Both cookbook authors we spoke with essentially said these add-ons were a waste of money, so we didn’t test any. She’s also a prolific food blogger and the author of “Make Ahead Bread,” which is aimed at demystifying the art of bread making. Donna loves checking out new kitchen gadgets—she’s tested hundreds of products for The Spruce Eats, including eight food choppers for this roundup. No need for electricity, manual pushing, or cranking—this cordless electric chopper has a 5-cup capacity and can chop up to 40 onions on a single charge.
Unlike manual choppers, though, electric food choppers can also make salad dressing, mayonnaise, and other emulsified sauces. To start, we tested how evenly each food processor could chop a variety of ingredients, including onions, fibrous carrots, soft tomatoes, delicate parsley, and whole almonds. We also made a 1-cup batch of mayonnaise in the processors to see how quickly and evenly they could produce a stable emulsification.
The work bowl is tall rather than wide, so in testing it did a good job chopping small amounts of garlic. It also did well chopping onions, nuts, tomatoes, carrots, and mushrooms. It wasn’t perfect at chopping green peppers, but it was acceptable for recipes. Besides chopping, we used it to make a tomato puree and peanut butter, and it performed well with those tasks. Food processors are versatile appliances every home cook should have in their kitchen.
In our tests, we found that a 14-cup capacity food processor bowl was ideal for most people. In fact, of all the food processors, blenders, and immersion blenders we’ve tested for various guides, we found making mayo easiest in a mini food processor like the Food Chopper. That’s because its lid has a small indent to hold oil and a small hole that allows the oil to pour directly onto the blades so you have a consistent, measured stream.
While these manual choppers still require a little bit of elbow grease to chop down into the veggies, it’s still much easier and quicker than chopping all of these veggies by hand. They are quite compact as well, so if you don’t have a ton of extra kitchen space, you’ll likely still be able to fit a manual food chopper into a drawer or cabinet. The zigzag blade in this chopper performs more cuts per push than choppers with an X-blade, and the blade rotates with each push so food is chopped more evenly. We found that it did well with onions, carrots, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and a little less well with green peppers.
You will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item. Shipping costs are non-refundable and we are not responsible for items lost in return transit, so you are encouraged to keep track of the tracking number. It features two speeds — chop and puree — so you can prepare anything from pico de gallo to pesto in one cuisinart air fryer oven compact gadget. We also love that it has a drizzle basin where you can pour liquids in slowly for maximum emulsification and a pour spout for easy serving. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value. Please note that any items on sale, or marked as final sale are NOT eligible for return.
While standard food processors have between 8 and 14 cups of capacity, mini food processors offer 2 to 5 cups for small jobs, such as preparing homemade dressings and dips. Though they don’t have grating or slicing attachments, they can chop an onion or whip up a batch of salad dressing in seconds. Plus, they save you the headache of cleaning a large machine without sacrificing too much power. The Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor has been our top pick since 2013 because it does everything a great food processor should do, without any unnecessary extras. Unlike those of some other models we tested, the Cuisinart’s base remained stable on the counter, even when processing double batches of dough. This model is easy to clean, and the attachments store neatly inside the bowl, preventing clutter.
Additionally, the revolutionary BladeLock System keeps the blade secure during processing and pouring. Including three different bowls, this Ninja set allows you to make everything from salsa to smoothies. There is a 6-cup pitcher for smoothies and frozen cocktails, a 5-cup processor bowl for hummus and other dips, and a 2-cup chopper for dicing vegetables. Both the processor bowl and the chopper have four blades as opposed to two, meaning they are more efficient than most models. This set even comes with storage lids, so you can conveniently store leftovers in the fridge — no additional container required.
You’ll find replacement bowls, food pushers, blades, and various other attachments for the Cuisinart Custom 14 and the Breville Sous Chef 16 Pro (though we should note that they can be quite expensive). You can sometimes find cheaper, secondhand parts on eBay, but just be sure you get the right model number. In our tests, the Cuisinart evenly chopped almost everything, including juicy tomatoes.
That said, we also looked at mini food processors (also called mini choppers). Some full-size models come with an extra, smaller bowl that essentially acts as a mini food processor, but in most cases, we found that a dedicated mini processor did a better job. Mini food processors have bowls ranging in capacity from about 1½ cups to 6 cups, but we focused on those with a capacity of about three cups.