I tested the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L– a budget-friendly but incredibly powerful food processor
SOURCE:TechRadar|BY: Vic Hood
The Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor packs a lot of power in a compact package, delivering high-quality results with impressive speed.
The Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor packs a lot of power and capacity without occupying a lot of space. This kitchen appliance comes with three attachments (a reversible shredding disc, a whipping blade, and a chopping blade), allowing it to chop, shred, whip, purée, and emulsify. Its results are delivered with impressive speed and to a high quality, leaving minimal waste. And while we wish there were more control over the level of power and that it came with a slicing attachment, this is undoubtedly an excellent food processor that offers superb value for money.
Pros
Compact size
Powerful, fast processing
Shreds, chops, whips, and purées
BladeLock system for safer use
Cons
-
No control over power level
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No slicing attachment
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Loud
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Cuisinart is a renowned brand in the kitchen appliance space, and the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor proves why. This food processor appliance offers a 1.1L capacity, providing a reasonable amount of space for everyday use without occupying a large amount of storage space. But don’t let its compact size fool you, this is a powerhouse of an appliance.
The FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor comes with three attachments: a reversible shredding disc (offering fine or medium shredding/grating), a whipping disc for creams, and a sharp chopping blade, which can also be used to purée and emulsify foods or for tasks such as combining pastry. Shredding and chopping take mere seconds, depending on the food type, while this food processor also saves time (and energy) on more tedious tasks, including whipping double cream or blending nuts into butter. We found minimal food to be left unprocessed at the end, or stuck under the disc/blade. Handwashing was fairly easy, too, especially given that the attachments and bowl are dishwasher safe.
(Image credit: Future)
However, results aren’t always even. While this is largely a minor issue, with carrot or courgette gratings being of varied sizes (though still grated), it was more apparent with a couple of tests/ We found that chopping almonds resulted in some being left whole, while others were almost a powder, while puréeing the almonds into a butter results in half of the nuts (those on the bottom half) being more processed than the other.
The power this food processor packs seems to be part of the issue, as its speed can let down its precision at times. You have little control over this power, too, as the FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor only comes with two main functions: on and pulse. Pulse gives you a bit more control, but we’d have loved to have had the option to increase or decrease the power level as needed. We’d also have liked the inclusion of a slicing attachment, which we’ve seen with similar products, such as the Magimix 4200XL.
These issues are relatively minor, however, and the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor is overall a superb kitchen appliance. And, with a £70 price tag, you’d be hard pressed to find a food processor that offers as high quality for such good value.
Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor: price and availability
£70 at Cuisinart UK or $89.95 for US model (FP-5)
Unavailable in Australia
Available at third-party retailers, including Amazon and Lakeland
Regular discounts can see it dropped to around £50
The Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor (Model FP5U) is available in the UK for £69.99 at Cuisinart UK, while the US equivalent model (FP-5) is $89.95. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, this food processor isn’t available in Australia.
This places this food processor firmly in the budget range, and the quality on offer for that price tag is exceptional, especially considering that there are regular discounts on this appliance. It doesn’t offer the variety of functions we see with some of the premium products on our best food processors list, such as the Breville the Paradice 16 ($699.95 / £579.95 / AU$899) or Nutribullet Triple Prep System ($244.99 / £229.99 / AU$349.95), but it’s considerably more affordable.
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So, if you want one of the food processors that does the basics well, you can’t go wrong with the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor. If you need a slightly larger capacity, but don’t want to fork out for a premium appliance, it’s worth considering the Cuisinart Easy Prep Pro FP8 food processor, priced at £125/ $99.95.
5.9in (D) x 13.3in (W) x 8.1in (H) / 150mm (D) x 338mm (W) x 206mm (H)
Dishwasher-safe
Yes (on top rack only)
Guarantee
3 years
Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor: design
Storage hub for chopping blade
BladeLock system for safe handling
Compact size
No control over power
No slicing attachment
Out of the box, the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor comes with a compact, silver housing base, a 1.1L work bowl, a lid featuring a feed tube, a pusher for that tube, a stem adapter, a metal chopping blade, a reversible shredding disc (for fine and medium shredding), a whipping disc, and a storage hub for the blades. On the outside of the base are two black buttons: on and pulse/off.
What’s immediately striking is how compact the appliance is. As such, it doesn’t offer a huge capacity, but plenty for those preparing smaller batches of food. The appliance is fairly straightforward to assemble, with the work bowl locking into the base, and then your disc or blade locking into the accompanying stem adaptor, which is then locked into the work bowl. Cuisinart’s BladeLock system ensures the blade or disc remains locked in place when processing or pouring, offering an extra layer of safety. The lid then locks into the work bowl, with the pusher slipping easily (but tightly) into the lid’s food tube.
(Image credit: Future)
Our main issue with the setup was that, while the accompanying user manual is quite thorough, it’s mostly text-based, with very few images, making it initially challenging to ensure we’d set up the appliance correctly before its first use, which is critical when sharp blades are involved. We appreciated the storage hub that allows you to safely store the chopping blades and stem adapter, and fits into the workbowl but wish it could fit the discs, too.
The Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor’s two buttons make it easy to use, with Pulse used for short bursts of power and On for consistent processing. However, this food processor packs a punch, so while your food can produce results quickly, there’s a fine line between it potentially becoming overprocessed. At one point in our testing, the machine began shaking back and forth on our countertop with the power, and some grated carrot jumped out of the feeding tube as we tried to add more.
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It’s also incredibly loud; we found it registered a 99 decibel reading when chopping onions, comparable to the volume of a boiler room. We also wish a slicing attachment were included, as this is a common function for food processors and would have offered slightly more variety.
Overall, we found this to be a safety-conscious food processor that is easy to use, has a sleek and compact design, and values basic practicality over extra bells and whistles.
We began testing using the chopping blade to chop a medium-sized red onion. While the user manual includes a user guide for different food types, suggesting the tool, function, and directions to use for each, it offers few instructions for vegetables, bar a suggestion to cut raw ingredients into even, 1cm pieces before inserting them into the work bowl. This user manual also doesn’t suggest optimal quantities of food (or any quantities).
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(Image credit: Future)
We were taken aback by how quickly the appliance chopped the onion in its consistent On mode. It took a few seconds (less than 10) for the onion to be entirely chopped, with no unchopped ingredient left under the blade, and the result was largely even cuts, with some outlying larger pieces – though not enough to present an issue. The speed was impressive; however, the power means you should use the Pulse feature for chopping, to have more control and prevent overprocessing.
Chopping bread with this blade, too, produced excellent results. As the user manual suggested, we tore three slices of multi-seed bread into pieces before using Pulse (for just one second) three or four times, before setting the processing to On. It took between five and 10 seconds to produce evenly chopped bread crumbs, with no bread caught underneath the blade.
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(Image credit: Future)
Chopping almonds, however, produced less consistent results. We added 250g of whole almonds to the work bowl before using the Pulse setting to break up the nuts. It took around 25 one-second pulses to break up the almonds, but we found that while some of the almonds were chopped well, others in the same bowl were either a powder-like consistency or still whole.
After checking the consistency, we pressed the On button to continue processing to make almond butter. In around 10 seconds, the chopped almonds transformed into almond flour, but it took around six minutes to produce butter. The issue with this was that the bottom half of the work bowl’s produce had become butter, but the top half hadn’t, and wasn’t getting access to the blades as evenly, even when we used a spatula to scrape down the edges (when the appliance was off). The result was very hard butter at the bottom, with smoother butter nearer the top.
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(Image credit: Future)
We did, however, find the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor a dream when combining shortcrust pastry with this chopping blade. After adding our flour and butter to the bowl, we pulsed the mixture around 20 times before adding a couple of tablespoons of water and setting it to On.
It took around 45 seconds for the pastry to come together, resulting in perfectly mixed pastry. You need to keep a close eye on the appliance when using it for this task, however, as the speed and power of the machine means it your dough can quickly become overworked.
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(Image credit: Future)
We next tried the reversible shredding disc, which offers two options: fine shredding or medium shredding. You choose your shred by inserting the disc with the corresponding side (there is small writing that indicates which side is which) facing upwards. We started with a standard courgette on the fine shredding side. A full courgette wouldn’t fit through the feeding tube, so we sliced it vertically down the middle to fit. With the food processor on, we were able to slowly insert the courgette through the tube and into the spinning shredding disc.
The appliance shreds quickly, but you don’t feel it pulling the ingredients in at an unsafe speed. Instead, the pressure you apply feels largely in your control. In less than 20 seconds, or courgette was shredded. While the result was well-shredded pieces, with minimal residue left on the lid, the pieces weren’t all evenly sized: some pieces were shorter and others longer.
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(Image credit: Future)
Our results with shredding carrots on the medium shred blade were similar. Again, we had to cut our two carrots down the middle vertically to fit them in the tube, but they grated in less than 20 seconds – though some carrot pieces shot out of the tube as we added more. The carrot was grated well, but again, the pieces weren’t consistently even with each other. Much like with the courgette, this isn’t a huge issue in the cooking process, but it is something we’ve seen achieved by competitors.
Finally, we tested the whipping disc with 240ml of double cream. Whipping cream can be a real chore, but this food processor produced perfectly whipped cream (that we could hold upside down without drippage) in around 40 to 50 seconds. While some residue was stuck under the blade and not entirely mixed in, we were pleased overall with the results.
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Overall, the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor offers high-quality results, but not necessarily precision. Its power is its greatest strength, as it offers tremendous speed, but it is also its biggest weakness, as it can easily overwork foods if you’re not careful.
Performance score: 4.5/5
Should you buy the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor?
This food processor may not come with the variety of functions seen with premium products, but offers high quality for a budget price tag.
5/5
Design
Its compact size means this food processor won't need a lot of storage room. It's also incredibly easy to use, but we do wish we had more control over its power levels.
4.5/5
Performance
This is a powerhouse food processor, shredding, whipping, and chopping with impressive speed, but this does come somewhat at the cost of precision.
4.5/5
Buy it if
Don't buy it if
Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L Food Processor: also consider
If the Cuisinart FlexPrep 1.1L isn't quite the right food processor for you, here are two alternatives that are worth considering:
An award-winning games journalist, with seven years of experience in games journalism and a degree in journalism from City University, London, Vic brings experience from IGN, Eurogamer, The Telegraph, VG247, Dot Esports and more to the TechRadar table. You may have even heard her on the radio or speaking on a panel, as she’s previously appeared on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio Ulster and more. Not only is Vic passionate about games, but she's appeared on both panels and podcasts to discuss mental health awareness. Make sure to follow her on Twitter for more.
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