How to Use a KitchenAid Food Processor

The controls on a KitchenAid food processor follow the size of the machine, so the capacity tells you which set of buttons or levers you are looking at.

The compact choppers are the ones that catch people out. With no feed tube in the lid, there is no way to slice or shred, and no disc will change that. If a recipe calls for shredded cheese or sliced cucumber, you need a machine with a feed tube.

Assembly follows the same sequence on every KitchenAid processor, and doing it in this order is what makes the safety interlock close.

1. Place the base on a flat, sturdy counter. It holds the motor and is the heaviest part of the machine.
2. Seat the work bowl on the base. Newer bowls are latched and twist-free and click into place; older bowls line up and twist about a quarter turn to lock.
3. Lower the drive adapter onto the drive pin in the center of the bowl. It sits on the pin and does not click or lock.
4. Fit the blade or disc. The S-blade presses down until it clicks on the compact models and slides over the drive adapter on the larger ones. A disc seats on the adapter with its cutting side facing up.
5. Attach the lid. Hinged lids flip down and secure with a locking tab; older lids set down and twist.
6. Insert the pushers fully. The large pusher has to be in place, down to its max fill line.

Fitting the blade before the lid makes the whole job easier, because you can see the blade seat on the adapter instead of reaching under a closed lid.

The interlock that stops the machine

The motor runs only when the bowl is seated, the lid is latched, and the large pusher is fully inserted. If the machine clicks and does nothing, one of those three is not home. Lift the pusher and push it back down, then press the lid tab until it clicks.

Low runs the blade slowly for soft and delicate foods, High runs it fast for hard and firm foods, and Off/Pulse gives you short bursts. Pulse runs at high speed only and stops the moment you let go, which is what makes it the setting for control.

Button models

Press Low for dips, batters and soft vegetables, High for hard cheese, carrots and dough, and Off/Pulse for anything you want to watch. Press one button at a time: two buttons at once will stop the machine.

Lever models on the compact choppers

The slide lever picks chop or puree, and the button pulses. Slide to chop for a coarse result, slide to puree for a smooth one, and tap the button for short bursts when you want to keep an eye on the texture.

Dial-and-lever models

Set the speed lever to 1 or 2, then turn the dial to I to run continuously or to PULSE for bursts. The dial returns to O on its own when you release it, so a pulse is a twist and a release rather than a button press.

Chop or pulse

Pulsing gives you control and an even, chunky result. Running continuously gives a finer, more uniform texture and is the faster route to a puree. For soft foods, use light pressure and a low speed; for hard foods, firm pressure and a high speed.

Each blade and disc does one family of jobs well, and using the wrong one is the second most common reason a recipe disappoints.

Which side of the disc goes up

Raised slicing blade up to slice, small raised shredding blades up to shred. That one rule settles the disc confusion, and a disc fitted the wrong way up will either refuse to seat or push food around instead of cutting it.

The metal S-blade builds up heat during long runs, which matters for dough: heat is what can kill yeast, so the plastic dough blade is the safer choice for a long knead.

How full the bowl is decides whether the machine chops evenly or turns everything to mush, and the limit changes with the job.

Cut food into roughly 1-inch pieces before chopping, so the blade catches every piece instead of bouncing the big ones around. Most KitchenAid bowls have no fill line for solid food, so the max fill line on the pusher is your reference.

Packing the feed tube

The 3-in-1 pusher gives a large, a medium and a small opening. Use the small one for slender items so they stay upright, and the drizzle hole for adding oil in a thin stream. Long thin foods go in vertically and packed tightly; round foods are peeled, cored and halved or quartered to fit; small items are layered so they stand up rather than lie flat. Leafy greens are stacked, rolled and stood upright in the tube.

Cold food rules

Chill firm cheese before shredding it. Freeze soft cheese such as mozzarella thoroughly before shredding, because a warm soft cheese smears. Freeze stir-fry meat for 30 minutes to 2 hours, until it is firm but still pierceable with a knife tip, and chill cooked meats such as pepperoni before slicing.

Once the bowl is loaded and the lid is latched, the technique is mostly about how long you run the motor and how you feed the tube.

Chop and mince

Pulse in short bursts and check between them. Dropping ingredients through the feed tube while the machine runs gives a faster, more even chop than loading everything at once.

Puree

Run continuously and scrape down the bowl as needed, keeping it no more than two-thirds full so the food actually reaches the blade.

Mix, fold and emulsify

Use the S-blade on low. Add dry ingredients last, and put nuts or fruit on top of the flour so they do not over-chop while the rest comes together.

Slice and shred

Start the machine first, then feed through the tube with the pusher. Position the slicing disc so its cutting surface sits just to the right of the feed tube, which gives the blade time to reach full speed before it meets the food.

Knead

Combine the dry ingredients with a few pulses, add the liquid through the feed tube, pulse about 3 seconds, then run on high until a rough ball forms, roughly 20 seconds. Stop, unplug, turn the dough over and pulse another 20 to 30 seconds. The dough is ready when it forms a rough ball pulling away from the bowl and looks shiny and elastic. Use cold water, and do not knead recipes using more than 3 cups (710 mL) of flour. If you use the metal blade instead of the dough blade, shorten the knead time by about one third, because the heat it generates can kill the yeast.

Dice and julienne

These jobs need the dicing kit or the French-fry disc, where the machine came with one. Follow the kit's own stacking order, since the base, blade and cover only work in one arrangement.

If food gets stuck on the blade, stop the machine, remove the blade and lift the food off gently.

Nothing goes in that you cannot pierce with the tip of a knife. That single check rules out coffee beans, grains, hard whole spices and bones, and it rules out ice crushing too.

• No hard-cooked eggs or unchilled meat in the slicing disc.
• No hot liquid. Processing hot liquid is the most common cause of serious burns from a food processor, and the danger is not obvious, because the lid looks sealed right up to the moment steam lifts it.
• No feeding by hand, ever. The pusher exists so your fingers stay out of the tube.
• No defeating the lid interlock, however tempting the workaround looks.

Most failures fall into a short list, and each one has a fix you can do at the counter.

A thin liquid can work its way under the blade and down the spindle onto the base, which is why the two-thirds line matters more for liquids than for anything else.

Unplug the machine and take it apart in reverse order: lid, then blade or disc, then bowl. Wipe the base and the cord with a damp cloth, and never immerse the base or the cord in water.

Quick clean

Fill the bowl one-third full of warm water, add a few drops of dish soap and run it on high for 30 seconds. Rinse and dry.

Dough and hummus residue

Reassemble the empty bowl and blade and pulse a few times before washing. The spinning flings stuck food onto the bowl walls, where it is easy to wipe off.

Dishwasher and blade safety

All parts are top-rack dishwasher safe on a gentle or normal cycle. Avoid high-temperature cycles and do not lay the bowl on its side. No abrasive cleansers or scouring pads, which cloud the bowl. Handle blades by the plastic hub, never the edge, and do not leave them soaking in a sink where a hand can find them. Lemon juice or vinegar lifts stains from plastic parts.

Storage

Up to two blades and three discs plus the drive adapter fit inside the work bowl, and the cord wraps on the base. Placing the lid upside down on the counter while you work keeps it clean and out of the way.