The Miniature Kitchen Tool That Makes Nearly All Your Cooking Much Easier

Tiny but powerful, the fast-spinning food processor is an absolute boon to home chefs of all levels. These itty bitty machines save you from hours of hand mixing or dicing with their rotating blades. "A food processor is great for saving time, especially when you're cooking for a large group," explained chef Tony Coppernoll of Salt Lake City's Rouser. "It can also help cut costs — shredding your own cheese or potatoes is often cheaper per pound than buying pre-shredded versions." Coppernoll also exclusively told Chowhound that the tool is a great addition primarily for its efficiency, saying "it definitely makes certain tasks faster — like chopping, puréeing, or making dough."

These little tools are excellent for slicing potatoes and avoiding mistakes when crafting crispy hash browns or dicing up some tomatoes for restaurant-style salsa at home. True devotees plug in their machines not just when slicing parsley for tabbouleh, but also when kneading pie dough or even mixing a cream sauce — it's this versatility combined with ease that could have you reaching for it time and time again.

What recipes just scream for the application of a food processor? Think of your favorite sauces: "Surprisingly, [food processors] also handle some more unconventional jobs really well, like making emulsified sauces such as hollandaise or even mixing doughs like pâte à choux," said chef Tony Coppernoll. An emulsified sauce takes hard-to-mix combinations, such as oil and water, and uses an emulsifying agent, such as eggs, honey, tomato paste, or mustard, to create a stable mixture that does not immediately separate. This process is essential for achieving creamy sauces such as mayonnaise or hollandaise. A food processor collides the ingredients together at a high speed and mixes in the fat molecules evenly, ensuring your sauce is smooth and thick. The same concept applies when blending smooth, fluffy hummus, which needs the fatty olive oil and sticky tahini mixed in evenly with acidic lemon juice and thick chickpea purée.

Coppernoll also suggests letting your food processor shine in pastry prep: Crush graham crackers for cheesecake crusts or cut butter into dough quickly and evenly. The food processor does not get tired from repeated crushing or mixing motions as fast as the human hand and is guaranteed to provide a more even crumble or mix.