Best Combination Blenders and Food Processors

Perry Santanachote

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

No matter how you slice it, there are limits to what blenders and food processors can do on their own. While some things, like purées and salsas, can be made using either appliance, food processors are lousy smoothie makers and a blender won’t get far with shredding carrots.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to shell out for two appliances. While blenders and food processors function differently and use different blades, the motors that power them are essentially the same, so they can share the same motor base and save you some counter space and even money, depending on the model you get.

“We test new blenders and food processors every year, and we’ve been noticing more and more models that combine the two appliances,” says Claudette Ennis, CR’s market analyst for small kitchen appliances. “Buying a blender/food processor can cost less than buying two separate appliances, but it’s only a true value if the set performs well at both tasks.”

Below are four models, listed in alphabetical order, that perform well in both our blender and food processor tests. We've included information for each model as a blender and as a food processor.

For our blender tests, we assess how well each model purées, makes smoothies, and crushes ice. For our food processor tests, we chop almonds and onions, grate Parmesan cheese, purée peas and carrots, slice mushrooms and celery, and shred cheddar to rate each model. CR members with digital access can see the ratings for individual tests for blending and food processing.

For more on blenders and food processors, see CR’s blender ratings and buying guide and food processor ratings and buying guide.

Cuisinart Velocity Ultra Trio BFP-650
This Cuisinart model comes with a 7-cup blender jar, a 3-cup food processor bowl, plus two 16-ounce blending cups. When it comes to our blending tests, this model excels at making smoothies, crushing ice, and puréeing vegetables; it rates Very Good in all those tests. As a food processor, it earns an Excellent rating in our slicing test and Very Good ratings for shredding and puréeing. Cuisinart blenders rate Good for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction based on data from CR’s annual member survey. That's about average among the 14 brands in our survey. CR doesn't rate food processors for reliability.

Ninja Master Prep Professional QB1004
Most blenders and food processors have a motor base with attachments that sit on top. The Ninja Master Prep Professional’s upside-down design puts the motor on top, incorporating it into the lid. All you do is place the motor over the blending container and press down to activate it. There’s only one speed and no programs; it’s like the fixed-gear bike of the appliance world, and that uncomplicated ease is exactly what some people want.

The 6-cup blender earns Very Good ratings for convenience and its ability to whip up smoothies with ease, but you’ll want to avoid blending hot soups because it doesn’t have a vent hole to release steam. The set includes 5-cup and 2-cup food chopper bowls, which earn an Excellent rating for grating cheese and a Very Good rating for chopping onions and almonds. Ninja brand blenders earn Very Good ratings for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.

Oster Pro 1200
In addition to the 6-cup glass blending jar and 5-cup food processing bowl, the Oster Pro 1200 includes a 3-cup blending container for to-go smoothies. In our blending tests, the Oster aces the purée test and earns Very Good ratings for making smoothies and crushing ice. For food processing, it earns an Excellent rating for grating hard cheeses, and scores Very Good ratings in our tests for slicing, puréeing, chopping, and shredding. Oster is the only other brand besides Ninja to earn a Very Good reliability rating for its blenders, but its owner satisfaction rating is slightly lower.

Vitamix Ascent 3500
The Vitamix Ascent 3500 features technology that adjusts blending programs, speed, and power based on the blending vessel you use, whether it’s the full-sized 8-cup jar, the smaller cups, or the food processing bowl. Unlike the other sets above, however, the Vitamix 12-cup food processor attachment ($200) and blending cups don’t come with the blender; they’re sold separately.

This blender is one of the top-rated models from our lab tests, earning top marks for making icy drinks/smoothies and purées. The attachment chops, shreds, and grates with the best of the full-sized food processors, earning Excellent and Very Good ratings in those tests. Yes, the Vitamix system is a big investment—$800 for the blender and food processor—but it doesn’t disappoint.

Vitamix also stands out as one of only two blender brands to earn Excellent ratings for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. That means these machines last and their owners highly recommend them.

Latest Stories

  • Trump funnelled money from donors into private business after election loss, report finds

    Campaign finance filings follow concerns among watchdogs over former president’s self-dealing while in office

  • Biden back in Delaware with moving on his weekend to-do list

    On President Joe Biden's weekend to-do list? Biden flew aboard Air Force One for the first time as president on Friday, but not on a trip to sell his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan or to confer with a U.S. ally. Biden's son Hunter also turned 51 on Thursday.

  • Greene claims 'I'm fine with' getting kicked off her House committees: 'It'd be a waste of my time'

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Friday declared she's been "freed" after being removed from her House committee assignments, claiming continuing to serve on them would have been a waste of time. The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to remove the controversial Georgia lawmaker from her committee assignments over a string of racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim comments and support for baseless conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric. In a press conference Friday, Greene said it was freeing to admit she "believed things that were wrong" in a speech the day before, during which she did not apologize but rather expressed regret for being "allowed to believe things that weren't true." "Going forward, I've been freed," Greene said Friday. "I do, I feel freed." Greene went on to claim that "I'd be wasting my time" by continuing to serve on House committees "because my conservative values wouldn't be heard," even though she also asserted removing her from them "stripped my voters of having representation to work for them." "I'm fine with being kicked off my committees because it'd be a waste of my time," she insisted. Greene went on to celebrate that she now has "a lot of free time on my hands," but she ended the press conference after refusing to address a question about her liking a Facebook post in 2019 calling for violence against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problem'Explosive' Woody Allen documentary featuring video account from 7-year-old Dylan Farrow to debut on HBOHouse investigators are compiling Trump allies' pre-riot plans — and have video of Roger Stone hanging with a militia group

  • 27 Best Desk Lamps to Brighten Up 2021

    Let there be lightOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • 95-year-old woman who worked as Nazi concentration camp secretary charged over 10,000 murders

    A 95-year-old woman has been charged as an accessory to the murder of 10,000 people because she worked as a secretary at a Nazi concentration camp, German prosecutors announced on Friday. The woman has not been named under German privacy laws but has been partially identified by local media as Irmgard F, a German pensioner living in a retirement home in Pinneberg, north of Hamburg. From June 1943 and April 1945 she worked as a secretary and typist for the commandant of Stutthof concentration camp, in present day Poland. She is charged with “assisting those responsible for the systematic killing of Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet prisoners of war at the camp”. It is not the first time a woman has been charged over the Holocaust, but the decision to bring charges against a former secretary is the latest in a series of recent attempts to widen prosecutions beyond those directly involved in sending prisoners to their deaths.

  • Chris Pratt’s brother and other California police officers shared Three Percenter gun militia imagery online: report

    Member of the right-wing group were involved in the Capitol riot

  • White House Press Sec Dodges When Asked Why Hunter Biden Still Has a Stake in Chinese Investment Firm

    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday punted on a question about why President Biden’s son Hunter Biden still holds an investment in a Chinese company. Asked during a press conference at the White House whether she had an update on Hunter Biden’s divestment from his ten percent stake in the Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners, Psaki referred a reporter to the younger Biden’s lawyers. “He has been working to unwind his investment,” Psaki said, adding, “as a private citizen, I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.” In December, Biden assured voters that he and his family would not be involved in any business dealings that appear to conflict with the office of the president. “My son, my family will not be involved in any business, any enterprise that is in conflict with or appears to be in conflict with the appropriate distance from the presidency and government,” Biden said during a CNN appearance. Hunter Biden was reportedly in the process of divesting from his equity stake in BHR in late December, but as of last week, he appears to have retained his investment through his company, Skaneateles LLC. BHR, whose largest shareholder is the Chinese government-controlled Bank of China, has invested about $2.1 billion. Hunter Biden came under scrutiny last year for his lucrative position on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. In leaked emails from 2014, Biden appears to try to leverage his influence with his father, then-vice president Joe Biden, who was heavily involved in U.S. policy on Ukraine, referring to the elder Biden as “my guy.” He also attracted criticism for entering into a consulting contract with China’s largest private energy company that initially earned Hunter Biden $10 million a year “for introductions alone,” according to leaked emails. Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” is scheduled to come out on April 6. The book will focus on the younger Biden’s well-documented drug abuse issues, according to Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

  • House investigators are compiling Trump allies' pre-riot plans — and have video of Roger Stone hanging with a militia group

    House impeachment managers are preparing for former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial by figuring out just what he and his allies were up to the morning of the Capitol riot. Congressional investigators are wrapping up their case against Trump in the last few days before his Senate trial for allegedly inciting the insurrection begins Monday. Sources tell ABC News those investigators are "zeroing in on the actions of the president and his associates around the insurrection at the Capitol," specifically compiling social media posts and videos showing just what they were doing the morning of Jan. 6. Among those videos is one obtained by ABC News showing Trump's friend Roger Stone in Washington, D.C., that morning. Stone is seen outside of a hotel, taking pictures with supporters while seemingly under the watch of members of the Oath Keepers militia group. At one point, a supporter asked Stone, "So, hopefully we have this today, right?" "We shall see," Stone replied. Stone told ABC News that he had "no role whatsoever in the Jan. 6 events" and "never left the site of my hotel until leaving for Dulles Airport" later that afternoon. "I had no advance knowledge of the riot at the Capitol," and "could not even tell you the names of those who volunteered to provide security for me," he added. Stone was convicted of several felonies as a result of the Mueller investigation, but Trump commuted his sentence last summer. More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problem'Explosive' Woody Allen documentary featuring video account from 7-year-old Dylan Farrow to debut on HBOMitt Romney's child benefit is a challenge to both parties

  • Mike Pence starting podcast to 'share the good news of conservatism'

    Barely two weeks after leaving office, the former US vice president Mike Pence has switched his attention to “attracting new hearts and minds to the conservative cause” as the host of a podcast directed at American youth. Mr Pence will become the first Ronald Reagan presidential scholar at the Young America’s Foundation (YAF), a group set up in the 1960s to promote conservative values among a generation of high school and college students and those just embarking on their working lives. Hosting a podcast will be familiar territory for Mr Pence, who was a prominent conservative radio voice in the Midwest for several years before his election to Congress in 2000. Billing himself as “Rush Limbaugh on decaf,” a milder version of the firebrand right-wing radio personality beloved by Donald Trump's supporters, Mr Pence hosted discussions on conservative and religious themes. “The Vice-President will certainly be focused on the conservative accomplishments of the last four years and projecting those accomplishments and lessons learned forward,” a Pence spokesperson said of the podcast, according to Politico.

  • Man Who Pushed 91-Year-Old in Oakland Chinatown Assaults 2 Others Right After

    An unidentified assailant was caught on surveillance camera pushing a 91-year-old man to the ground in a recent unprovoked attack in Oakland Chinatown. The incident happened outside the Asian Resource Center at the corner of Harrison and 8th streets on Jan. 31, according to ABC7. The suspect reportedly approached two other victims shortly after the first attack, resulting in one of them losing consciousness, according to the Oakland Police Department’s statement.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene finally apologises but only after attacking AOC and blaming media for hate she spread

    Marjorie Taylor Greene assailed the news media and a "tyrannically controlled government" run by Democrats during a press conference the morning after she was removed from her committee assignments in the House of Representatives, which debated whether to oust her for a history of antisemitic and racist remarks and support for violent conspiracy theories. When pressed to respond to her apparent support for the deaths of prominent Democrats in Facebook comments, she ended the press conference. In her remarks, she accused Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of faking her "outrage with another hoax" following the Capitol attack and said the news media is "doing a good job of addicting our nation to hate."

  • Myanmar military should step down, free detainees, Biden says in foreign policy speech

    Myanmar's military should relinquish power and release officials and activists detained in this week's coup, U.S. President Joe Biden said in his first foreign policy address on Thursday. Biden said the United States was working with allies and partners to address the generals' takeover, during which they arrested elected leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilians. "There can be no doubt in a democracy force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election," said Biden.

  • Witnesses testify about members of Congress supporting QAnon during a House Homeland Security Committee

    At a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Thursday, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán asked former assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention at DHS Elizabeth Neumann and Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt about the danger of members of Congress supporting QAnon and other groups that have been labeled domestic terror threats by the FBI.

  • Missing Soldier's Unit Suffered from Low Morale Before His Disappearance, Investigation Finds

    The findings concluded the high tempo of the unit's deployment cycle "placed remarkable stress on the soldiers in the unit."

  • Judge sets bail hearing for Kyle Rittenhouse next week

    Judge Bruce Schroeder on Friday scheduled the hearing for Thursday afternoon for Kyle Rittenhouse, who's accused of shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, killing Rosenbaum and Huber and wounding Grosskreutz during protests in Kenosha in August. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, contends the protesters attacked him and he fired in self-defense. Prosecutors allege Rittenhouse moved out of the Antioch, Illinois, apartment he shared with his mother after he posted a $2 million cash bond in November and hasn't given the court his new address.

  • QAnon Shaman pictured without horns and face paint in mugshot, as he’s moved to jail with organic food

    Jacob Anthony Chansley was transported to Virginia facility on Thursday evening

  • U.S. State Department approves first potential weapons sales under Biden, says Pentagon

    The U.S. State Department has approved the first potential sales of weapons under the Biden administration, including communications equipment for NATO and missiles for Chile, in deals with a combined value up to $150 million, the Pentagon said on Friday. The sales are the first foreign military sales to be announced since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, but since sales take months to process, the genesis of the deals likely dates back to the Trump administration. Since taking office, the Biden administration temporarily paused some pending arms sales to U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in order to review them, despite having been approved by the Trump administration.

  • Rural community in shock after Georgia health officials raid clinic vaccinating teachers

    Their plans to vaccinate Elbert County have been "laid to waste," a doctor from the raided medical center says.

  • Capitol rioter asked family if he could stay with them — one called the FBI, feds say

    Federal prosecutors said the man was captured on video yelling “F— the blue” at police officers.

  • Judge rules Republican Tenney won last open US House race

    A New York judge ruled Friday that Republican Claudia Tenney defeated U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi by 109 votes in the nation's last undecided congressional race. The ruling by Judge Scott DelConte could clear the way for Tenney to be sworn in as the representative for central New York's 22nd Congressional District, barring emergency intervention by a state appeals court. DelConte's ruling came after he spent three months reviewing ballot challenges and trying to fix a myriad of problems with vote tabulation.