Best mini chopper 2024: for effortless chopping, mixing and pureeing
Buy the best mini chopper to take the elbow grease out of food prep with our reviews of Ninja, Russell Hobbs, Kenwood, Magimix and Salter choppers
Mini choppers are essentially small versions of the best food processors, without all the extra attachments. They’re more effective at chopping and mixing small quantities, plus they’re much easier to store, not to mention less hassle to set up than a regular food processor.
Although they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, they generally offer just one chopping speed and require you to keep your finger on the button to operate the blades. But don’t be fooled by the size, these small choppers can be fiendishly fast at finely chopping. They’re also the perfect size to create homemade dips, salsas, sauces, and dressings.
We like the models that come with storage lids, so you don’t have to tip your creation into a different container to store it, anything that reduces the washing up is a win in our book. If you’re looking to master homemade mayo, look for a model with a hole in the lid so you can pour your oil in slowly for a silky-smooth emulsified result.
What’s the best mini chopper?
Why you can trust Ideal Home
We loved the Ninja Professional Stackable Mini Chopper because it’s a speedy chopper that includes two bowls with lids and is very reasonably priced. But we also rate the Russell Hobbs Desire Mini Chopper for its robust glass bowl and good capacity.
1. Ninja Professional Stackable Chopper
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The Ninja Professional Stackable Chopper is the most versatile in this list. Not only is it super easy to use but having two bowls gives you the flexibility to make a guacamole in one and chop vegetables in the other. The cleverly designed lids can be sealed into position during use so that it can blend liquids without leaking, then use them to seal the bowls and store your delicious creations in the fridge.
We only cut our onion into quarters before chopping and the four metal blades quickly turned it into finely chopped pieces with just a few pulses. It’s fast and powerful, perfect for speedy chopping as well as purees, sauces and dips. Although mayo fans might be disappointed that you can’t add liquids during blending, which means home-made mayo’s off the menu.
There’s a lot to store but it all stacks neatly to take up the minimum possible space in your cupboard. It’s a great chopper that offers good value for money.
Ideal Home rated 5 out of 5 stars
2. Russell Hobbs Desire Mini Chopper
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The standout feature of the Russell Hobbs Desire Mini Chopper is its thick sturdy glass bowl that’s designed to last. It comes with a lid for storage, but we’d have preferred a lid that seals the bowl rather than just sits on top. It’s simple to use with just one large button on top and it feels well built.
Onions were finely chopped in just a few short pulses, although we noticed some bigger chunks amongst the pieces. It’s frustrating that the manual instructs you to cut foods into 18mm pieces before adding them to the chopper. This meant cutting our onion into 12 pieces before chopping, having said that though, the chopper still speeds up fiddly food prep and takes the effort out of finely chopping. Plus, the large bowl means it can process liquids at maximum capacity with minimal leakage.
It’ll come in handy for creating everything from salsas to sauces as well as chopping vegetables, but there’s not a hole in the lid, so you can’t add in liquids during blending, meaning it’s no good for mayo.
Ideal Home rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
3. Kenwood Mini Chopper
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Despite its small size, the Kenwood Mini Chopper has the most powerful motor of all the choppers on our list, it’s also the only one that offers two chopping speeds. We cut our onion into about 12 pieces and although the capacity isn’t big enough to fit a whole onion, it very quickly cut it into fine even pieces.
There’s one button which you press halfway for the slower speed and pressing more firmly activates the higher speed. It made a loud piercing sound when chopping onion, but considering it’s only used in short bursts, this isn’t too annoying. We only managed to blend 100ml of liquid, any more and it starts leaking out of the lid, but leaking will be less of an issue with thicker sauces. If you only need a chopper for small quantities or you’re short on storage space, this one is a great choice.
Ideal Home rated 4 out of 5 stars
4. Magimix Le Micro
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
With two blades and a sturdy base, the Magimix Le Micro certainly feels like a mini version of a Magimix food processor. The plastic blade is designed for emulsifying and sauce making and if you’re a fan of making mayonnaise you’ll appreciate the hole for adding liquids through the lid, plus there’s a larger slot for adding solids like herbs too.
The sharp metal blade is for chopping and produced some of the most evenly chopped onion of all the choppers on this list. Unlike most other foods, onion only needs to be pre-cut into 4cm pieces, making it a quick and convenient process.
It’s a pricey chopper though and despite the advertised 800ml capacity, the bowl should only be filled 2/3 full, which gives it a working capacity closer to 500ml. Plus, when we added water, anything above 200ml leaked out of the lid, it’ll be fine for thicker sauces and dips though.
Ideal Home rated 4 out of 5 stars
5. Salter Electric Mini Kitchen Chopper
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The Salter Electric Mini Kitchen Chopper is a small budget friendly chopper that’s designed for basic chopping and mixing tasks. Chopping onion took longer than all the other choppers on the list, and the end result was still quite chunky.
The bowl isn’t big enough for a whole onion, but we were surprised that it could mix up to 200ml of liquid without leaking and the feed hole in the lid is perfect for pouring in oils and liquids while whipping up sauces, dips or mayo.
The start button is a bit stiff and the accessories have to be hand washed but given the budget price and compact size, we can forgive these downsides.
Ideal Home rated 3 out of 5 stars
How we tested the best mini choppers
We used the mini choppers to chop onion, although a seemingly basic task, this allowed us to compare them in terms of speed and evenness of chopping. We also tested them with water to assess how much liquid they could process without leaking.
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After completing a Home Economics degree, Helen went on to work for the Good Housekeeping Institute and has been reviewing home appliances ever since. She lives in a small village in Buckinghamshire in the UK, where she reviews all sorts of home and garden appliances for Ideal Home using her wealth of experience.
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