9 things you can do with a food processor

How to put a food processor to good use

If you like to make your own meals, snacks, sauces and drinks from fresh ingredients, you do a lot of cutting, grating, shredding, blending and stirring. A good food processor is a handy countertop appliance because it does all those things for you, quickly and easily. It's a versatile appliance that can make preparing a meal much simpler.

What you can do with a food processor

All food processors are essentially hybrids of blenders and food choppers, and most do both activities well. Here are nine things most people don’t know they can do with a good food processor.

Chop salads: Making your own coleslaw is hard work when you do it by hand. When you use a shredding blade with your food processor, you make slaw with any texture you choose.
Grind meat: Make your own fresh burgers and meatballs from better cuts of meat, seasoned exactly the way you like them.
Shred potatoes: Make your own hash browns, potato pancakes and more. You can freeze the extras for later.
Slice thin cuts of potatoes: Frozen french fries are the easy way, but fresh ones taste better and you can make them the exact size and shape you prefer, and as crisp as you like. Instead of opening a bag of potato chips for guests, slice your own potatoes and enjoy the aroma as they air fry to your definition of perfect non-greasy crispiness.
Make homemade butter: All you need is heavy cream.
Grind grains into flour: Make your own bread, cakes, cookies and pizza crusts with the fresh taste of no preservatives.
Churn your own soft serves: Start with bananas, blueberries and strawberries, add a bit of whatever, and pulse the mixture until it is as smooth as you like it.
Crumble bread and crackers: When recipes call for breadcrumbs, you can grind yours as uniformly and finely as you wish.
Make your own pie crust: No more putting your fresh fruits into frozen pie crusts. All you need to do is load the bowl, turn it on and add ice at the right times. When the dough is ready, you line a pie pan, fill it with goodies and pop it in the oven.

Capacity

The size of the mixing bowl is the place to start when shopping for a food processor. The bowl is where all the action happens, so you should choose the size that is right for your prep tasks, without being too big or too small. The size of the bowls you find on food processors varies from 12 ounces to 12 cups and more. Allow a little leeway so you don’t have to deal with spills, overflows and jamming.

Power

Food processors are usually clear plastic mixing containers that sit atop a base unit where they are driven by electric motors. Power is measured in watts and the bigger the bowl, the more power is needed to do your work for you. When you want to churn butter and knead bread, you’ll need a motor that is even more powerful. More power usually comes in a larger, heavier and noisier appliance.

Top food processors

Here are nine food processors, listed in order of the size of their mixing bowls. The motors that drive them range in power from 150 to 750 watts. All of these portable countertop appliances weigh between 2 and 10 pounds.

Proctor Silex Mini-Prep Plus 1.5-cup Food Processor

This compact, lightweight unit has a low-profile design that's great for the times you need to chop only a few small things and don’t want to haul out the big food processor. The 150-watt motor powers stainless steel blades that chop, puree and emulsify.