The kitchen appliance I would never be without - you won’t realise how much you need it

Cuisinart Pixie Chopper: £39.99 at cuisinart.co.uk

Cuisinart is the most reliable place to pick up this handy mini food chopper with all its accessories and guarantees in place. You'll also get free delivery thrown in.

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The Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor is one of the most underrated kitchen appliances you’ll rarely hear shouted about. And yet, once it’s in your kitchen, you’ll wonder how you ever coped without it. With the ability to chop, grate, slice, dice, and blend in seconds, it quietly saves you hours of faff over the course of a week.

When we talk about the best food processors, we usually picture big, bulky machines that monopolise an entire cupboard shelf and only come out for ambitious Sunday cooking. This isn’t that. Compact, tidy, and genuinely useful day-to-day, the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor solves small but persistent kitchen problems, many of which you don’t even realise are slowing you down.

After I tested it, another product tester immediately asked to borrow it. Then another. We’re now deep into a chain reaction across sister titles, all reviewing the same model, which rarely happens unless something is genuinely special. Here’s why it’s earned that reputation.

Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor review

• Dimensions: 19 x 12 x 22cm
• Weight: 1.1 kgs
• Settings: 2 settings to chop, purée, grind, whip
• Capacity: 0.7L
• Dishwasher safe: yes
• Guarantee: 3 years

Who would the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor suit?

A mini food processor like the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor is a dream for small kitchens, but it’s just as useful as a second processor in larger homes. It’s compact enough to tuck into a deep drawer, yet attractive and unobtrusive enough to live out on the worktop if you use it often.

Because it’s so quick to grab, it’s perfect for the jobs you don’t want to waste time on: grating cheese for pasta, shredding carrots for salads, slicing cucumber, or blitzing garlic and herbs without getting a chopping board dirty. It takes care of the repetitive, fiddly prep, leaving you free to focus on flavours, try something more adventurous, or simply enjoy cooking a little more. And really, isn’t that the point?

Unboxing the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor

The Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor arrives in a refreshingly petite box. Inside, there’s no excess clutter, just the essentials: the processing bowl, blade, grating/slicing disc, and a whipping blade for things like mayonnaise or dressings.

There is a small amount of soft plastic wrapping around the body, which isn’t ideal from an environmental perspective, but it did its job, my model arrived spotless, with no scuffs or scratches. The rest of the packaging is recyclable, which earns a big tick from me (and likely from your bins, too).

Setup for the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor is minimal. I’d recommend giving everything a quick rinse before first use, just to remove any factory dust from transit, but within minutes, it’s ready to go.

What is the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor like to use?

This is where the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor really shines. It’s wonderfully straightforward. The bowl clicks securely into place, followed by the lid, which must be locked on before the machine will run, thanks to built-in safety features.

Operation is controlled by two simple switches: one for continuous processing, and one for pulsing or stopping. Everything feels tactile and reassuringly solid, and I never once had to check the manual mid-use, always a good sign.

Grating is one of my least favourite kitchen tasks: slow, messy, and all too easy to lose a knuckle along the way. With the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor, you simply feed ingredients down the chute and let it do the work.

I tested it with carrots first and was impressed by how evenly they were grated. The texture was consistent, with a satisfyingly thick shred that worked well for salads and slaws. As with most mini processors, a small nub of carrot remains at the top of the grater, but that’s entirely expected and easy to discard.

Cheese was next. Softer cheeses can smear if the motor lacks power, but this handled a full block of cheddar beautifully, grating it in under 30 seconds with no clumping or sticking. It’s exactly the kind of task this appliance excels at.

Hummus is my go-to test for low-liquid blending. Chickpeas, tahini, lemon, and spices don’t give you much margin for error, and many mini processors struggle to achieve a truly smooth finish.

The Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor passed with flying colours. I added a tin of chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and cumin, then let it run. The result was one of the silkiest hummus textures I’ve achieved in a compact processor, no graininess, no visible skins, just a creamy, scoopable dip that tasted as good as it looked.

For the final test, I made a tomato pasta sauce using a mix of cooked and fresh ingredients. While the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor doesn’t cook, it can handle warm ingredients as long as you don’t overfill the bowl and allow steam to escape.

Using the pulse function, I was able to control the texture precisely, stopping just short of a full purée so the sauce retained a little bite. The pulse button is particularly responsive, making it easy to fine-tune the consistency without overdoing it, a small detail that makes a big difference in everyday cooking.

Cleaning the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor

Every removable part is dishwasher safe, which is always welcome. That said, if you want to keep everything looking pristine long-term, hand-washing is the gentler option.

Using a soft sponge and mild detergent, I had everything clean in a matter of minutes. There were no awkward crevices for food to hide in, and the blades rinsed clean easily, always a relief.

How does the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor compare?

My personal favourite mini food processor is the Magic Bullet Kitchen Express, which is smaller, slightly cheaper, and comes with blending cups for added versatility. In my own kitchen, the smaller capacity suits our needs perfectly.

However, if you cook or bake more frequently, or simply want a little extra power and capacity, the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor feels like a natural step up. It’s still compact and approachable, but more capable for bigger, more ambitious prep jobs.

Should you buy the Cuisinart Pixie Chopper Mini Food Processor?

If you need something small to tackle little, light jobs, this is the perfect food processor. I guarantee you'll have space for it and, once you've bought one, you won't go back. Trust me.