If you cook at home, you know the scenario: a recipe calls for a quarter-cup of chopped parsley, and you're standing there with a chef's knife, losing half of it to the cutting board. The BLACK+DECKER 1.5-Cup Electric Food Chopper exists to solve exactly that. For $20, it promises one-touch convenience for small jobs that don't need the full food processor treatment.
Quick verdict
The BLACK+DECKER 1.5-Cup Electric Chopper earns its counter space if you need quick, small-batch chopping without the cleanup of a full food processor. The 150W motor handles most soft ingredients well, and the dishwasher-safe parts make cleanup fast. It's not a workhorse—it bogs down on hard nuts and the 1.5-cup bowl is genuinely small—but for the price, it works as advertised.
Who is this for?
This chopper fits a specific niche: home cooks who want to avoid pulling out a full food processor for small jobs. Think single servings of guacamole, a handful of herbs, or breadcrumbs for one recipe. It's a good fit for small kitchens where counter space matters, renters who don't want to invest heavily in appliances, and anyone who wants to reduce knife work without the overhead of a larger machine. If you regularly prep meals for four or more, or need to process hard ingredients like ginger root or raw carrots in bulk, look at a 7-cup food processor instead. The 1.5-cup bowl here is a feature, not a limitation—it's the right size for the jobs this tool is built for.
Key features
1.5-cup bowl capacity
At 1.5 cups (about 350ml), the bowl holds enough for roughly half an onion, a full cup of herbs, or a single serving of pesto. That sounds small, but it's the sweet spot for side dishes and garnishes. Larger choppers end up with ingredients stuck to the sides when you only need a quarter of their capacity.
Stay-sharp stainless steel blades
The bi-level blade design cuts from two heights, which helps process ingredients more evenly than single-level blades. BLACK+DECKER calls them "stay sharp," but they won't hold an edge indefinitely. For the price, edge retention is typical—after a month of moderate use, they still cut cleanly through soft vegetables and herbs without noticeably dulling.
150W motor with one-touch pulse
150 watts is modest compared to full food processors, but it's sufficient for the intended workload. The one-touch pulse gives you on-demand control without holding a button. You press and release; the blades spin while the button is down. There are no speed settings, which keeps things simple but removes finesse for tasks that need gradual building.
Dishwasher-safe removable parts
The bowl, lid, and blade assembly all come apart and go in the dishwasher. The motor base should not be submerged—wipe it with a damp cloth. Dishwasher cleaning works well for most residues, though dried herb bits sometimes require a pre-soak or hand scrub around the blade hub.
Oil holes in the lid
A small but practical detail: two holes in the lid let you drizzle in oil while the blades run. This matters for emulsions like mayonnaise, aioli, or pesto where gradual oil incorporation creates a smoother texture. Without the holes, you have to stop the chopper, remove the lid, add oil, and restart—a friction that discourages making these recipes.
Real-world performance
I used this chopper over four weeks for tasks it was built for: mincing cilantro, chopping shallots, making breadcrumbs, and blending small batches of hummus. The results were consistent for soft vegetables and herbs. Onions chop evenly in 5–6 pulses. Cilantro goes from bunch to fine mince in under 10 seconds. Breadcrumbs from stale bread take about 8–10 pulses.
The motor shows its limits with hard ingredients. Walnuts and almonds cause the blades to bog down—you hear the motor strain. Pulsing in short bursts helps, but it works better to pre-freeze hard nuts briefly or use a dedicated nut grinder for these tasks. Ginger root, which has stringy fibers, doesn't chop cleanly—it shreds rather than cuts.
Making hummus in the chopper works for small batches. The included oil holes help: with the blades running, you drizzle olive oil through the lid, and the result emulsifies better than if you add it all at once. The 1.5-cup bowl limits you to about one serving, so it's not a batch hummus solution, but for a single portion before a meal, it works.
Cleanup takes under two minutes. Bowl, lid, and blades go in the dishwasher. The motor base wipes clean with a damp sponge. No stubborn residue if you rinse immediately after use; dried garlic or herb bits may need a short soak first.
Pros and cons
See the structured pros and cons in the right rail, or jump to the products section below for the full breakdown.
Verdict & price check
The BLACK+DECKER 1.5-Cup Electric Food Chopper does exactly what it promises for $20. It handles the small jobs—herbs, shallots, breadcrumbs, quick hummus—without the footprint or cleanup of a full food processor. The 1.5-cup bowl is genuinely useful rather than limiting, and the oil-dispensing holes are a practical touch for emulsions. It's not built for hard ingredients or large batches, but that's not the point. For occasional small-scale prep, it's a practical buy that earns its keep. Check the latest price for the BLACK+DECKER 1.5-Cup Electric Chopper on Amazon.