I minced a carrot in seconds with this KitchenAid cordless chopper — meal prep just got way quicker

I’m no chef, but I enjoy cooking. That being said, if the prep time is more than 20 minutes and involves a lot of chopping, I’m going to cook something else. If you’re anything like me, that’s where the best food processors come in, which can save your precious time from chopping.

The KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper is a real time saver — it’s incredibly fast to use and cordless, meaning it doesn’t take up a power outlet, and it can easily be stored out of the way thanks to its compact design. The battery that you get with the chopper is also compatible with all of the other appliances in the KitchenAid Go range, so if you have any of those, this could be a worthwhile purchase.

However, if a uniform chop is something you care about, you’ll want to look elsewhere. And although the Top Down chopper is recommended for mixing and pureeing as well as chopping, the results weren’t the best. The lack of spout also becomes tedious when making things like hummus.

You can find out more about how I got on in this full KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper review.

KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper review: Price & availability

The KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper is available for purchase with or without the KitchenAid Go Cordless System, which is a portable battery unit. In the U.S, the chopper is available at Amazon for $99 with the battery and $89 without the battery.

In the U.K., the chopper without the battery is available from KitchenAid’s website for $99. It’s currently not available to purchase with the battery from the U.K. store, but you can purchase the battery separately for £69, which makes it a lot more expensive. Once you purchase a battery it can be used with any of the appliances in the KitchenAid Go collection, such as the citrus juicer or the hand mixer. The chopper comes in a matte black colorway to match the rest of the KitchenAid Go range.

KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper review: Design

The KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper has a very minimalist, matte black design. The system is made up of a black motor and rechargeable lithium ion battery that twists on top of a shield attached to a plastic bowl. Setting the chopper up was very easy as everything just slotted into place. There was no twisting or pushing and pulling, it was virtually plug and play.

The chopper is cordless and powered by a detachable battery unit that can be used with any appliance in the KitchenAid Go range. This means that for each appliance you buy, you are saving what would be the cost of the battery. Being cord-free means no messy wires getting in the way on the counter top, and no need to look for a spare power outlet in the kitchen. I’m a fan of this design and I find all the wires from appliances to be pretty overwhelming while I cook.

It’s very small for how powerful it is, measuring just 5.04 x 5.04 x 8.31 inches and weighing 2.82 pounds, which is pretty light as the bowl only holds 3.5 cups. But this made it easy to move around, and storing it out of the way in a cupboard is convenient too.

The 3.5 cup bowl is transparent hard plastic so you can see exactly what’s going on inside the chopper. This meant I was able to judge how many times I needed to pulse the mixture or how long I needed to keep a continuous blend going to achieve the result I wanted.

There is a lid for the bowl too, so the prepared ingredients can be stored for use at a later time. But what if you need to chop something else while the bowl is in the fridge? You can purchase extra bowls for the chopper at Amazon U.S. for $29 for a pack of two.

The stainless steel ‘S’-shaped blade easily slots into the bowl and gets covered by the plastic shield. You start the blade rotating by pressing the power button on the top which can only be described as gigantic. Seriously, you can’t miss it. It’s the easiest chopper to operate.

Considering the KitchenAid Chopper is intended for chopping as well as mixing and pureeing, there is one crucial design aspect missing. When making things like hummus or pesto (which are KitchenAid-recommended uses for this product), you need to incorporate a binding agent, like olive oil, slowly while still mixing. There is no pour spout on the chopper to do this, so you need to take off the motor, battery and the plastic shield to add anything.

Even if you’re just mixing dry ingredients you may want to add ingredients slowly to reach a certain ratio, but you can’t do it with this. While not a deal breaker, it gets fiddly and annoying.

KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper review: Performance

The KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper only operates at one speed, but I was able to switch between pulse and continuous modes using the power button at the top of the motor. It’s relatively noisy at 83 dB, but it’s so fast that it didn’t bother me. I was genuinely surprised by how easy the chopper was to use. It’s very self explanatory with no settings to get muddled up with and only one chopping blade.

After testing the chopper to mix, chop and make purees, I would argue that as the name suggests, this is best suited to chopping. But since KitchenAid says it can be used for other things too, I wanted to give them all a try.

Salsa

I first decided to whip up a quick salsa, and threw in two handfuls of tomatoes, half an onion, garlic cloves and some basil. If I’m making this by hand I would be standing at my countertop for a good half hour trying to finely chop everything. But I pulsed the chopper three times and it was done.

There was no fuss, and once it was done I just tipped the contents into a bowl and served it up for everyone to enjoy with nachos. For something that took less than 10 seconds to make, it tasted really good.

Hummus

To make the hummus I rinsed a can of chickpeas and added them to the chopper bowl. After adding the can of chickpeas the bowl was pretty full, so I wouldn’t have wanted to add much more than this. I then added a tablespoon of olive oil to begin with and continuously blitzed it. This still looked chunky after 30 seconds. To add in the next tablespoon of olive oil I had to dismantle the motor and shield, and while I did this I also scraped the mixture from the sides with a spoon.

I had to do this three times before the hummus got to an acceptable consistency, although it still had some lumps. As I mentioned above the KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper doesn’t have a spout to add in ingredients like a regular food processor, so this became tedious.

This hummus would be fine if you like a bit more texture, but I love a smooth hummus. This isn’t an issue with KitchenAid’s 3.5 Cup Food Chopper ($69), as it has a spout at the top for adding ingredients — it’s essentially the same product, just with a power cord.

Carrot

The most action my food processor at home gets is when I need to make a quick soffritto. So I wanted to test how well the KitchenAid Top Down Chopper could dice a root vegetable. I cut the carrot into three chunks so I could fit it in the chopper.

In less than 10 seconds I had a minced carrot. It’s so speedy, but the chop was not uniform. Would I have done a better job with a knife? No, probably not. But some of the chunks left were pretty big compared to the finely chopped parts. Had I blended for much longer I would’ve been left with mulch.

Avocado/Guac

Next I wanted to see if the chopper could make a good guacamole. Guac features in a few of the promotional images from KitchenAid, so it should be a given that it can achieve a smooth guacamole, right?

Alas, I was disappointed. I added a whole avocado and half an onion. It didn’t blend the avocado at all, but (shock horror) chopped it. I wasn’t able to get a smooth result no matter how many times I blended or pulsed the mixture.

Battery

According to KitchenAid, the Top Down Food Chopper’s battery offers 24 minutes of runtime. Before use, I charged up the battery for around 30 minutes until all four charging bars were lit up.

After making the four dishes above — which combined both continuous and pulsing actions — it still had two bars of charge in it, which is a real testament to how fast the chopping action is.

KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper review: Cleaning

Cleaning the KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper was a breeze. The bowl, shield, and blade are all dishwasher safe, so can be thrown in with the rest of the dishes.

The motor can’t be dishwashed or submerged in water, but if it gets a little messy it can be wiped down with a damp cloth. You can also use a mild dish soap if needed, but again, only a damp cloth to wipe.

KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Food Chopper review: Verdict

I enjoyed using the KitchenAid Cordless Top Down Chopper because of how quickly I could chop and mix a variety of different ingredients with ease. I would recommend it to anyone who loves cooking meals from scratch but doesn’t always have time for cutting and chopping — this takes out all the fuss.

The compact design means it’s great for storing away when not in use, and since it’s cordless you don’t need to look for a spare power outlet to use it. The results from the chopper are super fast, and in most cases I only needed a few pulses to get the job done. It’s also a bonus that the battery you use for this chopper can be used for any of the other appliances in the KitchenAid Go range.

However, it’s not without its drawbacks. There is no spout for adding ingredients, meaning you have to dismantle the top half of the chopper each time you add something. With only one blade option, you are fixed with the result you get each time. It doesn’t puree all that well, and leaves some chunks even blending for long periods of time.

But it’s a chopper at its core, and the chopping function is actually fast and effective, saving me valuable time in the kitchen — even if it isn’t perfect every time.