The best food processor can make cooking so much easier. These versatile machines chop onions, shred cheese, slice cucumbers, knead dough, and blend baby food. Not all food processors are created equal, so we tested them ourselves to ensure only the best make our recommendation of the best.
Cuisinart 14-cup food processor
Perfect, even results
The Cuisinart food processor slices a variety of foods consistently regardless of how thick or thin the setting is. It grates Parmesan and other hard cheeses beautifully and does well with softer cheese, too. It does a fine job pureeing foods into a smooth consistency and is great for kneading dough so that both wet and dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. This machine is equipped with a big food chute that can handle whole potatoes as long as they are not overwhelmingly large, and you can continuously feed quite a lot of food items into it.
Hamilton Beach 8-cup compact food processor
Effective and affordable
The affordable Hamilton Beach 8-cup food processor works like a charm with cookie dough, whipping up a batch of dry ingredients, softened butter, and an egg in less than a minute. Its motor is powerful and fast. This economical machine can produce smooth, even pieces when slicing such things as potatoes, though there are mixed results with smaller and softer foods like onions and spinach. It doesn’t leak food while running and is easy to clean afterward.
Ninja blender/food processor
Blends, chops, and dices
The Ninja is both a blender and a food processor and it is great for preparing a variety of foods from pureed baby food to shakes and smoothies. It does a good job of slicing, dicing, and chopping, too. It features multiple tiers of blades to keep chopping and pureeing throughout the food to give you more consistency. The Ninja comes with a chopper bowl, food prep bowl, and a blending pitcher. Most of this machine is safe to clean in your dishwasher.
KitchenAid 14-cup food processor
ExactSlice system
This hefty and powerful machine gives you a lever that you can adjust to get just the right thickness. It produces near-perfect slices of potatoes and vegetables, which can go a long way as far as getting even cooking or baking results. The KitchenAid food processor is also good with chopping mushrooms, onions, and spinach. Cheese, both hard and soft, is even-sized when it’s run through this machine.
Breville BFP6600SIL Sous Chef food processor
Great for nut butter
If you need a food processor to create baby food then the Breville Sous Chef will meet your need and work fast to have it done in as little time as possible. This machine is a high-power blender with an induction motor to power through whatever food you want to shred, slice, or puree. It comes with a space-saving storage box and a mini bowl for smaller tasks.
How we tested food processors
Why you can trust Top Ten Reviews Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
We tackled 120 hours of hands-on testing for 15 name-brand appliances to find the best food processors. We used the same ingredients with each food processor and graded each appliance according to rigorous testing standards that most cooks would appreciate.
As a testing team, we not only relied on our combined years of experience in our home kitchens, but read cooking blogs, examined each product’s website, checked competing products on the internet, and looked for consumer reviews in various areas. We took careful note of the data we found and factored it into our side-by-side comparison.
We evaluated the processors for their performance doing everything from slicing to kneading to shredding, and much more. We also examined their size and took note of how easy (or hard) they were to both use and clean. We also looked at the design, including such things as noise levels, speeds, and the number of blades and disks that come with each.
What to Look for in a Food Processor
Food processors can save you plenty of time in the kitchen and make cooking even the most elaborate dishes easy and fun. The best food processors need the following characteristics.
Performance
We looked for food processors that consistently chop food down to evenly sized pieces. We also looked for the same kind of consistency in slicing, shredding, grating, and pureeing different foods. Having pieces of food all the same size gives you an advantage in cooking since all the chunks of chopped potato or sliced carrots will cook evenly, which is not the case if you’re cooking unevenly cut items. It also is important to get a food processor that kneads well so that all the ingredients are completely incorporated into whatever kind of dough you are making. Otherwise, you could end up with bread that has an unpleasant and unappetizing texture.
Cleaning
We evaluated the food processors we tested to see how long it took to clean each one after we were finished using it. We also scored each for ease of use and noted whether parts are dishwasher safe, which saves time and gives you sanitary food processor parts due to the high heat of the dishwasher’s drying cycle.
Design
We looked for machines that offer powerful wattage, multiple speed levels, different numbers of blades and disks that you can insert into the machine to do different kinds of chopping or slicing tasks, and reasonably low noise levels. These can provide considerable convenience and give you more flexibility when using your food processor.
