In my fast-paced life as a food stylist and writer, I'm always looking for ways to make meal prep at home more convenient. A few things that have helped dinner get on the table quickly include my nonstick skillet, my spice grinder, and the cutest mini food processor from Cuisinart, which was one of our winners in our review. While tiny, this gadget makes it incredibly easy to get all my food prep done.

Why I Love My Cuisinart Mini Food Processor

I’ve tried in vain to be the type of person who meal preps in advance. So, a mini food processor that chops, blends, purées, and crushes in seconds is a lifesaver after a long day of work on my feet. Instead of spending time breaking down ingredients with multiple knives and cutting boards, I can quickly chop everything with a few pulses. A mini food processor can even blitz hardy ingredients like carrots in seconds.

I also use it to whip up a quick dressing for a salad, blend ginger-garlic paste for my go-to chicken curry recipe, and coarsely chop nuts for granola. When I want something sweet, it’s my go-to for pulverizing crackers or cookies for a crust for key lime or banoffee pie. The reverse function of the blade ensures no chunks are left behind. With only two buttons, chop and grind, it's easy and efficient to use. It’s quick to set up, too: Simply attach the bowl by swiveling it on the base, insert the blade, and put the lid on. 

In addition to being versatile, the Cuisinart Mini Food Processor is also compact by definition. I can easily tuck it away in my small New York City kitchen. Not to mention the bowl is dishwasher-safe, which I love, since the last thing I want to do is spend extra time cleaning multiple dishes at the end of my evening. That said, I hand-wash the blade since the dishwasher can dull it—plus, it takes mere seconds to clean. 

Why We’re The Experts

• Namrata Hegde is a food writer. When she is not creating recipes or cross-testing them, she makes food look pretty for the camera for various brands, editorial publications, and cookbooks.
• She has worked in the food industry for over 10 years in different capacities and is also a passionate home cook. 
• She uses the Cuisinart Mini Food Processor for weeknight food prep.
  

Like many home cooks, I’ve spent hours shredding pounds and pounds of chicken for supposedly “quick and easy” weeknight meals. People often use their hands or a pair of forks to shred meat, but it’s a time-consuming process, especially when you want the meat finely shredded. Luckily for all of us, there’s an easy, foolproof way to shred chicken with minimal mess.

The method is simple: You place cooked boneless, skinless chicken into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, then turn it on medium speed. (You can also use a large bowl and an electric hand mixer—more on that below.) It’s a clever tip the chef and cookbook author Marcela Valledolid showed me when I was a food stylist on the Today Show, and it’s the only way I shred chicken now, including my recipe for Buffalo chicken parathas. The power of the paddle quickly and efficiently shreds the poultry, making light work of an otherwise mildly annoying task. 

It's a useful technique that speeds up prep for dishes like enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken tinga, soups and stews, and more.

How to Shred Chicken Using a Mixer

To avoid overcrowding your bowl and straining your mixer, I recommend shredding no more than 12 ounces of boneless chicken at a time (that's about half the meat from a whole roast chicken). Just put the cooked boneless chicken in the stand mixer bowl, then start paddling on low speed. While a stand mixer can handle just about all the work, it can help to break the chicken down into large chunks, just to get things started.

As the pieces of chicken become smaller, you can increase the speed of your mixer to medium to help move it along. Avoid paddling the chicken at high speed, as that can result in pieces flying out of the bowl, and don't walk away or you may come back to a bowlful of mush.

This method works with a hand mixer, too: Just be sure to hold the bowl tightly so it doesn't go spinning out of control once the mixer is on. And, since a hand mixer has smaller beaters and no paddle attachment, you'll need to break the chicken down a bit more to begin so that the mixer can grab onto it.

You can use this method to shred other kinds of meat, too: Try it with smoked pork shoulder for speedy pulled pork sandwiches or turkey for a Thanksgiving leftovers pot pie.