Best Food Processor America’s Test Kitchen 2023

Owning a food processor makes preparing purees and sauces less challenging, unlike hand tools that make the process tedious. With hand tools, the process leaves you with pain and wasting too much time.

So, purchasing a food processor offers more convenience and high efficiency. These automatic tools are versatile and can make laborious jobs like slicing vegetables, shredding potatoes, and chopping up cookies nuts and more quickly.

Food processors can be a decent investment, especially if you find a good one. But considering the hundreds of models on the market, choosing the perfect product for your kitchen can be challenging.

Without further ado, let’s consider the top 6 best food processor America’s test kitchen:

Best Food Processor America’s Test Kitchen: Reviews by Consumer Reports

Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor

The Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor is arguably the best food processor out there. This model has a large volume, reliable performance, and an enduring motor, so it’s the best mid-priced model for the money.

Instead of rotating dials, pushbuttons, or touchpads, this equipment features paddle control. It has two switches: On and Off/Pulse. When triggering the switches, it feels solid with a highly responsive spring.

The motor stops temporarily when you remove the large pusher and start as you place the motor’s pusher back to continue. Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor touchpads, this model uses a paddle control with two switches: On and Off/Pulse. When triggering these switches, it feels solid with a highly responsive spring. For the sake of safety, this model runs until the larger pusher or lid is removed, or the Off/Pulse button is pushed.

Besides, it has a 14-cup large capacity for dry ingredients, but comparatively, the wet capacity is a bit terrible. Keep in mind that the larger pusher, lid, and bowl are all part of the safety mechanism. This way, the appliance will only function when everything is in the right place.

The two-part pusher features a small and big piece. The bigger piece is used to push down large chuck like cabbage or bell peppers. At the same time, the smaller piece fits the smaller tube for handling long produce such as carrots or cucumbers.

Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor features a stainless steel S blade to allow grinding, kneading dough, vegetables, chopping, and pureeing. Again, serrated cutting edge boosts the cut quality at high speed without requiring the feed chute. Also, this unit includes a shredding disc and a slicing disc.

Pros:

• Sturdy build construction
• Several safety features
• Strong motor
• Top-notch performance

Cons:

• The design is a bit old.

Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) Blender/Food Processor

When it comes to versatility, the Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) Blender/Food Processor takes the lead. This machine provides a generous 8-cup processing space and outstanding performance. It’s a perfect choice for nutrient extraction, food processing, and frozen blending.

This machine has 72 oz. Pitcher crushes ice into snow for making resort-style frozen drinks and several batches of margaritas. Its single-serve pulverizes vegetables and fruits into nutritious smoothies for outstanding on the go experience.

Here’s more: it comes with an 8-cup food processor bowl featuring two dedicated blades to deliver uniform chopping for food prep in a fraction of the time. Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) Blender/Food Processor is a 1500W base with four dedicated blending speeds that provide users with the utmost control and power in your hands.

Even better, it allows users to explore new cuisines and flavors with the included chef-designed recipes. Last, all parts of the Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) Blender/Food Processor are dishwasher compatible, making cleaning this product a breeze.

Pros:

• Variable speed option
• Easy to clean
• Total crushing technology for blasting through frozen fruit and ice
• 1500 watts of power

Cons:

• Not ideal for emulsifying

The Cuisinart DFP-14BKSY custom food Processor

The Cuisinart DFP-14BKSY custom food Processor is a go-to for people looking to cook for a crowd with minimum effort. This model is crafted with brushed stainless steel, which makes this unit a sleek, elegant appliance.

This model comes with a 720-watt motor to make chopping whole fruits and vegetables, kneading dough, shredding cheese a lot easier. It has a large capacity work bowl to allow users to fit everything at once, saving time.

This kitchen workhorse whir through prep without any hassle and is easy to use. The Cuisinart DFP-14BKSY custom food Processor features intuitive ‘On’ and ‘Off/pulse’ buttons. Plus, the construction includes only BPA-free plastic for healthy meals.

Pros:

• Extra-large Feed tube
• High-performance motor
• Easy to clean
• 14-cup work bowl to hold large food items

Cons:

• Customer service could be better

Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper

The Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper is arguably the best food processor with an outstanding performance. This unit features a control knob for personalized speed settings. The dial control is quite responsive and adds a vintage vibe to the device. However, some people might prefer paddle controls, pushbuttons, and touchpads.

The unit comes with a bowl of scraper attachment to keep the ingredients close to the blade to ensure the results are more even, saving time. Also, it eliminates the need to stop the processor and remove the lid to use your spatula.

This 10-cup capacity offers a generous space to process a large volume of foods without the trouble of emptying the bowl. Plus, it has a large feed chute to allow users to fit large food for easy, quick processing with less prep time.

More so, it’s equipped with reversible disc slices for slicing carrots, firm cheese, potatoes, mushrooms, apples, cabbage, tomatoes, radishes, pepper, and pepperoni. The food processor comes with three modes: low speed, high speed, and pulse. A powerful 450W motor drives these modes.

Furthermore, cleaning this unit up is a breeze, since its blade, lid, and bowl are all dishwasher compatible.

Pros:

• Affordable option
• Offer a generous cooking space.
• Dishwasher safe parts
• Two-speed modes plus pulse

Cons:

• Poor lid construction

Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep Plus Food Processor Brushed Chrome and Nickel

Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep Plus Food Processor Brushed Chrome and Nickel

The Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep is an ideal choice for people looking for a little helper to prep small food, from finely grinding hard cheese and chopping herbs. This model offers impressive versatility using its special Auto Reversing Smart Blade, making processing both hard and soft foods.

This food processor has a 250W base and 3-cup plastic work bowl to make food preparation a lot easier. With its patented reversible stainless steel blade, this unit grinds and chops effortlessly.

That’s not all: this model features a simple push button control panel for easy operations. Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep Plus Food Processor has a lightweight yet durable plastic body. More so, the lid and bowl are dishwasher-compatible for snappy cleanup.

On top of that, the processor comes with a spatula, and the bowl features a handle for more comfortable handling. This food processor is backed by a limited 18-month warranty, which shows the manufacturer’s high level of confidence in this unit.

Pros:

• Stainless steel blade with sharp and blunt edges
• Grind or chop1 at the touch of a button
• Limited 18-month warranty
• Offers two powerful processing options

Cons:

• Poor quality control

Cuisinart FP-8GMP1 Elemental 8-Cup Food Processor

The Cuisinart FP-8GMP1 Elemental 8-Cup Food Processor allows users to easily and quickly prepare large amounts of ingredients with the least effort. The 11-cup work bowl offers a generous prepping space, which makes this processor time-saving. It’s excellent at shredding cheese, slicing tomatoes, pureeing soup, and chopping nuts.

Another feature that helps save time is the rubberized touchpad with Low, High, Off, and Pulse control. This unit has its parts dishwasher safe and easy to wipe clean. The model comes with a 550W motor to delivering robust and reliable performance for everyday prep tasks.

More so, it features a superior wide-mouth feed tube, which allows users to fit whole fruits and vegetables. Further, it sports an exclusive SealTight Advantage system for sealing the lock blades and bowl.

Pros:

• Rubberized touchpad controls
• Supreme wide mouth feed
• Easy-to-clean and removable parts
• Powerful food prep performance

Cons:

• Troubles chopping with this unit

Things to Consider When Purchasing the Best Food Processor

Certainly, with food processors, you can do more in a short period. It allows dicing, processing, and slicing your whole fruits and vegetables. This way, you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen, prepping your ingredients.

But before heading to the market to purchase this appliance, you need to consider some key factors to ensure you make the right choice for maximum efficiency.

Material

Most food processors are made of plastic, which means it might be fragile. However, some are more fragile than others. Therefore, it’s important to check the plastic thickness to ensure you end up with high-quality material.

You should also verify the moving pieces and the bowl’s and quality since they are most likely to break. Further, the best food processor should come with food-grade stainless steel blades. Food processors with a minimum steel thickness of 15 mm are able to resist high impacts and wear.

Blades & Discs

Most high-end processors are equipped with reversible bladed, which allows them to cut evenly regardless of the spinning directions. Compared to the conventional single-side blades, the reversible blades offer higher efficiency.

Also, a bigger blade offers better results. Nonetheless, you should ensure that the blades are perfectly aligned to prevent any accidents. Some food processors come with metal discs to help slice vegetables and shred cheese. So, it’s better if the metal discs are made with a minimum steel thickness of 1.5 mm.

Ergonomic

Food processors to splurge on should feature an ergonomic design for easy handling. For instance, the best food processors sport rubber-coated buttons to prevent your fingers from slipping on the buttons.

However, units with buttons can spell trouble, considering the fact that food residue like flour or other powdered foods tend to pass through them. This is why people lean towards touchpads since it’s more practical.

Here’s more: bowls with an ergonomic handle provide unparalleled grip. Some models feature grooves on the handles, which adapt to the user’s natural curves. Another decent choice is a handle featuring a rubber coat.

Price

Now, let’s talk about the price. Food processors are available at different price tags. This means everyone can find a product within their budget range. Keep in mind that a product with a high price tag does not necessarily mean better options.

Conclusion

When it comes to cooking every day, you’d want to own these handy machines. These appliances are quite handy. Sadly, there are too many of them on the market. This way, we made a detailed review of the best food processor America’s test kitchen and buying guide to ensure you make the right decision.