The Best Food Processors, According to Our Experts and Extensive Tests

A good food processor is undoubtedly worth the storage and countertop space. 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. 

Of course, a food processor is not without its downsides. Namely, it’s a hulking appliance that takes muscle to move. So if you’re going to get—and lift—one, it’d better be great. We should know: We’ve tested 20 food processors—first in 2017 and again recently. Our top picks have stood the test of time and are so genuinely useful that we’d happily lug them out of the cabinet any day.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Food Processor

Breville 16-Cup Sous Chef Peel & Dice Food Processor

$550 at Amazon $500 at Williams-Sonoma $428 at Walmart

The Breville Sous Chef performed spectacularly and comes with a battery of well-designed attachments. This includes an adjustable slicing blade capable of producing a wide range of thicknesses. It was pretty quiet and we found its built-in, count-up timer incredibly convenient.

The Best Splurge Food Processor

Breville BFP838BSS1BNA1 16-Cup Paradice Food Processor

$700 at Williams-Sonoma $700 at Sur La Table View on Breville.com

This is similar to the 16-cup Sous Chef but has twice as many attachments (including three blades and a French fry disc). All of these extras come packed up in two lidded plastic boxes. Like our top pick, this food processor performed flawlessly in our tests. It kneaded dough easily, blitzed together a mirepoix speedily, and made perfectly emulsified mayonnaise. 

A Longtime Favorite Food Processor

Magimix 14-Cup Food Processor

$449 at Amazon $400 at Williams-Sonoma

The Magimix has a chopping blade that nearly touches the side of the bowl for complete and efficient processing, and it includes nesting 12- and 6-cup work bowls. It had a quiet motor, too. Magimix is the prosumer line of Robot Coupe, which makes the food processors used in just about every restaurant.

The Best Budget Food Processor

Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor

$250 at Amazon $250 at Williams-Sonoma $250 at Walmart

This Cuisinart food processor isn’t cheap, but it’s the least expensive model we recommend that still packs a punch. It handled basic tastes like slicing, grating cheese, and kneading dough with ease. It comes with two discs, is rather quiet, and has simple two-button controls for easy pulsing and continuous processing.

The Best Smaller Food Processor

Breville BFP660SIL Sous Chef 12-Cup Food Processor

$300 at Amazon $300 at Williams-Sonoma $300 at Target

This is the smaller version of our top pick, but it still had enough muscle for every prep task we put it through. It, too, had an adjustable slicing disk that sliced potatoes well and included multiple chute options for accommodating differently sized ingredients. 

The Best Food Processor Attachment for a Blender

Vitamix 12-Cup Food Processor Attachment

Orig. $250 $215 at Amazon $250 at Williams-Sonoma $250 at Walmart

This Vitamix attachment works with the brand’s Ascent line of blender bases. With a short lag while the motor shut off, this wasn’t the most responsive food processor we tested. However, it was exceptional at emulsifying. We think cooks who use food processors primarily for sauces and purées would like this model. If you already have an Ascent blender, the Vitamix food processor attachment is an affordable upgrade. That said, investing in the whole setup is pricey, with the base, blender, and food processor totaling over $800. 

The Tests

• Slicing Test: To evaluate the performance of the food processor’s slicing disk, we sliced potatoes. We sliced one potato thinly and another thickly, evaluating the evenness and ease of doing 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 disk. 
• Mayonnaise Test: We made a double batch of this mayonnaise in each food processor, evaluating how easily the condiment 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 One For? 

A food processor has a heavy motor that turns a spindle sticking up through a hole in the work bowl. Blades and disks can be placed onto the spindle, and the bowl twists and locks onto the base. Food processors also feature chutes, in which ingredients are fed and sometimes pushed through until they reach the spinning disks. 

As for the functions of a food processor, it does things that you otherwise might do with a good chef's knife, box grater, mortar and pestle, or your hands. That is to say, it slices, grates, minces, kneads, and purées. While a person can certainly make do without a food processor, it adds some serious convenience and speed to many kitchen tasks. If your idea of a good time isn't finely mincing pounds of onions, carrots, celery, and garlic by hand for an hour to make a sofrito for ragù bolognese, a food processor will more than prove its worth.

What Size Food Processor Should You Buy? 

We think a 14- or 16-cup model strikes the right balance for most cooks. It can handle all but the biggest holiday meal prep, yet still fits on a pantry shelf or inside a base cabinet. A 12-cup model may be a better choice for small kitchens, though even this requires a fair amount of storage space. 

Which Food Processors Were Easiest to Use? 

We found that in many cases, a food processor’s bowl and lid assembly were a one-two punch of frustration, especially since there was no consistency from one company to the next on which direction to turn the bowl and lid to lock them. Even after working with the machines for days on end, we fumbled with many of them before getting them into action-ready positions. We awarded points to models that included directional arrows or printed labels that help you align the motor, work bowl, and lid. Once locked in, most lids have their feed tubes nearest the user. We preferred this to builds that placed the tube on the far side, an awkward design that forces you to reach across the top to send ingredients down into the machine.

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 and it comes down to what you prefer. 

Why We Didn’t Care About Wattage

Watts are a measure of the power consumed by the motor and not an indicator of how efficiently the motor uses that power, nor the overall quality of the machine's build. You can use wattage to roughly gauge which models have bigger motors, but that won't always lead you to a better food processor.

The more expensive food processors, and nearly all of our winners, have induction motors. Unlike a traditional motor design, which needs carbon pads to transfer current and turn the shaft, an induction motor passes current through a stack of steel rings, creating a magnetic field that spins the motor without that physical connection. This means less friction, heat, noise, and mechanical wear.

What Accessories Do You Need? 

All of the machines came packaged with a minimum of three basic attachments: a serrated, S-shaped blade for chopping, mixing, and puréeing; a disk with a raised blade for slicing; and a disk with cutouts for grating. All of the S-blades we tested featured small serrations along their edges. We believe the serrations, like those on a serrated kitchen knife, offer a longer-lived cutting edge.

The rest of the included attachments ran the gamut. They included adjustable slicing blades (great when they worked; horrible when they didn’t) and plastic dough blades. The dough blade is, as KitchenAid says, designed to pull dough instead of cutting into it like a metal S-blade might. When making pizza dough, we used these blades if the models included them. They worked totally fine. One of our top picks, the Breville Paradice, literally 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? 

Our favorite models 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 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

The Best Food Processor

Breville 16-Cup Sous Chef Peel & Dice Food Processor

$550 at Amazon $500 at Williams-Sonoma $428 at Walmart

What we liked: This Breville Sous Chef couldn’t be better to use. From easy-to-follow arrows indicating which way to turn and lock the bowl and lid, to graduated volumes (in cups, fluid ounces, and liters) on the outside of the work bowl and a max-fill line for both thin and thick liquids, the Breville is simple to assemble, use, and take apart. 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 disk's safety position, which keeps the sharp edge retracted when in storage, prevents accidental dings and cuts. A built-in timer automatically tracks processing duration, so you know just how long you've let the machine run.

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

The Best Splurge Food Processor

Breville BFP838BSS1BNA1 16-Cup Paradice Food Processor

$700 at Williams-Sonoma $700 at Sur La Table View on Breville.com

What we liked: This 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

A Longtime Favorite Food Processor

Magimix 14-Cup Food Processor

$449 at Amazon $400 at Williams-Sonoma

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 made slicing whole produce a snap—though if you're not careful, the food can be thrown sideways, leading to ugly slices. It was also able to bring mirepoix together in just 25 pulses. Its controls were simple, too, with the Magimix featuring just three buttons.

What we didn't like: This model needs to have the bowl and lid locked into place and the double pusher level with the max capacity indicator in order for the machine to turn on. 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

The Best Budget Food Processor

Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor

$250 at Amazon $250 at Williams-Sonoma $250 at Walmart

What we liked: The biggest knock against the Cuisinart might also be its best feature: It comes with two disks (one for slicing and one for grating), a blade, a manual, and little else. The Cuisinart did a good job in each test, too, and had the simplest controls of the bunch with just a pulse and on/stop button. There's a reason this Cuisinart is a classic, and it was also the lowest-priced induction-motor food processor we tested.

What we didn't like: A few minor issues—like the chute design with a pusher that easily falls out when inverted (unless it's locked in place), and a lid that positions the feed tube away from you, forcing you to reach across the machine—gave us some momentary annoyance. 

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

The Best Smaller Food Processor

Breville BFP660SIL Sous Chef 12-Cup Food Processor

$300 at Amazon $300 at Williams-Sonoma $300 at Target

What we liked: The smaller Breville Sous Chef has many of our larger top pick’s winning qualities: the same user-friendly design, quality build, and excellent adjustable slicing disk. While the 12-cup version lacks a built-in timer and is packaged with fewer disks and accessories, it's a capable cutter that’s quiet, smooth-running, and reasonably priced.

What we didn't like: For the price, we'd like to see a smaller, five-cup work bowl. This model took the most time out of our winners to make a uniform mirepoix. One tip: Stick with pulsing when chopping vegetables; if left to run, the machine can make them too watery.

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

The Best Food Processor Attachment for a Blender

Vitamix 12-Cup Food Processor Attachment

Orig. $250 $215 at Amazon $250 at Williams-Sonoma $250 at Walmart

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 (when used with the Ascent A3500 base)
• 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: This model 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: While adept at slicing, this model had issues uniformly chopping vegetables.
• GE 12-Cup Food Processor: This 12-cup model from GE had problems delivering a consistent dice and ended up mashing a portion of the vegetables. 
• Cuisinart Elemental 13-Cup Food Processor: This model from Cuisinart had performance issues compared to its 14-cup cousin, and cost nearly the same amount. 
• Cuisinart DLC-10SYP1 Pro Classic 10-Cup Food Processor: This smaller model from Cuisinart again couldn't keep up with our budget pick. It unevenly chopped vegetables, too.
• Braun 12-Cup Food Processor Ultra: The Braun 12-cup food processor couldn't slice or grate effectively. We found most of its attachments to be subpar.
• Ninja Plus Professional Food Processor: With a trio of attachments, the Ninja Plus food processor did a fine job, but food frequently got stuck under its lid. It struggled with smaller amounts of food, too.
• Cuisinart Elite Collection 2.0 14-Cup Food Processor: This food processor performed inconsistently and leaked.
• KitchenAid 14-Cup Food Processor with Commercial-Style Dicing Kit: This model broke midway through testing. It appears to no longer be available. 
• 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.

FAQs

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 commerce 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.
• Sal Vaglica was the equipment editor for Serious Eats. He's written many reviews for the site, including stockpots.
• For this review, we tested 20 food processors, using them to slice, pulse, and knead. 
• We first tested food processors in 2017.