The Wonders Your Food Processor Can Do For You

Food processors are super-handy in the kitchen, especially if you take advantage of all the wonderful things they can do for you. Many people think they know how this appliance works, but these cool food processor uses could just turn anyone into a fan.

Help Make Homemade Food like a Pro

Let’s face it, cooking homemade food can be quite a chore (as compared to buying ready-made meals from the grocery store or buying take-out food). But, making homemade food is not only easy on your budget, it also guarantees you use ingredients that are fresh and from your choice of brand.

It’s also the best way to eat if you or a family member has food allergies – cooking food at home from scratch means you can leave out any ingredients that cause allergic reactions or digestive distress.

So how can food processors help with homemade recipes? Here are just a couple of examples: 

• Turning old bread or crackers into crumbs that you use as extenders for burger patties, or for deep-frying chicken. Make your own homemade chicken schnitzels and chicken kievs with your homemade breadcrumbs.

• Explore the world of nut-butters and make your own almond butter, peanut butter, and other similar spreads. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make a jar or two. And because you’re in total control of the amount of sugar to add, your nut-butter version won’t be made of ¾ sugars and ¼ processed nuts. You can even make them totally sugar free if you like!

• Make your own flour from oats, almonds, rice, coconut, and so on. This is especially helpful if you have food allergies or intolerances – need to cut out gluten? Make your own flour from a grain you can tolerate.

• Create your favorite spices from your herb garden. The food processor works well with a dehydrator in preserving your herbs for months or years. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can even just use your oven to dry the leaves of your freshly grown herbs. Once dry, blitz them in your food processor and you’ve got instant dried herbs to add to your cooking whenever you need them.

• Grind your own meat for nuggets, burgers, sausages, and other similar processed meat products that you spiced and mixed with other yummy ingredients. I promise you, once you learn how to process your own meat, you’ll never get store-bought processed meat ever again. 

• Say goodbye to your grocery-bought baby food and prepare your baby’s soup, pasta sauces, pureed fruits, yummy cracker dips, and more. 

• Make homemade pesto, dips, and other sauces from fresh tomatoes, basil, and other ingredients of your choice. 

Prep and Process Food in a Flash

The main job of a food processor is to process food. Do you know all of its functions? If not, make sure to incorporate these tasks in your day-to-day kitchen routine: 

• Chop – Cooking in bulk can be tiring, so if you need to chop a lot of celery, nuts, olives, peppers, cranberries, and soft meat, don’t forget to get out your trusty food processor. 

• Shred – For fans of coleslaw or those following a low-carb diet, shredding cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, carrots and other similar ingredients can be easily done in a food processor. You’ll have fresh, homemade coleslaw in minutes! 

• Even slicing – Anyone can slice food with ease, but not everyone can do it evenly. If you want uniformly-sliced fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients. Just look for the right attachment on your food processor – most come with a special blade you can insert to make even slicing a breeze.

The cool thing about food processors is that if you buy the right brand and model, you can extend its functionalities by taking advantage of the included accessories (or buying additional attachments).

For example, the whipping attachment is a perfect tool for whipping cream, creaming butter, making frosting, or creating anything fluffy or airy. 

If you’re learning how to bake bread or master the art of pizza-making, you’ll be able to knead dough with the dough blade. For households with French fry-crazed kids, the French Fry disc gives you the chance to slice potatoes and other veggies into French Fry-looking slices that everyone will enjoy.

Then just fry them up in your air fryer or oven and you’ve got fresh, homemade french fries, much healthier than shop bought fries.

Make Your Kitchen Life Fun and Hassle-free

Don’t let your kitchen duties become a monotonous task that sucks the life out of you. A food processor can help bring your love of cooking and preparing food back to its former passionate glory. 

The following tips and tricks in using a food processor can definitely make your kitchen life fun and hassle-free: 

• Whisk a ton of eggs in one go – Making creme brulee? Or baking a massive cake with meringue icing from scratch? If you need to whisk over a dozen eggs, use your food processor so you don’t have to go at it by hand. 

• Mash a big batch of mashed potatoes – Hosting a big dinner or catering a Thanksgiving food drive, the food processor can help you mash boiled potatoes or yam without breaking a sweat. 

• Dice stinky onion and garlic hands-free – You no longer have to dice onion or garlic by hand if you use a food processor to dice them for you. 

• Blend smoothies and make unlimited homemade ice cream – You don’t need to buy a blender and ice cream maker to enjoy these cold treats. You can use your food processor to blend the creamy liquid without any fancy settings. 

• Mix cake batters and cookie dough – If you don’t have a mixer and you’re starting your baking journey, you can mix cake batters and cookie doughs in your food processor. You just need to use the proper attachment for the job. 

You see, food processors have been known to be handy kitchen tools, but if you use them right, they can also help with saving time for food prep, save you a TON of money by making many recipes into homemade versions, and bringing fun back to your kitchen experience. 

Wondering which is the best food processor for you? This handy buying guide reviews some of the best food processors around.

Check it out now, or dig your food processor out of the cupboard and start using it again, you’ll be amazed at all of the things it can do and all of the time you can save by putting a good food processor to use in your kitchen.