A Beginner’s Guide on How to Use a Food Processor

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One of the most used kitchen tools is a food processor. It is a kitchen essential that will make it easy to put together an amazing meal. But many are still asking the question of how to use a food processor.

If you are one of them, then you’re in luck. You can use this guide on how to use a food processor and choose your own!

What Does A Food Processor Do?

A food processor can do so many things, and it’s endless. You can use it for meal prep, sauces, dressings, purees, or to make “ground meat” or “ground seafood.” The list goes on.

Is A Food Processor Different From A Blender?

When it comes to the kitchen, there are two machines that both break up food and puree liquids. A blender is great for blending soups, smoothies, or sauces while a food processor can do heavy-duty work like mixing dough or chopping tough ingredients into uniform pieces.

A blender is also very powerful, but if there isn’t enough liquid it will get stuck and not work properly.

What’s The Difference Between Pulse And Process?

There are two ways you can use a food processor, either process ingredients or pulse the ingredients. Now, you may be confused between the two, so let’s try to explain the two.

Pulse

Have you ever seen a recipe that said to “pulse” something? That means for 1-second turn on the processor and then immediately shut it off, in quick bursts. Usually, there is a button just for this called “Pulse.” The pulse function typically chops or minces ingredients.

Pulsing is an excellent way to finely chop or mince ingredients. It helps cut down on your chopping time!

When a recipe calls for a range of pulses, begin with the lower range because you can’t go back if you start with a higher range. If you’re not happy with the result of your chopped ingredients and need them to be chopped more finely, you always give them another pulse.

Process

When you see “process” in a recipe, it simply means to put the ingredients in the processor, turn it on allow it to run in the specified time. This option is suitable for pureeing and mixing ingredients. Say for example you’re making hummus or pizza sauce.

How To Use A Food Processor

If you use a food processor to do all the work, then you can chop ingredients for dinner in no time with little fear of cuts or nicks. In many cases, there’s no prep required at all: just throw it into the machine and let it go! When chopping onions (or other soft fruit like tomatoes), short pulses keep them from turning into pulp.

Chopping garlic cloves in a food processor is not as easy as you might think. You probably think the best way to chop garlic is to throw them all inside the processor, turn it on and let the machine do the work for you.

What you need to do is put the cloves one by one while you let the food processor run to get evenly minced garlic. You can also use this technique for ginger.

When chopping nuts, it is best to use the pulse button to make quick and short chops. Click To Tweet

This way, you won’t end up turning your nuts into butter. Don’t also let the bowl be too full.

Things You Can Do With A Food Processor

• A food processor can chop up vegetables for soups, sauces, and more. You don’t even need to spend time chopping cauliflower for cauliflower hash browns, onions, and celery rice by hand.
• You can also make breadcrumbs and cookie crumbs with it. Graham crackers for example, for your cheesecake.
• Another way to use a food processor is to chop nuts like almond or cashew. There are so many ways you can use chopped nuts. They are great as toppings for banana bread and muffin.
• Aside from chopped nuts, you can also make flour with a food processor. Blanched your almond then put it inside the machine and process it until you get a fine consistency like flour.
• Do you want to make your homemade peanut butter? You can easily whip it up with a food processor. Just pulse the peanuts and when they are finely chopped, just continue processing them until the texture its consistency is that of peanut butter.
• Create pesto, salsas, hummus, salad dressings, and other sauces.
• Use it to puree fruits and veggies for your little one or make jams and marmalades you can put on top of pancakes or creapes btw we have writted an article on best crepe makers.
• If you’re out of burger patties and suddenly craved for it, then you can easily ground meat with a food processor. However, this is suitable for small jobs and a meat grinder is still a better option. But if you don’t have one, let the food processor do its magic.
• Beef is not the only thing you can use for patties. You can also break up salmon, shrimp, and other kinds of fish for your seafood burger.
• You can also mix doughs with this machine. Use your doughs for pizza or even for pasta dough.
• Ice cream! Yes, you can make your very own banana ice cream from the comforts of your home. Simply throw in some frozen bananas and wait until you get a creamy consistency.
• It’s not just chopping and for making thick creamy consistency. It can also shred, and slice fruits and vegetables. Grate cheese, beets, carrots, or thinly slice your potatoes, cucumbers, and Brussel sprouts.

Tips When Purchasing A Food Processor

Food processors are designed to make things easier for you. So, when purchasing one, it should not give you more free time from the kitchen and not the other way around.

So, here are some of the things you should consider when buying a food processor for the first time.

• Food processors come in different sizes. So, before you buy one decide what size you need for the work bowl or processor bowl. Do you love making large batches of dishes in one day, or do you only need one when you’re in the mood to cook something delicious?
• The kind of blade is also important when choosing a food processor. To get the best quality, go for stainless steel blades.
• Read the labels carefully, especially the functions and the type of shredding discs and blades that are included in the package. Ask if there are other blades available that you can buy separately in case you’ll need one in the future.
• Check for the tubes and pusher. If you need to chop or dice large vegetables, then go for wide chutes.
• The power and wattage are also important. If you plan on using your food processor for mixing dough, then you’ll have to get something that is high-powered.
• Ask if the parts can be washed using a dishwasher. If they are, place them on the top rack to be safe instead of near the heat source.
• The body and the base should also be considered. Since they will suffer from a lot of vibrations and strain, the base and body should be solid, so the machine won’t move around while using it.
• Review what’s included in the warranty and if they offer one. Find out the coverage and if the parts can be easily replaced in case of damage.
• Make sure the overall quality is good. Check for reviews and compare prices.

Things To Avoid When Using A Food Processor

Don’t use a food processor when dealing with liquids and sauces. Since food processors tend to be shorter than blenders, the liquid can easily spill over. Use a blender instead when mixing sauces and smoothies.

One common mistake that most people do with their food processor is throwing in large chunks of vegetables and fruits.Click To Tweet

While it’s true that they are designed to chop and slice produce, you still need to cut them to a smaller size to ensure that they will be processed properly.

Another thing to avoid is overworking your food processor. Just like humans, they also need to take a rest now and then. Allow the machine to cool down a bit before using it again.

It has been discussed earlier the difference between the pulse and process functions. Many people tend to forget that there is a pulse option that is ideal for chopping. When you press the button and hold it, you’ll end up with a puree.

Things You Should Never Put in a Food Processor:

• Filling it with liquid.
• Hot or boiling foods.
• Meats that are too tough.
• Gelatin.
• Freshly baked nuts
• Fruit and vegetable peels.
• Bone.

Safety Tips

• Never put your hands, utensils, and spatulas inside the machine when spinning. Always make sure the machine is turned off and unplugged before putting your hands inside.
• Ensure that the processor bowl or work bowl is securely installed before putting the blades and turning the machine on.
• Never use your hands to add ingredients in the bowl, use the food pusher instead.
• Keep your fingers away from the feed tube or the work bowl at all times when the food processor is plugged in.
• Ensure that the machine is turned off before getting the food from the work bowl or disassembling and cleaning it.
• After using the machine, remove the work bowl first from the base before getting the blades and disc out.

If you’d like to learn more about cooking and safety in general, feel free to visit Food Docs and check out their various guides on food safety.

Get Chopping!

Food processors are great because they can chop, shred, slice, and blend almost anything you need. They also help perfect all of your favorite dishes like sauces or dips. Now that you know how to use a food processor, you can finally make pie dough and a lot more.