The Best Food Processors To Buy Online In Australia
Certain recipes require more finely cut and diced ingredients than what you might be able to do by hand, which is where the food processor comes in. These appliances are capable of finely dicing your ingredients, but they can also slice them, cut them into small or large pieces, and take your food prep to the next level. This makes them a valuable tool in the kitchen and vastly speeds up any recipe.
Best Overall Food Processor
KitchenAid 7 Cup Food Processor
- Versatile and comes with a variety of different blades
- Very simple to use
- Dishwasher-safe components
- Some people find the top loader slot is a bit too narrow
- Slight lag between the moment you press the pulse button and when the blades start spinning
This KitchenAid food processor is ideal for anyone who wants something that’s easy to use, easy to clean, and can do exactly what you need when it comes to food preparation. All you have in the way of buttons is a high setting, a low setting, and a pulse setting that also doubles as the off button. This simple setup allows you to either set the device to finely mince your ingredients to the desired level or manually control the blades by simply pressing down on the pulse button until you get the desired consistency.
The device is incredibly easy to assemble as well, and it’s only a matter of aligning the pegs with the holes. Most of the components are removable, so you can easily pour out whatever you have inside the container with a simple press of a button. As a bonus, the components are all dishwasher-friendly as well.
You also get a multi-purpose blade, a reversible medium slicing/shredding disc, a thick slicing disc, and a dough blade, which means that all of your bases are pretty much covered regardless of the recipe.
Best Budget Food Processor
Kenwood Multipro Compact Food Processor
- Comes with a large number of useful attachments
- Easy-to-use variable speed dial
- Doesn't take up too much storage space
- Plastic container that can only be washed by hand
- Some customers felt that the grating blades could be better
The Multipro comes with a good set of features for the price point, with the 3 speed settings that all food processors should have: high, low, and pulse.
It also comes with multiple blade attachments that you might need in order to prepare your ingredients. On top of all of that, it also has a glass blender and a whisk attachment, which means that it can essentially double as both a small blender and a stand mixer.
The blender itself isn’t the highest-quality plastic, but it’s durable enough, especially for this price range. The container could also have been a bit bigger since it’s very limited when it comes to its height, but you can still manage to fit in quite a bit of food.
The low price and the incredible versatility make this one of the best food processors for just about any kitchen.
Best Premium Food Processor
Breville the Kitchen Wizz 11 Plus Food Processor
- The chute size can allow you to fit a lot of different ingredients inside
- The different blades provide a lot of variety and come with a handy storage container
- Sturdy construction
- Comes with the same 1-year warranty as other processors, despite the higher cost
The one thing better than having many different blades and attachments is having a convenient place to store them all, and the small case that the Kitchen Wizz comes with allows you to do just that. This processor also comes with a much larger chute at the top, which allows it to fit different types of vegetables and doesn’t limit it quite as much as the narrower lids other processors come with.
Among the attachments, you have a stainless steel spindle, a micro-serrated S-blade, a reversible shredder, and a dough blade. However, the best attachment that this appliance comes with has to be the adjustable slicer that provides you with 24 different settings that you can choose from depending on how finely you want to dice up the contents in the food processor.
For a bit of added safety, you also have an interlock system that doesn’t allow the machine to turn on if all the components aren’t assembled properly or if something is loose.
Best Small Food Processor
Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus DLC-2A Food Processor
- Compact and can fit in any kitchen
- Simple to use and to clean
- Comes with a lid lock safety feature
- Only has one speed
- Container capacity is limited and might require you to chop up ingredients in order to make them fit
This compact little device is a great addition to your kitchen if you don’t really have much of a need for a full-sized food processor but still need to finely slice ingredients now and then. Speaking of slicing, the Mini-Prep comes with a slice-and-grind feature, which essentially switches the direction of the blade so that the sharp front can slice the ingredients placed inside while the blunt back can grind them up.
You also have two small holes at the top of the lid that are meant to be used to add oils or other liquids that you might want to infuse into the salad or puree. This device also comes with a safety switch under the lid that disables the processor from turning on unless the lid is firmly in place.
This is one of the best food processors for kitchens that don’t have a lot of counter space, but if you want something with a bit more power or variety in the blade department, then you might need to get something a bit bigger.
Best Food Processor Brands
Breville products always come with a lot of options and additional equipment that make them stand out for the flexibility they offer. On the other hand, while KitchenAid products may not have as many additional features, they are especially renowned for their high-quality design and overall sturdy components.
How to Choose the Right Food Processor
Brands aside, some characteristics and features make certain food processors a much better option than others. Different budgets do play a role, as well as the fact that not everyone’s kitchen is going to be the same, so size and price are crucial in this equation. However, to conclude on what makes a food processor the best of the best, then the answer is simple: the attachments.
Most food processors come with a simple two-bladed cutter as their primary attachment and maybe a disk blade as a secondary one. However, the more attachments that you get for your processor, the more recipes you’ll be able to prepare, rather than just have it collect dust in the back of your cupboard until you decide to make some puree once in a blue moon.
When looking at speed settings, most food processors come with the standard high, low, and pulse settings. As for additional features, just make sure that the lid shuts properly and doesn’t allow any spillage (a lid lock safety feature is also always welcome). Lastly, try to find something that has easily removable components just to make cleaning a bit less frustrating.
What Size Food Processor Should I Get?
The answer often depends on your budget, as bigger food processors with larger containers are usually more expensive, so if you don’t plan to use them all that often, they might not be the best investment. Budget aside, the one other factor is the number of people you’ll regularly prepare food for.
If you’ve got a big family and you have the counter space as well as the money, then you might want to get a food processor with a two-litre capacity or more. If you're constrained to getting a smaller model however, you can work around it by processing your ingredients in several batches.
Can a Blender Be Used as a Food Processor?
Food processors have many different cutting options and sizes. A blender, on the other hand, is only useful for finely dicing or completely liquefying the food. The precision that the food processor brings to the table can’t be replicated, but you can’t really make a smoothie in it either (unless you have a very premium unit), so they generally can’t be switched out for one another.
That being said, there are top-of-the-line food processors that come with blender attachments and top-of-the-line blenders that come with many different speeds and blades, however, you will rarely find a device that performs both functions equally well.