Food Processor Recipes and Tips for Using This Versatile Appliance (2024)

FAQs

What can I use my food processor for recipes? ›

Attach the disc to the top of the drive adaptor and lock it into place along with the lid. Set the food processor to your desired speed, and insert your ingredients into the food tube. If your food processor includes a food pusher, use it to press harder food items like raw vegetables and fruits into the food tube.

Food processors are useful for far more than basic food prep and are the perfect tool to help you discover new flavors and textures. From delicious hoisin sauce to Greek cucumber sauce, to gazpacho, and a creamy dairy-free “ice cream” from bananas, you'll be delighted by the possibilities.

You pull it off the shelf to chop or slice vegetables, smooth out a sauce or pesto, make a tasty dip or hummus, or put together a quick frosting. But, there are countless recipes that can use the food processor to streamline preparation or easily produce mouthwatering flavors and textures.

What are the Differences Between a Food Processor and Blender? 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.

Place the onion in the food processor bowl and secure the lid. Process until you achieve the desired size. Use the pulse function in short bursts for chopped onions. For a finer, more minced consistency, process in longer bursts.

A great food processor is the versatile workhorse of a kitchen, making it easy to dice onions for a recipe, mince parsley for seasoning, grind nuts into smooth butter, knead dough for pizzas and pastas, puree tomatoes for sauce, slice fresh veggies, shred cheese and even more.

First, assemble the food processor and attach the blade. There are a variety of different blade attachments that can be used to chop, slice, or grate food. Next, add your recipe ingredients and screw the lid onto the processor. Blend or pulse the food until it's as smooth or chunky as you like it.

As well as being able to make light work of food preparation in a matter of seconds, food processors can handle a wide range of baking tasks quickly and efficiently, from chopping, grinding and mixing to whisking, whipping and kneading.

Is food processor really useful? ›

You Can Shred Cheese, Cut Veggies, And Make Dough.

Food processors are also great for making pie dough, cutting butter into flour, chopping up veggies for anything and everything, blending salad dressings, and even making truffle batter. Food processors also have an uncanny way with nuts.

The food processor attachment allows you to process much larger volumes without having to stop the processor to empty a batch bowl. Most food processors come with a variety of blades you can change out when you switch between slicing, shredding, chopping, puréeing and mixing.

We use a food processor to grind all types of meat. The key is to make sure it's boneless and skinless, and to cut it into chunks before processing. Here are some of our favorites types of meat to grind in a food processor: Sirloin steak tips (for Juicy Pub-Style Burgers)

Compared to a food processor, a blender is known to achieve a smoother, silkier consistency in its final product (think smoothies and milkshakes). But a blender is certainly not limited to creamy beverages. They can also help home cooks make hummus, nut butter, sauces, and salad dressings.

The biggest difference between these two appliances is the tasks they are designed to do: Food processors are designed to perform a wide variety of food preparation tasks and blenders are designed to pulverize and combine (in other words, blend) wet and dry ingredients.

The bottom line. Think of a food processor as a kitchen assistant — chopping, pureeing, making pastry dough, slicing, shredding and even dicing or spiralizing — while a blender is meant primarily for smoothies and drinks.