What Food Processor Can Do? Here Are 5 Things You Should Know

Have you been thinking about how much work it is to prep food at home? Do you feel tired crying over onion chopping? Or would you like to try making your own steamed food like dim sum and dumplings? But it is just too tiring to get it into smaller pieces manually, you might be enlight by what's more in a food processor.

A food processor is yet another multifunctional kitchen gadget you should own. If you still have to ask why you should have this for your collection, then there is a possibility that you've been missed out. A food processor is that magic tool that will change your life in a good way. So many people say they have their life changed and getting their kitchen task done easier and quicker thanks to the food processor. 

Now, if you think that this appliance is only useful to make some puree, then we are here to help you to get a better understanding of what this kitchen gadget is truly capable of. Yes, it can do more than just making puree and baby food. You can do just so much with a food processor. Without further ado, here are a few things you can do with a food processor:

Grind your Meat

You can make your own meatballs, ham, and any other kind of food requiring ground meat. Now, you don't have to waste some extra money to buy yourself a meat grinder because now you can grind your meat in your food processor. You just need to make sure that you buy the food processor with a meat grinding option. You might also take a look at our review of the best meat grinder food processor between Gourmia and Cuisinart for your needs.

Usually, a bigger food processor can handle this task, while the smaller ones, or as we call them mini choppers, have a smaller motor and weaker power so maybe it's not the right unit to grind your meat. You may also need to use different blades and settings so you can get the perfect grounded meat that you desire. Just read the instructions carefully and follow them to get the best experience. 

Make sauces, dips, dressings, and others

This is the easy one and you probably already can guess that this is the kind of thing a food processor can do. But isn't it cool? All you have to do is just prepare the ingredients, throw them all into the food processor, hit pulse, and the food processor will do the job for you. Easy and fast. Check out which one you need for a time-saving food processor for busy kitchen.

You will be surprised at how fast it will process the ingredients into one smooth perfectly blended sauce, dip, and dressing. You don't even have to watch it. You can do other kitchen tasks while the food processor does the job and you will save a lot of time and energy by it. 

Slice, Chop, and Shred

Preparing a salad can be quite a job if you have to do everything yourself by hand. You have to prepare all of the vegetables and fruit, cut them, slice them, and there is just too much effort to do. And salad should be easy to make. No more boring slicing task.

All you have to do is put the fruit and vegetables in the food processor and it will create a neat, similar cut of your fruits and veggies and you will get it ready in a minute. Just like these two Hamilton Beach mini food processors. You may need to chop some vegetables into smaller sizes before putting them into the food processor, but that's the only extra task you need to do manually. Other than that, the food processor got you covered. 

Make any Dough

If you think that making dough can only be done using a hand mixer, then sorry to say that it is an outdated misconception. Now you can make any dough using the food processor as well. And the best part is that you don't have to hold the unit as if you do use the hand mixer. All you have to do is just insert the ingredients into the food processor and it will mix the dough for you. And it will do the job a lot faster than a hand mixer can ever promise you.

Of course, you still need to pay attention to the recipes. Some recipes require you to pour the different ingredients in different batches. But you can just follow the instructions and let the food processor do the blending process for you. The other thing a food processor can do to replace a hand mixer is making whipped cream. If you think that a hand mixer is the only tool you can use to whip creams, actually the food processor can do a better job. It whipped the cream just as fast as the mixer and you don't have to hold it during the process. 

Making Crumbs

Making crumbs is probably a simple task to do. But it will take too much time and energy if you do it manually. On the other hand, you can make any kind of crumbs such as bread crumbs or cookie crumbs using the food processor. It will create even-textured crumbs easily in a minute. You can save your energy by putting the bread or cookies in the food processor and hit the pulse button. To make the job easier for the food processor, you may need to use the grater attachment to feed the bread to the food processor instead of just shoving the whole bread inside.

By using the grater attachment, you insert the smaller pieces of bread and it will help the food processor to do its job easier. While shoving a big chunk of bread will make the bread stuck on the blade and it will make the food processor work harder and may overheat the motor due to the effort. 

Make your own Nut Butter

Nut butter is good, but homemade nut butter is even better. Plus, it will upgrade your lovely crunchy toast stacks in the morning. With a food processor, you can make your own nut butter with ease. This tool is very helpful and effective. It will help you make the perfect nut butter even if you never made your own nut butter your whole life. All you need is just roasted nuts. Any kind of nuts and that's it. Put the nuts into the bowl and hit the pulse. The food processor will start to chop and grind the nuts until it gets oily. Continue the process until you get the desired texture. After it's done, season it however you like and now you have your own nut butter and you can make it as often as you need to. 

5 Things You Should Know about Food Processor

1. Chop your food into smaller sizes

Even though the food processor is an amazing tool that can do so much, sometimes, they still need some help to do their job perfectly. For example, for some tough food such as meat, you may need to chop them into smaller pieces before feeding them into the food processor. This will help the food processor to process the meat easier and faster. Best do for other ingredients as well for the ideal texture.

Sometimes tough food can make the food processor work harder and this can overheat the motor. You don't want this to happen because your food processor may stop working if it gets overheated and it will not last very long if you make it work too hard too often. So be mindful about this and help the food processor do its job better by chopping your food into smaller pieces first. 

2. Apply a thin layer of cooking oil if needed

A food processor is a simple tool you can clean easily. But for some tasks, it required a thin spray of cooking oil to prevent stickiness. For example, if you are making dough in the food processor, the dough is usually sticky and heavy. Putting a thin layer of cooking oil will help the food processor to mix the dough easier.

You also need to pay attention to the water input. Maybe you need to add some water along the way to the mixing process. The other thing to consider is when using the food processor to mix the dough, the motor will go continuously so you need to watch it and adjust a couple of things such as adding more water to get the texture that you desire. Well, you might consider getting a friendly budget stand mixer under $250 if you would like to get a deeper touch with baking.

3. Don't overload the food processor

In order to work perfectly all the time, the food processor needs to be treated gently. Just because it's a kitchen gadget that can do it all, doesn't mean you can abuse it and use it in a rigid way. The one important thing to pay attention to is the capacity and the amount of food you insert into the processor. Make sure that you never insert food more than half the food processor capacity.

This is because the food processor needs some room so the food inside can move around. If you shove too much food into the processor, not only will there not be enough room for the food to move and make the food stuck, but it also will make the motor work harder and may cause overheating. If this happens, then the food processor will shut down automatically. 

4. Clean the food processor thoroughly

One thing you need to keep in mind is to clean the food processor well. A clean food processor guarantees better performances and longer life. So make sure that you clean your food processor right away after you are done using it. In normal usage, it is very easy to clean. You can clean it in the sink using some dish soap and water. And if you get some food stuck on the blade, you can soak it in soapy water for a moment and then clean it.

If you make some greasy food involving oils such as butter, creams, and dough, you may need to do a deep cleansing. Some parts of the food processor might be trickier to clean. For example, the blade part. Some food processors with a cleaning kit also available so you can clean them easily. If your unit doesn't come with a cleaning kit, you can clean them thoroughly using a bottle cleaner kit. A bottle cleaner kit usually comes with brushes that are very handy when it comes to clean the tricky parts of the food processor. 

5. Use the appropriate blade for every task

Different types of blades in a food processor comes for a reason. Each blade is designed to do certain jobs. For example, the blade you use to chop vegetables is different from the one you use to make sauces or puree. Make sure you use the right blade every time. If you don't, you will get a different texture from what you expected. You don't want a vegetable puree when you need finely chopped vegetables, right? And if you use the wrong blade you have to redo the whole operation once again to make it right.

Before using your food processor, you need to learn about every part that comes with it and how to use them. This is also applied to the settings you need to set for a certain task. For example, the motor won't work continuously when you chop vegetables, but it will when you make dough or cream. Pay attention to this kind of detail to get the best experience of food processing. 

Bottom Line

As a versatile kitchen appliance, a food processor could really be helpful for any household. From those who live alone to big family members' servings, it sure does make every cooking preparation easier and efficiently. Making your chicken in a pot spices up easier!

Aside from only preparing your puree or baby food, you can have any kind of cooking experiment start from this moment by getting one food processor that goes along well with your needs, in capacity and size, also the design of the appliance. This is because food processors come in various capacities and models to fit different preferences. Yet overall, you need to know that it is really worth buying for your better cooking time at home.

And what's better than one kitchen gadget that does it all? Hit up your cart and bring one home before your favorite one gone!