The Vitamix is an incredibly powerful machine that pulverizes whole food ingredients into silky-smooth consistency and textures. It does some food processing!
All Vitamix blenders come with a wet container with a hardened stainless steel wet blade assembly that can chop, crush ice, puree, grind, emulsify, knead dough, and heat soups.
But you can separately get a Vitamix dry container with a hardened stainless steel dry blade assembly for blending dry ingredients such as milling whole grains, cereals, and spices.
The dry blades blend with a reverse vortex, preventing ingredients from packing, which leads to a powdery effect! It’s also the ideal container for grinding coffee and kneading dough!
Can You Use a Vitamix as a Food Processor?
Yes, you can use Vitamix as a food processor for some simple food-prepping tasks like coarse chopping, mixing, grinding spices, milling whole grains, and kneading dough.
But the Vitamix blades cannot slice like a food processor does! The blades are laser-cut and not sharp to the touch! They blend by pulverizing ingredients at high speeds into consistency!
To fully use the Vitamix as a food processor, you must separately get the 12-cup Vitamix Food Processor attachment compatible with the Ascent Series and Venturist models.
How to Use Vitamix as a Food Processor – 3 Ways!
As mentioned, the Vitamix can handle simple food processing tasks. In fact, I use my blender almost daily to grind coffee and chop ingredients when food prepping to make stew.
1. Coarse Chopping Hard Vegetables
Chopping is a widely done food-prepping task in the kitchen, with a chopping board and knives or food processors. Fortunately, your Vitamix can comfortably handle your chopping needs.
Most Vitamix enthusiasts claim the large 64-oz low-profile container works best when coarse chopping hard ingredients due to its wide base with large 4-inch blades.
How to Coarse Chop with a Vitamix
- Cut your ingredients into handful sizes.
- Drop them in the Vitamix container.
TIP: I recommend making a third of the container at a time for even processing!
- Put on the lid and slot in the Vitamix tamper.
- Pulse the ingredients in short cycles while tampering.
NOTE: How long you chop the ingredients will depend on your desired results. Do you want them for stew, or are you making a detox salad?
The hardened laser-cut stainless steel blades can chop hard ingredients like onions, carrots, cabbage, and cauliflower into super-small dice or coarser chunks.
Can a Vitamix Chop Vegetables?
Yes, a Vitamix will perfectly chop soft and hard vegetables to your desired textures! But it does the best job when chopping hard vegetables like carrots into coarse chops.
2. Grinding Coffee, Spices, Whole Grains, and Meat
The powerful 2- and 2.2-horsepower Vitamix motors can grind tough ingredients like coffee beans into ground coffee, mill spices, and whole grains into powder, and mince fresh meat.
In fact, I make my own batch of ground coffee every morning out of high-quality coffee beans! Depending on the brew type, I decide if it’s fine, medium, or coarse ground!
NOTE: I highly recommend using the Vitamix dry grains container for grinding coffee, spices, whole grains, and meat. Learn more about Vitamix container compatibility and replacement tips!
How to Grind Coffee in a Vitamix
While you can grind coffee in the Vitamix wet container, the dry blades container does the best job! Follow the following steps for the best ground coffee.
- Add the coffee beans to the Vitamix container.
- Select the lowest speed and turn the blender on.
- Gradually increase the speed to variable speed 7.
- For coarse grounds, blend for 15 seconds.
- For finer grounds, blend for 20 to 30 seconds!
TIP: Always grind coffee in small batches, just enough for the day! Freshly ground coffee tends to have better aroma, flavor, and overall quality than pre-ground coffee!
While I’m not a fan of minced meat recipes, you can mice at home and avoid processed minced meat, which is known to contain high amounts of unhealthy chemicals!
How to Grind Meat in a Vitamix
Grinding or mincing meat in a Vitamix blender is a straightforward task. But ensure the meat isn’t so fatty since it tends to get stuck together in the Vitamix like a thick, creamy smoothie. 😊
- Start by chilling the meat in the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Cut the chilled meat into pieces of about an inch each for an even grind.
- Drop a handful of the pieces of meat in the container.
- Start the Vitamix at speed 1 and gradually increase the speed.
TIP: You should put a small amount of meat first. Too much, and the blades will get stuck, leading to overheating. And you have to start the process all over again!
- Once the small batch is slightly processed, add a little more. Not all!
- Repeat the process by starting at the lowest speed and increasing gradually.
- If you’re grinding a lot of meat, you process it in batches.
NOTE: You may need to occasionally stop the process and use the tamper to push the meat slices down the blades for even processing.
3. Mix, Emulsify, and Knead Dough
The Vitamix is a kitchen companion for most bakers. Thanks to its amazing capabilities at mixing batters and dough, emulsifying oils and water, and kneading dough.
Can You Use Vitamix Instead of a Food Processor for Dough?
Yes, you can use a Vitamix blender to knead dough for baking bread, making pie crusts, homemade pasta, soft pretzels, and much more!
In fact, you can grind whole wheat into fine wheat flour with a Vitamix dry container. Then, knead a perfect dough right in the same container.
Can a Vitamix Replace a Food Processor?
No, the Vitamix cannot completely replace a food processor. It’s the reason Vitamix made the 12-cup food processor attachment!
While you can use it for simple food processing tasks like chopping, it has its own drawbacks. For example, the Vitamix blades cannot slice!
Vitamix Food Processor Attachment Review
The 12-cup food processor attachment is a game-changer when paired with your Vitamix. It transforms the Vitamix into a powerful, versatile blender and food processor combo!
Vitamix Food Processor: Compatibility
The 12-cup Vitamix food processor attachment is compatible with the four Vitamix Ascent Series models, A2300, A2500, A3300, and A3500, and the Vitamix Venturist V1200.
These five Vitamix models have built-in wireless SELF-DETECT technology that recognizes the food processor attachment and adjusts their settings accordingly for seamless performance.
Vitamix Food Processor: Key Features
- A large 12-cup bowl that looks like the traditional food processor. It can process up to 12 cups of dry ingredients or 9 cups of wet ingredients.
- The bowl, lid, and food pushers are transparent, so you can clearly observe the food processing. It also has marks for milliliters, cups, and ounce measurements.
- Built-in SELF-DETECT technology so the smart system blenders can recognize it. These are the Vitamix A3500, A3300, A2500, A2300, and the V1200.
- A multi-purpose blade that can finely chop, mince meat, knead dough, and mix ingredients just like the traditional food processor.
- Two reversible shred/slice discs. One for fine shredding and thin slicing, the other for coarse shredding and cutting thick slices.
- It has small and large food chutes and pushers that can handle virtually any ingredient size for uniform chopping, slicing, and shredding results.
- An easy-to-use mechanism. It has a quick-release lever at the base that lets you quickly remove the container, which is super convenient!
- It is super easy to assemble, disassemble, and store. You can simply stack the base, bowl, and lid and snap them together. Or convert them into a compact, self-contained storage mode!
- The 12-cup bowl, lid, and food pushers are all BPA-free and top-rack dishwasher-safe. It’s the same material that makes the iconic Vitamix containers!
- A 3-Year Full Warranty! Like all Vitamix blenders, containers, and accessories, the food processor is made in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Vitamix Food Processor: What’s in the Package
- SELF-DETECT Vitamix Food Processor Base
- 12-Cup Work Bowl
- Work Bowl Lid
- Multi-Use Blade
- 2 Reversible Shred/Slice Discs
- 2 Food Pushers
- Disc Storage Case
Vitamix 5200 Food Processor Attachment
The Vitamix food processor attachment is NOT compatible with the iconic Vitamix 5200 or any Legacy Series and Explorian Series Vitamix blender model.
So, the food processor attachment is also NOT compatible with the Vitamix 7500, Pro 750, E320, E520, E310, and even the newly released Vitamix Propel 750 and Propel 510.
Hopefully, in the near future, Vitamix will design a similar 12-cup food processor attachment for the Legacy Series, Exprorian Series, and Propel Series models!
What Does A Food Processor Do That A Blender Doesn’t?
A food processor comes with different sets of blades for chopping, shredding, and slicing, but a Vitamix blender container has only the pulverizing wet or dry grains blades.
That’s why I highly recommend the Vitamix A2500 plus the 12-cup Food Processor Attachment package if you’re shopping for a new Vitamix blender and food processor!
