Stand mixers and food processors: Which is the right choice for me? (2024)

FAQs

Stand mixers and food processors: Which is the right choice for me? ›

A food processor is the perfect go-to if you like preparing fresh food for most meals. A stand mixer is great if you need something for regular use, as well as those special occasions when you want to bake something more creative or prepare a big family meal.

A stand mixer on its own is an essential tool for mixing, mashing, whipping and other in-bowl functions that help with baking, large batch meal prep and beyond. A food processor is designed for prepping fresh produce like fruits, vegetables, cheeses and more, along with pureeing or whipping soups, dips and more.

A KitchenAid^® stand mixer can perform some of the same tasks as a food processor using one of the included beater accessories. Mix, whip, knead and even mash potatoes or avocados in your stand mixer bowl.

You want to make a cake, so you need a stand mixer, right? And a blender for smoothies, and a food processor for finely chopping veggies. But hang on... your food processor can also mix cakes, your blender can do the veggies, and mixers come with attachments for all sorts of extra functions.

A food processor has a wide bowl and a motor similar to that of a mixer grinder, which you may confuse with the other. It's a kitchen appliance with several blades that allow you to slice, mince, dice, chop, and grate vegetables, fruits, and meat. A food processor makes cooking faster and more efficient.

It makes economic sense to purchase a stand mixer in place of multiple appliances, but it's also a great way to remove clutter and confusion in your kitchen. A stand mixer could be the answer to an easier, stress-free and simpler culinary experience!

To mix ingredients with a food processor, use a multi-purpose blade. This process is also similar to chopping—only for less time. Use quick pulses and monitor your mixture to make sure you don't overdo it. You can also use a food processor to cut butter into flour or cream butter with sugar.

If you're making several pies at a time, the stand mixer provides great capacity. You can achieve a tender, flaky pastry with either appliance. But food processors are considered by some to be a more efficient way of cutting butter into flour/dry ingredients, making them ideal for galette doughs and crumble toppings.

Magimix Food Processors are famous for their 'all in one' baking method, and are able to blitz up a cake batter in as little as 7 seconds. Instead of following multiple separate steps of adding in each ingredient at a time, you simply add both of the wet and dry ingredients together and mix them in the Food Processor.

4. It Replaces About 6 Kitchen Tools. If you've been counting, we've already replaced a cheese grater, a sharp knife, a blender, a whisk, a pastry cutter, a garlic press... The point is, taking advantage of your food processor means that you can make one recipe without dirtying four bowls and every knife you own.

Can I put ice in a food processor? ›

Crush Your Own Ice

You probably never thought of your food processor as a tool to help you make co*cktails, but it's perfect for crushing ice: simply pulse up to 2 cups of ice cubes until finely ground (8 to 10 pulses).

Blenders usually have one blade, tall jars and are typically used for wetter recipes. Food processors, on the other hand, usually have multiple blades and wide work bowls and can usually shred and slice in addition to pureeing. Read on for more details on the differences between a food processor and a blender.

On the other hand, a food processor may not be the best choice for certain tasks, such as making smoothies or pureeing hard vegetables like carrots or potatoes. Some models also produce more noise than blenders when operating, so this may also be worth considering.

USE A FOOD PROCESSOR TO MIX OR BLEND

Your food processor can tackle the tough and rigorous work of shredding, kneading, dicing and grinding, but it can also blend a combination of ingredients into hom*ogeneous mixtures in a similar fashion as a blender.

A food processor's value lies within cooking tasks that are messy (like grating a bunch of cheese), large-scale (like plowing through a pile of potatoes for latkes), or both. Food processors come with a variety of different attachments, so you can perform lots of tasks with them.

KNEADING DOUGH: WHO GETS THE EDGE? Both types of appliances offer powerful help with bread. If speed is your thing, using a food processor for kneading dough edges out the stand mixer ever so slightly because of its lightning-quick speed. If you're making pizza dough for dinner, the food processor is a great go-to.

Food processors are great for recipes that require chopping, making purees and even a flaky pie dough; they also come with accessories so you can slice and shred and sometimes dice and spiralize. Blenders are good for liquids, like smoothies, frozen drinks and soups.

Any food processor can knead dough as long as it has a multipurpose metal blade. A special dough blade is an added bonus. A larger model may be best for making dough in a food processor, depending on how many or how large your batches are. For example, KitchenAid brand offers a 13-cup food processor with a dough blade.