A food processor is a fantastic labor-saving device, handling all your chopping, shredding, and grating needs – but if you have a small kitchen, you might be hesitant about buying one. After all, they’re not the prettiest of appliances, and if you don’t have sufficient cupboard space then it will have to sit out on your (already cluttered) countertop. That’s where mini food processors come in — and the latest ones are a lot more powerful and versatile than you might expect.
As TechRadar‘s Homes Editor, I test new kitchen tech every month, and I’ve been truly impressed by just how much you can do with a compact food processor. These are tiny appliances with real chopping power, taking the time-consuming knifework out of preparing vegetables, cheese and breadcrumbs, when you’re cooking from scratch.
Powerful
Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L
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You might only have room for a mini food processor in your bijou kitchen, but that doesn’t mean you have to settle for an appliance with a weak motor that can barely shred a cucumber. The Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L is small, but its motor and blades can power through tough ingredients.
This is the smallest version of Cuisinart’s FlexPrep, and upon opening its box, we were surprised by just how compact it is. It’s also super versatile: where most mini food processors (including the other two in this list) arrive with just one blade, this comes with several. There’s a reversible shredding disc with fine or medium options depending which way up it’s fitted; a whipping disc for eggs and cream; and a chopping blade for all your slicing and dicing needs.
During our tests it made light work of chopping vegetables and making breadcrumbs, and could handle making pastry, too. The two-sided grating disc was excellent for shredding carrots and zucchini as well, and didn’t feel like it was pulling the ingredients through the feed tube too quickly. Making nut butter didn’t go quite so well, though – the nuts at the bottom of the bowl weren’t blended as smoothly as those higher up.
The bowl, lid and attachments can be safely put into the top rack of your dishwasher for easy cleanup, and the whole bundle is super affordable with a list price of just $89.95 / £70 (about AU$130).
However, note that the Cuisinart FlexPrep does take up a little more space than the KitchenAid Food Chopper; its bowl is slightly larger, and its more powerful motor means its base is a tad taller, too. I’d still place it in the petite category, though, offering a great balance of size and power.
Read our full Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L review
Compact
KitchenAid Food Chopper
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KitchenAid’s Food Chopper has an even smaller bowl than the Cuisinart FlexPrep above, with a capacity of just 3.5 cups, or 830ml. It has a more compact base, which makes it even easier to tuck into a tiny kitchen cupboard. The tradeoff is that it isn’t as powerful as its Cuisinart counterpart – nevertheless, it’s still an handy little food processor for light tasks. In the words of our reviewer, Cesci Angell: “it chops things, and it chops them well”.
You only get one blade here, but it’s perfectly capable of handling everyday prep such as mincing garlic, chopping onions, and making breadcrumbs. It was effective at slicing vegetables, too (something not all mini choppers can do), and we appreciated the fact that it has a dedicated “puree” mode (ideal for making nut butter) in addition to “chop” and “pulse”.
A hole in the lid for drizzling in oil and other ingredients is a nice touch for making dressings and pesto – and, as you’d expect from a KitchenAid appliance, the Food Chopper comes in a choice of fun colors as well. We tested the timeless gloss black version, but depending on where you shop, you can also find it in red, cream, white, and even a pastel blue.
We don’t love the fact that you have to keep your chosen button pressed down in order to slice and dice, and we found this little food processor particularly noisy. Definitely don’t use it to make almond butter while anyone is trying to nap.
If you want to chop more than this little appliance can handle, there’s a larger version of this food processor available with double the capacity (although, of course, that also means it takes up much more valuable space on your kitchen counter).
Read our full KitchenAid Food Chopper review
Blender combo
Bosch ErgoMaster 6
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Immersion blenders are incredibly useful for making smooth soups and sauces, but this ergonomic model from Bosch also does double duty as a mini food processor. It’s truly tiny, but just right for chopping up an onion or two without any tears, shredding cheese, or chopping a handful of nuts (perfect for making my favorite tasty dukkah).
As the name suggests, the ErgoMaster 6 is super comfortable to hold, with a non-slip silicone handle that’s shaped to fit comfortably in your palm, and a trigger control that you can squeeze with your whole hand, not just a finger. Its various accessories are easy to attach and remove as well. In addition to the mini food processor attachment, you also get a balloon whisk and, of course, a blending foot that’s cleverly designed to prevent splashes. Just make sure you take your pan off the heat, and immerse the head of the blender before you get started.
It worked like a dream (and during testing I made so much pizza sauce, I was eating margheritas for a month), but it was the mini chopper attachment that really won me over. It’s just so convenient, quickly shredding cheddar with less faff than a box grater, chopping herbs, and cutting up bell peppers, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic with ease. Once you have this in your kitchen, you’ll barely use your chef’s knife.
The only ingredient that it struggled with was ice. According to Bosch’s instruction leaflet, this should have been transformed to slush in a few second. During my tests, however, it took over a minute. That still isn’t a bad result, though; even dedicated smoothie makers usually take about 30 seconds to turn ice into snow.
Read our full Bosch ErgoMaster 6 review
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catherine.ellis@futurenet.com (Cat Ellis)
