Pulse! Pulverize! These Are the 9 Best Food Processors

A good food processor is a versatile kitchen appliance. It can blitz, purée, emulsify, and knead with lightning speed. And, with the right disk, a food processor can also be a slicing, grating, and shredding machine. It's the original food chopper, and, we'd argue, loads better than those chintzy manual ones.

Of course, this appliance is not without its downsides: It’s a hulking piece of equipment that takes muscle to move. So if you’re going to get—and lift—one, it’d better be great. To find the best food processors and the most versatile ones, we tested 21 models (first in 2017 and again recently). Our top picks have stood the test of time and are so useful, we’d happily lug them out of the cabinet any day.

The Tests

• Slicing Test: We sliced potatoes to evaluate the performance of the food processor’s slicing disc. We used the machines to cut one potato thinly and another thickly, evaluating how evenly and easily it did so.
• Grating Test: Using the shredding disk of each model, we shredded eight ounces of mozzarella cheese. We evaluated the evenness of the shreds and used the food processor’s tamper to press the cheese down toward the disc. 
• Mayonnaise Test: We made a double batch of this mayonnaise in each food processor, evaluating how easily and well the condiment was emulsified. 
• Pizza Dough Test: Using the dough blade (if the model had one) or the machine’s S-blade if it didn’t, we made pizza dough in each food processor. We noted how stable the food processor was while kneading and how easily the dough came together. 
• Mirepoix Test: We pulsed onions, carrots, and celery together in the bowl of each food processor, timing how long it took to make mirepoix and looking at how even the pieces were. 
• Usability and Cleanup Tests: Throughout testing, we evaluated how simple the food processors were to use (including attaching and detaching the bowls and lids). After each test, we washed the food processors’ parts by hand. 

What We Learned

What Is a Food Processor, and What Can You Use It For?

A food processor has a motorized base that turns a spindle in the center of the work bowl. Blades and disks can be placed onto the spindle, and the bowl twists and locks onto the base. The blade spins around, chopping food.

Food processors also feature chutes, through which ingredients are fed and sometimes pushed through until they reach the spinning disks. 

As for the functions of a food processor, it slices, grates, minces, kneads, and purées. It does things you could do with a chef's knife, box grater, mortar and pestle, or your hands—albeit a lot faster. If you don’t want to spend an hour mincing onions, carrots, and celery for a sofrito, a food processor is useful.

What Size Food Processor Should You Buy? 

Most home cooks should go with a 14- or 16-cup food processor. This size will handle just about any prep task without being a nightmare to store. Are small food processors worth it? It depends on the brand and how small. If you have a smaller kitchen, you might opt for 12-cup model. Even tinier is this 9-cup food processor from Breville, which was the smallest one we tested. It still requires a good bit of storage space, but not nearly as much as a 14- or 16-cup model.

Which Food Processors Were Easiest to Use? 

Many of the food processors were hard to assemble—made worse by the fact different brands required you to turn the bowl and lock the lid in opposite directions. The best food processors had clear labels or arrows telling you where and how to align the motor, bowl, and lid. They also had chutes placed closest to the user, so you didn’t have to reach across the work bowl to add ingredients.  

As far as control panels went, there were lots of options that worked. For example, the Cuisinart had just two buttons: start/stop and pulse. The Breville Sous Chef was more souped-up, with a digital screen featuring a timer. Both food processors were great. It just comes down to what you prefer. 

Why a Food Processor’s Wattage Doesn't Matter

Watts signify how much power is used by the motor—not how well the food processor actually works or if it’s well-constructed. If you want to quickly compare how big food processors’ motors are, you can use watts. But that’s about it.

Far more important than watts was the type of motor. Nearly all of our top picks have induction motors, which use magnetic fields to spin the blades. This makes for less wear and a quieter food processor—and one that’ll last.

What Food Processor Accessories Are Worth It?

Every food processor will come with an S-shaped blade (for chopping, mixing, and puréeing), a slicing disc, and a grating disc. The rest of the attachments varied by model. We favored adjustable slicing blades for their versatility, but only when they worked well. Plastic dough blades are fine, too. We used them when making pizza dough and didn’t notice a difference between them and the standard S-blades. One of our top picks, the Breville Paradice, includes two big boxes of attachments. We liked the ones we tested and think they’d undoubtedly be useful for certain tasks. It’s just up to you what you’ll use—and whether it’s worth paying the premium for more parts. 

Which Food Processors Performed the Best?

The best food processors we tested could do it all. They cut smooth, clean slices of potato, and we preferred models with wide chutes that could fit a whole—or more of the—tuber without needing to trim it. When we kneaded pizza dough, the best ones pulled it together with nary a wobble. Mirepoix made in most of our top picks was done in just 20 to 32 pulses.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Food Processor

The best food processors were easy to use, with bowls and lids that attached without fuss and straightforward, intuitive controls. They featured quieter, powerful induction motors and were versatile—equally capable of slicing, kneading, pulsing, and shredding. All food processors are somewhat cumbersome to break down and wash, but we didn’t mind that if they did their jobs well.

Our Favorite Food Processors

What we liked: This Breville Sous Chef couldn’t be simpler to use. Its handy features include easy-to-follow arrows for unlocking and locking the bowl and lid, measurement markings (in cups, fluid ounces, and liters) on the outside of the bowl, and minimum and maximum fill lines. Plus, it works really, really well. It excelled at chopping, making mirepoix in just 20 pulses. Its adjustable slicing blade offered 24 thickness settings, from 0.3 to eight millimeters. The disc has a safety position that keeps the edge retracted for storage, too. We also like this machine’s digital display, which features a built-in timer

What we didn't like: The storage caddy is very large.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 16 cups
• Wattage: 1200 watts
• Included accessories: 16-cup work bowl, 2.5-cup insert work bowl, S-shaped metal blade, smaller S-shaped blade for mini work bowl, 0.3- to 8mm adjustable slicing disk, fine and coarse reversible grating disk, dough blade, julienne disk, dicing kit, French fry disk, peeling disc, whisking disc, spatula, cleaning brush, accessory storage box
• Warranty: 1-year limited product warranty and 25-year induction motor warranty
• Care instructions: Removable parts (bowl, lid, blades) are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: This Breville food processor is fairly similar to the Sous Chef but has double the amount of attachments. However, with this model, you can actually use the disk attachments with the mini bowl. It made mirepoix in 30 pulses, mayonnaise turned out perfectly in it, and pizza dough kneaded without trouble. Like the Sous Chef, it also comes with an adjustable slicing disk. 

What we didn’t like: The plastic storage case that houses the attachments is large, and there are two of them. This could pose a storage issue.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 16 cups
• Wattage: 1450 watts
• Included accessories: 16-cup work bowl, 2 storage boxes, 3 dicing blades, 3 slicing disks, 3 blades, mini bowl, spatula, cleaning brush
• Warranty: 2-year limited product warranty and 30-year induction motor warranty
• Care instructions: Removable parts (bowl, lid, blades) are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: We’ve heartily recommended this food processor for about seven years. The Magimix continues to impress us with its performance, and its induction motor is powerful but quiet, even when kneading sticky, tough pizza dough. A wide feed tube accommodated whole produce, too (no need to slice a potato into a weird shape to fit). Its controls were simple, with the Magimix featuring just three buttons.

What we didn't like: To turn on, this food processor needs to have the bowl and lid locked into place and the double pusher level with the max capacity indicator. We had some trouble with this at first. We'd prefer to have directional language printed on the work bowl and motor.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 14 cups
• Wattage: 950 watts
• Included accessories: 14-cup bowl, 12-cup insert work bowl, 6-cup insert mini work bowl, S-shaped metal blade, smaller S-shaped blade for mini work bowl, 2mm and 4mm slicing disks, 2mm and 4mm grating disks, dough blade, blender ring, egg whisk, spatula, accessory storage box
• Warranty: 30-year motor warranty
• Care instructions: Removable parts (bowl, lid, blades) are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: The Cuisinart food processor comes with just two disks (one for slicing and one for grating) and an S-blade, but it works great. It had the easiest controls of all the food processors we tested, with just pulse and on/stop buttons. It was the lowest-priced induction motor model we tried, and we think it’s worth every penny.

What we didn't like: The chute is located opposite you, so you have to reach across the machine to use it. The pusher also falls out of the lid when turned over.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 14 cups
• Wattage: 720 watts
• Included accessories: 14-cup work bowl, S-shaped metal blade, 4mm slicing disk, medium grating disk, spatula
• Warranty: Limited 3-year
• Care instructions: Removable parts (bowl, lid, blades) are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: The hinged lid was a big win for us; no fiddling was required to get it to fit on top, and no scary twisting was involved. Just pull the lid down, and it snaps into place. The blade, which is serrated on one side and smooth on the other, made quick work of pulverizing pistachios and herbs into pesto, and diced halved carrots, onions, and celery into a neat mirepoix. Since the food processor has three settings—low, high, and pulse—we were able to home in on the best power and speed combo for whatever we were making. This ensured a properly emulsified mayonnaise without any oil remaining on the bottom of the bowl. The KitchenAid is reasonably priced, too, at under $250 at time of publishing. 

What we didn’t like: Like most food processors, the KitchenAid was a pain to clean. That said, the parts (minus the blade) are dishwasher-safe, so that makes life a little easier. 

Key Specs

• Capacity: 13 cups
• Wattage: 500 watts
• Included accessories: 13-cup work bowl, multi-purpose blade, adjustable slicing disk, reversible shredding disk, dough blade, storage caddy 
• Warranty: Limited product warranty 
• Care instructions: Removable parts are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: The definition of small but mighty, this Napoleon of a mini food processor can pulverize and puree with the best of them. It made perfectly combined pesto and a silky, emulsified tahini sauce. The chute made it easy to drizzle in oil while pureeing. Surprisingly, this was the only mini food processor we tested that has a continuous “on” function—the rest were all pulse-only. 

What we didn’t like: Snapping the lid on was more of a process than we prefer. 

Key Specs

• Capacity: 4 cups
• Wattage: 250 watts
• Included accessories: Bowl, lid with feed chute, food pusher, chopping and mixing blade, reversible slicing/shredding disc
• Care instructions: Removable parts are dishwasher-safe

What we liked: The smaller Breville Sous Chef has the same design, build, and adjustable slicing disk as the 16-cup model. While the 12-cup version lacks a built-in timer and is packaged with fewer disks and accessories, it's quiet, well-priced, and powerful.

What we didn't like: This model took the most time out of our winners to make a uniform mirepoix.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 12 cups
• Wattage: 1000 watts
• Included accessories: 12-cup work bowl, S-shaped metal blade, 0.3- to 8mm adjustable slicing disk, fine and coarse reversible grating disk, dough blade, spatula, accessory storage tray
• Warranty: 1-year limited product warranty and 25-year induction motor warranty
• Care instructions: Removable parts (bowl, lid, blades) are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: Like its larger siblings, the Paradice 9 was easy to use, with only three buttons: on, pulse, and start/pause. Also like the other Breville models, it includes a caddy to store all the accouterments, which was handy, since there were a lot.

The Paradice minced a neat mirepoix and evenly sliced potatoes both thick and thin. We tested the dice function with cucumbers and it cut perfect cubes that would look lovely in a chopped salad. The nine-cup capacity, while the smallest of the food processors we tested, was still quite large; it easily accommodated a double batch of mayonnaise. Overall, it’s a compact but powerful food processor that’s easy to stash away, making it great for those with small kitchens or limited storage space.

What we didn’t like: It’s expensive, and we had issues shredding cheese: The hunk of mozzarella popped the large food pusher insert upwards, causing the cheese to smush on the top of the shredding disk. But, to be fair, shredding mozzarella is tricky even with a box grater, and the pieces that did go through the shredder came out as neat strands. The small food processor also bounced around when kneading pizza dough, so we had to hold it steady with one hand.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 9 cups
• Wattage: 625 watts
• Included accessories: Reversible shredder (coarse and fine), adjustable slicer (15 levels), dough blade, S-Blade, main spindle, dicing gear box, dicing blade, dicing grid, caddy
• Warranty: 2-year limited product warranty and 30-year induction motor warranty 
• Care instructions: Removable parts (bowl, lid, blades) are dishwasher-safe; wipe the base with a damp cloth

What we liked: This isn’t the most powerful food processor, but this Vitamix attachment is intuitive to use. The blender detects that a food processor, rather than a blender jar, is fitted to the base and automatically adjusts its capabilities. The lid seamlessly snapped, rather than slid, into place. It did an especially good job at emulsifying mayonnaise and slicing potatoes.

What we didn’t like: Unfortunately, Vitamix’s food processor attachment isn’t compatible with all of its bases. If you also have to buy a blender, it’s certainly not cheaper than a standalone food processor. In our tests, we found it was loud.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 12 cups
• Wattage: 1400 watts
• Included accessories: Food processor attachment, self-detect base, multi-use blade, five discs, and a disc case 
• Warranty: Limited 3-year
• Care instructions: Bowl and attachment are dishwasher-safe; clean base with a soft, damp cloth and hand-dry

The Competition

• Ninja Professional XL Food Processor: The Ninja food processor wobbled alarmingly when we made pizza dough, and we had an issue getting it to work with all of its slicing settings.
• KitchenAid 13-Cup Food Processor with Dicing Kit: This model sliced fine, but couldn’t uniformly chop. 
• GE 12-Cup Food Processor: A consistent dice? Not with this food processor. 
• Cuisinart Elemental 13-Cup Food Processor: A poor performer in every way, sadly.
• Cuisinart DLC-10SYP1 Pro Classic 10-Cup Food Processor: This Cuisinart food processor also chopped vegetables unevenly. 
• Ninja Plus Professional Food Processor: Food got frequently stuck under this Ninja food processor's lid.
• Cuisinart Elite Collection 2.0 14-Cup Food Processor: This was too inconsistent of a performer for us to recommend. It has been discontinued.
• KitchenAid 14-Cup Food Processor with Commercial-Style Dicing Kit: A poor performer, this model appears to now be discontinued.
• Oster Designed for Life 14-Cup Food Processor: This model has since been discontinued.
• Kenwood Multipro Food Processor (FP959): This model has since been discontinued.
• Kenwood Multipro Excel 16 Cup Food Processor (FPM910): This model has since been discontinued.
• Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Duo 14 Cup Food Processor: This model has since been discontinued.
• Hamilton Beach Professional 14 Cup Dicing Food Processor: This model has since been discontinued.
• Braun 12-Cup Food Processor Ultra: This food processor had poorly constructed attachments, grating and slicing badly. It's been discontinued.

FAQs

What's the best Breville food processor?

The overall best Breville food processor is the Breville Sous Chef—it outshone the competition in our food processors review. (You can also buy a small version of the Sous Chef.) For a food processor upgrade that's truly worth it, check out the Breville Paradice.

Can you make smoothies in a food processor? 

You could try, but the smoothie probably wouldn't turn out, well, smooth. A good blender creates a vortex, pulling ingredients down and into its blades and ensuring the result is super-smooth—even when dealing with tough ingredients like frozen fruit and fibrous greens like kale.

Can you grind coffee beans in a food processor? 

Just because you could do something doesn't mean you should. And grinding coffee beans in a food processor is no exception. You’ll never be able to achieve the consistent, even grind needed to make great coffee (and the ideal grind size changes depending on your brewing method). For that, stick to a burr grinder.

Can you clean a food processor in the dishwasher? 

A food processor's removable parts (its bowl, attachments, and lid) are dishwasher-safe. Its base should be wiped clean with a damp cloth. Before placing any of your food processor parts in the dishwasher, we recommend checking the manufacturer's care instructions—just to be safe.

Why We’re the Experts

• Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm is the associate editorial director for Serious Eats. She’s been with the site since 2021 and has been testing equipment for more than six years. She previously worked for America’s Test Kitchen and Food52.
• Grace Kelly is an editor at Serious Eats. She's been with the site since 2022. Before this, she worked at America's Test Kitchen.
• For this food processor review, we tested 21 machines, using them to slice, pulse, and knead. 
• We have been reviewing food processors since 2017 and regularly re-test our favorites.