KitchenAid mini chopper 5KFC3516

How easy is the KitchenAid mini chopper 5KFC3516 to use?

Assembling this model is easy to do. It looks just like a miniature food processor and works like one too. The bowl simply needs to be twisted and locked into place on top of the chopper base. There’s a useful handle that helps to guide the bowl.

To change the speed, simply slide the front dial to the right to increase it, or to the left to slow it down. To make the blades spin, press lightly on the button at the top of the handle. This can be pulsed too if you need more control.

There are many elements of this mini chopper’s design that make it a cut above the rest. There’s a pouring lip on the side of the bowl, meaning it's easy to remove liquid contents. We also loved the liquid drizzle basin found on the lid (essentially a shallow well with a hole in it), which is ideal for emulsions like mayonnaise, which involve oil being drizzled slowly in as the blades spin. And joy of joys, the bowl, lid and blades are all dishwasher-safe, ensuring clean-up is a doddle.

Results

Using speed setting one, we pulsed our 2cm cubes of onion for 10 seconds to produce fine and evenly chopped onion, ideal as the base of a spaghetti bolognese.

Breadcrumbs were equally well chopped. We found it easy to control the thickness of the breadcrumbs by pulsing to break the chunks of bread up, then running the blades on full speed for a couple of seconds at a time. This produced fine and perfectly even results.

Herbs were chopped evenly too, even when using only a small handful. Both the leaves and stalks of the parsley were well cut, as opposed to torn, and each piece was even in size.

This model produced fantastic results when making BBC Good Food’s Thai green curry paste. There was a good amount of room in the bowl for all of the ingredients, though we did have to tear the coriander to fit it all in. The blades made light work of the woodier ingredients like ginger and lemongrass, producing a super-fine and cohesive paste.

Conclusion

This mini chopper does it all. Whether you’re preparing small or large quantities or wet or dry ingredients, this KitchenAid takes everything in its stride, producing fantastic results.

It’s great looking and with a colourway to suit every kind of kitchen, it deserves pride of place on the countertop, too. It’s the most expensive mini chopper we’ve tested, but you really are paying for the design, extra features and the assurance of consistently high-quality results.

Specifications

Components: lid, blade, 830ml bowl, chopper base
Dimensions (cm): H: 22.2 x W: 17.8 x D: 14.3
Speed settings: pulse and continuous on two speeds
Wattage: 240
Colours: white, black, silver, red, cream, blue

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Mini chopper recipes

Classic guacamole
Ultimate tomato salsa
Best spaghetti bolognese recipe
Thai green curry paste
Spaghetti & meatballs

This review was last updated in May 2021. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.