be less imprinted, resulting in easy-to-clean marks if there were any.
For small chopping tasks, the inexpensive KitchenAid 3.5 Cup Food Chopper offers the best value and performance we’ve found in a mini processor. It evenly chops a range of ingredients, including tough jumbo carrots. This machine is a good supplement to a full-size model, or it’s a great alternative, if you don’t want to spend a lot.
The Sous Chef powered through an entire russet potato in less than a second—noticeably faster than any of the other models. And despite its power, the Sous Chef was the quietest of the bunch at kneading dough. But it’s oversized and significantly more expensive than the Cuisinart, and it comes with a bulky bundle of accessories that you may not need. While pretty much every food processor has cuisinart griddler elite a chopping blade and can slice or grate using a disk, some models may have extra features, like an accompanying recipe app or various color options. If you need something slightly larger, but aren’t committed to a full-size appliance, check out the 5-cup version. Available in six colors, it allows you to chop, mix, and puree from coarse to fine with the stainless steel multipurpose blade.
Oster Pro also offers a more basic package featuring a 6-cup blender and 3-cup food chopper, featuring a stainless steel S-blade and 16 speeds from pulse to puree. No electricity is needed for this model, as it works with the simple pull of a handle. The two blades spin in opposite directions, so they’ll spend their time chopping rather than moving food in a circle, while stationary arms at the top and bottom send food into the blades. A few pulls will give you chunky nuts or salsa, while more pulls can give you a smooth puree.
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.
But, of all recipes I’m most proud of thanks to the Cuisinart Custom, I’ve come to be most proud of my shredded cheese. I took a trip to the grocery store this week and noticed bags of shredded cheese were as high as $11. So, instead of wasting $4 on every single bag of shredded cheese, I buy a block and have my husband run it through the Cuisinart Custom.
It comes with two size work bowls to handle both small and large tasks. With two speeds and a 10-cup capacity work bowl, this model will meet most kitchen work demands without spending a ton. Donna Currie is a food writer and blogger cuisinart soup maker specializing in recipes and kitchen gadgets. She covers kitchen tools and gadgets for The Spruce and is the author of Make Ahead Bread. As soon as you’re done with them, wash the blade and any attachments to keep them sharp.
A food processor purees, slices, grates, shreds, dices, kneads, and more. The Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor is our top pick because of its versatility and comparable performance next to best-in-class competitors—at a fraction of the price. If you have a bigger budget and the kitchen space, go for the Magimix 5200 XL 16-Cup Food Processor, ideal for more seasoned cooks. If possible, carve out a space on a countertop or shelf, so it’s at the ready when you are. If you opt to stash it in the back of a cabinet, chances are it won’t get used. 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.