4 Best Food Processors for Chopping, Slicing, and More
Chop veggies and shred cheese in no time.
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I’ll never forget the first time I used a food processor. I was interviewing for an assistant food editor job at Ladies’ Home Journal and was tasked with making chicken meatballs. (Normal, right?) I had no idea what I was doing, but I had so much fun whipping them up…and it was so easy!
That’s the beauty of food processors. They might look intimidating, but they're easy to use and save you time in the kitchen. They make quick work of chopping, shredding, slicing and kneading dough. Even better, they can help you whip up silky purees, fresh sauces and other recipes that look surprisingly impressive.
Our top picks:
- Best overall: Breville Sous Chef 12-Cup Food Processor
- Best value: GE 12-Cup Food Processor
- Best classic: Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor
As director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab, my team and I have tested food processors for years. We’ve tested more than 80 food processors since 2011, and I worked at Cuisinart (the brand known for its food processors) for nearly four years, helping develop a food processor and create recipes for it. Based on our Lab testing, these are the best food processors you can buy, plus tips on how to choose the best one for you.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Simple design and clear controls
- Includes many blades and discs that come in a handy, as well as a caddy organizer
Cons
- Heavy
Breville’s Sous Chef food processors have landed at the top of our best-tested lists for years. This heavy-duty 12-cup model features clear measurement markings and a sleek, simple design. It's easy to operate because there are only a few controls, and the machine tells you when it's assembled correctly. It’s an ideal medium-sized option, with larger 16-cup and smaller 9-cup models also available.
This food processor includes a convenient caddy with dedicated slots for the spindle and accessories: fine- and coarse-shredding discs, an adjustable slicing disc, an S-blade, and a dough blade. It also has a small and a large chute, which allows you to safely and efficiently process different-sized foods. The many accessories make it highly versatile, though cleaning them can be cumbersome. Fortunately, they’re dishwasher-safe. The bowl and lid are dishwasher-safe, but hand-washing is recommended to help preserve the plastic and interlock components.
TESTING RESULTS: Unlike food processors with finicky bowl locks, the Breville Sous Chef 12 lined up easily and locked in on the first try every time. The measurement markings and clear, large buttons also make it very easy to use. In our tests, it scored five out of five for mincing parsley, grinding Parmesan cheese, shredding carrots, and slicing and pureeing tomatoes. However, it struggled to produce evenly sized slices and shred soft cheese like mozzarella—a common food processor challenge.
| Capacity | 12-cup |
| Dimensions | 8.75" x 11" x 17" |
| Weight | 20 lbs |
| Power | 1440W |
| Included accessories | S-blade, reversible shredder, adjustable slicing disc, and dough blade |
Pros
- Simple, compact design
- Great value for price
- Easy to use controls
Cons
- Some uncut pieces may be left behind after shredding and slicing
The GE 12-cup food processor has a simple, compact design and still comes with all the accessories you need to chop, slice, shred, and make bread dough like other food processors, but also to make French fries and whip cream. It even comes with a small work bowl for when you want to process fewer ingredients at a time—that’s more than some food processors that cost twice as much!
It’s lightweight, with a single control knob that lets you pulse or process food on low or high. It has a large, medium, and small feed tube.
TESTING RESULTS: This food process scored average marks for most tests and better than average when it came to grinding parmesan cheese, shredding carrots and cheese, and slicing tomatoes. It took a little longer to process than other models we tested, but it got the job done.
| Capacity | 12-cup |
| Dimensions | 13" x 11" x 16" |
| Weight | 10 lbs |
| Power | 550W |
| Included accessories | Mixing blade, reversible shredding disc, reversible slicing disc, French fry disc, dough blade, emulsifier disc, mini chopping bowl, spatula |
Pros
- Large capacity
- Straightforward design
- Easy to clean
Cons
- Tricky to assemble shredding and slicing attachments
The Cuisinart DFP-14 has a simple, user-friendly design with a sturdy base and two controls: one for continuous processing and one for pulsing. It features a large 14-cup work bowl, along with a large rear feed tube for bigger ingredients. There’s also a smaller feed tube with a drizzle hole.
The food processor includes basic attachments, which are top-rack dishwasher-safe: a medium shredding disc and an adjustable slicing disc. However, it does not include a storage case for the accessories.
TESTING RESULTS: This food processor scored above average in all of our food processing tests, including chopping onions, mincing parsley, grating Parmesan cheese, shredding carrots and cheese, and slicing zucchini and pepperoni. It didn’t puree canned tomatoes 100% smoothly, but it was average compared to others. The food processor didn’t move during any of the tests while it was on. The bowl’s straight edges made it easy to scrape and clean in our tests.
We particularly liked the paddle design of the buttons because they're wide and operate by pushing down—no fussing with a touchpad. Our one gripe: It was slightly tricky to assemble and disassemble the slicing and shredding attachments.
| Capacity | 14-cup |
| Dimensions | 11" x 7.9" x 14.8" |
| Weight | 18 lbs |
| Power | 720W |
| Included accessories | Standard slicing disc, medium shredding disc, spatula |
Pros
- Compact
- Stores all of the accessories inside the bowl
- Includes many accessories, including a dicing attachment
Cons
- Fitting all of the accessories inside the food processor can be tricky without reading the user manual
Breville’s Paradice 9 changed the game in food processors by creating a complete system that stores all the pieces in one place—inside the work bowl! (We just recommend keeping the user guide close to show you exactly how.)
The 9-cup unit has an S-blade, a dough blade, a fine- and coarse-shredding disc, an adjustable slicing disc, and a dicing attachment. It’s small, but solid, with the same clear markings in the work bowls as the Sous Chef 16. The control panel is more streamlined than the Sous Chef 16 with just a power button, pulse button, and a start/pause button.
The feed tube is as large and wide, and it comes with a medium feed tube and cover. It also doubles as a measuring cup with printed ounce and milliliter measurements.
TESTING RESULTS: This food processor performed very well in testing, scoring four out of five in almost every performance test. It grated Parmesan cheese amongst the quickest and most even, and it sliced zucchini paper-thin on the thinnest setting. Tomatoes sliced neatly after the initial cut, and pepperoni mostly even. The accessories were all easy to use and adjust.
| Capacity | 9-cup |
| Dimensions | 12" x 8" x 17.5" |
| Weight | 15.5 lbs |
| Power | 625W |
| Included accesssories | Reversible shredding blade, adjustable slicing blade, dough blade, s-blade, Paradice kit |
Other food processors we tested
- Cuisinart 9-Cup Continuous Feed Food Processor: This 9-cup model performed well in testing and costs less than most food processors at around $170. It comes with basic accessories (two reversible slicing and shredding discs) and a work bowl that allows you to slice and shred directly into a serving bowl, which some people may not need.
- Cuisinart FP-130 13-Cup Food Processor: This food processor offers a large capacity and a classic, yet upgraded design with four paddle buttons. It worked well, but didn’t chop or shred ingredients as evenly or as neatly as other models we tested.
- Ninja BL770 Kitchen System All-in-One Food Processor & Blender: If you’re looking for a food processor that can double as a blender, consider this food processor. It comes with an 8-cup food processor bowl that chops onions and parsley well, a 72-ounce blender jar, and two 16-ounce personal blending cups. Note that it cannot slice or shred.
- Vitamix 12-Cup Food Processor Attachment: This large 12-cup work bowl might come in handy for Vitamix users—it can be attached to your existing blender base, transforming your Vitamix into a food processor. It was powerful in our tests, but a little too much so for chopping parsley.
How we test food processors
In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab, we’ve tested more than 80 food processors since 2011. For each model, we evaluate performance and ease of use through a series of standardized tasks.
✔️ Performance: We measure how evenly each machine dices onions, minces garlic and parsley, grinds Parmesan, shreds carrots and fresh mozzarella, slices tomatoes, zucchini, and pepperoni, and kneads dough.
We also time every task, weigh any leftover unprocessed bits to measure efficiency, and, when necessary, run ingredients through sieves to check for consistency and uniformity.
For models with special features—such as cooking functions or spiralizer attachments—we run additional tests tailored to those settings.
✔️ Ease of use: We review the clarity of the owner’s manual, how intuitive the assembly, feed chute, lid, and controls are, the range of settings, and how easy each part is to clean.
What to look for in a food processor
✔️ Size: Food processors range in size from small (1 to 2 cups), which are great for herbs and small batches of prep work, eight to nine cups that are good for beginners, and then 12 to 14 cups that are more suited for people cooking for families.
✔️ Power: The top-performing food processors we tested range in wattage from 550 watts to 1450 watts. This number often correlates with the size and weight of the food processor, so it’s hard to compare food processors just by wattage.
✔️ Accessories: All food processors come with a work bowl for chopping and pureeing, and most come with blades for slicing and shredding. Advanced models offer multiple settings for slicing and shredding, and some come with additional accessories like smaller work bowls, French fry discs, or a dicing attachment.
✔️ Settings and speeds: Most food processors have just one speed with the ability to pulse. Some offer a low speed as well, which is ideal for more delicate tasks, but some offer high, medium, and low speeds for maximum control.
✔️ Weight: A heavier base helps in terms of performance, but heft doesn't necessarily relate to better results. Lighter materials make food processors more affordable and easier to move around and store. Details like suction cups help keep lighter bases from moving around on the countertop.
✔️ Warranty: Food processors are known as an investment, but some people boast that they have had theirs for over 30 years. Before you splurge, check the brand's warranty: The length often varies between the motor and the accessories.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Nicole Papantoniou is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab, where she oversees all testing and content related to kitchen products. She uses food processors regularly and actually started her career in food by testing food processors and developing recipes for them. She wrote this article based on Lab testing and her own experience with each pick.
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