You really want a smoothie, but there’s no blender. What can you do? Surely there’s another way to get your frozen drink without having to go to a specialty store. I have great news. You can make your smoothie at home using different equipment. Luckily, there’s need to miss out, or spend extra money on gas to have a professional make a healthy, tasty treat.
Can you make a smoothie in a food processor? You can make a smoothie in a food processor. Provided you’re willing to do a little more pre-prep, a frozen fruit smoothie is a simple task for your processor. However, it’s not a good idea to place regular ice inside.
Best Food Processor Smoothies
In order to make your food processor smoothie, you need to compromise. With a few helpful tips and tricks, you’ll get the drink you want, without a blender. Fortunately, the process is simple.
First, it’s helpful to know that food processors can run for longer than your blender. A blender is designed for short bursts of high RPM activity. You should never exceed thirty seconds or three minutes total with your blender. Doing so causes undue stress. Plus you could burn the machine out.
A blender has relatively thick, long, dull blades. Because they spin faster, blender blades make ideal wet purees. Smoothies are a great example of this trick. However, a food processor can do a similar job. It will just take longer.
To make the best food processor smoothies, you need a durable food processor like the BLACK+DECKER FP1600B from Amazon. This powerful machine holds up to eight cups, which is more than enough for a couple of smoothies. Plus the suction cup feet hold its’ lightweight body down firmly while the machine does its work. You can check the reviews for the FP1600B here.
Step By Step Food Processor Smoothie
Unlike a blender smoothie, you’re not going to add liquid to your food processor. Blenders can take the wet, and ice well. However, that’s not how your FP is designed.
Instead of adding liquids, then powders, then leafy greens, followed by solids, change the steps. You need to pre-cut your fruit in food processor sized pieces. Do this at least an hour before you want your drink.
Next, you need to freeze your fruits. The same goes for leafy greens, and sofer, watery vegetables like celery. Carrots are fine at room temperature. However, they aren’t the best FP smoothie ingredient.
Making the Mix
Once your fruit and leafy greens are well frozen, it’s time to make your puree. You can add a small handful at a time down the chute. However, when your food processor gets about half full, empty it.
If you need more, work in batches and mix them together. Doing this allows those sharp, but slower food processor blades to cut instead of pulverizing. Mincing fruit and frozen leaves down to a fine paste is easy enough.
If you like a thicker consistency you can stop here. Pour out your drink and enjoy it. However, if you want a thinner drink, or need to add spices or powders there’s another step.
Final Smoothie Steps
To get a more typical smoothie, or add powder, you need to pour your puree into a bigger container. A wide-mouthed pitcher is perfect for this step.
Next, add your liquids or yogurt. You’ll need to stir by hand with a whisk to get a smooth, even consistency. Two to three minutes is usually enough. You’ll need to mix more if you plan to add a nut butter like almond to the mix.
Finally, if you want to add spices, protein powder, or other fine solids you can do that last. While mixing constantly, add a little at a time until well blended.
By taking your time, you can get the same smoothie you’d make in a blender. It’s a little extra work for a perfect replica. Still, it’s worth it when you have a specific smoothie in mind.
Easy Food Processor Smoothie
Your food processor smoothie isn’t crushed like a blender smoothie would be. Hence the blades need to work longer to get the same fine paste. There’s also a process when adding different types of ingredients.
You can make an FP smoothie a different way. Instead of freezing your greens, push them down to the bottom under your frozen fruit. Add healthy powders, small seeds, and semi-liquids next. You can use chia, flax or even peanut butter to get a healthy boost of protein or fiber.
Finally, add your liquids. Almond milk and purified water both make great healthy choices. When you put things into the processor in this order it helps break down and mix everything.
Easy Isn’t Always Best
Unfortunately, there’s a downside to the easy way. Food processors weren’t meant to handle liquids like milk and water. Over time it will wear on the machine. The blades meet pockets of non-resistance and it wears unevenly.
If you only need one or two smoothies because you broke a blender, it’s fine. You should be able to have your drinks while you wait on delivery. However, using the machine this way wreaks havoc with it.
Rather than ending up with a broken or burnt out food processor, use the right tool for the job. You can get a fantastic machine like the Cuisinart BFP-703BC Duet that works as both. By changing parts and settings, you can go from blended smoothies to Cuisinart chopping in a flash. Learn more on Amazon.
Food Processor Drink Tricks
For those who prefer protein smoothies from powers, you can make them in a food processor. Getting all the lumps out with a shaker bottle is so hit and miss. However, the same liquid rule applies as before. Once or twice is alright, but regular use is not advisable.
Surprisingly, you can make amazing milkshakes with a food processor. You need to severely limit the amount of liquid you add. Still, ice cream is a semi-solid and well suited to a food processor.
For a healthy addition try blending in nut butter, or protein powder. It won’t change the sugar content in your shake, but it will give you a nice boost. Just make certain you don’t process it too long or the ice cream will melt.
Another Way To Make a Smoothie
Instead of using a food processor to make your smoothie, you can choose a different kitchen tool. I’m talking about the immersion blender. While most people underestimate this device, professionals know better.
The bell-shaped guard around the blades helps control splatter and upward thrust. That means you can make a smoothie in a tall glass. However, there’s a trick to it.
Never fill the glass more than two thirds full. Even an oft underestimated tool like an immersion blender has limitations. Alternatively, you can use a pitcher or even a cooking pot to blend inside.
Choosing a larger container will allow you to make a batch of smoothies, instead of a single serving.
Can a Food Processor Crush Ice
Technically a food processor can crush ice for a smoothie. Or more accurately it can dice, mince and puree the ice. However, there’s a good reason why I never advise trying it.
The fash dull blades in a blender are crushing blades. They do the job quickly and efficiently. That’s what keeps your liquid drinks smoothie-like rather than melted.
Unfortunately, a sharper blade does not make a better crusher. The thinner, shorter food processing blades don’t really cut it. You want that dull edge for grinding iced drinks. The lower RPMs and longer processing time for a food processor are ill-suited to frozen water.
It’s All in the Blades
Fruit and even ice cream are thicker and melt a little slower. More importantly, water-ice is much harder than food processor blades usually work with. In essence, the ice grinds the blades as they cut.
Resultantly, you end up with dull blades. Furthermore, these dull blades will move slower than a blender. Sadly, that means they won’t crush ice better after taking the sharp edge away.
I recommend choosing a fantastic smoothie maker that also has food-processing capabilities. It’s okay to want it all. Just don’t burn out good equipment trying to force the issue.
The FOCHEA 3 In 1 from Amazon is an outstanding example of multifunctional machinery. I love the blend and carry smoothie bottle attachment. However, you also get a blender pitcher and a cup for grating and chopping. Get a FOCHEA right here.
Final Thoughts
With a little knowledge about how your food processor works, you can make a smoothie. Though it’s best to replace your blender for iced smoothies. Still, a little creativity goes a long way.
Most kitchen tools have more functions than their users are aware of because folks tend to skip reading the manual. Whenever you get a new device, read the whole manual. You never know what you’ll learn.
Food processors are great at pureeing things, and a smoothie is a puree. Just remember that they don’t do well with ice or lots of extra water and you’ll be sipping your cold treat in no time.
