Kitchen Pros Explain Why You Need a Mini Food Processor

This article was updated in February 2023 to ensure that all products were in stock and reflected current pricing. We removed discontinued products and added new picks from Black + Decker, Zyliss and Hamilton Beach.

Whether you're just chopping an onion for a soup, quickly grating some Parmesan or plowing through a mountain of veggies because you meal prep like a pro, a mini food processor is a compact and handy way to speed up your cooking. A full-size food processor can be worth the kitchen real estate, but it has a large footprint, which is less ideal for apartment kitchens or dorm rooms. Mini food processors are also useful for smaller batches of items, like herbs, nuts, salsas, pestos and vinaigrettes as well as tasks like prepping homemade baby food. They mean you don't have to have great skills with a chef's knife and are easier to clean than a blender.

The Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab experts test all kinds of products for prepping food. When we test food processors, we look for models that chop evenly, have intuitive controls and are easy to clean. For this list, we focused solely on stand-alone mini food processors — but many immersion blenders come with quality processing attachments with a similar capacity, and some full-size food processors come with a second, smaller bowl (though we've found they are more prone to leaking).

In recent years, we've tested over 30 food processors, including mini versions. This list includes some of our top-tested favorites as well picks that we haven't yet gotten our hands on but that come from Lab-trusted brands we've thoroughly assessed based on years of experience with kitchen appliances.

Our top picks:

Read on for more detail on how we test mini food processors as well as what to look for when shopping for one. For great advice that can be handy for your mini, check out our tips for how to best use a full-size food processor.