Fancy a BBQ? To make your food extra delicious you'll want to prepare marinades and rubs and make dips and salads as accompaniments. That's where a mini chopper can come in handy.
Mini choppers are small electric food processors designed for chopping veg, making dressings or pureeing food in seconds.
We think they're perfect for prepping for your barbecue…
Here are 5 reasons why…
1. Chop onions for your homemade burgers (without crying)
Homemade burgers make a barbecue that little bit more special. Adding fresh, diced onion in them makes them even tastier. But fine chopping onion is tedious, and can reduce a grown man to tears.
Take the pain out of prepping your burgers with a mini chopper. It'll dice onion at the tap of a button.
Mini choppers can process food speedily because of their compact size. The blades rotate at high RPMs, so you can prepare dishes extremely quickly.
2. Make spice rubs and marinades for meat
Some people just throw a few burgers and sausages on the grill and call that a barbecue. But for serious enthusiasts, flavour is paramount. Steaks can be made juicier and more flavoursome by marinating with dry rub spices such as chilli and paprika, while chicken and lamb work well with mustard and cumin. A mini chopper will help you get the perfect balance of flavours for your meat – whether chopping herbs, pounding garlic or blending spices.
Basic spice rub recipe:
3 tsp dried chilli flakes
3 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp dried rosemary
4 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp peppercorns
Mix all the ingredients together in a mini chopper to get a fine powder and rub over the meat. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.
3. Make dips, salsas and salad dressings
Side dishes are a must when throwing a barbecue. There can be a lot of fiddly chopping involved in making dips, salsas and salad dressings, but with a mini chopper you can create something delicious in no time. A homemade salsa or salad dressing will go down a treat - why not try a homemade pesto? A real showstopper.
Basic salsa recipe:
250g/9oz tomatoes
1 small onion
3 chillies
coriander
salt to taste
lime juice to taste
1 tbsp water
Finely chop the tomatoes, onion, chillies and coriander, and mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
4. It's great value for money
A mini chopper is much smaller than a full-size food processor and is therefore much cheaper to buy. It's great if you're on a budget, or looking for a second food processor to leave on the worktop all the time for chopping onions, making homemade pesto or whipping up dressings. Have young children? It's perfect for pureeing baby food too.
5. It's easy to use and clean and takes up little space
Full-size food processors demand a significant chunk of worktop or cupboard space. A mini chopper is as the name suggest much smaller and takes up no room at all. You can leave it on the worktop all the time, or or tuck it away out of sight. It's easy to set up, operate, dismantle and clean. That's because it doesn't have as many parts as bigger food processors and doesn't require a long list of instructions like some other appliances.
Think a mini chopper can help you throw the perfect barbecue? Check out our range of food processors and mini choppers.
