Moved out and are finally on your own? It sounds fun until you head into the kitchen and realize that you’ll have to do all the cooking yourself!
But wait! How will you cook without having the essential kitchen appliances? And the more important question, what foods are made in which appliance? Don’t they all look the same and do almost the same things?
Well, that’s where you’re wrong. The food processor vs blender debate has been going on long enough, and we’re here to end it once and for all.
Differences Between Both The Appliances
1. Motor Power
There are quite a few differences between a blender and a food processor; the major one is that a blender’s motor can handle and give more pressure than a food processor, providing a more fluid-like outcome.
2. Consistency
Blenders are generally used to make liquid-like foods or drinks, while the food processor is often more typically used to make solid-like foods.
3. Structurally Purposed
One of the significant differences between food processors and blenders is that these appliances have different machinery, aiding you in various purposes. Although the blender’s motor is more powerful, the blades that it harbors are not as sharp as that of food processors. Hence blenders can chop up and ‘blend’ lighter and softer foods, whereas food processors have sharper, thicker blades, helping them grind, chop and slice more complex foods.
Blenders
Blenders are the more straightforward option, as they’re easier to operate and clean. They consist of one motor that usually has a one-touch button, a jug, and a lid.
All you have to do is throw in all your ingredients together, shut the lid and blend away. They don’t have any extra attachments, and the blades are already situated and held together within the blender.
Best Foods To Make In A Blender
- Fruit smoothies (fresh fruits blended)
- Purees (tomato purees)
- Pastes (ginger-garlic pastes)
- Nut butter (peanut butter or cashew nut butter)
- Milkshakes (protein shakes)
- Light batters (cake and pastry batters)
- Baby food (blend all those ingredients your baby needs, and voila!)
- Mayonnaise
Worst Foods To Make In A Blender
- Cauliflower rice (sadly, it’ll give you a cauliflower puree instead of grain like rice)
- Frozen fruits (lumps will remain, and there’s a significant risk of breaking your blender’s blades)
- Ginger (strings of fibers will be given, no puree like mixture will be made)
Food Processors
Food processors are considered to be more multi-purposeful. They cater to different consistencies of food, not to mention serve different sorts of cuts too. They are equipped with other blades to cater to your needs.
They can be set to slice foods into thin slices, shred vegetables, and even mix thick and sticky batters and doughs, like cookies, pasta, or pizza.
It usually comes with a big mixing bowl, hence allowing a series of ingredients to be added to it. It has a primary setting bottom that starts it and can be used at multiple speeds, depending on your need. As mentioned above, it has different blade attachments – slicing, shredding, and chopping. It also comes with a spatula which is commonly referred to as the “bowl scraper.”
It would be safe to say that a food processor would serve you more than a blender would, in terms of the functions at least.
Best Foods To Make In A Food Processor
- Doughs (cookie dough or pizza dough)
- Fresh breadcrumbs
- Chopped vegetables (great chunks or slices will be cut, and the best part is that they’ll be evenly sized!)
- Textured sauces (chunky sauces and dips)
- Grinds meat (helps make those meatballs or meat patties for burgers!)
Worst Foods To Make In A Food Processor
- Purees or thin pastes (you’ll end up with a lumpy, sad-looking end product, so don’t bother!)
Blenders vs. Food Processors: What’s the Difference?
Food Processor vs Blender – FAQs
1. Question: Which is better: a blender or food processor?
Blenders are more suitable for liquids like soups and smoothies. A food processor is the better option for solid meals that require a lot of chopping and slicing.
2. Question: Is a food processor really necessary?
Absolutely. Reality tells us that people in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations lived well without food processors, but having one can help. They effortlessly perform things like kneading bread, grating it, cutting, and so on to help make many boring jobs go more quickly.
3. Can A Blender Be Substituted For A Food Processor?
Primarily, NO. They both have different blades, as explained, but some things can be done if managed.
For example, if you don’t have a processor and want to ‘mash’ something but not make it into a complete puree, you can toss it into the blender and blend for merely a second or two and stop it. You’ll get a ground or lumpy paste instead of puree.
Or if you don’t have a blender and want to make a lump-free puree, you can throw your ingredient(s) into a processor but will have to mix for a longer time, and consistently pause and mix the ingredients in the bowl yourself, until you receive your desired consistency.
With all of that being said, to end the food processor vs. blender debate and choose a sole winner would be hard to do, as the need for either appliance mainly depends on what foods you cook more and what consistency you usually need for your end product.
Once you figure that out, you’ll be able to choose which appliance may be a better fit for your kitchen.
We recommend the Ninja food processor – it helps out in anything and everything. If you just went for this, you’d be good to go!
But hey, having both wouldn’t hurt either, right? You never know what you’ll need.
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