Best Baby Food Maker Steamer Blender: Dansa Baby Food Maker Chopper Grinder

This affordable baby food processor has seven functions: sterilize, cook, juice, warm, defrost, puree and chop. The LCD panel is easy to use and the bowl is dishwasher safe. We liked the three basket system which allows you to steam three items at once. It also warms baby bottles. Here’s more on why we picked this model:

What We Liked

• Multi-taking. Can do three different batches of food at a time.

• Affordable.

• Presets for different foods.

• Large water tank.

What’s Needs Work

• Hard to clean. 

• Distilled water recommended to avoid mineral deposits. That adds to the cost of this device.

• Can get rather hot to the touch.

• Baskets don’t lock together. In our testing, we noticed if you use all three baskets at once, they have a tendency to slide around.

Best All-In-One Baby Food Processor: EVLA’s Baby Food Maker

This baby food maker was easy to use and easy to clean, according to our testers. And yes, it claims to be self-cleaning. Here’s what we found:

What We Liked

• LCD panel is easy to use to steam, blend, reheat, defrost and sterilize.

• Can heat baby bottles in water tank.

• Water tank with wide opening makes it easy to clean.

• BPA, phthalate and lead free.

What’s Needs Work

• Pricey.

• Plastic steam basket can stain. 

• Limited capacity. That’s a drawback with many baby food makers, however.

Best Budget-Friendly: Cuisinart FP-8SV Elemental 8 Cup Food Processor

If you’re looking for a food processor mainly to make baby food and then the occasional salsa or pesto, this 8-cup version is a nice compact option. With its BPA-free plastic bowl and stainless steel blades (including a slicer and shredder), the Cuisinart FP-8SV is a quality food processor.

What We Liked

• Great to make a small batch of baby food.

• Quiet but powerful.

• Sturdy.

• Dishwasher safe parts makes it easy to clean.

What Needs Work

• Bowl handle is positioned over the touchpad, blocking the controls.

• Vibrates. This annoys some folks, understandably!

Best Splurge-Worthy Food Processor: Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 12-Cup Food Processor

Cuisinart is the gold standard when it comes to food processors and after using one for over a year, we agree. These things are built to last and easy to use.

This unit is a full featured food processor with four different blades and disks. It includes a smaller 4-cup bowl, which would be perfect for pureeing smaller amounts of food for baby. Just pull out your veggie steamer basket and a pot, steam your preferred veggies then pop them in the Cuisinart. Ta-dah! You’ve got pureed baby food.

Some fruits are soft enough that you won’t need to cook them first (we’re looking at you, bananas). And you can vary the consistency easily by hitting the pulse button a few time for chunks. But the beauty of buying a traditional food processor (rather than a baby food steamer/processor) is you can use it for so much more around the kitchen: pie crust, bread dough, chopping nuts, grating cheese and more.

What We Liked

• Consistent chopping and slicing from sharp blades.

• Quiet.

• Large capacity

What Needs Work

• Pricey. This food processor is probably overkill if you don’t plan to do much cooking in the future. We’d suggest the previous budget pick in that case.

• Can be hard to clean. But you can use the dishwasher for the bowl.

• Replacement parts are expensive. 

7 Things No One Tells You About Buying A Food Maker!

1. Decide how much food you want to make.

If you’re planning to freeze a month’s worth of carrots for your little one, consider a regular food processor. You’ll be able to puree from 12 to 20 cups of baby food in a full size processor. Some models have smaller bowls that can be used for fewer servings. If you’re only interested in a few day’s worth of food, the two to four-cup capacity processors will work just fine. And if a single meal is all you need, consider an affordable manual food mill.

2. Consider the size of your kitchen.

Do you have room for another appliance on your counter? If you already have a food processor, don’t add to the clutter and expense with a specialty baby food processor. If you have limited counter space and don’t already have a processor, here’s where a steamer/processor might make more sense. The capacity is small and most steamer/processors aren’t as well made as a heavy duty food processor, but one might do the trick and save some space.

3. If the budget allows, go large.

If you have the money, you’ll find that larger processors are useful for other cooking needs. We make pie crust, puree sauces, mix bread dough and more in our Cuisinart. And it will last for years. But if price is a consideration, hand-crank food mills are more affordable and will do the job for the small amount of time you’ll be making baby food puree.

4. Baby only eats pureed foods for a short period of time.

Babies only eat pureed and chunky foods for few months (usually less than six). After that, your baby (around one year of age) can eat regular adult table food (cut into smaller bites, of course). Hence the utility of a specialized baby food processor is limited; a regular food processor will give you more bang for the buck since it can blend, chop and grind things like pastry dough, nuts and cheese.

5. Good news: food processors should last a long time.

Most high end food processor are meant to be workhorses. So if you’re buying a food processor to use for more than baby food, spend the money to get good quality. This means a heavy base with a strong motor. We’d stay away from some of the “baby food” processors. They don’t have the same high quality motor and rugged construction.

6. Combination products don’t always work out.

Steamer/processors are like a lot of combination products. Most of them don’t really do multiple tasks well. In fact, occasionally they simply stop doing one or both of the tasks, based on our research. Cuisinart, for example, makes a baby food steamer/processor. But the feedback from our readers is rather unimpressive, mainly because the steamer sometimes stops working. That’s why our top pick is a processor-only appliance.

7. You really don’t need lots of extra blades or attachments.

Basically, you’ll be able to do almost anything with the main blade plus the shredding and slicing disks. Yes, some processors have extra blades and attachments that sound cool. But do you really need a french fry cutting disk? Or a special storage box? Stick with the basics and you’ll be just fine.

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing baby gear, including baby food processors, since 1994. We do hands-on testing—we buy the products with our own money and evaluate with an eye toward safety, ease of use and affordability.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Baby Bargains is your independent and unbiased source for expert baby gear reviews.