Food processors tend to be either one of the hardest working appliances in your kitchen, or get used a few times before being relegated to the back of the cupboard.
To help you choose one that falls firmly in the first category, we’ve gone hunting for the best rated food processors that are versatile enough to chop up all the vegetables for your next soup or slow cooker meal, convert into a juicer and even make bread dough.
Food processors have been around for domestic use since the 1970s (fun fact: the Magimix was the first and is still one of the top brands on the market.)
No matter what you are cooking, a good food processor is going to save you time and effort whether its blending soup, making pesto, hummus, pastry, or even ice-cream.
That’s why we’ve rounded up our top picks and employed the help of our resident food expert Kim Coverdale to share her tips on how to find the best food processor for you. Our of our favourites is the Magimix 5200XL, which is currently $201.80 off – now on sale for $879.20 (down from $1099). You can read our hands-on review here.
HOW WE CHOOSE PRODUCTS
To help you find the best food processor for your needs and budget, we asked news.com.au Shopping Food Expert Kim Coverdale for her expert advice and recommendations on what to look for when buying a food processor. With more than 25 years of experience in food publishing, including working as Food Director of Australia’s top food site taste.com.au, she certainly knows her kitchen gadgets. In addition, our shopping team read hundreds of customer reviews and looked at test results and ratings from product review sites to find the best food processor from premium to budget to help you find the right one.
In this article
OUR TOP PICKS
BEST FOOD PROCESSOR OVERALL
Magimix 5200XL Food Processor, $879.20 (down from $1099), Myer
What You Need To Know
For anyone wanting to invest in the ultimate food processor, the Magimix 5200XL is seriously worth considering. It packs a beastly 1100W motor and 11 versatile accessories, including three different sized bowls (1.2L, 2.6L and 3.6L) to suit all types of tasks – small or large. Made in France, this high end Magimix option is designed to create enough servings for around six people, and can knead two family sized loaves or grate up to 1.4kg of vegetables in one go.
And if you want minimal noisy, the 5200XL is has been Quiet Mark approved.
Tried and Tested by Shopping Writer Tahnee-Jae Lopez-Vito
This Magimix 5200XL Food Processor is what the air fryer is to the cooking world. It might be the only food prep tool you’ll need, with everything from slicers and dicers to a citrus juicer attachment neatly packed into one super sleek machine.
As someone who’s purchased several appliances that remain either unopened or barely used, it was great to see how practical everything is since many of the individual attachments are versatile; for example, the main and mini S-blades can be used to chop and mince, while the dough blade can blend and knead. I’ve saved so much time on food prep that I can make weekly lunches without spending a chunk of my Sunday standing over chopping board and cramped hands.
However, the Magimix 5200XL food processor is not the cheapest product out there and likely a more suitable investment for people who tend to cook a wide variety of food in large batches.
Check out the full hands-on review here.
*Product was loaned for review.
BEST VERSATILE FOOD PROCESSOR
NutriBullet 7-Cup Food Processor NBP07100, $215.96 (down from $269.95)
What You Need To Know
Tackle anything from crumbly cheese and hard root vegetables to stretchy dough with this NutriBullet food processor. It features an easy to use interface and dishwasher safe design, and includes five attachments to accommodate different cooking needs. Achieve a variety of textures with three speed settings, including low to spiralise and shred, and high for mincing, pureeing and even milling. You can also hit the pulse button to chop breadcrumbs, nuts and more.
When it comes to accessories, you can expect a 450W motor and several attachments including a chopping blade, reversible thick slice/shredding disc, reversible thin slice/shreding disc, spiralizer disc and dough blade.
Kenwood MultiPro Express FDP65740, $219, The Good Guys
What You Need To Know
This three-in-one food processor from Kenwood is a blender, food processor and coffee grinder – all in one. It comes with a 1.5 litre blender jar, a large 3L work bowl, a chopping blade, reversible slicing and grating discs and an extra fine grating disc, a dough blade and a multi mill which can handle grinding coffee beans. It comes with a handy storage pouch to keep everything safely stored away. It’s powered by a 1000W motor so it has a decent amount of grunt.
BEST SMALL FOOD PROCESSORS
KitchenAid 3.5 Cup Mini Food Chopper 5KFC3516AER, $129 (down from $169), Myer
What You Need To Know
This KitchenAid 3.5-cup mini food chopper falls into the small but mighty category. It is beloved by Amazon shoppers with more than 10,000 global five-star reviews and The Spruce rated it as “excellent” with a 4.8 out of five score. It has a compact design so you will need to pre-chop raw fruit and veg before processing but it’s a great size if you are making small portions and softer ingredients. Plus, several parts are dishwasher safe (top rack only).
Reviewers praise the mini food chopper as easy to use and easy to clean, with most shoppers loving how it doesn’t get too noisy.
“This was perfect for my small family. It’s easy to use and works great for chopping fruits and vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions, etc... I used to take forever chopping each individually to make soups and this little machine does it all for me in a flash,” a customer wrote, rating it five stars.
KitchenAid KFP0718CU 7 Cup Food Processor, $249 (down from $299), Bing Lee
What You Need To Know
KitchenAid makes some of the best food processors on the market and their models regularly make the lists of best food processors to buy.
Their full size food processors come in three sizes – seven cup, nine cup and 13 cup so it really depends on what size you need.
If you are looking for a smaller food processor, Amazon shoppers gave the seven cup model 4.6 stars out of five, with many commenting on the easy one-click bowl assembly. It has more than 3,000 global ratings on Amazon Australia and is described by five-star reviewers as being the “perfect size”, “easy to clean” and “well designed”.
If you are looking for a larger food processor, the 13 cup KitchenAid Food Processor was given top marks by The Spruce for being “very user-friendly” and versatile.
“This is my first food processor and it works wonderfully for all kinds of chopping and mixing, especially if you are vegan and use lots of vegetables everyday,” an impressed reviewer posted.
BEST LARGE FOOD PROCESSOR
Breville The Kitchen Wizz Pro Food Processor BFP800, $599 (down from $699), Bing Lee
What You Need To Know
news.com.au Shopping Food Expert Kim Coverdale says Breville is her go-to pick for food processor brands. “The Breville The Kitchen Wizz 15 Pro Food Processor is a wonderful, easy-to-use machine. The powerful 2000W motor means it’s on the pricier end of the scale. With two sized bowls, it gives the option of processing large or small amounts of food, evenly. It has an in-built timer, a large and small feed chute and a variety of different cutting blades, including a dough blade. You can also expect plenty of disc options, such as a and discs such as a julienne disc and French fry cutting disc.
BEST BUDGET FOOD PROCESSORS
Russell Hobbs Classic Food Processor RHFP5000, $79 (down from $109.95), Amazon Australia
What You Need To Know
Shopping on a budget? This Russell Hobbs food processor is under $100 and will get the job done – perfect if you’re working in a smaller kitchen or want to try an affordable model before you invest in something else.
You’ve got three different speed settings, a pulse function, a non-slip base and a variety of attachments including a dough blade and two reversible slicing discs.There is also a smaller work bowl and mini blade for smaller jobs. It’s also dishwasher safe, making it easy to use and clean.
So how does it rate? It scored 4.1 stars out of five for ease of use, easy to clean and value for money from Amazon shoppers. And of the food processors recommended by consumer site Choice, this is the cheapest and outperformed others that cost three times the price. It comes with a large and small blade and two sizes of bowls.
“By far one of the best blenders I’ve ever used. Extremely noisy, but very powerful,” praised a shopper.
Ninja Precision Food Processor BN650, $199.20 (down from $249.99), Myer
What You Need To Know
Looking for something easy to use? This model from Ninja offers automatic one-touch food programming, so you’ll never get confused about how to use this food processor. You can chop, mix, puree, slice and grate at the touch of a button. There’s also a unique quad blade for ultimate precision when preparing your food. This one has nine cup capacity and is powered by an 850W motor.
“I’ve had my food processor for a couple of months and am really happy with it. It’s easy to use and clean up. For the price I think it does a really good job of all the basics: grating, slicing, pureeing,” a reviewer posted.
Kenwood Multipro Compact Large Food Processor, $159, The Good Guys
What You Need To Know
Another budget-priced food processor that will save you time and energy in the kitchen. One of the great things about this model is it’s both a blender and a food processor. It comes with a processing bowl and a plastic blender jug as well as chopping blades, beaters and reversible slicing discs. It is powered by an 800W motor and has two variable speeds and a pulse setting.
Amazon shoppers gave it a 4.5 out of five-star rating for ease of use. Offering plenty of attachments, speed customisation and dishwasher safe parts, this model is ideal for someone who is new to food processors.
“This food processor is extremely good, really efficient for small families and it doesn’t consume a lot of space on the counter so makes it more usable and doesn’t need to be stored elsewhere,” a happy customer wrote.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING A FOOD PROCESSOR
Can’t decide on which food processor to get stuck into? We asked Kim for her top tips on what to consider when choosing the right food processor for your kitchen (and wallet).
Bowl capacity
How many ingredients are you planning on adding? Kim says food processors can range from small personal choppers with a 500ml-capacity bowl to a much larger 3.5-litre bowl size. “Want the best of both worlds? Choose a food processor that comes with a mini bowl insert for smaller batches of food,” she suggested.”
Extra wide feed chute
An extra wide feed chute is an “imperative” feature for our food expert, especially if you’re planning on doing more than just blitz breadcrumbs.
“With a large feed chute, you shouldn’t need to cut up your ingredients first: whole apples can be sliced into rounds for a delicious apple tart or whole beetroot julienne for an elegant salad,” Kim said.
“Pop in a peeled onion for wafer thin slices to make the jammiest caramelised onion or slice up a stick of salami for your next pizza.
“Some food processors with a large chute also have a smaller, mini feed chute in the food pusher. It allows you to add liquids to the processor while it’s operating without it spraying back out as it would if added through the large chute.”
Blades and accessories
“There’s some great accessories that you can get with your food processor; from weighing scales, juicing attachments, potato chip cutters and peelers. One of my favourites is a stacked blade (more than one standard blade) which is great for chopping evenly sized pieces of meat, making mince or for when you’ve got a lot of ingredients in the bowl and you need the mixture to be processed evenly and quickly, rather than just the ingredients around the bottom of the bowl being crushed,” Kim recommended.
“Cutting discs with reversible blades are convenient, making it a matter of just flipping the disc over for a different sized grate or a different thickness when slicing. It also means less clutter for storage by minimising the number of attachments.”
Motor size
“For some serious power for intense chopping and mixing, you can’t go past a whopping 2000W motor. For everyday blitzing and whipping, you can grab a great processor with a powerful motor of around 1200W,” the resident expert suggested.
“Just be careful if you’re choosing a cheap, less powerful machine but want to use it for heavy-duty mixing, you don’t want to overwork the motor and burn it out.”
Stability
“For a hardworking food processor, you need to have a heavy base along with rubber feet to avoid the processor moving too much during heavy work,” Kim said.
Safety features
“Does the lid lock into place? Will the machine run if the lid is not on properly – this is a very important safety mechanism to have as you don’t want to accidentally bump the on switch while filling the processor with ingredients,” she added.
Storage
“Make sure the food processor comes with a handy storage box for all of the wonderful and weird blades and accessories. Easy access and being able to find them all in one place will mean you’ll be more inclined to use the machine to its full potential,” Kim noted.
IS IT WORTH BUYING A FOOD PROCESSOR?
news.com.au Shopping Food Expert Kim Coverdale says a food processor is one of the best food prep appliances that you can have in your kitchen.
“It’s a super-speedy, jack of all trades machine, not just an appliance you use to crush biscuits for your slice bases,” she said.
Kim’s other top uses for a food processor:
• Make pastry, pizza, bread and biscuit doughs a breeze when preparing in the food processor.
• Don’t want to get the stand mixer out of the cupboard? A food processor is ideal for whipping up cheesecake mixtures, cake batters and tart fillings.
• Got loads of vegetables to grate for your favourite zucchini slice? Pop them in the food processor and save time (and your fingertips!). Grate potatoes for rostis and hash browns or cut into wafer-thin slices for a perfect potato bake.
• Prep grated or shredded cheese to store in the freezer and have on hand when you need it.
• Whiz up fish cakes, meatballs or rissoles for a super-tender texture once cooked.
“The key for an amazing recipe outcome all falls back to the preparation, so if you’re serious about cooking, getting the right food processor for you is essential,” she added.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FOOD PROCESSOR AND A BLENDER?
Kim says a food processors is made up of a large bowl set, which sits on top of a heavy-based motor. “It crushes, slices, shreds, shaves, mixes, grates, pulses, kneads and chops ingredients using different blade attachments. Meanwhile, blenders contain a jug set over a smaller base and motor.
“Blenders have a much smaller blade and surface area to a food processor, making them more suited for liquids rather than solid ingredients – think cocktails, smoothies and soups,” Kim explained.
“They can be used for chopping small amounts of food like herbs and nuts for dips and pesto, but not for large amounts as the food doesn’t circulate as much as it does in a food processor (unless it’s a top of the range, super powerful blender). A blender however, is great for crushing ice, whereas a food processor is not.”
Although if you want the best of both worlds, you might want to consider buying a food processor that comes with a blender attachment (or vice versa).
news.com.au Shopping Food Expert Kim Coverdale
Kim Coverdale has worked in food publishing for more than 25 years, including as Food Director on some of Australia’s leading food titles including taste.com.au. and Super Food Ideas. She trained in the respected Australian Women’s Weekly test kitchen and now creates, writes and edits recipes for food magazines and online. Her passion for baking means you can find her in the kitchen most days creating new sweet food trends with flavour twists.
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Originally published as Best food processors to buy in Australia in 2023
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