Best food processor 2024: tested by experts
We've found the best food processor of 2024, trialling models from Ninja, Cuisinart, KitchenAid, and more
Recent updates
In the last update I added the Magic Bullet Kitchen Express, replacing the Oster 10-cup food processor as 'best budget food processor'. Our full review is still in progress but it's a much better food processor than the Oster, so I wanted to include it as soon as I could.
Best Food Processors 2024 Quick Menu
1. The list in brief ↴
2. Best overall: Cuisinart Core
3. Best value: Nutribullet NBP50100
4. Best food processor/blender- Ninja Professional
5. Best for dicing: Cuisinart Elemental
6. Best cordless: KitchenAid Cordless
7. Best large capacity: Cuisinart 14-Cup
8. Best luxury: Breville Sous Chef
9. Best for easy cleaning: Ninja Professional
10. Best budget: Magic Bullet Kitchen Express
11. How to choose
12. How we test
13. Meet the team
14. FAQS
The best food processors make life easier when you're cooking for a crowd or simply prepping for a meal for one. They effortlessly blitz through dicing, slicing, grinding and kneading.
We've thoroughly tested a wide range of food processors from leading brands, such as Ninja, KitchenAid, Cuisinart, and NutriBullet. Our tests put the best food processors through their paces, judging their functionality and efficiency through performance, cleaning, and ease of use. There's more detail below, but our current favorite is the Cuisinart Core Custom 10-Cup food processor for its easy storage and exceptional performance.
If you want to double up your food processor with one of the best blenders, we've also included models that come with blending cups to make smoothies as well as dips or sauces.
Quick List
If you want a food processor and you're in a hurry, here's a quick summary of our top picks. If one piques your interest, you can find more details further down.
Best overall
Best overall
Effective, easy to use, and effortless to store, we love this lightweight food processor. It's versatile and you can use the base with other attachments too.
Best value
Best value
For a food processor that can do it all, we'd recommend the Nutribullet. The range of accessories store neatly into the lightweight bowl, so it's great for saving space too.
Best blender/food processor
Best food processor/ blender
If you want your food processor to do it all, this is the one. It also comes with a 72 oz pitcher and single-serve cups to blend liquids, too.
Best for dicing
Best for dicing
When I tested this a couple years ago I found a great dicing attachment and a wheel that turned three carrots into shreds in less than five seconds.
Best cordless
Best cordless
A cordless food processor means that you can use it anywhere. It's also lighter than most other appliances. We loved this for small jobs.
Best large
Best large
Well-made and easy to use, this is a dream for bigger households. If you're batch cooking or hosting, you won't have any troubles.
Load the next 3 products ↴
Best luxury
Best luxury
When we tested this, our experts were impressed with the huge capacity and consistently excellent results across different functions.
Best for easy cleaning
Best for cleaning
For an affordable, entry level food processor, this is our top pick. It's easy to use and costs under $100, including lots of handy attachments.
Best budget
Best budget
This is surprisingly great for a processor that costs under $100. It's far from perfect, but if you need something that does the job, this is the one.
Best food processor 2024
You can trust Homes & Gardens.
Best food processor overall
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You want a good all-rounder: this is good for taking on most processor tasks.
✅ You're tight on space: food processors are notoriously hard to store, but this is relatively compact.
✅ You want to process wetter ingredients: this sealed processor is great at working with wet foods like fruits.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're anxious about safety: there's no indicator light to tell you this is switched on, which is poor for safety
❌ You want power: this is great at common processing tasks, but you need something more powerful for mincing beef or kneading dough.
❌ You want precise control: this processor has three basic settings and lacks dedicated modes for different tasks
The bottom line
🔎 Cuisinart Core Custom the best food processor you can buy, suiting almost everyone.
The Cuisinart Core Custom 10-Cup is our top buy and I think you will be hard-pressed to find a better food processor. Our tester Camryn found that it was lightweight, but felt secure, with a bowl that fully seals to prevent any messes while mixing wetter ingredients. 'I think this appliance is worth the splurge if you’re going to use it regularly,' Camryn reports. 'Details like the sealed work bowl make this appliance easy and enjoyable to use, plus you can buy additional attachments to use on the same base.'
One of our favorite things about this food processor is that everything can be stored inside the main mixing bowl. That includes the blade (which comes with its own protective cover) and the reversible shredding and slicing discs. You can also expand its capabilities by investing in a blender jar, juice extractor or dicing accessory.
The controls are on the simple side, you can either mix on low or high, or pulse. However, we didn't find that this food processor lacked power when we made everything from energy bites to guacamole. The removable parts are all dishwasher-safe, and you can even choose from a range of colors when you buy.
Our Cuisinart Core Custom 10-Cup Food Processor review has more details
Best value
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You're on a budget: this usually retails between $90-$120.
✅ You want something easy to store: this is compact and lightweight.
✅ You want to spiralize: there's an amazing spiralizer attachment included
Don't buy it if:
❌ You want to make big portions: this only holds 7 cups.
❌ You want to work with wet ingredients: the maximum liquid capacity is only two cups.
❌ You're a keen baker: this wasn't great on pizza dough.
The bottom line
🔎 Nutribullet 7-Cup a budget processor that's far better than processors that cost three times as much.
If you want a versatile everyday food processor, the NutriBullet NBP50100 7-Cup Food Processor is for you. This is down to its do-it-all attachments, which include a dough hook, a chopping blade, two reversible slicing and shredding discs (one thick, one thin), and a spiralizing insert.
Our tester Camryn was particularly impressed with these attachments: they were very easy to set up and produced long spirals of carrot and potato. There are three speeds: low, high, and pulse, and Camryn used all to make everything from shakes to ough. 'After weeks of testing, I think it’s an ideal everyday food processor for any household,' she reports.
Despite this huge selection, the attachments can be easily stored in the bowl – other than one disc, which doesn't fit inside. This is important to note since food processors that don't allow for in-bowl storage take up more valuable storage space. At just six pounds, the Nutribullet 7-Cup Food Processor is also very lightweight – a need to know if you are not storing it on the countertop.
Camryn also found it easy to clean: most of the removable parts are dishwasher-safe and the plastic is BPA-free. As with a lot of Nutribullet products, it comes with a comprehensive recipe book that is great to get you started using the machine. However, it isn't amazing on dough, and the capacity is half that of the biggest food processor we've tested.
Our Nutribullet 7-Cup Food Processor review has more details
Best food processor blender combo
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You want minimal appliances: this is a blender and food processor in one
✅ You'll be mainly food processing: this function is stronger
✅ You make big portions: this has huge capacities
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're short on storage: this doesn't compact down much
❌ You have low cupboards: this is very tall
❌ You cook in social spaces: this is really noisy
The bottom line
🔎 Nutribullet Professional Plus a hard working appliance that can cater to batch blends and bakes
If you're looking for a hard-working appliance, you've found the one. Not only can this cover a range of blending and food processing options, it comes with an enormous capacity. The Ninja comes with a 72 oz pitcher and 64 oz food processor as well as two 24 oz cups for any drinks that you'll take on the go.
When we tested this on blending, we were impressed. It came close to knocking the Breville Super Q from it's spot as the largest blender, but missed out on the accolade due to the small seed residue it left when blending berries. Don't let that deter you, because this made delicious smoothies, soups, and ice cones. We just aim for perfection and this fell a little short.
As for the all-important food processor tests, this was faultless. We threw some tough and fibrous vegetables at it, asking it to chop zucchini, celery, and carrots. Our experts were suitably impressed at how it performed on the low, medium, high, and pulse settings, even if they were on the noisy side.
It's important to note that this is a big appliance. The large attachments are brilliant for batch cooking, but when it comes to storage, finding the space can be tricky. Also, the lids won't close until the attachments are on the blender, so they're not easy to store in the cupboard.
Our Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-IQ review has more details
Best for dicing
4. Cuisinart Elemental 13 Cup Food Processor
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You're a serious chef: you'll taste the difference between dicing and chopping
✅ You cook for lots of people: this has considerable capacity
✅ You want easy tidy options: this comes with a kid-safe storage box
Don't buy it if:
❌ You've not got much strength: the dicing can take a fair bit of muscle
❌ You're short on space: this demands a lot of cupboard real estate
❌ You want simplicity: this comes with lots of extra accessories
The bottom line
🔎 Cuisinart Elemental a delight to dice with, this versatile model can work with big batches and smaller servings
Don't tell my editor, but I tested this for a competitor magazine a few years ago and felt I had to include it. The dicing attachment on this processor is really remarkable. It's not perfect and needs a little elbow grease, but I found it turns vegetables into perfect little cubes. Unless you're a cordon-bleu chef, I can pretty much guarantee it will be faster than dicing them yourself. It's perfect for mirepoix, so as we head into soup season it can be a powerful helper in the kitchen. You can dice your carrots and celery, chop your onions, and have them cooking in the pan in half the usual time.
A powerful 550-watt motor keeps it on top of heavy tasks like mincing meat, but if you need something a little smaller, there is also a mini 4.5-cup work bowl that makes cleaning easier when preparing smaller dishes. I loved using this bowl for roughly chopping onions for salsa. I found that it's also incredibly good at shredding. This was particularly noticeable on carrots, blasting through three carrots in about three seconds, which is great for making homemade slaw.
Although there are a lot of extra attachments to contend with, Cuisinart does provide a large storage case to keep these organized. It even has a lock to keep it away from kids. There is also a storage case that contains the multiple slicing, spiralizing and chopping inserts, so only opt for this one if you have plenty of storage space to offer. The dicing grid comes with a special tool to clean out the remaining ingredients without putting your fingers at risk. All removable parts are dishwasher-safe.
However, these all take up a lot of room, and it wasn't amazing at mixing ingredients when baking. There's also only two power levels, so it doesn't feel like you have a lot of precision. You either obliterate your food in seconds or slightly less quickly. I found that it grated chocolate with enough force to melt some of it.
Best cordless
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You make lots of dips: this is perfect for salsas and guacamoles
✅ You have a busy kitchen: this can be picked up and moved instantly - it's cordless
✅ You're after simplicity: this is straightforward and intuitive
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're a processor perfectionist: sizes aren't always consistent
❌ You need serious power: the batteries aren't as strong as other motors
❌ You're forgetful: the batteries need recharging
The bottom line
🔎 KitchenAid Cordless cordless convenience at it's very best, the KitchenAid is the most handy food processor available for making dips. It struggles with consistency and tougher tasks though.
When our tester Camryn put the KitchenAid Cordless 5 Cup Food Chopper through its paces, it truly converted her to cordless food processing. 'Suddenly I could make sauces and dips while standing outside with the grill, and move around the kitchen with complete freedom,' she says.
Camryn used this five-cup food processor for blitzing up onions, carrots, tomato sauce, guacamole, and even to make a delicious aioli using the mayonnaise attachment. It impressed her at every turn. 'It delivers strong processing power that can handle most tasks, and includes an awesome whisk attachment, as well as an oil drizzle basin that will come in handy for recipes like pesto or hummus,' she says, 'though it doesn’t do as good a job creating uniform pieces as larger food processors.'
Camryn loved its ease of use and cleaning: you turn it on by simply twisting the lid into place and pressing the perfectly thumb-sized groove at the top (though you need to unscrew and reattach the lid to add new ingredients), and the cup is dishwasher-safe. Of course, she points out that you will need to remember to recharge it, but the battery lasted a long time during testing and she anticipates needing to recharge every month, at most.
Our KitchenAid Cordless 5 Cup Food Chopper review has more details
Best large
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You've got families to feed: the capacity is huge
✅ You want professional results: this is incredibly consistent
✅ You cook a range of foods: this has plenty of attachments
Don't buy it if:
❌ You'll store it out of sight: it's heavy to regularly lift
❌ You're looking for smart features: this is quite basic
❌ You're short on space: this has a large footprint
The bottom line
🔎 Cuisinart 14-Cup with capacity to feed the family and more, this professional model produces exceptional results
What sets the Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor apart is its large capacity: it's got five cups more than the industry standard. 'I can see this appliance being useful for someone who frequently does big-batch cooking. If you regularly double or triple the size of recipes to accommodate a large family or frequent hosting, the extra-large size of this appliance may be worth the splurge,' says our tester Camryn.
It tackled just about everything Camryn threw its way with ease: 'The pesto I made was evenly chopped and there was no need to go in and scrape any un-mixed ingredients into the sauce; my energy balls came out very well mixed and I found that it was easy to add and remove the blade because the bowl was so large,' she says.
For those who want a sturdy workhorse in the kitchen, look no further: it's outfitted with a slicing disc, shredding disc, and chopping/dough blade, and you can buy other shredding and slicing discs as well as a whisk attachment separately. Its uncomplicated design means it doesn't take up more space in the kitchen than it needs to, but it is heavy, so think twice about buying it if you'll need to transfer it from cabinet to countertop regularly.
Our Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor review has more details
Best luxury
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You often cook with root vegetables: this is powerful
✅ You don't like prep: this has a wide chute
✅ You want premium features: this looks and feels luxurious
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're short on space: this has a large footprint
❌ You're on a budget: this is expensive
❌ You don't need lots of functions: you'll be paying for accessories you don't need
The bottom line
🔎 Breville Sous Chef luxurious and versatile, this powerhouse can do it all, just with a high pricetag
The Breville BFP660SIL Sous Chef has the standard 12-cup capacity we see in many of the best food processors. Our tester Camryn found the controls very intuitive, and was able to get started as soon as she took it out of the box. The very powerful motor breezes through chopping larger and more dense items, and Camryn found it delivers some of the most consistent results of all the machines she tested.
Worth noting: the chute is very wide, so you can turn food on its side and slice in different sizes, ideal for julienning; the shredding disc is also reversible, and the slicing disc is fully adjustable with 0.3mm to 8.0mm in size – overkill for some, perhaps, but if you take great pride presentation, it's a brilliant feature.
'It screams quality,' Camryn says. 'While it costs a cool $300, it outperformed many other models that I’ve tested, delivering consistent results with minimal effort. I especially love the adjustable slicing disc and multiple chute sizes, which make it extremely versatile.'
The biggest downside? It's big, which may make storage tricky if your space is small.
Our Breville Sous Chef 12 Food Processor review has more details
Best for easy cleaning
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You're on a budget: this is unbelievable value
✅ You cook a range of recipes: this has plenty of functions
✅ You'll store this away: this is super lightweight
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need capacity: this is smaller than most
❌ You use root vegetables: this struggles with tougher, harder foods
❌ You're not organized: the accessories are hard to keep together
The bottom line
🔎 Ninja Professional smart, versatile, and excellent value, this is a brilliant entry-level option
The Ninja Professional 9-Cup Food Processor has a range of intelligent programs and handy attachments, all for under $100. It can chop, puree, dough, and dice, and has a reversible disc for slicing, too. Our tester Camryn found it particularly good at shredding vegetables and used the double-layered dough blades to make cookie dough, which, she reports, came together a lot quicker than many of the best stand mixers (though she did have to scrape down the sides of the cooking bowl).
Other features Camryn loved include its lightweight, locking lid for safety and the quad chopping blade, which doesn't simply slice what's at the bottom of the bowl. She found it less effective on hard ingredients, however.
Overall, Camryn was impressed with the versatility and high quality of the Ninja, especially considering the price. 'If you frequently process large batches of food, you may be better off with a high-end model like the Cuisinart Custom 14 (below), which has a huge 14-cup capacity, or if you want something more compact, the Nutribullet 7-Cup Food Processor (above) has a fairly small footprint,' she says.
Our Ninja Professional Plus Food Processor review has more details
Best budget
9. Magic Bullet Kitchen Express
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Buy it if
✅ You're on a budget: this is one of the cheapest on the list.
✅ You're tight for space: it's good for small kitchens
✅ You want good value: this also has a personal blender attachment
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need this to last: it doesn't feel ultra-premium
❌ You need big portions: this has a 3.5 cup capacity
❌ You don't like fuss: the blender is tricky to attach
The bottom line
🔎 Magic Bullet Kitchen Express amazing for the price, but you get what you pay for.
The Magic Bullet Kitchen Express brings surprisingly good food processing on a budget. Even better than that, it also has a personal blender, too, so it offers a lot for functionality for under $100.
It's surprisingly good at everything. It was far from perfect, but it does better than you'd expect for the price. It was particularly good at chopping onions, and it made a fantastic guacamole and a pretty good hummus. The capacity is a little small, but it's a great option if you're in a couple.
Where this food processor falls down is on the strangely-shaped chute. It's pinched in the middle for some reason, which means though it's long and wide enough for lots of ingredients at once, you can't add as much as you think. At first glance, we thought we'd be able to shred three carrots at once, but the chute limits you to two. We also found that there's a knack to twisting on the food processor and blender that isn't immediately obvious. It also simply lacks all the bells and whistles of other foo processors, which isn't surprising for the price.
There's more detail in our full Magic Bullet Kitchen Express review.
How to choose the best food processor for you:
You'll find a food processor to be invaluable when cooking and making drinks all year round. They're super quick, making cooking easier and less stressful.
The type of food processor you choose will ultimately depend on how often you'll use it and what you'll be using it for. Each model has its own expertise, so choose carefully.
Motor
If you want to chop root vegetables and hard fruits, you'll need an appliance with a powerful motor.
Programs
Look out for a food processors that has automatic programs for the kinds of action that you want, as this takes the guesswork out of using a food processor.
That said, manual controls are important if you want finer control over the results, say blending a soup that still has some chunks in it.
A pulse function is a great way to get fine control: the food processor runs while you press the button but stops the second that you release it.
Features
Move up the price scale and you’ll find that you get additional features. Some luxurious models will come with plenty of attachments, meaning you can spiralise, chop, knead dough, and more.
Capacity
Look out for the total capacity of the food processor: go for a larger one if you’ve got a big family to feed.
How we test these food processors
Our food processors have been tested in our test kitchen and in our homes. You can read longer reviews of each in separate guides, but know that our testing process is continuous, so you can be sure only the top choices feature in this guide. Alongside our hands-on testing, we also research online user reviews and ask experts to ensure we can present you with a balanced view of each food processor.
If we have included a food processor in this guide, it will have a rating out of five stars and we will clearly state this in the summary of each product. You will see that some with four stars are higher up the list than those with five stars; this is because, from position two downwards, we list the product by popularity amongst you, our readers. However, we are confident that all food processors listed are really good buys.
When testing the best food processors we made sure to use every attachment on offer, meaning we will often slice, chop, grate, spiralize, and even make pizza dough. We also like to work with a mixture of personal and brand-supplied recipes. A lot of brands include recipes with their products, which can be a great way of getting to know a food processor, but it's also important that the machine will work with our own recipes. We also test each food processor for weeks, not once, to ensure we offer you more than just a first impression.
For more insight into our hands-on review process, refer to our Homes & Gardens review guidelines.
Meet The Team
Millie Fender is the Reviews Editor on the Homes & Gardens Ecommerce team. Millie specializes in reviewing cooking appliances, and has built up a deep knowledge of food processors, mixers and blenders in particular. Millie loves to bake, so she will take any excuse to review stand mixers and other baking essentials. All of Millie's reviews are conducted at home, meaning she uses these products in her own kitchen, the way they're designed to be used.
Camryn Rabideau is a product reviewer who has been testing small kitchen appliances (as well as other home goods) for several years. She’s tested everything from toasters to oil infusion machines, and as an avid baker, she loves trying out any gadgets that promise to make her creations more delicious or easier to bake, especially food processors. Camryn does her product testing from her small homestead in beautiful Rhode Island.
Food processor FAQs
What is the best food processor?
After our extensive trials of the best food processor, the Cuisinart Core Custom 10-Cup blew us away for its overall ease of use and performance. It's also a nice bonus that all the parts neatly nest inside when not in use to not take up extra space.
Meanwhile, if you're after something absolutely premium, the Breville BFP660SIL Sous Chef is absolutely worth the splurge with its quality build and consistent results. However, it did take up more space to store.
For those after something compact, we thought the NutriBullet NBP50100 Food Processor was lightweight and easy to store, and it comes with loads of attachments for extra versatility when it comes to slicing and dicing. It's also a well-priced item that hovers around the $100 mark in price, making it a great value too.
What size food processor is best?
Our advice is to never buy something your kitchen can't accommodate. Yes, it's tempting to buy the largest and most impressive food processor out there, but if it won't fit onto crowded counters or in kitchen cupboards, you'll grow to resent it very quickly.
Not all food processors take a lot of space though. Both of the KitchenAid options in our guide have a small footprint, even though there's a 9-cup model that will cater to even large families.
Often it's the motor found in the base of a food processor that makes it so space-consuming, so opting for a mighty Ninja food processor could be costly in terms of space, but worth it for the high-powered functions.
Food processor vs blender: what's the difference?
If you've ever tried to make a smoothie in a food processor or chop veggies in a blender, you'll know they're very different machines. Because food processors have flatter bowls they're best suited to chopping dry ingredients, whereas the vertical design of a blender's pitcher means you'll have perfectly smooth drinks in seconds.
If you're trying to choose between a blender versus a food processor, there's always the option of buying the best food processor blender combo in our guide, the Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-IQ.
How much does a food processor cost?
The best food processor doesn't have to cost much. In fact, the models in our guide start at around the $100 mark, which really isn't bad for a powerful kitchen appliance that will last you for years. As they get smarter though, food processors also get more expensive. The typical food processor could cost as much as $250 for a truly multi-functional and high-end model.
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As Head of eCommerce, Alex makes sure our readers find the right information to help them make the best purchase. After graduating from Cambridge University, Alex got his start in reviewing at the iconic Good Housekeeping Institute, testing a wide range of household products and appliances. He then moved to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, assessing gardening tools, machinery, and wildlife products. Helping people find true quality and genuine value is a real passion.
- Camryn RabideauContributing Reviews Editor
- Millie FenderHead of Reviews
- Laura HoneyeCommerce Editor
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