The Best Food Processors for Creative Cooking
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Best All-RounderNinja Detect Kitchen System Power Blender PlusRead more
Superb Value SlicingKitchenAid 9 Cup Food Processor Read more
The Best Wireless Mini ChopperCuisinart Evolution X Cordless Mini Chopper Read more
Simple Yet Effective ControlsMagimix 4200XL Food ProcessorRead more
IF YOU’VE ALREADY got a blender, stand mixer, or juicer, you may feel as if you’re all set for meal preparation. But, as the best chefs will agree, no kitchen should be without a versatile food processor. The perfect multitasking tool for slicing, dicing, chopping, and more, a top food processor will add an extra dimension to your cooking and make you feel as if you’ve got an extra Sabatier pair of hands in the kitchen.
The latest appliances can chop, shred, slice, grind, grate, dice, knead, and puree at the touch of a button. Some even work out the time and speed for you. A food processor can be used to shred vegetables to spice up salads or to whip up homemade sauces such as pesto or hummus. You can also use a food processor to puree ingredients for whatever stage you’re at in life—whether you’re weaning a baby or making guests delicious dips for your dinner party, or both.
Read on for WIRED’s roundup of the most useful food processors and mini choppers you can buy online. We’ve also included expert tips from Garrett Rochowiak, chef de cuisine at Miami’s Bouchon Coral Gables restaurant.
Updated December 2024: We've added Magic Bullet Kitchen Express, the Breville Paradice 9, and the Ninja Detect Kitchen System Power Blender Plus.
For more of WIRED’s kitchen guides, check out our Best Stand Mixers, Best Blenders, Best Air Fryers, Best Electric Kettles, and the Best Gear for Small Kitchens.
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- Photograph: Emily Peck
Best All-Rounder
Ninja Detect Kitchen System Power Blender PlusThere are many reasons to admire this good-looking kitchen system, which allows you to process and blend using one powerful 1800-peak watt motor base.
It comes with a 64-ounce food processor bowl that can chop, smooth, puree, and process up to 2 pounds of dough. Then there’s the 72-ounce ful-size pitcher that is ideal for blending large batches of soups and smoothies, plus a practical 25-ounce single serve cup with a reassuringly robust lid that’s great on the go.
Ninja always seems to hit the mark in terms of intuitive design and easy setup. Controlling it is easy with Ninja’s Blendsense Technology button that automatically adjusts the speed and time depending on the ingredients inside. If you prefer to work out the timings yourself, there’s a manual control and Pulse button too.
There are multiple parts to come to grips with, and it took me a while to work out how to insert the reversible disc into the processor bowl. But it was peanuts compared with setting up some of the food processors I’ve tested in the past. At 17.5-inches high and with its multiple jugs, it is a best to store it, and while it is powerful it’s also one of the loudest food processors I’ve recently tried. If you can deal with the noise and have the space for it, I don’t think you’ll find a better, more comprehensive blender at this price.
- Photograph: KitchenAid
Superb Value Slicing
KitchenAid 9 Cup Food ProcessorKitchenAid has been making classic countertop appliances since 1919, and you’ll no doubt be familiar with its stand mixer and blender models. This classic 9-cup food processor comes in four colors, including my favorite Empire Red finish—there are silver and black finishes too. I think the slim body and 9-cup capacity makes it just about big enough for a family of four. It’s neatly designed with blades and discs that can be stored directly in the bowl when not in use, and it has an integrated cord wrap that fits neatly in the base.
It has a “multipurpose four-blade” system that in my test minced meat, chopped raw carrots, and blended salsa with consummate ease. There’s also a dough blade, slicing and julienne discs, and a whisk accessory. This food processor is well made and everything lifts off and clicks back into place smoothly. It has a two-in-one feed tube, and as a neat extra, there’s a small opening for drizzling oil, which I found useful while making another batch of hummus.
- Photograph: Cuisinart
The Best Wireless Mini Chopper
Cuisinart Evolution X Cordless Mini ChopperWhat makes this Cuisinart 4-cup mini chopper stand out is the fact that it’s cordless. It’s surprisingly powerful for a design that can be recharged with a USB cord and takes around two hours to charge fully. While this may not appeal to everyone, it does give you a continual cordless run time of 20 minutes, which is enough to chop nuts for your homemade granola or whiz up ingredients for guacamole. It performed well for me on both of these tasks, and I was able to whiz up chickpeas just enough to achieve a nice grainy texture. The flexibility of the cordless meant I could move it around freely from the main countertop to my kitchen island.
While the 4-cup capacity is small, it does provide enough space to cook decent portions for up to six. With two buttons—one for chopping and one for grinding—the controls are easy to use here too. I found its power and tempo surprisingly even, until, naturally, it ran out of power and needed a recharge.
Note: The US and UK versions of this processor differ slightly in color range and name, but performance is otherwise the same.
- Photograph: Magimix
Simple Yet Effective Controls
Magimix 4200XL Food ProcessorMagimix appliances have been handcrafted since 1971 in Burgundy, France—a region known for its gastronomy. Beautifully sober in its styling, this food processor, with a body made from metalized plastic, BPA-free plastic, and stainless steel, looks good on the countertop and is wonderfully compact.
The 4200XL comes with three bowls (6 cups, 12 cups, and 14 cups) that conveniently stack inside one another. There’s also a separate storage compartment to house all its blade accessories so they don’t get lost in your cupboard. It comes with a good range of attachments and has a stainless steel Sabatier knife blade for chopping, crushing, mixing, and blending, as well as two slicing discs, two grating discs, an egg whisk, and a dough blade. That sounds like a lot, but I found it easy to switch between attachments.
The Magimix’s 950-watt motor really packed a punch, but it’s also one of the quieter models I’ve tried. Simple control buttons, including Auto, Pulse, and Stop, make operation simple, and the machine can automatically adjust the power to suit ingredients in the bowl. Carrots and zucchini sliced effortlessly inside, while the chickpeas whizzed up in seconds to make a hummus with a lovely silky texture.
- Photograph: Emily Peck
Another Quality All-Round Design
Breville Paradice 9Breville has really nailed its designs lately, balancing a look of brushed stainless steel, ease of use, and high performance, and I won’t lie, this food processor looks so good next to my Breville toaster and juicer.
Unpacking the parts—which are all cleverly tucked into its body—felt like a puzzle, but I soon came to grips with how everything slots into place. Neat storage goes a long way in food processor design, so I was pleased to see Breville trying hard here.
The last time WIRED reviewed a Breville food processor, results were disappointing. The larger Paradice 16 was cumbersome and didn’t dice well enough, but here, with a smaller, and cheaper design the Paradice 9 is a far more enticing buy.
There are five color-coded blades here that work with the brushless induction motor base to make it easy to identify which blade does what. The machine can do it all, and do it well, whether you’re dicing, chopping, blitzing, or blending. The direct-drive high-torque motor produced fast and effective results, although dicing remained a little imprecise if you love your cubes perfect. It’s quieter than other food processors I’ve tried, so easier on the ears too.
Finely chopping carrots and celery took a matter of minutes, while the wide 4.7-inch feed chute was perfect for drizzling oil into my hummus dip while the device was on and crushing the chickpeas. If standard food processing functions are what you’re after—in a premium well-built design with excellent onboard storage—I’d say this premium design is one for the wish list.
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Photograph: VICUSCHKA/Getty ImagesHow We Test Food Processors
Air Fryer Box placeholderIn our pick of the best food processors, we’ve included a range of tall and small designs to suit both large and small kitchens. To assess the performance of each food processor, I made hummus with chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, tahini, and sea salt. I also chopped carrots, celery, and peppers to evenly hide in Jamie Oliver’s Versatile Meat Ragu recipe, which is delicious in a homemade pie or served with pasta and rice. We’ve scrutinized each food processor on flexibility, design, ease of use, and how many useful attachments each set includes.
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Photograoh: David EscalanteExpert Tips on Getting the Best From Your Food Processor
Food processor placeholderGarrett Rochowiak, chef de cuisine at Miami’s Bouchon Coral Gables Restaurant shares his tips on Getting the Best From Your Food Processor.
Stay cool: It’s important to control the heat of your ingredients. Heat is created by friction, and the longer you run your food processor the warmer your product will become. Foods such as meat and cheese do better in the processor when they are chilled beforehand, for example. Depending on the recipe, you could chill your food processor bowl in the refrigerator before using it to buy yourself more time.
Check your pulse: By using short sharp bursts of power there’s less risk of overprocessing certain foods such as nuts, seeds, and herbs.
Be measured: It’s important not overfill your food processor, because then it will struggle to process your food. In our restaurant, we base our recipes on the size of our food processor to ensure we get the best possible end result.
Don’t avoid the clean up: After using your food processor, it’s a good practice to remove all the attachments and clean them individually with warm soapy water. This will keep all the different accessories in excellent condition and ensure you have a fresh start project after each project.
Photograph: Tanja Ivanova/Getty ImagesWhat Size Food Processor Do I Need?
Look for space-saving designs, which store neatly and are unobtrusive on the work top when not in use. Bowl capacity matters, however, so think about how many people you need to cook for before you buy. Small food processors vary from 6- to 9-cup capacity, while medium food processors range from 10 to 13, and large designs go up to 16 cups. Smaller “food choppers” have a much smaller capacity of 3 to 5 cups.
Smaller and more compact food choppers work well for basic tasks such as chopping nuts, mixing dips, and blitzing herbs, but they don’t tend to come with many accessories. Food processors have more discs and blade accessories to chop, slice, grate, puree, mix, knead dough, and mince meat, so you can perform a much wider range of tasks with ease.
It’s worth checking whether the food processor offers additional attachments, such as a whisk or citrus press so you can grow your set further down the line. Also, look for a generously wide feeding chute that allows you to insert ingredients easily while in use.
