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I finally found a shortcut to homemade pesto, chimichurri, salads and slaw.

During the summer, when certain produce is at its peak and the grill is singing its siren song, I have an insatiable need to make “fun” recipes. I want to bathe grilled fish in fresh chimichurri, toss summer tomatoes with pesto, baste steak and smear bread with compound butter, serve slaw and dress confetti salads. But how to do it all without being chained to a cutting board? Amazon shoppers swear by Hamilton Beach’s 3-cup food processorwhich I’m adding to my cart immediately.

Hamilton Beach Mini Food Processor and Vegetable Chopper

$25 $22 at Amazon

It doesn’t really get simpler than this mini food processor. It has a “stack-and-press” design, which means you simply stack the bowl, blade and lid on top of the motor; press to operate and release to stop. Despite the fact that all of the pieces, excluding the base, are dishwasher-safe—which often suggests blunt, sub-par performance to me—the Hamilton Beach can take on mincing garlic, dicing onions, grating cheese, pureeing sauces and chopping nuts with ease. One Amazon customer confirmed that “the blades are sharp and powerful enough to handle most ingredients, and it can even puree foods smoothly.”

One Amazon shopper praised the Hamilton Beach food processor’s size, saying it’s “perfect for dicing, mincing and pureeing small batches without dragging out a full-size processor.” But despite its compact build, the processing bowl can fit a substantial amount of ingredients. Another customer added, “Even though it’s small, I was surprised by how much it can actually hold, so I rarely have to process ingredients in multiple batches.” Yet, the Hamilton Beach is still “compact enough to store easily without taking up much space,” says one shoppera boon for smaller kitchens.

While the Hamilton Beach mini food processor has earned nearly 30,000 five-star ratings and racked up over 20,000 purchases in the last month alone, there’s an even bigger reason I’m adding it to my cooking rotation. It’s efficient, consistent and speedy, which means that I’ll still be able to enjoy homemade salads, sauces and dips — all my “fun” recipes — in a fraction of the time. For just over $20,  this high-quality kitchen appliance offers a serious return on investment. Take one shopper’s word for it, who called the Hamilton Beach 3-cup food processor “the best $21 I have spent in a long time,” and add it to your cart, too.

Shop More Food Processors at Amazon

KitchenAid 7-Cup Food Processor

$110 $90 at Amazon

Black+Decker 3-in-1 8-Cup Food Processor

$52 $45 at Amazon

Hamilton Beach Cordless Mini Food Processor

$70 $48 at Amazon

Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus Food Processor

$43 at Amazon

Shardor 3-in-1 Small Food Processor

$60 $46 at Amazon

At the time of publishing, the price was $22.

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