Updated on Sep. 11, 2024
Our expert culinary team tested and reviewed six appliances to find the best mini food processors for quick and easy prep work. Here's what we found.
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Not every prep task is small enough for a knife and cutting board, and not every job is big enough to bust out your full-size food processor. For this test, our team defined a mini food processor as having a 5-cup capacity or less, which is about half the capacity of a standard model that holds 10 cups or more.
So which mini food processor should you add to your kitchen? Our Test Kitchen team tested the top appliance brands by mincing, chopping and blending not just one but a variety of recipes to find the best mini food processors on the market today. Here are our top picks.
The KitchenAid Cordless Food Chopper is our top pick for best mini food processor—and it comes with all the bells and whistles.
Right out of the box, there’s one feature that sets this mini food processor apart: It’s cordless! After charging, you can set up this 5-cup food processor anywhere without being tethered to an outlet. You may not think this is a feature you’ll appreciate, but if you have a kitchen that’s short on outlets or just full of helpers, this is a bonus you’ll grow to love. (We also gave our stamp of approval to KitchenAid’s cordless hand mixer.)
When it comes to the functionality of this cord-free gadget, our team couldn’t be happier. You can mix up a batch of fresh salsa or pico de gallo in seconds with this countertop gadget. And when it came to crushing up cookies for a crumb crust, Rashanda says that this mini food processor created the finest and most even crumbs of any unit.
KichenAid’s cordless food chopper also comes equipped with a whisk attachment that’s perfect for making homemade whipped cream in a flash. It also has two different speeds so you can pulse, puree and emulsify at different levels.
While it costs more than our other best mini food processor picks, there’s lots to love about this gadget: “This is a mighty machine with a lot of zip,” Rashanda says.
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Cuisinart’s large food processors are a favorite in our Test Kitchen, so it was no surprise to our team that the brand’s smaller model earned top marks in our test. This Cuisinart 4-Cup Elemental Food Processor is a well-built option that’s worthy of a place in your kitchen—and it won’t break the bank.
This mini food processor has plenty of space for breaking down fistfuls of cookies for your next dirt pudding. It’s even the right size for prepping ingredients to make delicate macarons. Having a compact machine to tackle these small-scale tasks is very convenient.
Another major perk of this mini food processor is the multi-function blade. Press the “chop” button on the machine and this food processor whirls away using the sharper blade—perfect for mincing onions or making a quick fruit salsa. Opt for the “grind” button and the blade spins the reverse way using the blunt edge to grind up breadcrumbs and spices.
Don’t let the price fool you—it’s very sturdy and doesn’t budge while you work. “This is a dependable machine,” Rashanda says. “Cuisinart is known for quality and durability when it comes to food processors.”
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For small prep jobs, you can’t go wrong with the Black + Decker Electric Food Chopper. It has the smallest capacity of the models we tested, but it whips through tasks like chopping nuts or mincing garlic with ease.
While this Black + Decker gadget was great at basic prep jobs, Rashanda says that this product really shines when it comes to making small batches of sauces and salsas. “For making something like a chimichurri,” she says, “I give this an A+.” The single blade breaks down the herbs, garlic, oil and vinegar with ease. Plus, the small hole in the top makes it easy to stream in olive oil to make vinaigrettes and other sauces. “It has great power for being so small,” Rashanda praises.
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