Food Processor vs. Blender: Do You Really Need Both?

The best food processor should have a powerful motor of at least 600 watts, a stainless-steel S-blade that sits close to the bottom of the work bowl to prevent unprocessed food chunks, and a feed chute that can handle more sizable ingredients. “A wide feed chute makes life a lot easier when you’re dealing with larger veggies or blocks of cheese,” says Clark.

Unlike a blender, which excels with liquid-based recipes, a food processor is preferred for dry foods and creating thicker textures. It’s also a dream when it comes to “labor-intensive work that would typically require a lot of time, a variety of small kitchen gadgets, and excellent knife skills,” says Holley. Adds Pradhan, ”The blade is great for breaking down large hunks of food into small bits and pieces, and the pulse button allows you to have better precision over the exact texture you want.”

While liquid-based recipes are best for blenders, food processors excel with dry, tough, and fibrous ingredients. “Food processors are amazing when it comes to chopping, shredding, slicing, and mixing thicker ingredients,” says Clark, who uses hers for chopping onions and garlic, shredding carrots and Brussels sprouts, and pulsing cauliflower into rice. “It seriously saves me so much time in the kitchen.”

Pradhan’s food processor is her go-to for salsa verde, nut butter, hummus, and dips. But, she says, “My favorite, underrated use is to grate cheese. I use the grating disc to shred cheddar. For Parmigiano-Reggiano, no disc is needed; just cut the block into bite-size pieces and whirl it up to form a fine powder.”

Stevens uses her food processor to blitz pesto and hummus, but appreciates that the spinning blades can also maintain texture without turning everything into a puree. “I use it for shredding cabbage or carrots, which makes salads and slaws much faster,” she says. For pastry chef Lyew, a food processor is essential for baking prep, especially for whipping up large batches of dough, tart crusts, and fruit pastes.

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Blender vs. food processor: A quick comparison

While a food processor can do nearly everything a blender can, a blender cannot tackle half the kitchen tasks that a food processor can, says Holley. Here’s how the two kitchen tools compare.

Blender:

• Best for liquid-based ingredients and silky-smooth results
• Consists of a tall jar container, fixed sharp blades, and motorized base
• Excels at pureeing, crushing ice, blending batters, emulsifying, and creating nut milks

Food processor:

• Best for dense, tough, and dry ingredients that typically require a sharp knife
• Consists of a wide work bowl, multiple blades and discs, and motorized base
• Excels at shredding, slicing, dicing, mincing, ricing, emulsifying, pulsing stale bread into bread crumbs, kneading dough, chopping, and creating nut butters

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Do you need both a food processor and a blender?

While Lyew and Stevens are big fans of blenders for most daily meal prep, they, like the rest of our experts, suggest keeping both appliances if you have the space. “They each have their strengths and do different things really well,” says Clark. However, if, like me, you really don’t have the extra square footage to spare, Holley recommends considering the following to decide whether a food processor vs. blender is best for your home.