10 Tips You Need To Know About Your Food Processor
Of all the appliances in our kitchen, the food processor is the most versatile and proven mainstay. There’s so much you can do with it that you don’t realize.
Don’t let your food processor collect dust in the back of your kitchen cabinets. Instead, discover 10 food processor tips you didn’t know and should!
Rediscover The Power Of Your Food Processor
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. As an Amazon.com Services LLC Associate, we earn a commission from any qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
Recently, I decided to pull out my food processor and put it to good use. When I first purchased it, I thought I’d never take it off my countertop. Instead, sadly, it became one of those unused kitchen appliances.
Additionally, if you don’t own a food processor, you need to take a look at all the exciting things you can do with one. Today, we will cover tips about this powerful tool and how to fall in love with yours again.
Safety & Proper Use Tips
First, let’s start with some tips to ensure you use your food processor correctly and safely. Your food processor features many attachments, and the blades are very sharp. We always need to practice proper safety measures when using any kitchen appliances.
Safety Comes First!
- Always let hot liquids cool down. Bring hot ingredients to room temperature before adding them to your food processor.
- First, always insert the blade before adding any food items. Remember, always set the blade correctly in place. If the blade sits incorrectly, you can hurt yourself and damage the processor.
- The pulse button, widely underused, had many uses. You have more control with the pulse button and don’t risk overprocessing your food. Pulsing is perfect for foods like onions, nuts, coffee, and other food you need to chop. It’s also great for making delicious salsa too!
- Before you process meats and cheese, it’s best to freeze them beforehand partially. This way, they will not turn to mush and blend perfectly.
- No mashed potatoes, please! Avoid making mashed potatoes in your food processor. They tend to develop a gluey texture and taste. Your stand mixer does a much better job of things, so use that instead.
6 – Food Processor Features & Attachments
With a wide array of food processors on the market, always make sure the one you choose comes with a variety of attachments. To make the most of your new tool, you’ll want to make sure you shop for one with multiple attachments.
Typically, look for two shredding discs, a slicing disc, a plastic dough blade, and a standard metal blade. You can use them for slicing, chopping, dicing, mincing, pureeing, kneading, and mixing. Since some food processors don’t have all the same attachments, you can feel disappointed when you discover missing attachments.
For example, this Braun 12 Cup Food Processor comes with 8 attachment blades. You can use them to chop, slice, whisk and knead, or even get a vitamin boost with the juicer attachment!
7 – Churn Heavy Cream Into Butter
Did you know you can make butter with your food processor? Well, you can and quickly too! It’s less expensive to make your own butter, and since it’s from scratch, better for you.
All you need to do is pour cream into the processor, add 1 tablespoon of Crème Fraiche to the cream. Doing so will give the flavor very similar to cultured butter. Make sure you add enough cream, so it rises above the blade. For example, you can use 2 cups of cream for an 11 cup processor. Typically, this will yield about 1 cup of butter.
Next, turn the processor on moderate speed until you see the butter solids start to separate from the liquid. Generally, this takes anywhere from 4 to 7 minutes. At this point, you will see the butter solids forming into nice clumps once it passes the whipped cream stage.
Then, once you see the liquid separated from the butter, which is buttermilk, you can pour it out of the processor. Since we don’t want to waste this delicious buttermilk, you can make biscuits, a delicious Chocolate Buttermilk Cake, or a smoothie with it too.
Rinsing Is Important
It’s also a good idea to rinse the butter with cold water. Just add cold water to the processor and swish it around a bit. You don’t want to miss this step as it removes excess proteins from the butter. Not rinsing can cause it to go rancid more quickly. Keep rinsing and disposing of the liquid until the rinse runs clear.
Plus, you can add some delicious flavors to the butter too. For example, salt, garlic, herbs, or try some sweet cinnamon sugar or orange zest.
Lastly, you’ll want to strain the butter. Scoop the butter into a kitchen towel or cheesecloth and give it a good twist. This way, you can gently coax out any leftover liquid. Now, you can store it in your fridge and enjoy!
8 – Avoid Damaging Your Food Processor
While using your food processor, you want to ensure damaging it or, of course, yourself! Above all, do not process firmly frozen foods or very hard food items. To test, if you can’t pierce the food with the tip of a sharp knife, don’t place it in your processor.
Using food items that are too hard can damage the blades and the machine as well. First, always test any food items you think might fit into this criteria. Just because the processor has very sharp blades, doesn’t mean you can chop or grate everything.
9 – Always Check The Type Of Processor You Buy
Some food processors do not fair well for grinding coffee beans, grains, or hard spices. Even inedible bones don’t process well in some models. That’s why before you purchase one, always check the specifications to make sure it can do the work you need.
For instance, I own two types of food processors, a Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Processor for smaller jobs, and Cuisinart Prep 11 Plus for the heavier workloads. I love and use them both but for different recipes and prep-work. It’s important to know the limits of your processor and this way, you will never feel disappointed.
10 – Removing Stains On From Your Food Processor
Did you know you can easily remove stains from your food processor as well? An excellent tip to keep dishwashable parts from staining – never place them in the dishwasher with dirty plates. Foods like tomato sauces or other heavily colored foods can stain the parts.
If these plastic parts should discolor, clean them with lemon juice. Lemon juice does a great job of removing most stains. You can also use an all-purpose stain remover as well. Also, be sure to quickly rinse the liner between foods to avoid and eliminate the cross-contamination of foods.
In closing, I hope you were able to glean some excellent tips about using your food processor. Don’t let it collect dust anymore! There’s so much you can do with it, and the recipes are endless!
Don’t Forget To Pin Your Inspiration!
Additionally, don’t forget to read 8 Slick Online Shopping Tips You Need To Know!
We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Skimlinks, and other Associate Affiliate Programs. Affiliate advertising programs like these allow us to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites at no cost to you. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. Please check our Disclosure Privacy Policy page. Thank you for supporting our website.
And as always, thanks so much for stopping by! If you like this article, 10 Tips You Need To Know About Your Food Processor, subscribe via email below and never miss a post again!
