- 2 hours ago
Ever feel like your food processor is just taking up counter space? In this video, Nicole shares 16 smart food processor hacks, tips, and techniques that go way beyond basic chopping. From making homemade butter and sausage to mixing big batches of dough and whipping up silky emulsified sauces, these practical ideas will help you save time, reduce prep work, and get more out of one of the most powerful tools in your kitchen.
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00:00I've got 16 hacks, tips, and recipes
00:02to get the most out of your food processor.
00:04Starting right away with trick number one, butter.
00:06You can make homemade butter in your food processor,
00:09one ingredient, and it's gonna taste better
00:12than anything you buy in the store.
00:13Add heavy cream straight to your food processor
00:17and let her rip.
00:18This is a great thing to do if you buy heavy cream
00:20in bulk at Costco or somewhere.
00:22You can get a lot of butter for your money.
00:24We know that when you whip cream and you take it too far,
00:28it turns into butter.
00:29That's all we're trying to do here.
00:30It'll eventually turn into butter
00:32and we'll have the butter and the buttermilk.
00:34Less than five minutes, we have butter and buttermilk.
00:37The food processor works so fast.
00:39Once you start to see the solids separate from the liquid,
00:41you know you're there.
00:42I'm gonna strain this off
00:44and then you wanna press any extra liquid out.
00:46It's like butter, baby.
00:48Save this buttermilk for your baking.
00:50Add it to a bowl, season it up with just a little salt,
00:53and now you've got perfectly flavored,
00:55soft and spreadable butter ready for your toast.
00:58At this point, you could also roll it into a log
01:01and place it in your butter dish.
01:02I think this is really handy and often more affordable
01:04if you're looking to make organic butter,
01:06because organic cream is not that much more expensive
01:09than regular, but organic butter is like double the price.
01:12Some good butter.
01:18Mmm, we should all be doing that more often.
01:20This next one is my friend Zoe's favorite thing
01:22I've ever taught her,
01:23that you can make homemade sausage in your food processor.
01:27Why would you do that?
01:28A, because it's cheaper.
01:30B, because you can control exactly what's in it.
01:33No mystery ingredients.
01:35This is also a great hack to do with leftover steaks
01:37or stew meat, you can make your own ground beef for burgers.
01:40I'm gonna make pork sausage by using just boneless pork chops.
01:46These are sometimes usually around $5 a pound,
01:50where one pound of breakfast sausage also costs about the same thing,
01:54but you're also paying for a lot of fillers and chemicals.
01:56All you have to do is take whatever meat you're looking to do,
01:59cube it up, and pop it in your food processor.
02:02This is one of those things where you're like,
02:04duh, why have we not been doing this?
02:06Plus one pack of pork chops is gonna make a lot of sausage.
02:11It's a great thing to do when meat is on sale.
02:14Straight in, depending on how much you have,
02:16you may have to do this in batches,
02:18or how big your food processor is.
02:20You know, good and well, you didn't think it was gonna work.
02:22That is perfect ground meat.
02:25You could stop here, and you've got perfect ground meat
02:27for whatever recipe you're looking to use it in,
02:29whether that be ground beef, chicken, or pork.
02:32I'm gonna turn this into sausage.
02:34So I'm just gonna go ahead and add my seasonings in,
02:36give it a couple pulses, and we have fresh breakfast sausage.
02:39Sage, a little fresh thyme, a little rosemary,
02:43kick it up, see?
02:44I mean, you can control the heat level, the ingredients,
02:48nothing mysterious.
02:50If you're a fan of maple sausage,
02:52you could add in a little maple syrup here.
02:54And that's a lot of sausage for about 10 bucks.
02:57I like to make sausage patties,
02:59and then you can freeze them raw or cook them,
03:01and still freeze them for a quick and easy breakfast.
03:04This is some beautiful breakfast sausage.
03:07You're also getting all meat in here and not a ton of fat.
03:10You can choose a fattier cut of meat if you want,
03:12but I'm really proud of that.
03:14Telling you when meat is on sale,
03:16this is what you need to be doing with it.
03:18It's so tender.
03:20It's perfect.
03:27Truly some of the best breakfast sausage I've ever had.
03:29I just love being able to taste exactly
03:32what I know we put in it.
03:33And we have plenty left over to keep our freezer stocked.
03:36Your food processor is the most efficient way
03:39to slice and shred things,
03:41especially when you have a lot to do.
03:42This one's more of a tip,
03:44because I think you just might not be using this,
03:46because you're like, what the heck is that for?
03:48Your food processor is going to come with another blade.
03:52Okay, this blade is for slicing and shredding.
03:55It's reversible.
03:56Whichever part of the disc is raised,
03:58that will tell you which side does what.
04:01For example, this has the raised blade
04:03that looks like a curved knife.
04:06That is going to slice.
04:07If you flip it over,
04:09the raised parts look like that on a boxed grater,
04:12so that's going to grate or shred.
04:14So we cleared that up, but how do you use it?
04:16You have to take this blade out,
04:19because if you shred and then it goes to the bottom,
04:21then it's all going to get chopped up with this blade.
04:24Your food processor will also come with one of these inserts.
04:27This goes in place of the blade,
04:29and then you place your disc on top.
04:31So first we will slice,
04:32so I've got my raised blade on top,
04:35and now we're ready to go.
04:36I'm going to show you with zucchini.
04:38This is good if you're making like a gratin,
04:41or some sort of veggie casserole.
04:43If what you're slicing is larger than the hole
04:47that it goes in, you can just cut it in half.
04:49I'm going to slice off the ends,
04:53because we're going to end up feeding the whole thing through.
04:56Once you put your food in there,
04:58you can use the insert to help push it down.
05:00You don't want to push it down with your fingers.
05:03Just that easy.
05:04Look at all these sliced veggies.
05:05Now time to shred.
05:08Same insert goes in.
05:10I've flipped the disc over,
05:12so that the raised blades are those that mimic what is on a cheese grater.
05:18Have you ever stood and shredded a whole head of cabbage for coleslaw?
05:20It's all about efficiency.
05:22And then when you're done, it all just goes straight in the dishwasher.
05:25Done.
05:25Done.
05:28Wow.
05:29It's just way easier this way.
05:31Forget the bowl, whisk, the big stand mixer.
05:34You can do your big batch mixing right here in the food processor.
05:37I'm going to show you how efficient this is by making a whole breakfast casserole without
05:41bringing out any mixing bowls.
05:42So we know our casserole is going to need shredded cheese, so I went ahead and did that.
05:47And then I go straight into the casserole with it.
05:49Just trade out the insert, and now we mix the rest right in here.
05:53For this recipe, I'm going to add in some chopped green onions, and then add in everything else,
05:58our eggs and our milk.
05:59I'll admit, I'm guilty of not maximizing the use of my food processor either.
06:05But I'm being inspired today, and I hope you are too.
06:08I'm going to add in a little hot sauce, salt, and pepper.
06:12It's just so much faster than a whisk.
06:14Before I pour it in, I'm also going to add to this casserole some sausage and bacon.
06:18You just pour your custard right in.
06:21Probably one of the easiest things you'll ever do.
06:23Then you just pop it into the oven, 350 degrees for about an hour.
06:27A perfect casserole that was so easy to make.
06:31I'm going to top it off with the tops of those green onions.
06:34I should probably let it set up.
06:36Who's got time for that?
06:39Yum.
06:40This is a hearty breakfast casserole.
06:46A plus 5,000.
06:48And it tastes that much better because it was so easy.
06:50I would say what I use my food processor the most for is to make dips.
06:54Whether it's a French onion dip, a hummus, a tabbouleh,
06:57you can get everything super finely chopped in your food processor,
07:00and that's why it's so perfect.
07:02I'm showing you my homemade salsa,
07:06and the only way to make it is in the food processor.
07:08I use a combination of fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes
07:12because I think that's just perfect.
07:15Bottom line is the food processor is just the fastest and easiest way to go.
07:19Also add in some onion and a little fresh jalapeno.
07:23All of this is going to get chopped to the same consistency,
07:27so I can add it all in at the same time.
07:29I can add the other stuff later.
07:31You can also control how you want things like this.
07:33If you want a chunkier salsa, you can stop sooner.
07:36I'm doing more of a restaurant-style salsa, so it's super pureed.
07:40See how beautiful that is?
07:42I like to add the herbs in last.
07:43That way you still get the flecks of green in there.
07:46If you add it too early, sometimes it discolors what you're making.
07:49I'm just kind of doing whatever I feel like today.
07:51A little cumin, fresh lime juice.
07:58P.S. that's the best way to get the juice out of the lime.
08:01Oh, now that's, can't show that.
08:03And a garlic clove.
08:04A little salt.
08:05And now it's going to look just like what you get at the restaurants.
08:12That was so fast.
08:14Super fresh, super yummy.
08:16I haven't done this in a while.
08:18There you have it.
08:19The best, easiest dips come out of the food processor.
08:26Mmm.
08:26And this is going to go so great with what I'm showing you next.
08:30No fancy ice machine needed when it comes to making crushed ice.
08:33You can do it right here in your food processor just in time for happy hour.
08:37As you can see, this would also be great for snow cones.
08:41But to go with that salsa, how about a frozen margarita?
08:47Mmm.
08:48Now that gets you in the spirit for the warmer weather.
08:53Oh my God.
08:54We're just about at the halfway point.
08:56I guess I'll put this down and keep going.
08:59Because food processors can whip and whirl so fast, they're perfect for emulsified sauces.
09:03I'm going to show you how to make a homemade mayonnaise, which is the base for lots of other
09:08sauces, but we're just going to start with the basics.
09:10Egg yolk.
09:11And the yolk is going to act as our emulsifier in here.
09:14Sometimes you can add in some mustard, Dijon mustard, in addition to this.
09:19We're just going classic, classic.
09:21To that, I'm going to add in some fresh lemon juice.
09:24In order for a sauce to emulsify, you have to gradually add the fat in.
09:28You can't just dump it all at once.
09:30So a lot of times when you're whisking and drizzling, you know, it just takes a lot of
09:34arm power.
09:35This is going to simplify it for us.
09:36So the goal is to get the whisking part going and then slowly drizzle in the fat.
09:42Eventually, we'll be able to get all of the oil in with the egg yolks and lemon juice.
09:46What's good about this, just like the butter, you control the quality of your ingredients
09:50in your mayonnaise.
09:52Beautiful.
09:53This is as simple as it gets.
09:55You can add in garlic, Dijon, turn this into an aioli.
10:01That is just simple, yet perfect mayonnaise.
10:05Emulsification is so easy in the food processor, and we just made perfect homemade mayo.
10:10You can whip up a batch and just keep it stored in your fridge.
10:12Raise your hand if you do not own a coffee grinder.
10:15Raise your hand if you're missing out on a lot of good coffee experiences because you
10:19can't buy the whole bean.
10:21Now, this is one that I actually have never done before, but if this works, this one's
10:27life-changing for me.
10:28A lot of times you can find better coffee that's only available in whole bean versus
10:33pre-ground.
10:34Also, it's cheaper to buy the whole bean than the pre-ground, and it's going to taste better.
10:39But I've never wanted to buy a coffee grinder because it takes up space in my cabinet, and
10:43it only serves one purpose.
10:46And yes, I know this is not gourmet coffee, but it's the kind I love.
10:51I think we just dump it in and let it go.
10:53It already smells way better than pre-ground stuff.
10:56The flavor's just there.
11:01I'd say it takes about two to three minutes of pureeing, but it works.
11:08It might be slightly coarser than what you get in a bag, but it's still going to make
11:13a good cup of coffee.
11:14Who knew?
11:15Food processor, that's a coffee grinder.
11:18We're going to keep grinding for a couple more.
11:20My grandmother would be proud of this next one.
11:23In the food processor is where you need to make breadcrumbs.
11:26Do not waste that day-old bread or bread that you might just toss in the trash can.
11:32Turn it into breadcrumbs.
11:34This is way better than the stuff that comes in a can at the grocery store.
11:37You don't even have to toast it first because these blades are so sharp.
11:41It will turn bread that's even soft in the middle into breadcrumbs.
11:45And once you have your breadcrumbs, it's best to store them in the freezer.
11:49If you're making true light breadcrumbs, you want them pretty fine, but you can also leave
11:55them coarser if you're using it for a topping for a casserole, for example.
12:01Breadcrumbs like this are perfect for filling, whether you're making meatballs, crab cakes,
12:06or you can add them to butter and put them on top of a casserole.
12:09If you want a crunchier breadcrumb, you can toast them first before storing.
12:13There we have fresh, high-quality breadcrumbs.
12:17These are going to be perfect in your next recipe that calls for breadcrumbs.
12:20This next hack comes in handy when you're in a pinch.
12:23You know, I feel like this has happened to everybody, that you're in the middle of a recipe
12:27and it calls for powdered sugar, but you don't have any, but you know you've got regular sugar.
12:33This is another one I really haven't done, but I'm hopeful.
12:36He hasn't let me down yet.
12:38Just add your sugar right in and process it till the powder.
12:42Like the coffee, I think this is going to take a little bit of time.
12:45I don't know if this is quite the same thing as what comes in a box, but...
12:51Look at the lid.
12:52That's powdered sugar on the top.
12:56Tastes like powdered sugar.
12:58Looks like powdered sugar.
13:01Doesn't feel quite like powdered sugar, but it would get the job done in a recipe.
13:07Not quite the same, but it works for me.
13:09And it beats having to get in the car and go to the store.
13:11I feel like you've probably seen this one before, but if you're like me and you like to take shortcuts
13:15in baking,
13:16the food processor is here to remind us that you don't have to.
13:19It is just as easy to make from scratch items right here.
13:22For example, pie crust.
13:25Pie crust is so easy to make in the food processor, I almost forgot.
13:29I'm guilty of buying the pre-made pie dough 95% of the time.
13:34But if I'm into that holiday baking or a special occasion, this is when it comes in clutch.
13:40All you do is just add your flour to your food processor with a regular blade, and then to that,
13:45we're going to add in cold cubed butter.
13:48You could also do shortening or a combination of both.
13:51It doesn't really matter.
13:52Whatever recipe you like, you can, instead of cutting the butter with a fork or a pastry cutter, this is
13:58way faster.
13:59A little bit of salt.
14:00Then you're just going to pulse it until there's like pea-sized crumbs in there.
14:05All right, that's it.
14:05Just about four or five pulses.
14:07You just want to see the butter kind of scattered throughout there like confetti.
14:11That's going to help keep this pie crust nice and flaky.
14:14Then we're going to turn it on, and with the motor running, I'm going to slowly add ice water.
14:20You want to do it until it just comes together.
14:22You don't want it to be a full ball or it's going to be too wet of a day.
14:26It's important to do ice water and ice-cold butter shortening.
14:30That way, as it bakes, the layers will be nice and flaky because the butter will just kind of melt
14:35into the layers as it bakes.
14:36When you hear it start to slow down, you're about there.
14:43Yep.
14:44Then you just turn it on to a floured surface and get it into a disc.
14:48You don't want to work it too much.
14:49You're not trying to melt that butter.
14:51Just enough to bring it together.
14:53It's so much easier than using a pastry cutter or a fork.
14:57And it took, what, less than three minutes to make this?
15:01At this point, just wrap it up, keep it chilled, and then you'll be ready to roll.
15:05Literally.
15:06Sort of like the butter and the mayonnaise, we like to control the ingredients that we put in our bodies
15:11sometimes.
15:11The food processor is the perfect vessel to make homemade nut butters and alternative flours.
15:17A lot of times these alternative flours and things are more expensive, but if you've got a food processor, you
15:22can turn simple oats that cost a dollar into oat flour.
15:25We're going to make peanut butter.
15:27These are always buy one, get one free in the store.
15:29Peanut butter that comes in the drawer on the store shelf, even though I love it, does have some words
15:34that we can't even pronounce.
15:36Chemicals that we just don't need.
15:37You know, this has all those chemicals.
15:42I'm making honey roasted peanut butter because I love that.
15:45Whole Foods used to have the machine that pumped it out, and it was so good to eat by the
15:49spoonful, so that's what I want to make.
15:50You can use just plain unsalted or salted roasted peanuts or almond butter or sunflower butter.
15:57You get the point.
15:57Just straight into your food processor.
16:00About two cups of nuts will yield about one cup of nut butter.
16:04Only thing you need is a little bit of thyme.
16:06This is going to take about eight to ten minutes.
16:10That was easier than I thought.
16:12All you have to do is scrape it down a couple times, and then it'll really get going.
16:16And it's warm because that engine was going.
16:20It's almost like you took the peanut butter and microwaved it.
16:24Look how creamy.
16:25This could be dangerous.
16:27I could eat this by the spoonful multiple times a day.
16:32Now, yes, it does look like that natural peanut butter.
16:36In the sense that it's not perfectly fake smooth, but that's pretty doggone smooth.
16:43As it cools off a little bit, it's going to firm up.
16:45Probably best store it in the fridge.
16:52And that's just delicious.
16:54I'm going to tell you right now, stop buying that garlic in a jar.
16:59Otherwise known as jar-lic.
17:00Sure, it's convenient, but it doesn't taste like garlic.
17:04I don't care who you are.
17:05Thanks to the food processor, you can make your own.
17:08I mean, I'm with you.
17:09I hate chopping garlic.
17:11You know that.
17:12That's why I always use a garlic press.
17:13But the easiest thing is to have it already chopped for you, ready to go.
17:16This is the best way.
17:17You can do as much as you want.
17:19And then you can chop it as fine as you want.
17:22I hope you didn't look away.
17:24That was 10 seconds, and we have perfectly minced garlic.
17:27And your hands don't smell.
17:29If you use it pretty quickly, and maybe you don't do as much, you can just put it in a
17:33jar with a tight-fitting lid.
17:35If you want it to last even longer, kind of like your jar-lic, you can also add in some
17:40olive oil here.
17:41You'll end up with flavorful oil, and it'll preserve your garlic for longer.
17:45You're not going to buy it anymore, are you?
17:47I trust that you won't.
17:49I got one for you, cauliflower rice.
17:52Remember this?
17:52This is something you should be making in your food processor if you eat this a lot.
17:56Buying it from the produce section in those bags already riced, it gets slimy and super
18:03stinky.
18:04It's a lot more affordable to just make your own, plus it stays fresher longer.
18:08If you buy it from the freezer section for about the same price as a whole head, you
18:12get about a third as much.
18:14Just makes sense to make your own.
18:15All you do, pulse it till it's rice-like.
18:19This is also just a good thing to add in with regular rice if you're trying to cut carbs
18:24or maybe add in some veggies.
18:26I feel like we've forgotten about this a little bit, but I'm bringing it back.
18:29And then three pulses, you have cauliflower rice.
18:32I'm even going to cook it up for you.
18:34Fried rice, order up.
18:36That's not rice, it's cauliflower.
18:38But if you didn't know, you wouldn't know.
18:41An oldie but a goodie.
18:49Perfection.
18:49Our food processor has been a hero so far.
18:52Now let me show you how to clean them up a little bit.
18:54You know when you're down to the end, if you mixed something creamy, let's say that mayo
18:59or ranch dressing or a cheesecake, you still have all that gunk left around your blade and
19:06at the bottom of your bowl?
19:07It takes forever to scrape it off with a spatula.
19:09Plus, you don't want to get in there with your hands because you risk cutting yourself.
19:12Here's the trick.
19:13You get as much as you can out and then for the rest, pop it back on and let it
19:19work.
19:20Now, it's all on the side and a lot easier to scrape.
19:24And you don't have to waste what all was left on there.
19:27You might have thrown that out.
19:28You left a lot of good stuff in there.
19:30You could have let that go to waste.
19:32This little baby has worked hard today.
19:34Time to clean him up.
19:35The best way to really get in all those nooks and crannies inside is to just clean it while
19:41it's going.
19:41After you've scraped out and gotten out whatever you can, give it one more final spin with warm
19:47soapy water.
19:47Put a little water in there, a few drops of soap, and let it go.
19:52That works.
19:53Just dump out the remnants.
19:55One final rinse.
19:56Good as new.
19:58See?
19:59It's a good one.
20:00Food processor can be a superhero in your kitchen.
20:03Was I right that you've definitely not been getting the most out of your food processor?
20:07You know this appliance takes up a lot of space in your kitchen.
20:10Time to make sure it earns its keep.
20:13Done my job.
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