Food processor vs Food chopper, are they different? Yes, they are two different things—so if you are planning to buy one, make sure you know what it does and how to use it.
Food choppers are appliances designed to cut, chop and purée small amounts of ingredients.
A food processor is large, has a feed tube, and has many different blades that make a variety of cuts.
So, what is the difference between a food chopper and a food processor? Let’s dive into the food processors vs food chopper debate.
WHAT IS A FOOD PROCESSOR?
Food processors have different attachments for cutting different foods and for chopping vegetables and fruits. Food processors are a bit more versatile than food choppers.
If you’re shredding, food is being pushed through a feeding tube to a disc that slices and shreds the food. You can cut, chop, mix or purée food in the bowl of a food processor.
Food processors are versatile because they have multiple blades for cutting food into different shapes, shredding, slicing, and julienning.
Some food processors have a variety of different size bowls for cooking different-sized batches of foods. For cooking larger ingredients like whole sweet potatoes, you may want to consider a model that offers a large feed tube.
Food Processor Bowls and Blades
Bowls: A batch bowl is designed for use at home and comes with a bowl that contains the blades or discs.
The capacity of food processors depends on the type of food processor you choose, but will usually be six to fourteen cups. As the diameter of the bowl increases, so does the amount of food that can be processed in one go.
Some food processors come with a detached bowl (not attached to the body of the food processor), which helps you to process food continuously without stopping to empty the full bowl.
Blades: It’s important to have different blades for different foods and tasks. Food processors usually come with a set of interchangeable blades.
There are also food processors that allow you to dice, julienne and knead the dough for pizza or bread.
Food Processor with Continuous Feed
With the additional blade discs and a feed tube, the food processor now has even more functionality for the whole process. There are two main types of food processors – the larger ones that have multiple feed tubes, and the smaller ones that only have a single large one.
Food processors come in various sizes, and most have a number of different-sized tubes to accommodate various size ingredients. The larger feed tube will process all types of produce including cucumbers, tomatoes and whole potatoes. It requires very little preparation.
You can continuously feed ingredients into the feed tube and the blades will allow having precise cuts, shreds and slices. Processed ingredients are accumulated into the batch bowl.
THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH FOOD PROCESSORS – FOOD PROCESSOR VS FOOD CHOPPER
A food processor can perform many tasks that are not available with a food chopper because a food chopper does not have all the blades options and it is smaller in size.
A food processor has a number of different interchangeable blades and disks that enable it to perform a wide range of tasks. You can perform the following tasks with a food processor:
- Pureeing
- Shredding, chopping and slicing vegetables
- Grinding
- Grating vegetables or cheese
- Making dough by mixing and kneading
Food processor models with fine, medium and coarse shredding options are more useful. You should buy one of them. It will make it easier to shred different types of food items.
Dicing is an added advantage if your food processor has it. You can first make fine slices of vegetables and then dice your fruits and vegetables or salads.
What Food processors are not meant for:
Food processors are very similar to blenders, but with a fixed blade and a different sized container. You’ll need to pick one that works best for you. Food processors are not suitable for liquid or semi-liquid food processing. You can use a blender for those foods.
WHAT IS A FOOD CHOPPER? ( FOOD CHOPPER VS FOOD PROCESSOR )
Food choppers are compact appliances or manually operated kitchen tools that are good for quick, simple food prep tasks and smaller recipes.
A bowl/container is placed just below the vegetable cutter to gather the processed food ingredients. Fruit and vegetable choppers are heavy-duty, easy to clean and produce consistent results. With time and practice, you’ll be chopping your fruits and veggies into perfectly sized pieces every time.
If you want to have a specific type of cut or control over the size and quantity then a food chopper is suitable.
Types of Food Choppers Available:
- Wedgers, Dicers, and Slicers – You can do dice or slice and wedge cuts with these choppers. However, choppers come with different sizes of blades and allow you to have different sizes of cuts according to your need.
- Fry Cutters – This slicer cuts French fries into wedges, curly fries, ribbon fries, or straight-cut fries. You’ll love these fry cutters for restaurants that go through a lot of french fries. These fry cutters make french fries look as appetizing as the restaurant menu.
- Specialty Choppers – Whether you’re slicing, coring, or cutting, there are different choppers made for different types of fruits, vegetables, or meats. Specialty choppers are designed to handle specific types of food ingredients like corers for pineapple or blooming onion cutters and even lettuce cutters.
Manual Food Chopper: A food chopper with stationary blades is a good alternative to a hand-crank or motorized chopper. The food simply has to be pushed toward the blades to get chopped up.
There are manual food choppers in many shapes and sizes that can slice apples, peel garlic, cut up tomatoes, chop herbs and slice veggies for salads.
Electric Food Chopper: Electric food choppers are very popular because they make quick work of chopping, mixing and puréeing foods in a matter of seconds. They tend to have a smaller bowl with a multi-purpose blade for all types of cutting and chopping.
Food choppers are not equipped with a feed tube but are designed to help emulsify liquids.
There are many different kinds of food choppers that are ideal for different uses. Some include a whisk attachment, so you can whisk, whip and stir as well.
WHAT CAN YOU USE A FOOD CHOPPER FOR? FOOD CHOPPER VS FOOD PROCESSOR
Food choppers do literally what it means – they chop foods. If you’re making a dish that requires lots of chopping, such as salsa, chutney, or soup, then a chopper can make quick work of these ingredients, leaving you with more time to devote to other things.
- For dishes that require lots of chopping, like salsa, chutney, or soup, a chopper is handy. It lets you get more done in less time.
- For soups, stew, and other dishes, chop up onions, carrots, garlic, and celery.
- You can prepare breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs to use as a topping.
- If you love Indian or Thai dishes, you’ll want to mix up a batch of curry.
- A food chopper makes it easy to process fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley and others.
- You can prepare refreshing drinks by mixing syrup, juice, yogurt and other ingredients.
HOW IS A FOOD PROCESSOR DIFFERENT FROM A FOOD CHOPPER?
Food processors are the easiest to operate and are perfect for processing large quantities of food at a time.
Blenders work best with liquid ingredients, so they’re the best machines for making soup, milkshakes, and spinach smoothies.
For processing hard foods like carrots, parsnips, nuts and the like, you will need either a food processor or a food chopper.
Let us check the difference between a food chopper and a food processor:
Cost
A good food chopper costs way less than a good food chopper. Why? Because the manufacturing cost of a food processor is more than a food chopper. But why so? It is because a food processor has more functionality than a food chopper.
However, it doesn’t mean that a food processor trumps a food chopper in terms of performance or functionality. It all depends upon your purpose of use.
Functionality
A food processor can help in many ways, such as whisking, slicing, chopping, mixing, grating, and more.
You should avoid using a food chopper for kneading or whipping because they won’t allow such actions.
Capacity
As a chopper is smaller in size it can accommodate 4-7 cups of food. However, a food processor can accommodate 4-16 cups of food ingredients. A food processor surely wins the race of the capacity.
Size
An electric food chopper is convenient and portable. It weighs very little, so it’s easy to store and transport.
Compact and efficient, these mini food choppers are easy to operate and have a powerful motor.
On the other hand, food processors are neither lightweight nor space-saving. A food processor will take sizable space on your kitchen counter. But again a food processor can do more than a food chopper.
Weight
The best kitchen appliance for food processing is an electric food chopper. It’s lighter than a food processor and will make cutting vegetables and fruits much faster.
It has several blades that help you chop vegetables with ease. Though it is ideal for small batches of food only.
Food processors come with a powerful and heavy motor that causes the weight. A powerful motor is needed to process large batches of food at once. That is how it works. However, the weight helps the food processor to remain stable.
Versatility
A food processor has many uses. Several attachments come with the package, if you need anything more buy it separately or with the package. A food processor contains different blades for different types of food items.
A food processor does many things including dicing, chopping, shredding, kneading, and whipping.
Food choppers are not that versatile compared to a food processor. Also, a food processor can give you a finer food preparation experience.
Easy to Clean
Both food choppers and food processors are easy to clean. They do not have any parts that are cumbersome or hard to reach. So in terms of cleaning both of them are easy peasy.
PROS OF A FOOD PROCESSOR (FOOD PROCESSOR VS FOOD CHOPPER)
There are several good reasons why a food processor might be a better choice for your recipes than a food chopper.
- A food processor allows you to make larger batches of different dishes at one time.
- Food processors make it easy to achieve a wide variety of techniques, including slicing, shredding and kneading. It is not limited to just chopping and puréeing.
- Most food processors will have a large, powerful motor that helps them process foods such as mozzarella cheese, knead bread, or pizza dough and it will help you get a smoother finish.
- You can prepare larger-sized fruits and vegetables or even wedges of cheese with less prep time and effort by using a larger feed tube.
PROS OF AN ELECTRIC FOOD CHOPPER
There are many reasons to buy a food chopper, be it manual or electric. However, electric food choppers are more efficient as it takes less time and reduces manual work. Here are some advantages of an electric food chopper:
- Food choppers are not bulky as a food processor, they need less space on the counter.
- Best for small families as it comes with smaller bowls.
- Enjoy quality meat, minced at the moment.
- It chops all kinds of vegetables and fruits.
- A multi-purpose chopper replaces your mixer.
- Food choppers are safer than a knife.
- The power consumption of a chopper is minimal.
- They have a very affordable price.
FOOD PROCESSOR VS FOOD CHOPPER IN A NUTSHELL
| Food Processor | Food Chopper | |
| Chopping | Yes | Yes |
| Pureeing | Yes | Yes |
| Mixing | Yes | Yes |
| Whipping | Yes | Yes |
| Slicing | Yes | No |
| Emulsifying | Yes | Yes |
| Shredding | Yes | No |
| Dicing | Yes | No |
FINAL WORDS: FOOD PROCESSOR VS FOOD CHOPPER
Food chopper vs Food processor: We have discussed food processors are more versatile than food choppers. However, food processors take more space on the counter than a food chopper. Food processors are costlier than food choppers.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you are a casual, not-so-regular home cook, if you do occasional cutting and chopping then a food chopper is better for you.
If you cook regularly and need a larger quantity of ingredients to get prepared then a food processor is the answer for you. If you want to buy a food processor then here is the guide for choosing the best food processor.
