When buying a food processor, you’ll probably be troubled with this common question: What size food processor do I need to buy among hundreds of models coming out on the current market every day?
To answer that question, for serving your various cooking purposes, there comes a variety of sizes for the food processor, and its capacity is measured by cup size. Useful tips about choosing the best food processors are revealed in this article, so it’s worth reading till the end!
What size food processor should you buy – Popular Types of Food Processor
Small/Mini food processor
For those living in tiny limited kitchen space and cooking for themselves, a mini or small food processor is a big help.
It’s compact to aid minor tasks like turning soft ingredients into bits. It can chop and mix ingredients spontaneously at high speed, so making sauces, mayonnaise, or even nut butter is a piece of cake!
A Mini food processor commonly goes with five or fewer cups size with a chopping blade and has no feed chute. Set-up and break-down the machine are straightforward, making it space-saving, and also easy-cleaning.
Sometimes a hand food processor is more potent to slice and chop than the electric one. You can conveniently chop vegetables, nuts, fruits, or herbs. The tool also allows you to mince meats or doughs without any hassle.
It merely works by putting one hand on the lid of the food processor, and the other hand spinning the handle, causing the blades to move and chop the ingredients in second.
Wondering about what size food processor for picnicking? Easy-peasy! Bring along this hand-powered food processor with you!
The simple and lightweight design makes it an ultimate tool for ease of transport. It can be used anywhere and anytime, without the need for electricity.
Medium Food Processor
A medium 6-9 cups-sized food processor meets the need for cooking meals within a small family of 4.
This medium food processor is a combination of space-saving and excellent capacity. It covers all the functions of a typical large processor, but with a smaller cup size and a weaker motor.
More than one feed chute is attached to a medium food processor to fit in various sizes of ingredients. By doing that, you should not have to pre-cut ingredients before putting it into the machine.
Large Food Processor
If you do baking, cooking for a huge family, or hold big parties, you should probably look for a more powerful, high-quality large food processor as an assistant for you.
Keep your creativity and passion for food alive with a large food processor! Its features can help you deal with even the most robust cooking tasks.
Large food processors equipped with wide feed chutes are the most user-friendly, flexible, and favorable models.
Its huge capacity (12-14 cup size) can accommodate a varying size and density of food and is ready to tackle every recipe you love to perfection. Besides, with a wide chute, you can save much time on chopping your ingredients before processing them in the food processor.
An obvious con of a large food processor is the space it takes to store, and it takes you much more effort to do the clean-up.
What to look for in a food processor
Motor
Motor power in food processors varies between types. Based on the ingredients you want to break down, you may get to choose your motor power correctly.
For small jobs, it doesn’t need too much power.
But chopping harsher ingredients like root vegetables, hard cheeses, or dense doughs may require a minimum motor of 600-watt.
Why? Because the poorly-made engines can’t handle tough and tricky ingredients easily. Plus, using the right size can prevent your device from burning out, negatively affecting the quality and consistency of your ingredients.
Attachments and Accessories
A good food processor has interchangeable accessories to serve different functions. These can include various sizes of bowls, blades with a variety of thicknesses.
The classic blade is for chopping, while the shorter bread blades can be used to knead dough in mere seconds. You can even process your food to a variety of patterns using a multi-size set of grating and slicing discs.
You may want a full set of blades to maximize the ability of your food processor.
When it comes to blades, quality is utterly crucial. Blades from stainless steel are the best, and they give you the highest durability and performance.
Feeding tube (Lid)
No matter what size food processor you intend to buy, it had better include a feeding tube.
For a feeding tube, make sure you choose the proper size that suits your ingredients. You may not want to pre-cut foods because the lids are too narrow. Or if lids are too loose, the content may spill out.
The ideal lids should have wide feeding tubes with an additional narrower pusher inside it, which helps a lot when feeding small ingredients like carrots.
Body
Check out the shape of the food processors you are considering.
Keeping it stable when processing foods is an important factor in food processors.
A wide, heavy base comes with a steady machine that supports stability and avoids your food processor from jumping around your kitchen corner when processing foods.
It will be perfect if the machine you choose has a pulse bottom suitable for chopping rough or kneading dough. Plus, a smooth touchpad for the controls provides ease of cleaning than physical raised buttons.
Take notice of the noise from the food processors. You may not expect to hear annoying or loud or high-pitched noise coming out when processing.
In Conclusion
Food processors are so handy for daily cooking, but their diversity on the market may give you a splitting headache.
As you are on the hunt for a food processor, think about what size to go for and what features to look for, then choose your most favorable model of food processor within your budget, and get ready for the best cooking experience.
We hope that our article has shed some light on your bewilderment regarding the question of what size food processor should you buy. Now, you have some purchases to make!
