Food processor vs. food chopper: What's the difference?

What can a food processor vs. a food chopper do?

Capabilities and accessories will vary by model, but you can expect most food processors and food choppers to do these tasks:

1. Select models.

What is a food processor?

A food processor has a feed tube, multiple blades or discs and a larger bowl capacity than a food chopper. When slicing and shredding, food is pushed through the feed tube into discs just below. Food can also be chopped, mixed or puréed with blades in the bowl of the food processor.

Food processors can handle larger recipes and offer more versatility due to the multiple blades for specific tasks such as chopping, shredding, slicing and julienning. KitchenAid® food processors are available with a variety of bowl capacities and feed tube sizes for accommodating bigger batches and larger ingredients like whole sweet potatoes.

Food processor bowls and blades

A batch-bowl food processor is intended for home use and comes with a bowl that contains the blades or discs. Food processor bowl capacities range widely from around 6–16 cups for residential use. The size of the bowl limits the amount of food that can be processed at one time.

The KitchenAid^® Food Processor Attachment for your stand mixer lets you process the food directly into any size container or bowl, which can be easily swapped out for an empty one when full. 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. Some food processors also include blades or accessories that let you dice, julienne and even knead dough for bread or pizza.

Continuous feed food processor

With the additional blade discs and a feed tube, food processors have even more functionality for all stages of your recipe. Larger food processors typically include multiple feed tubes in different sizes to accommodate different size ingredients. The larger feed tubes can process items such as cucumbers, tomatoes and whole potatoes with very little prep work.

The KitchenAid^® 13 Cup Food Processor features a 3-in-1 feed tube that helps reduce prep time by allowing you to process a variety of ingredient shapes and sizes including tomatoes, whole cucumbers, potatoes and more.

The feed tube lets you continuously feed ingredients into the blades to achieve precise, consistent slices and shreds for things like cauliflower rice. The processed food lands directly in the bowl of a batch bowl processor or into the bowl of your choice if using a stand mixer food processor attachment.

Some things a food processor can do vs. a food chopper

There are a number of functions that a food processor can do that a food chopper can’t handle due to its size and blades. Try these techniques with your food processor to expand your cooking repertoire.

• Quickly slice a variety of vegetables for quick pickles or pizza toppings, or thinly slice potatoes for a savory Gratin Dauphinois. The KitchenAid^® ExactSlice^™ System on select models features optimized speeds and an externally adjustable lever that allows you to go from thin to thick with one slide of the lever.

• Some models include fine, medium and coarse shredding blades so you can easily shred cheese for fondue and quesadillas. You can also shred potatoes for latkes and other vegetables such as zucchini for fritters and slaw.

• Dicing kits on some models let you uniformly slice and then dice soft and hard fruits and vegetables for salads, salsas, chow chows and more.

Using the multipurpose blade, you can whip up larger batches of Tuscan Bean and Pumpkin Soup with Parsley Pesto, using the processor for all of the prep steps.

Pros of a food processor vs. a food chopper

Here are some of the reasons why a food processor might be a better choice for your recipes over a food chopper.

• A food processor offers a larger capacity bowl so you can prepare larger batches at one time.

• Food processors allow you to achieve a greater variety of techniques beyond chopping and puréeing—including slicing, shredding and kneading.

• Food processors typically have larger, more powerful motors to help process tough foods like mozzarella cheese, and knead bread or pizza dough.

• Models with larger feed tubes let you work with larger-sized fruits, like lemons, and vegetables or wedges of cheese with minimal prep required.

What is a food chopper?

A food chopper is a compact appliance or manually operated kitchen tool that’s perfect for quick, simple food prep tasks and smaller recipes. An electric food chopper usually has a smaller bowl containing a single, multi-purpose blade that can chop, purée or mix. Food choppers do not have a feed tube but do often feature a drizzle basin to help emulsify liquids.

You can use a food chopper to make salad dressing, chop nuts to sprinkle on a dessert or purée your signature hummus recipe. Select KitchenAid^® food choppers include a whisk accessory so you can also whisk, whip and stir because every dessert is better with fresh whipped cream on top.

Manual food chopper

A manual food chopper has stationary blades that are pushed manually into food—or the food is pushed toward the blade—in order to chop or mince. There are single-purpose and multipurpose manual food choppers for home kitchens such as apple slicers, mandolins and jar-style choppers for nuts or onions.

Electric food chopper

An electric food chopper usually features a 1–5 cup bowl that’s ideal for quick chopping or small batch mixing and puréeing. You can use an electric vegetable chopper to chop produce for salad toppings, whip up a small batch of fresh pesto or purée ingredients for a marinade. Learn more about how to use an electric food chopper.

What can you use a food chopper for?

There are many small tasks that you can use a food chopper to accomplish quickly. Here are a few ways you can use your food chopper to easily chop, mix, purée and even emulsify small batches.

• Chop toasted pecans to fold into banana bread batter.

• Blend up a batch of Curry Paste for your favorite Indian or Thai recipes.

• Purée steamed sweet potatoes or peas for a fresh serving of baby food.

• Process herbs like cilantro, parsley and garlic for a bright Chimichurri Sauce to serve with steak.

• Emulsify extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar with dijon mustard for a light vinaigrette.

• Mix yogurt, blueberries, maple syrup and lemon juice for a refreshing Blueberry Yogurt Parfait.

• Easily pulse all of the ingredients together for a batch of savory Falafel.

• Quickly whip fresh cream for dessert topping, depending on the included accessories.

Pros of an electric food chopper vs. a food processor

Here are several reasons why an electric food chopper might be the best choice for your food prep needs over a food processor.

• If you have a small kitchen or limited storage space, a food chopper takes up less space in a cabinet or on your counter.

• Provides a smaller bowl when processing a small quantity.

• You can opt for a versatile KitchenAid® Go Cordless Chopper that lets you chop wherever you want in the kitchen.

• If you’re mostly cooking for one or two, an electric food chopper may be able to handle most of your chopping, mixing and puréeing tasks.

• KitchenAid^® food choppers are available in a variety of popular colors to coordinate with your decor and your other appliances.