Breville’s Sous Chef food processors have landed at the top of our best-tested lists for years. While the brand recently discontinued its 12-cup version, the new 16-cup model tested even better. It’s a heavy-duty unit with clear measurement markings on the work bowl and a digital control panel. The “on” button powers the screen and indicates when all parts are secure, and the food processor is ready to run. It has responsive buttons, including one for pulse and one for start/pause. The timer counts up to track how long your food has been processing, and you can set it to run for a specific time in five-second increments.
It comes with multiple accessories, including a smaller work bowl, two S-blades, a fine- and coarse-shredding disc, an adjustable slicing disc, a French fry disc, a dough blade, a spatula, and a cleaning brush. The lid has a large feed tube, as well as medium- and small-sized tubes with lids, which doubles as a measuring cup. One downside: The measurements are in milliliters, and it doesn’t have a drizzle hole for recipes like hummus. The many accessories offer optimal versatility but can be cumbersome to clean—thankfully, they’re dishwasher-safe.
The Breville Sous Chef comes with a large, clear storage case that fits all of the attachments.
TESTING RESULTS: I really like the premium features of this food processor, including the many accessories. The measurement markings and various directions on the unit and accessories also make it very easy to use. In our tests, it scored five out of five across the board for chopping, mincing, grinding, shredding, slicing, and kneading bread dough. Even though it’s hard to shred mozzarella in a food processor, this unit struggled a bit more than others and didn’t produce the most even pieces.
