Do You Really Need Both a Blender and a Food Processor? Here's What Experts Say

Though they might look and even act similarly, food processors and blenders excel at different tasks in the kitchen. If you’re looking to invest in just one appliance, the right choice depends on how you cook.

In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab, we’ve tested over 18 food processors and 69 blenders (not to mention immersion blenders and food choppers).

Here’s what you should know about how food processors and blenders work, what they’re best for, and when you can use one in place of the other.

The slicing disc on a food processor makes even cuts.

Food processors have flat, S-shaped blades that chop and puree food. The blade sits inside a round work bowl with tall, straight sides on a sturdy base. The bowl is typically clear so you can see inside.

They come in various sizes, from compact 2- to 5-cup models to large-capacity machines that hold 14 to 16 cups.

The lid on a food processor usually has a feed tube with a smaller hole for drizzling liquids. This way you can add liquid to the bowl while the unit is running, which is great for emulsifying dressings and thick sauces like mayo or hollandaise.

When you use an attachment, such as a slicing or shredding blade, the feed tube becomes a guide so you can gradually add foods like cucumbers, cheese, or apples. Some feed tubes have multiple sizes that you can adjust to fit your ingredients. The more snugly your food fits inside the tube, the more evenly it slices or shreds.

Food processors tend to have fewer speeds than blenders.

Most have a pulse button, which helps you control the size of your food inside the work bowl. It also helps food chop evenly because the stop-and-go action acts like a mixer—the heavier or larger foods fall to the bottom when the blade stops, so they can be broken down next.

Dicing onions in a food processor.

• Chopping: Food processors are great for breaking down small- to medium-sized ingredients like garlic, onions, herbs, nuts, and veggies for mirepoix. You can even make salsa and grind raw meat in a food processor.
• Pureeing: You can make fruit and vegetable purees, dips, and sauces with little added liquid, such as baby food, hummus, and pesto. The fast-moving, sharp blades yield smooth, fluffy results, and you can easily scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to serve every last bit.
• Slicing and shredding: Unlike blenders, most food processors include a slicing and shredding disc that quickly does the knife work for dishes like scalloped potatoes, latkes, and zucchini bread. On some models, you can adjust slice thickness to match your recipe.
• Dicing and spiralizing: Some newer food processors also include a dicing blade to make neat little cubes of vegetables, fruit, and cheese for salads, sangria, or an ice cream sundae bar. Others can spiralize vegetables into ribbons or a pasta alternative.
• Dough: You can make lightning-fast pizza, pasta, and pie dough in a food processor. The blade cuts cold butter into flour and kneads dough to bouncy perfection in a fraction of the time it takes by hand.

Blender blades are angled upward and usually have more prongs than a food processor blade. The angle of the prongs creates a whirling effect that helps liquids move smoothly around the blender jug.

They come in an assortment of sizes, from compact personal blenders to about 8 cups. Blender jugs are commonly made out of strong, clear plastic. You can also find glass and stainless steel models.

To work well, blenders require liquid. All of the lids on models we’ve tested have a removable cap so you can add liquid as you go to prevent jams.

Making peanut butter in a blender and a food processor.

• Liquids: Blenders are ideal for smoothies, frozen drinks, and soups.
• Purees: High-powered blenders can make hummus and nut butter, but they usually need extra liquid or a tamper, a wand used to move ingredients around the blender jar during use. Blenders are also a little harder to scrape clean than a food processor, since the blades are typically fixed and the jar often has ridges inside.

Two top-performing picks.

While each can stand in for the other from time to time, you’ll get the best results by using each appliance where it excels.

• Both can chop, but food processors do it more evenly and are less likely to bruise delicate herbs.
• They can both make purees like hummus, sauces, and nut butters, but food processors are more efficient, require less liquid, and are easier to scrape out of the bowl.
• Don’t blend soup in a food processor. It’s not leakproof like a blender jar and can easily overflow. Plus, the blades may not stay in place, so ingredients can spill when you’re transferring them to a serving bowl.
• Don’t crush ice in a food processor. It’s harsh on the thin blade and motor, and the base can jump around on the counter.
• You can’t slice or shred in a blender unless yours comes with slicing or shredding attachments, which is highly uncommon.
• Chopping meat is best in a food processor too, as it cuts more evenly and the bowl is easier to clean.

Think of a food processor as a kitchen assistant. It chops, purees, makes pastry dough, slices, shreds, and may even dice or spiralize. A blender is meant primarily for smoothies, drinks, and other liquids.

Nicole Papantoniou is the senior director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab, where she oversees all kitchen product testing, plus food and cooking coverage. She uses a blender daily for her morning shake and loves a good mini food processor for prepping.

Lizzy Briskin is a contributing analyst in the Kitchen Lab. She holds a culinary degree and has tested blenders, food processors, immersion blenders, and food choppers in the Lab. After discovering how easy it is to make pasta dough in a food processor, she’s never going back to hand-kneading.