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. By contrast, our upgrade pick, the Breville Sous Chef 16 Pro, comes with a plethora of disks and accessories, requiring more storage space. At only 15 inches tall, the Cuisinart should also fit under most cupboards. We like its slightly retro, sleek design, and the base is also available in several colors (each of which has a different model number). Michael Sullivan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and has covered food processors since 2016.
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 cuisinart toa60 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.
It offers extra power; a larger, 16-cup blending bowl; and nicer features compared with the Cuisinart Custom 14. 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.
Unfortunately, when we tested it and then washed it with dishes with tomato residue, the spoon and cap got stained by tomatoes. For folks who like to do a lot of prepping ahead, extra bowls with covers are available for separate purchase. There are buttons to choose either chopping or grinding, which spins the blade to chop through food with the sharp edge or bash with the flat edge. The bowl holds three cups, so it’s enough for a batch of salsa or onions for a recipe.
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However, we think it’s actually easier to see the ingredients in the bowl when the feed tube is positioned in the back of the lid. Ham has a great texture for easy chopping, with either a manual chopper or an electric one. Chopping cooked chicken breast to make chicken salad would be easy in many choppers. A medium rare steak would be more of a challenge and might not be possible in some choppers.
We cleaned each model eight times, so we were achingly familiar with the gunk that can get trapped in more-complicated lids. We also appreciate the Cuisinart’s hollow handle, which doesn’t trap food particles and moisture as much as the Breville Sous Chef’s enclosed handle. They make light work of heavy meal prep jobs, and they’re user friendly and easy to clean. Most blades are made of stainless steel, because they can withstand rust or corrosion. Since the blade will be coming into contact with lots of moisture-heavy foods like onions and tomatoes, it’s a good idea to make sure that it’s resistant to rust.