While I love cooking—I went to culinary school and have been developing recipes for over 10 years—I love a time-saving kitchen shortcut even more. If there’s a trick to simplify my prep or cleanup time, I’m all ears.
Good news: An appliance you may already own, a food processor, is one of the most underrated tools for chopping, slicing, and dicing. Don’t just take it from me; my colleagues in the Good Housekeeping Kitchen & Cooking Lab and Test Kitchen agree. I sourced their favorite time-saving uses for a food processor. Some were surprising, and all were handy. Here are our favorite ways to use a food processor and its attachments, ranked from least to most surprising. (Numbers 1 and 2 convinced me that I need a food processor with a dicing attachment!)
10. Cabbage for slaw
I’m a big fan of coleslaw, but I don’t love breaking down a head of cabbage. It’s not only an upper-body workout, but it also leaves my kitchen flecked with tiny, clingy cabbage bits.
Instead, use the food processor: Cut your cabbage into a few large wedges (quarters or eighths, depending on the size of your cabbage and the chute on your food processor lid) and feed the wedges through the slicing attachment. Within minutes, you’ll have a pile of thinly shredded cabbage ready to dress for a perfect picnic side dish.
9. Salsa
Blitz up a fresh appetizer by adding tomatoes (chop any large ones into chunks first), yellow onion, herbs, and a jalapeño to the food processor bowl. In just a few pulses, you’ll get a scoopable, minced texture.
8. Chopped nuts
Whether you’re making granola, a nutty streusel, or an elegant salad topping, chopping nuts can be messy. Instead, dump them into the food processor bowl and pulse them into the right size for your recipe. Or, don’t let up on the power button and make your own nut butter.
7. Cauliflower rice
Turn an entire head of cauliflower into a fluffy rice alternative. Chop the head into large florets, then pulse in the bowl until grainy. Cauliflower rice is a great blank canvas for your favorite seasonings and sauces. Serve it in place of (or mixed into) regular rice for a grain bowl, fried rice, or burrito.
6. Onions for caramelizing
Caramelizing onions takes time, but slicing them doesn’t have to. Use the thin-slicing disc to create even slivers with plenty of surface area to soften and caramelize into a jammy texture. They’re perfect for topping pizzas, stuffing sandwiches, or filling tarts.
5. Apples for baking
Next time you’re craving an all-American pie, crisp, or tart, save time and slice your apples in a food processor. Peel the apples, then cut each side to separate the core. Discard the cores and feed the apple chunks through the chute with the slicing attachment for uniform pieces that will cook evenly.
4. Herbs
When you need a mountain of herbs but want to skip the sore shoulder, toss them in your food processor and let the blade do the work. This is a great shortcut for herby dishes like tabbouleh, pesto, chimichurri, or an herb salad. And don’t be afraid of stems—the tender stems on cilantro, parsley, and dill are all perfectly fine to chop.
3. Egg salad
Fluffy egg salad makes an excellent lunch spread on bread, dolloped over leafy greens, or dipped with salty potato chips. And it comes together in a snap in your trusty food processor.
Pile hard-boiled eggs into the bowl and whiz them into a uniform texture. If you prefer a chunkier salad, pulse the eggs a few times to leave some larger pieces in the mix. You can add mayo and seasonings directly to the food processor for a smooth salad, or dress the eggs in a separate bowl to maintain more texture.
2. Mirepoix
The essential base for classical French cooking, mirepoix is a combination of onions, carrots, and celery. Technically, the proportion should be two parts onion to one part each of carrots and celery, but you make the rules in your kitchen.
For this food processor trick, you’ll need a dicing attachment. Press vegetable chunks through the dicing blade for evenly cut cubes that infuse your sauces, soups, and braises with their signature sweet allium flavor.
1. Greek salad
Instead of working through a pile of cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions for a crisp Greek salad, run the vegetables through the dicing attachment. You’ll have a presentable, colorful veggie side dish that’s just missing its dressing.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Lizzy Briskin is a contributing analyst in the Good Housekeeping Kitchen & Cooking Lab, where she tests and writes about everything from immersion blenders to grills. She has a professional culinary degree, and her favorite use for a food processor is five-minute pasta dough.
