34 Baking Recipes to Make the Most of Your Food Processor (2024)

A stand mixer may be the workhorse of my kitchen, but the food processor might be its unsung hero. While stand mixers excel at aeration, such as foaming eggs and sugar for a chiffon cake or creaming butter and sugar until fluffy and light for classic chocolate chip cookies, food processors are uniquely suited to an entirely different range of kitchen chores that make it just as vital to my work.

Thanks to its powerful motor and blade, a food processor is a remarkable tool for grinding chunky ingredients into a fine powder, giving stiff doughs a workout in record time, keeping fats cold as they're worked into flour, and blending toasted nuts into creamy butter.

Because some of those chores can be done with other tools, I don't want to focus on all the pastry projects a food processor can technically do; I want to focus on the jobs it does best. These are the kinds of chores that are accomplished faster, more easily, and more efficiently with a good food processor.

It's important to note that I'm talking about sturdy, large format machines, and not mini-choppers or "prep assistants." For more on what makes a good machine tick, see our guide to the best food processors.

I have a Breville Sous Chef at home, but enjoy using the Magimix and Cuisinart models we have in the Serious Eats kitchen, too, so there's plenty of brands (and price points) that can work for everyone.

Keeping Solid Fats Cool

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Quick breads, like biscuits, muffins, and scones, are traditionally made by combining the butter and flour up front. It's a common approach to making shortbread and other types of tender, crumbly cookies as well. This method coats the flour in fat, making it more difficult for gluten to form when the liquid ingredients are added later on.

It's a lengthy process when done by hand or with a pastry knife, which allows the butter to warm over time. This can often make doughs sticky and difficult to handle—hence why so many recipes include a step for chilling the dough before it's rolled and cut. Put a food processor on the case, though, and these chores can be done with cold butter in a few seconds flat, keeping the finished dough cool and easy to handle (and your hands clean).

It's my preferred approach for making delicate lemon scones, tender blueberry skillet cake, pumpkin coffee cake, and fluffy pancakes, as well as any cookie or cracker meant to have a crumbly, shortbread-like consistency.

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That category of cookies includes lemon meltaways, Mexican wedding cookies, digestive biscuits, Tate's-style thin and crisp chocolate chip cookies, and even Carr's-style whole wheat crackers.

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Working cold, solid fats into flour is also the underlying principle in Kenji's super-easy pie dough, and the crust for my silky lemon bars.

Promoting Gluten Development

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Not all types of bread dough do well in a food processor, but it's a powerful tool for those that require more structure than the average home baker has the skill to develop by hand. Think crusty dinner rolls and homemade bagels (whether plain or cinnamon-raisin), as well as chewy pizza crust, à la Kenji's famous Sicilian-style pizza (a weekly endeavor at my house).

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My yeasted pumpkin bread relies on a food processor to turn a dry mess of flour and pumpkin purée into a soft and supple dough, and my 100% whole wheat bread and multigrain loaf use a food processor to develop gluten even with grainy formulas that aren't inclined to do so on their own.

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I also use my food processor to provide structure in crackers that need a crisp but sturdy texture, like homemade Wheat Thins or even beautifully blistered cannoli shells (yup, they're a type of cracker!).

Grinding

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A food processor is essential for working with freeze-dried fruit, as it quickly reduces the crispy pieces to a fine powder for making bright pink strawberry layer cake, fruit-infused whipped cream, no-bake cheesecake with freeze dried fruit, and fruity, no-churn ice cream.

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Plus, no other tool can pulverize dark chocolate finely enough for homemade brownie mix (traditional or vegan) and hot chocolate.

Wet Grinding/Puréeing

Not only can a food processor whip up run-of-the-mill purées, they're powerful enough to purée dried fruit—the secret to my homemade Fig Newtons—and they make short work of fibrous winter squash in bulk, for a silky-smooth pumpkin pie.

I also use my food processor to wet grind fresh herbs into sugar, as when I make basil mousse.

Wet grinding is also crucial processing nuts until they express their oils, a key step in made-from-scratch pistachio paste and homemade Nutella, as well as the creamy hazelnut butter used in my favorite hazelnut cookies.

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Perhaps dessert alone couldn't make the case for owning a food processor to anyone but a pastry chef, but, combined with its utility in savory applications, it's a tool that's worth the investment for serious home cooks.

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While it may not be an appliance for everyone, my food processor has more than earned its keep in the kitchen, making old techniques faster and less messy, while helping me discover new techniques altogether.

34 Baking Recipes to Make the Most of Your Food Processor (2024)

FAQs

How do I get the most out of my food processor? ›

Tips for Doing It Right
  1. Always insert the blade before adding food. ...
  2. Use the pulse button. ...
  3. Let hot liquids cool down. ...
  4. Purée soup ingredients without stock. ...
  5. Partially freeze meats and cheeses. ...
  6. Be patient when making nut butters. ...
  7. Avoid “mashed” potatoes.
Jul 12, 2020

Is a food processor good for baking? ›

Thanks to its powerful motor and blade, a food processor is a remarkable tool for grinding chunky ingredients into a fine powder, giving stiff doughs a workout in record time, keeping fats cold as they're worked into flour, and blending toasted nuts into creamy butter.

What are 3 things you can do with a food processor? ›

Your food processor can tackle the tough and rigorous work of shredding, kneading, dicing and grinding, but it can also blend a combination of ingredients into hom*ogeneous mixtures in a similar fashion as a blender. Food processors often depend on a multipurpose blade set to a high speed to get the job done.

What can I use my food processor for recipes? ›

Put Your Food Processor to Work
  1. Kofta with Feta Cheese Sauce. rated 4.2 of 5 stars. ...
  2. Herby Butter Bean Dip. rated 4.0 of 5 stars. ...
  3. Maamoul: Stuffed Date-Orange Cookies. rated 4.3 of 5 stars. ...
  4. Chicken Liver Pate. rated 4.3 of 5 stars. ...
  5. Pizza Dough. ...
  6. Smoked Trout Spread. ...
  7. Good-on-Everything Green Sauce. ...
  8. Garlic and Olive Butter.

What should you not do with a food processor? ›

7 foods you should never put in a food processor
  • Smoothies and juices. (Image credit: Jugoslocos / Unsplash) ...
  • Tough meat. (Image credit: Markus Spiske / Pexels) ...
  • Bread dough. (Image credit: Artur Rutkowski / Unsplash) ...
  • Unpeeled fruit and vegetables. (Image credit: Karalina S / Unsplash) ...
  • Coffee beans. ...
  • Hot food. ...
  • Frozen food.
Aug 3, 2023

Can I put raw carrots in a food processor? ›

All you have to do is peel your carrots, cut off the ends and chop the carrots into chunks a few inches long. Then fit your food processor with the grater disk (this comes in the box of most major food processor models) and pop in the carrots. Pulse until the carrots are perfectly grated.

Can I mix cookie dough in a food processor? ›

Both food processors and stand mixers are equipped to make great cookie dough. But stand mixers are many makers' go-to for this task.

Can you mix cake batter in a food processor? ›

Making cakes with a food processor

This is where a food processor can really save the day. Most cakes made with food processors are made using the 'all in one' method, where all the ingredients are put into the bowl at the same time and whizzed together using the knife blade until evenly mixed into a cake batter.

Can you bake a cake in a food processor? ›

The days of kneading, whisking, and mixing by hand are gone. Not only will it save you a sore arm, a food processor can get the job done in half the time and with unparalleled efficiency. Especially thanks to the ability to use an 'all in one' method with cake batters.

What can a food processor do that a blender Cannot? ›

Food processors are great for recipes that require chopping, making purees and even a flaky pie dough; they also come with accessories so you can slice and shred and sometimes dice and spiralize. Blenders are good for liquids, like smoothies, frozen drinks and soups.

Can you make butter in a food processor? ›

How to do it: Pour cream into the work bowl of your food processor equipped with the metal blade. Process until you see and hear liquid splattering the sides of the bowl. Stop the processor; if you see two discrete entities — butter and buttermilk — you're done.

Can you make ice cream in a food processor? ›

Method: Food Processor

Results: Ice cream made with this method was a dream; the texture was light and easy to scoop with a very creamy frozen texture. It was also very easy to mix up the base, freeze it, and then “churn” it in the food processor.

What are food processors best for? ›

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.

Do chefs use food processors? ›

From pesto to salsa fresca, it can turn an arduous knife task into a job finished at the push of a button. The best food processors will cut down your prepping time, so you'll spend less time making your signature spinach dip and more time enjoying it. Professional chefs are also fans of food processors.

Can a food processor chop onions? ›

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.

What are the three most important steps in using a food processor? ›

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.

How do you make slices thicker in a food processor? ›

Adjusting the Slicing Thickness of Food Processor

Set the desired thickness by moving the Knob to the left for thinner slices and to the right for thicker slices.

How many cups should my food processor be? ›

Small food processors are usually considered 6–9 cups while medium-size food processors can handle 10–13 cups and large ones can accommodate 14–16 cups or even more. Food choppers have some of the same functionality as food processors but are smaller, with about 3–5 cups of capacity.

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