Some inexperienced cooks tend to get the functions of a food processor confused with that of a blender and think that they can use either one for certain jobs. This will almost certainly result in their ingredients being ruined, or worse still, having their appliance damaged. So what is the difference between a food processor and blender? The former is a versatile machine that can work on heavy or dry foods. Using different blades, it can chop, julienne, pulverize, knead and mash foods easily. The latter is only meant for foods with some liquid content in them or that have liquids added. It is good for making smoothies, sauces and batters.
So what if you want to do all these jobs at one time or another? You can either buy one of each, or if you have a small kitchen or a small budget, you can combine the two appliances into one. The best blender food processor combo should be able to do a good job with most of these functions if not all.
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How to Choose an All in One Blender and Food Processor
When looking for a blender and food processor combo make sure the overall build quality is good and if your budget allows it, choose one with glass jars and bowls to reduce scratches, odor, and stain retention.
The number of settings it allows indicates the types of jobs it will do, but make sure its motor is high powered and that the various blades included can actually handle all those tasks. While a few of these combo units may come with dough blades, they may not be hardy enough for tough bread doughs. In that case, you should look at separate food processors that are especially good at mixing dough. You could also check out stand mixers for bread doughs.
Many new models come with up to 16 speed settings, but that’s overkill for most cooks. As long as there are 3-4 distinct speeds with the lowest being quite low, you’ll be fine. You could also look at high performance blenders like the KitchenAid Torrent if your most frequent jobs are juicing and blending with a bit of food processing thrown in.
If you only have to puree soups and sauces, whip egg whites and occasionally chop small quantities of fruits and veggies, look into getting an immersion blender that comes with a chopper attachment too.
If you’re the kind that likes to make your cold drinks to go and don’t want to clutter your kitchen with a lot of dirty appliances before leaving home, some models come with to-go travel cups that themselves can be used to blend the ingredients without the need for the main blender pitcher.
Our blender food processor combo reviews should make it easier for you to choose the best model for your needs, so read on!
Best Food Processor and Blender in One Appliance
Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770)
The Ninja Mega kitchen system comes with accessories like a large 72 oz blender and an 8 cup/64 ounce food processor bowl, which is terrific for both chopping and making 2 pounds of dough. It can even be used to make nut butters. The suction cups at the bottom keep the unit firmly on the counter while doing these tough jobs.
It also comes with two 16 oz Nutri-Ninja travel cups that allow you to blend smoothies then pop them off, seal them and take them with you.
There are 4 programmed speed settings and they are blend, dough, crush and single serve. There’s also a pulse button for more control at the beginning of a tough job.
Several users complain that there is no hole in the lid of the food processor attachment, however, you can drizzle liquids like oil through the hinged lid of the spout.
While all the parts are dishwasher safe and BPA free, you may want to use the provided cleaning tool if you wash the blade assemblies and blade disc by hand. You don’t want to cut yourself on the sharp edges!
The major issue is that the company only offers a 1 year limited warranty. However, the product itself can’t be beat. The whole system does take up quite a bit of space, so make sure you know where you’re going to store all the pieces.
Pros:
- Very powerful motor.
- Very sharp blades.
- Several accessories.
- Great value.
Cons:
- All the components take up quite a bit of space.
- Pretty loud.
Ninja Foodi SS351 Power Blender & Processor System
The Ninja Foodi SS351 has a 1400-watt peak power motor with high torque that can pulverize ice and chop veggies with the same ease in the pitcher and without you needing to pause or stir ingredients to finish the job even if it is completely full. You have complete speed control to allow you to start slow and speed up through your chopping or mixing job. The pitcher is great for making frozen drinks for the entire family, chopping or crushing produce, and mixing dough.
If you want to make delicious smoothies from fresh ingredients just for yourself, the Nutrient Extraction Cup lets you blend ingredients right in it before you shut the lid and take the drink to go. This way you’ll retain essential nutrients as much as possible.
If you want to make extra thick smoothies with just frozen ingredients and no added liquid, or ice creams, or nut butters, the smoothie bowl maker will do the job in mere seconds. There’s even a built in tamper so that the end product is perfectly smooth.
While you can do everything above manually and control the process for various recipes, the SS351 also comes with 6 Auto-iQ boost presets to take the guess work out of it. Depending on what job you need it to do, just select the appropriate preset and let the system take over. It will sense the type and load of ingredients and adjust the speed of blending or processing and stop when the job is completely done.
Pros:
- Very versatile.
- Option for control or hands off blending and processing.
- Parts are easy to assemble, disassemble and clean in the dishwasher.
- Takes up less space than the Mega Kitchen System.
Cons:
- Suction feet are so strong that it’s hard to move once you set it down in one spot.
- Extremely loud.
Cleanblend Commercial Blender
If you have a large family the 64 ounce blender food processor is perfect but it can also be used for smaller batches of smoothies, ice, soups, and salsas. It will crush, blend, chop, grind, process, puree, liquefy, and even heat.
You can make ice cream and hot soup! For the latter just run the appliance for around 8 minutes and the soup can get to 190 degrees.
As with many high-end blenders, you have complete control here. The variable speed dial lets you start blending large chunks of frozen food at a low speed and you can use the included tamper to push even more ingredients through. As the pieces get smaller, you can increase the speed and the job will be done in mere seconds. However, you do have to be careful if you’re using this as a food processor to chop produce. Use just the pulse switch or you can easily turn the ingredients into mush.
The 8 hardened stainless steel blade system is housed in sealed ball bearings for high performance. The BPA-free plastic pitcher is extremely hardy.
The 5 year absolute warranty is applicable for any part.
Pros:
- Processes anything in the blink of an eye.
- Great warranty coverage.
- All parts are dishwasher-safe.
Cons:
- Very loud motor.
Ninja Master Prep Blender/Food Processor(QB1004)
The 450 watt motor has easily enough power to make your favorite smoothies in less than 2 minutes, and the convenient 48 ounce pitcher lets you make up a batch and then pour them into your favorite container or swap out the power pod for one of the storage lids and place the whole jar in the fridge.
Although smoothies are the name of the game here, the unit is versatile enough to salad dressings, salsas, dips, etc. in the 40 oz food processing bowl or chop veggies in the 16 oz chopper bowl. There are two storage lids so that you’ll always be able to keep the contents fresh and ready when you want them. It also comes with a splash guard to prevent a possible. The pitcher and processing bowl have handles and pouring spouts which you can use to drizzle liquid through while the unit is running so there’s no need to stop and remove the power pod in between.
Each jar comes with stacked blades, the small and medium jar have 4 blades and the pitcher has 6, for the most effective blending and chopping available. The single chrome button on the top of the power pod allows you to manually pulse by press and release, or you can keep it pressed for constant blending. Just be careful here. Keeping the unit running has the potential to turn your fruit or veggies into mush. That’s how powerful this unit is.
This Ninja comes with a 1 year warranty.
Pros:
- All jars can be filled to the top and they’ll blend or process efficiently.
- Good value.
- Very easy to assemble and use.
- All detachable parts are BPA free and dishwasher safe.
- Takes up very little space.
Cons:
- Berry smoothies will have a slight grainy texture.
- The mixing lids are hard to clean by hand.
- No dough blade.
Cuisinart BFP-650GM Velocity Ultra Trio Blender and Food Processor
This blender and processor system is easy to use and is good for couples and small families. It comes with a 56 ounce BPA-free Tritan plastic jar, a 3 cup processing bowl, and 2 blade discs – one for slicing and shredding and one for chopping. For basic food processing duties, you should be good to go. The lid of the food processor includes a feed tube and food pusher, while the tight blender lid comes with a 2 oz measuring cap.
It excels as a smoothie maker, as you can either use the pitcher or the two travel cups to blend the ingredients. Once the job is done, you just unscrew the cup from the motor base, put on the lid and carry on with your day.
There are 3 manual programs that you can use – low, high and a pulse option. If you just need a smoothie or want to crush ice, you can just select one of the two presets and step back while the machine does its magic. The touchpads have an LED indicator light to let you know which is selected.
You get a 3-year warranty.
Pros:
- You can add ingredients in the middle of a job without opening the lids.
- Great for smoothies and turning ice into slush.
- Very easy to assemble and use.
- Easy to clean.
Cons:
- Caps and blades have to be turned in the opposite direction to screw on and remove.
- Very noisy.
- Cannot make dough.
Best Glass Blender Food Processor
Oster Blender Pro 1200
7 total speeds give you speed control like few others. This includes 3 manual speed options, 1 pulse, and 3 presets for blending fresh and frozen smoothies, chop or make salsa, and make milkshakes. The strong motor works up to a maximum 1200 watts of power for everything except when crushing ice cubes, which it does at 900 watts. You can make nut butter if you add a little oil at the start to get it going and use the medium speed setting throughout.
The extra-wide blades auto-reverse while working so that all ingredients flow down to get processed evenly without you needing to tamp or scrape them down.
The Boroclass glass blender jar can withstand thermal shock, which means you can add hot ingredients directly to the jar and blend to make hot soup. It is 48 ounces of capacity, which equates to 6 cups of smoothie goodness. You also get a To-Go 24 ounce smoothie cup.
The limited warranty for the all-metal drive is an amazing 10 years.
Pros:
- Very powerful motor.
- It can pulverize everything from kale to nuts to berry seeds.
- You can add hot ingredients into the jar.
- Great warranty length.
Cons:
- The lid on the to-go cup doesn’t lock into place.
- The gasket has to be put in place just right or the blender may leak.
Hamilton Beach Wave Crusher 58163 Blender and Chopper
This blender chopper grinder combo is one of the lowest priced available, and the 40 oz glass blender pitcher does a very good job at making smoothies. Its wave action design pulls ingredients down towards the blades without you needing to scrape them down yourself. Its lid has a small hinged opening to allow you to add ingredients midway through the blending.
The chopper, with its plastic 3 cup bowl, will work well for two people, or you can do batches for more. This is a chopper, slicer and shredder that you can use for anything from produce to cheese and nuts. However, you cannot use it for tougher processing jobs, like nut butters.
That said, there are 2 speeds for puree/smoothies and for mixing/milkshakes and Easyclean, plus 2 pulse buttons for dicing/chopping and for grinding/grating/crushing ice. Just make sure that frozen fruits and veggies are in smaller bits before you try to blend. The motor isn’t strong enough to run for too long to process large chunks.
The Hamilton Beach Wave Crusher comes with a 3 year limited warranty, which is very good for a kitchen appliance at this price.
Pros:
- Low profile and small footprint.
- Easy to clean.
- Easy to use.
- Good warranty length.
Cons:
- Not for making nut butters.
- Large chunks of frozen produce will take a long time.
FAQs
It really depends on what you want to make with your blender. If all you want are creamy smoothies, shakes, soups and mayonnaise, then just using a blender is enough. You’ll have to ensure that the motor is sufficiently powered to handle tough veggies and large chunks of ice if you like those kids of green smoothies and frozen drinks.
However, if you want something to make chunky salsas or chop veggies and nuts and grate cheese, then you will need a food processor. If you like making bread at home, then some processors come with dough blades. High powered blenders tend to turn things to mush instead of chopping or grating.
Although it is possible to make salsa in a blender if there’s a pulse option, it is much better to use a food processor. The wider base of the bowl provides a better flow of ingredients around the blades so that the desired texture is achieved uniformly. There’s also less of a need to stop the processor in between to scrape down the sides to get everything processed evenly.