Making pizza dough was our most motor-intensive test, and the Custom 14 kneaded it effortlessly, without wiggling across the counter like some other processors we tried. Michael Sullivan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and has covered food processors since 2016. He’s spent dozens of hours shredding cheese, chopping vegetables, mixing doughs, and whipping up mayonnaise for this guide.
With a Cuisinart food processor, you can quickly and effortlessly chop, grind or mix your favorite foods. When this innovative appliance first debuted in 1973, chefs and home cooks across the country quickly realized that Cuisinart food processors could drastically speed up food preparation. Today, thanks to new technology and added functions, cuisinart air fryer oven are even more efficient at making food for your favorite dishes.
The size of the feed tubes in the lid (used to insert potatoes, carrots, or other hunks of food to be sliced or shredded) also makes a difference. Most full-size processors come with a wide feed tube that’s fitted with a food presser, which has a narrower feed tube (with its own presser) in the center. The larger tube should be big enough to easily fit a block of cheese or a potato, so you don’t have to spend time cutting food into pieces that are small enough to fit. But the smaller tube needs to be narrow enough to keep carrots and other thin items upright during slicing.
It wasn’t able to chop as evenly as the KitchenAid 3.5 Cup Food Chopper, and it moved across the counter as it struggled to chop a tough jumbo carrot. The Cuisinart FP-12DCN Elite Collection Food Processor also has this handy feature, but most models (including the Cuisinart Custom 14) require that you loosen the lid before removing the bowl. We recommend this large, 16-cup processor only if you’re cooking for a crowd multiple times a week. The Sous Chef is more than twice the price of the Cuisinart Custom 14, and it’s more powerful (and much bigger) than most people need.
Soaking the parts in hot soapy water is a great way to remove any remaining residue. If you can, it’s a good idea to get into the nooks and crannies around the blade, inside the food pressers, and around the tube with a bottle brush or toothbrush. In the case of electric food processors, make sure that the device is cooled down and unplugged if you are going to wipe the base with a hot, damp cloth. The chopper cup is actually two pieces—an inner cup that holds the food, and an outer shroud.
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. A low-battery indicator warns when it’s time to recharge the battery, which takes about two hours for a full charge. But if you need just a bit more work done, and the battery is low, a 10-minute charge is enough to handle cuisinart air fryer oven up to 11 more onions. There’s a handy pouring spout for dispensing liquids, and a drizzle hole in the lid that’s handy for making emulsified sauces or for slowly adding liquid to purees. A whipping blade is included, which stores easily in the mixer bowl so it won’t get lost in the gadget drawer. All of the parts that contact food are dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.
This processor also comes with a limited one-year product warranty and has a 25-year warranty on the motor—by far the longest warranty on a motor of any of the models we tested. This KitchenAid comes with relatively few parts and it disassembles easily for cleaning. We especially appreciate that the bowl has a handle, since we struggled to remove bowls that didn’t have one, especially when we were working with greasy hands. The Food Chopper is covered by a one-year warranty, which is standard for appliances in this price range, and you can get the base in a wide range of colors. Most blades are made of stainless steel, because they can withstand rust or corrosion.
For folks who like to do a lot of prepping ahead, extra bowls with covers are available for separate purchase. The KitchenAid chopped more evenly than the other mini processors we tested, and it did so quickly. It diced onions more consistently than the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus, and it chopped a quartered tomato evenly—we had to cut a tomato into smaller pieces to get the same results using other models. The Food Chopper also minced parsley cleanly, whereas the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus tore it, causing it to oxidize faster. One task this processor doesn’t excel at is chopping whole almonds evenly, but that’s typical of most mini choppers. We’ve been long-term testing the Cuisinart Custom 14 since 2013, and it remains a workhorse in the kitchen.
Electric food choppers (aka mini food processors) are a great way to cut down on prep time. They take up a small amount of counter space and require access to an outlet (though there are some battery-operated choppers that are cord-free). Unlike full-size food processors, electric choppers are much smaller, only have one blade option, and cannot process as much food.