The Cuisinart’s slicing disk isn’t adjustable like the Breville Sous Chef’s slicing disk, which has multiple settings, similar to a mandoline. But you can buy additional slicing disks through Cuisinart if you want them. The included slicing disk makes approximately 5-millimeter slices, which is fine for most tasks, but you’ll probably want the 2-millimeter slicing disk for making homemade potato chips. Most were evenly chopped, but there were a handful of nuts that remained in large pieces. Since the Cuisinart mastered every other task, we don’t think this is a dealbreaker. You can use a food processor for pureeing dips and sauces too, but it will yield coarser textures than a high-powered blender—it’s best for things like hummus and pesto.
This mini food processor won’t knead dough like a big food processor can, but it will make quick work of chopping everything from apples to nuts to zucchini. It can also blend small amounts of food into purees or emulsify your salad dressing. We tested it with onions, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, nuts, and garlic, and it worked well with all of them.
Contributor Ariane Resnick is a special diet chef, certified nutritionist, bestselling author, and lifelong devotee of her Cuisinart mini food processor. She used market research and her expertise to determine the best mini food processors for every home cook. Most food processors are electric, however, there are some quality manual models on the market, such as the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor. A manual processor is only ideal if you don’t want to deal with cords or batteries or will be using it in a place where there isn’t electricity. For standard everyday usage, an electric model with motors between 200 and 400 watts is your best option.
And we didn’t notice any straining or stuttering of this model’s 240-watt motor, even when it was chopping a fibrous jumbo carrot. As long as you don’t try to use the Food Chopper for heavy tasks, such as making nut butter, we don’t think there’s much risk of burning out the motor. Beyond the main blade and one disk each for shredding and slicing, you don’t need much else. Many food processors also come with a dough blade made of plastic, but we found that a metal blade mixed dough just as well, so we don’t think the dough blade is essential. You can usually purchase everything from a juicing attachment to julienne disks separately, but such extras often go unused.
The accessories can be stored inside the chopper, and a case is included to keep everything neat and clean in storage. Handle of a variety of food prep tasks with the convenience of this Cuisinart chopper and grinder. Weight of chopper rounded to the nearest pound, includes the base, bowl, lid, and chopping blade. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).
He’s spent dozens of hours shredding cheese, chopping vegetables, mixing doughs, and whipping up mayonnaise for this guide. This guide builds on work by Wirecutter deputy editor Christine Cyr Clisset. Downsize from 4 full separate appliances to a single base with 4 attachments. A food chopper can run you anywhere from $10 to $50, so understanding what you want out of this appliance is crucial to making the right decision when shopping.
Overall, it’s ideal for individuals who don’t need a large blender and families who want to make medium-sized batches of sauces. The KitchenAid chopped more evenly than the other mini processors we tested, and it did so quickly. It diced onions more consistently than the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus, and it chopped a quartered tomato evenly—we had to cut a tomato into smaller pieces to get the same results using other models. The Food Chopper also minced parsley cleanly, whereas the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus tore it, causing it to oxidize faster. One task this processor doesn’t excel at is chopping whole almonds evenly, but that’s typical of most mini choppers. Food choppers can hold anywhere from 1 to 6 cups of food (in comparison, full-size food processors can hold anywhere from 11 to 16 cups), but the most common size is a 3-cup processor.
A low-battery indicator warns when it’s time to recharge the battery, which takes about two hours for a full charge. But if you need just a bit more work done, and the battery is low, a 10-minute charge is enough to handle up to 11 more onions. That’s worth keeping cuisinart choppers in mind when removing the contents and hand-washing. Most have dishwasher-safe parts, but you’ll want to confirm that before making your purchase. Additionally, the blade placement makes all the difference in how easily bits of food can get stuck inside.
Determining how many people you’re typically cooking for and how much vegetable prep you are generally doing are great ways to figure out what will work best for you. These selected food choppers were tested cuisinart air fryer oven for hours by our product tester for the most authentic results. We rated these choppers based on design, ease of use, size, ease of cleaning, convenience, overall effectiveness, and overall value.