The Best Food Processors, According to Chefs Who Use Them Every Single Day

We asked four chefs to share their best food processors for slicing, dicing, and beyond, and for tips on how these workhorse appliances can make cooking way easier

When it comes to kitchen essentials, the chef’s knife gets all the glory; it’s romantic, precise, even a little dangerous. But if there’s one tool that quietly does the heavy lifting in many professional kitchens, it’s the food processor. Food processors are perhaps the least sexy of the kitchen appliances. They don’t demand the same level of skill as a knife, nor gleam when the light hits them just so, but for many chefs, they are indispensable — a machine that saves hours of prep and transforms your kitchen’s capacity for efficiency.

Cooking is essentially a litany of small, precise, and seemingly endless tasks. It is in these tasks — the chopping, the mixing, the mincing — that the food processor shines. Virtually every element of mise en place can be expedited with a great food processor. I spoke to four Los Angeles chefs about their favorite food processors — and what they use them for.

Our experts:

• Jeff Strauss, chef-owner of OyBar and Jeff’s Table
• Balo Orozco, chef and founder of Sunset Cultures
• Kat Turner, chef-partner at Highly Likely
• Karla Subero Pittol, chef and owner of Chainsaw

What should I use my food processor for?

What shouldn’t you use your food processor for? Depending on the size and power of your food processor, it can be used for everything from making dips, sauces, spreads, and soups to finely mincing vegetables and herbs, blending batters, and chopping nuts.

“We make a ton of aioli,” says Strauss. “Three kinds at OyBar and two at Jeff’s Table. We also shred a ton of cheese for burgers and quesadillas, and cabbage for sauerkraut.” At his restaurants, the food processor is an in dependable helpmate, a machine that streamlines prep work in ways no knife ever could. He’s not alone in that sentiment.

Turner’s team at Highly Likely uses their food processor to prep hot sauce for fermentation every week. Pittol has cracked the code on making all her butter crust doughs in a food processor, a shortcut that has saved her untold hours of labor. Orozco, who often prepares food for large events, relies on it for sheer efficiency, saying, “For an event of 60, 100, or 400 people, I’ll use a food processor because it’s more efficient.” Orozco even relies on his for drying and breaking down herbs for kombucha production. Food processors aren’t just about saving time; they can also unlock efficiencies and techniques that would be difficult or impractical by hand.

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Beyond their practicality, food processors also carry a certain nostalgia. Turner’s first memories of a food processor date back to her child. “Growing up, my mother had a special cabinet made with a swing shelf where our food processor lived,” she says. “That was over four decades ago, and it’s still the same food processor that I use every time I visit home.” Strauss recalls a similar childhood moment. “I remember my mom getting her first one in the 1970s—a Cuisinart. When she opened the box, there was this glow on her face like she was staring into the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.”

What are the best food processors that chefs recommend?

For many chefs, the Robot Coupe R2 is the undisputed king of food processors. Nearly every chef interviewed swore by it as the industry standard. “It’s an absolute workhorse and saves my team a ton of prep hours,” says Kat Turner, chef-partner at Highly Likely in Los Angeles.

“If I’m cooking for a friend at home, I might use a mortar and pestle, but for large-scale work, I always use a Robot Coupe,” Oroczo adds.

Another big hitter? Breville’s line of Paradice and Sous Chef food processors; Strauss has one in his lineup of daily drivers. The Paradice models are best for large-batch dicing with precision and consistent sizing, while the Sous Chef line is more versatile for slicing, grating, and shredding.

What are the best affordable food processors?

While a Robot Coupe R2 may be a must-have for commercial kitchens, the vast majority of us don’t have a $1,200 budget for adding a food processor to our arsenal.

Cuisinart’s food processors are perhaps the most ubiquitous of any brand’s, found in kitchens minimal and luxurious, lowbrow and highbrow. That’s likely because they’re reliable, versatile, uncomplicated, and super-affordable, with the smallest models starting at under $30. Plus, the bowl can be thrown in the dishwasher for easy cleaning.

Ninja, known for its powerful blenders, has also released a popular, powerful line of food processors. At under $150, its 1200-watt Professional XL processor is probably the best bang for your buck for a machine of its size (12 cups!), with ultra-sharp blades that uniformly mix batter, whip up purees, or slice paper-thin vegetables for ratatouille.

Already own a Vitamix and don’t want to add another appliance to your crowded cupboards? Vitamix makes a food processor attachment to convert your blender into a processor in seconds, and it’s equipped with Self-Detect technology for safe, seamless integration. Using your Vitamix’s own powerful blades and motor, it can shred, dice, chop, knead, and more.

If you’re still salivating over the Robot Coupe, longing for its power, we have a pro tip: the more affordable Magimix is the same brand — Robot Coupe is just the name of the professional line. For smaller batches and tasks, you can pick up the Magimix Le Micro for just $137, and while the 4200XL model is still a cool $449, that’s a significant price dip from the R2 (with comparable power and features).

How to care for your food processor

For those who do keep a food processor in their kitchen, chefs have a few tips to make the most of it. Strauss recommends a simple cleaning hack: use the machine itself to help clean sticky sauces by pulsing a bit of soapy water before washing. Pittol warns that plastic bowls absorb strong odors — garlic, turmeric — and can stain, so if possible, it’s best to have separate bowls for sweet and savory applications. She also stresses the importance of obeying the maximum fill line: Ignore it at your peril.

Do I really need a food processor or can I get away with doing everything by hand? When should I just use a blender?

While food processors absolutely make food prep quicker and easier for many purposes, they’re not perfect. Ask a chef what they don’t use their food processor for, and you’ll likely get the same answer: slicing, fine chopping, and making anything that needs to be truly smooth. You’d think for precision the machines would have us beat but when it comes to getting things perfect, the well-trained chef with knife-in-hand still reigns supreme.

Turner avoids using hers for onions, garlic, or shallots because “the blade bruises these delicate babies and can cause bitterness in the final product.” And when it comes to silky-smooth purées? That’s blender territory. Orozco doesn’t bother using a food processor for purées at all. “I know a lot of chefs do, but I use it for rough chopping. If I need something smooth, I’ll use a blender.” And definitely don’t try to whip up a smoothie or soup in a food processor; your blender will offer a superior texture for true liquids.

For home cooks, the question of whether a food processor is a must-have tool is more divisive. Some chefs insist that every kitchen, professional or not, should have one. Strauss calls it “absolutely” essential, particularly for making aioli or homemade mayo, which he considers a game-changer. Pittol loves its time-saving potential, especially for shredding cheese, while Turner relies on hers for chopping nuts, making pie dough, and whipping up compound butters.

But not everyone is convinced. Even Turner, who swears by hers in a restaurant setting, acknowledges that some things are simply better done by hand. “There’s something witchy and magical about grinding spices and aromatics by hand,” she says.

At the end of the day, food processors are exactly what the title suggests—a workhorse. They don’t replace knife skills, they won’t give you perfect slices, and they won’t create silky-smooth textures. But for professionals, they’re indispensable, and even for home cooks, they can free up time and make cooking more joyful by taking over the most tedious tasks—if you know how to use them right.

To totally misquote a line from Guy Ritchie’s 1998 gangster classic film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: “It’s knives for show, and food processors for a pro.”