Blender, Food Processor and Stand Mixer: What’s the Difference and Do You Need All 3?

Mixers, food processors and electric mixers — independence or otherwise — all small kitchen appliances whose core function can be boiled down to a simple concept: assembly. However, they all exist independently, have different designs and seem to have different purposes.

If you find yourself wandering around the topic here, ask if you can explain their unique characteristics and how they actually do what they do. And if you’re a newbie to cooking and baking with a little idea to start with, you’re welcome.

Of course, there are foods that can be achieved in any of them (see mashed potatoes below), while others are only effective when compared to the right machine. Stand mixer smoothies aren’t really a thing, for example. You can make dough in a food processor, but not all dough…so, why not?

If you ever need to justify the need thousands of electricity (perhaps with someone like your roommate or spouse who shares the kitchen space with you) or if you have just renovated the kitchen and are wondering what may be necessary and what may end up being just a decoration of your cooking repertoire, getting into the nuances of these tools is important.

For the purposes of kitchen companionship, however, or to give you an excuse for another small appliance purchase — for yourself or anyone else — here’s an examination of the differences between a blender, food processor and stand mixer.

Blender: How does it work?

Blenders usually consist of a heavy base with a motor and a plastic or glass jug with a set of rotating blades at the point where the jug connects to the motor. A blender combines any ingredients you add with one goal: to make a liquid. The history of the blender, in fact, begins with its function as a milkshake maker. The vortex created by the rapid rotation of the blades creates a vacuum that pulls whatever is in the jug toward the blades, rubs it, and then pushes it back, ad nauseum, until you hit a stop.

If you have put various components in a blender and made the mixture stop quickly, clinging deeply to the sides of the jug where it cannot reach the blades, the catch-22 of the work of the blender is that it usually needs a little liquid to begin with to start the liquid effectively. Some solids that are light or have small pieces, such as nuts or bread cubes, can be put in the blender; However, in this case, the function of the blender is grinding.

Perfect for the blender: smoothies, shakes, cocktails, sauces, gravies, fluid nut butters, liquid pancake batters, crepes or coatings.

Food to make in a blender

• Smoothies
• Proteins are moving
• Frozen drinks
• Soups
• Sauces and dips
• Nut butters
• Baby food
• Pancake batter

Food processor: How does it work?

Like a blender, a food processor often relies on blades, but may use discs or other attachments that are specific to the job you’re asking it to do. The bowl in a food processor is more of a bowl or cylinder than a jug, and fluid and gravity are less important to its proper operation. Although it can be considered as something that combines various ingredients — like salsa or hummus — it usually does that by chopping everything together, although it is not as good as a blender, and it can be used for that purpose in one thing.

Various attachments for food processing can allow you to grate, slice, julienne, or juice, with a wide inlet channel that allows you to add ingredients and push them through the attachment, which is usually mounted on the top of the bowl. Some models may also include an insert attached to the base of the whipping or kneading motor. Although a blender usually results in more cleanup than a food processor, a food processor is very versatile in terms of the various shapes and textures possible with its use.

Ideal for a food processor: grinding or chopping hard ingredients like vegetables or cheese, thick or thick sauces like pesto, hummus, or salsa, thick peanut butter, pasta or cake batter.

Foods to make with a food processor

• Chopped vegetables for sofrito, mirepoix, etc.
• Pesto and sauces
• Hummus and dips
• Grated cheese
• Nut butters and nut flours
• Cauliflower rice
• Energy balls and non-baking treats
• Bread crumbs
• Low meat

Stand mixer: How does it work?

Stand mixers are powerful mixing devices that can mix ingredients, but do not break them into small pieces using the blades. In a stand mixer, a heavy base holds the bowl in place while the motor rotates an attachment such as a paddle, dough hook or whisk. (Hand blenders do the same job, but both of your hands are the element that keeps the bowl in place, as well as the one that holds the motor attachment.)

At higher speeds, a stand mixer may also introduce air into the mixture. The action of a stand mixer is smoother and easier to control than that of a blender or food processor, making it ideal for cake batters that require less mixing, where the goal is just to mix. Equipped with a dough hook, however, the mixer can also develop gluten-free dough for crusty breads.

Stand mixers may also have a variety of attachments available to expand their use, including ice cream makers, pasta rollers, meat grinders, spiralizers, juicers, and even choppers that make their way into the food processor.

Perfect for stand mixers: bread dough, pizza, pasta, and cookies, all batters, icing and frosting, meringue or whipped egg preparations, whipped cream.

The food you have to do is in the drying mix

• Bread and yeast dough
• Cake dough
• Cookie batter
• Whipped cream
• Meringues
• Snow
• Mashed potatoes
• Pasta dough
• Shredded chicken or pork
• Pizza dough

Crossover use between them: A test of mashed potatoes

Naturally, there are things that can be accomplished in any of these instruments, given the desired results. Egg whites or cream can be beaten, batters can be mixed, and some dough can be made from all three. However, this is not a case against a stand mixer. Although its function is out of “mix,” it is still a necessary machine for certain types of cake or cookie dough. Not to mention the lack of blades and its stainless steel bowl, which makes it very easy to clean.

I make mashed potatoes with all three

To show well the results of these various instruments when I was given the same task, I chose mashed potatoes, which can be successfully achieved by draining them, cutting them, or simply mixing their parts. The potatoes are cubed and boiled, then (because I’m not a monster) in the test and a splash of milk and a dab of butter.

• Food processor: it took a few pulses to turn the cubed potatoes into mashed potatoes. I like them with a little texture, but a few pulses can give you a smooth puree.
• A stand mixer: requires more time but allows for greater volume. You’ll never get a silky puree if that’s what you’re after, and you may end up with larger portions, but this method can easily feed a crowd without the elbow grease of hand-wrapping.
• A blender: it needs more milk to proceed, and in a very short time it turns the cooked potatoes into something more like pancake batter than mashed potatoes, a strong consideration if you’re actually making gnocchi.