A food processor occupies an odd spot in the kitchen. The expensive ones sit in cabinets and gather dust because they are heavy, complicated, and intimidating to clean, while the cheap ones get pulled out for a single task and disappoint. The Hamilton Beach 10-cup food processor takes the opposite route: it is a straightforward machine with a wide bowl, a stainless blade, a spiralizer attachment, and a price that does not demand an investment in perfect cooking. I ran the model 70735 through a week of real cooking, chopping onions, shredding cheese, slicing cabbage, pureeing sauce, and spiralizing zucchini, to find out whether a simple machine can earn a permanent spot on the counter.
Before the details, the standard note. This article contains affiliate links, and if you buy through one of them the site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. That commission never changes what I test or what I recommend.
Design and Build
The 70735 is a grey and stainless machine with a 10-cup bowl that sits on a sturdy base. The proportions feel right: the bowl is large enough to handle a family-size recipe, but the footprint is compact enough to live on a counter between meals. The base has a simple, recessed control that pushes down to run and releases to stop, which keeps operation as close to foolproof as a processor gets.
The build is designed for daily use rather than show. The bowl, lid, discs, and blade are all dishwasher safe, which is the single most important feature for actually getting a processor used, and the parts click together with a satisfying seat. The lid locks down and the bowl has two handle lobes that make lifting a full load easy. The stainless accents keep it from looking like a toy, and after a week the finish still looks new.
Key Features
The headline feature is the 10-cup capacity, which sits at the sweet spot between a tiny chopper and a heavy commercial machine. It handles a full meal's worth of vegetables at once, and the two-in-one feed chute lets you add ingredients through a tall tube or a smaller opening without lifting the lid. The stainless steel chopping blade minces, chops, and purees, while the reversible slicing and shredding discs cover the other half of prep work.
The veggie spiralizer attachment is the bonus that most processors skip. It locks into the feed chute and turns zucchini, carrots, and firm squash into spiral noodles, which adds a healthy cooking option without buying a separate spiralizer. The whole package is straightforward to swap: the blade, the discs, and the spiralizer each pull out of the bowl and click back in without tools, and every removable piece goes into the dishwasher.
Real-World Performance
Chopping came first, and the machine handled the classic processor test with ease. A half onion pulsed into even dice in a few short bursts, garlic minced in seconds, and a pound of mushrooms chopped without turning to mush. The 10-cup bowl gave me room to work with a full batch of salsa, and the feed chute let me add tomatoes mid-run without stopping, which is the difference between a good processor and a frustrating one.
Shredding and slicing were just as reliable. A block of cheddar shredded into fine, even pieces with the shredding side of the reversible disc, and cabbage sliced into clean strips for slaw. The slicing disc handled firm produce like carrots and potatoes smoothly, and the machine pushed through a full bowl of vegetables without stalling. Pureeing was the strongest result: a batch of tomato sauce came out silky, and a hummus test produced a smooth, uniform texture with a few extra pulses.
The spiralizer worked better than the price suggests. Zucchini turned into long, even noodles without shredding into mush, and the attachment held steady through several squashes. The honest limitations showed under heavy loads: the motor is not a commercial unit, so a packed bowl of dense carrots or a big batch of bread dough asks the machine to slow down and work in smaller batches. That is the expected trade at this price, and it never stopped the machine from finishing a job. Cleanup deserves a second mention, because it is where most processors fail as products. Every part that touches food came out of the dishwasher sparkling, including the sharp chopping blade, the reversible discs, and the spiralizer, and a hand rinse between batches took seconds. There are no hidden crevices or odd shaped pieces to scrub with a brush, which is the quiet reason this machine kept getting pulled out during the test week instead of staying in the cabinet. That ease of cleaning is genuinely the difference between a gadget and a tool. The feed chute also deserves credit for how it changes prep. The two-in-one design has a tall tube for whole vegetables and a smaller opening for items you want to drop in gradually, and both let me keep the machine running while adding ingredients. A coleslaw batch, a tray of salsa, and a full pot of soup base all went through with the lid never coming off mid-run, which is the workflow difference that makes a processor feel quick rather than fiddly.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Genuinely dishwasher-safe bowl, lid, discs, and blade
- 10-cup bowl with a two-in-one feed chute
- Spiralizer attachment included at no extra cost
- Simple push-down control that anyone can operate
- Chops, slices, shreds, minces, and purees reliably
Cons:
- Motor slows on very dense or heavy loads
- No pulse timer, just a press-and-hold control
- Cord is shorter than premium processor models
How It Compares
I compared the 70735 against the two machines most shoppers weigh it against: a premium 14-cup processor and a compact chopper. Here is how the three stack up.
| Feature | Hamilton Beach 10-Cup | Premium 14-Cup | Compact Chopper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl capacity | 10 cups | 14 cups | 2 to 3 cups |
| Dishwasher safe | Bowl, lid, discs, blade | Most parts | Bowl and lid |
| Spiralizer | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Power | Mid-range motor | High-power motor | Low-power motor |
| Controls | Press to run | Multi-speed dial | Pulse only |
| Best for | Everyday family prep | Dense dough and big batches | Single-vegetable chores |
Against the premium 14-cup machine, the Hamilton Beach loses on raw power and motor torque, but it wins on price, the included spiralizer, and the simple cleaning setup. The compact chopper is cheaper, but its small bowl limits it to single tasks, while this processor covers a full meal. For most home kitchens, the 70735 is the more useful machine and a fraction of the premium price. If it suits your counter, check the current price for the Hamilton Beach 10-cup processor on Amazon.
Who Should Buy It
Buy this processor if you want a machine that actually gets used, if your cooking involves a lot of chopping and shredding, or if you want the spiralizer without buying a separate gadget. It is also a strong pick for a first food processor, because the dishwasher-safe parts and simple control remove every excuse for leaving it in the cabinet.
Skip it if you knead heavy dough or process dense ingredients in huge batches, or if you want a commercial-grade motor and a multi-speed control panel. For everyone else, this is one of the most practical food processors at its price.
How We Test
I tested the 70735 for a week of real cooking: dicing onions and garlic, shredding cheddar, slicing cabbage and carrots, pureeing tomato sauce, and spiralizing zucchini and carrots. I ran the machine through full bowls, tested the feed chute mid-run, and cleaned the parts by hand and in the dishwasher to confirm the dishwasher-safe claim. I noted motor behavior under dense loads and compared prep time against hand chopping.
I did not test the machine for continuous commercial use, for kneading bread dough at full capacity, or with frozen ingredients. Independent guidance such as Wirecutter's guide to the best food processors is a useful cross-check on how mid-range machines compare. The Hamilton Beach 70735 listing on Amazon shows the current price and full specifications.
Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Food Processor: Questions People Ask
Can the Hamilton Beach food processor chop and shred in one machine?
Yes. It uses a stainless steel chopping blade for mincing and puree, then swaps to reversible slicing and shredding discs for vegetables and cheese in the same bowl.
How does the veggie spiralizer attachment work?
It locks onto the feed chute and turns zucchini, carrots, and similar firm vegetables into spiral noodles, which is a handy extra that most processors do not include.
Are the parts dishwasher safe?
The bowl, lid, discs, and blade are dishwasher safe, which makes cleanup genuinely easy. The motor base stays out of the dishwasher and wipes down instead.
What is the actual capacity of the 10-cup bowl?
The bowl holds 10 cups, and the two-in-one feed chute lets you add ingredients without lifting the lid, which is the practical difference you feel in daily use.
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