The Best Food Processors for Infants
We evaluated infant food makers from leading manufacturers, including NutriBullet, Oster, and OXO, to determine the best.
Are you considering producing your baby food? Since 2012, we’ve researched and purchased more than 19 different baby food makers to determine the ten most acceptable options now available. Each food processor was evaluated based on its performance, usability, and safety. We’ve done all the dirty work for you, from portable hand-held options to machines that steam and blend simultaneously. Let our suggestions guide your search, and you’ll be cooking and combining fresh, handmade meals in no time.
Feeding infants is easy with the proper equipment. We’ve evaluated high chairs, bibs, fun plates, and eating utensils to help you select the best products for your child.
Product Name | Product Image | Check price on amazon |
|---|---|---|
NutriBullet Blender |  | |
Sage Spoonful Puree and Blend |  | |
Oster Pro 1200 Blender |  | |
OXO Tot Food Masher |  |
Best Baby Food Maker
Electric: Yes
Cooking Capable: No
The Nutri Bullet Blender is an all-star machine capable of blending big batches of baby food and generating silky-smooth purees. Large (64 oz), made of BPA-free plastic, and simple to clean. The motor base must be wiped clean with a moist cloth, but everything else is dishwasher-safe. To extend the product’s life, we recommend hand-washing, and a bottle brush, such as the OXO Tot Brush, is an effective tool for cleaning the blade’s crevices. We believe this machine is ideal for families with several children or those who prepare extra baby food for freezing and storage. The user interface is straightforward, with a range of low to high settings that accomplish any task.
The Nutri Bullet’s size requires counter or cabinet space. It is also not an all-in-one appliance, so you must prepare the food before mixing it. However, we believe that steaming on the stovetop is just as simple as using an all-in-one machine. It eliminates the health risks associated with cooking in plastic. The Nutri Bullet produces superb, silky purees ideal for infants beginning their voyage with solid foods. The NutriBullet is the best choice if you’re looking for premium-quality puree and the ability to create large quantities of baby food
Electric: Yes
Cooking Capable: No
The Sage Spoonful Puree and Blend regularly produced nearly flawless puree while maintaining an intuitive user interface. Its small size, versatility, user-friendliness, user-friendly cleaning technique, and excellent puree quality performance are all noteworthy characteristics of this product. The immersion blender’s compact size and mobility make it simple for parents to quickly get the desired consistency when puréeing softer meals, while the appliance’s compact design also makes it simple to store. In our opinion, a food processor works just as well for turning brown rice or oats into granules that are suitable for use in baby cereal as it does for doing the opposite.
We ran into a few problems while using the immersion blender, and as a result, the carrots turned out to be crunchier than we had expected. As a result, you should give purees a thorough inspection before serving them. It is not possible for an immersion blender to process tough items that have not been cooked, but a food processor can accomplish this task. At long last, this piece of equipment blends in like a dream. It takes up very little space in the kitchen or when you’re traveling with it. Even after you have spent all of your time creating baby food, it will still be valuable culinary equipment for you to use in the kitchen. Because of the reasonable price, this wholesome option is hard to condemn.
Electric: Yes
Cooking Capable: No
Unlike every other blender in our study, the Oster Pro 1200 has a Boroclass pitcher. We believe that this material offers various advantages. It is robust, resistant to scratches (unlike some competing plastics), and stain-resistant. We believe this material to be healthier than plastic because it cannot leach chemicals into food products. The score for the blender’s puree quality is higher than average. Considering the product’s price, we believe this blender is adequate for most blending needs while preparing homemade baby food. Additionally, we enjoy that the blender’s components are simple to disassemble, making cleaning a breeze.
Tiny food particles can become stuck under the blades of this blender, which is undesirable when generating smooth purees and necessitates. It gives extra care to ensure the finished product is thoroughly blended. The Oster Pro is not a high-end blender. Still, we strongly value its Boroclass pitcher and consider it a fantastic feature for creating baby food, which allows us to overlook the majority of its flaws. This glass blender is an excellent choice for parents who wish to reduce their child’s exposure to plastic.
Electric: No
Cooking Capable: No
The OXO Tot Food Masher is a convenient item for preparing baby food for a toddler while traveling. It includes a masher, bowl, and cover, making it one of the most straightforward baby food producers. The masher’s compact design allows it to disassemble and nest inside the bowl. Its small size and light weight make it portable and ready for your next journey.
Manual and muscle-powered, the OXO requires effort and time to achieve the correct uniformity when mashing certain foods. The finest effects are obtained from softer foods such as steamed vegetables and soft fruits, notably banana and avocado. It cannot remove skins or seeds. Hence it is not appropriate for newborns. Due to the consistency of the mashed food, the OXO is recommended for a child who can tolerate texture, not a baby. In addition, according to some customers, the lid might come off in a diaper bag, generating possible messes. Suppose you are a family looking for an affordable, portable baby food maker. Your child can handle some chunks or textures. In that case, the OXO is an excellent option.
Electric: Yes
Cooking Capable: No
With its power, capacity, and bowl scraper attachment, the Hamilton Beach Food Processor appears to be a valuable appliance for preparing homemade baby food. It consistently produces smooth purees that are adequate for most infants. Its big container capacity makes it an excellent option for making large batches.
Because this machine has many more parts than others, it takes longer to learn how to use it. However, the most significant problem with this device is that we noticed tiny scratches on the plastic bowl after using it several times. These scratches made us worry that small pieces of plastic might be getting into the baby’s food. The issue alone made us uneasy about using the product to make baby food. We would not recommend the product to a friend. We recommend searching elsewhere, as other comparable goods in our evaluation scored higher and did not have the same issues.
Electric: Yes
Cooking Capable: No
The attractiveness of the NutriBullet Baby lies in the fact that it has a design that is both pleasant for children and endearing to infants and young children. It comes with a number of different accessories, such as two different sized blenders, storage cups, and a freezer tray. Even though you will have to find a place to store these attachments, the blender itself does not take up a lot of space on the counter. This small equipment performed admirably in terms of purity, creating silky purees that were appropriate for the majority of infants.
What Makes Us So Confident
We at BabyGearLab give in-depth and objective scientific assessments of various newborn products. This review is being led by Dr. Juliet Spurrier, who is also the company’s creator, a doctor, and a mother of two. Dr. Spurrier is in charge of determining our testing metrics and techniques, as well as the products we purchase. Also participating are Senior Review Editors Wendy Schmitz, a mother of two, and Molly Bradac, a professional nanny for the past fifteen years. They have a plethora of information regarding the preparation of meals for infants.
We decided to test out and evaluate all of the baby food makers on our list by purchasing each one individually so that we could evaluate and contrast their capabilities side-by-side. These aspects, which collectively contribute to a product’s total performance, include the purity of the puree, the ease of cleaning, the application, and the health and safety of the product.
Value
Making baby food doesn’t have to be out of reach for your budget because we have options for every budget. The Sage Spoonfuls Puree and Blend offer the best price-to-value ratio among our products. It performs well overall, is versatile and durable because you can use it to make smoothies and shakes, and is reasonably priced. If your price allows, the Oster Pro 1200 may potentially meet your needs. We think the price is fair because the blender’s Boroclass pitcher is strong, won’t stain or scratch, and can make big batches of baby food or smoothies for everyone.
Puree Quality
The most crucial aspect of any machine for producing baby food is its capacity to purée foods to a consistency suitable for infants. We evaluated how successfully each product pureed various foods, whether any lumps or skins were left behind, and the uniformity of each puree’s texture. Puree quality depends on how well the food was cooked and blended, the blades, and the container. For the best puree, you will need to change your recipe (like adding more water to dry foods) to get the right consistency for your child’s age. Infants older and more used to solid foods may not mind chunkier foods, but you should avoid giving them substantial portions so they don’t choke.
The blenders reviewed here produced smoother, more uniform purees than steam-and-blend machines. We do not know whether the all-in-one products failed to cook ingredients adequately or if the blade and container design prevented adequate blending. So, we think that a blender makes the best purees. With scores of 9.5 and 9.3, respectively, the Ninja BL660 and the NutriBullet Blender are the best blenders that compete with ours.
Low-ranking rivals include the NutriBullet Baby and the Hamilton Beach, scoring 1 out of 10. The NutriBullet Baby creates great purees that are suitable for infants. Despite this, we drastically lowered the product’s overall performance rating due to the formation of a black residue under the extractor blade. This issue concerns us because the origin and composition of the deposition are unknown. Hamilton Beach also does an excellent job of pureeing. Still, the bowl scraper that comes with it makes tiny scratches in the plastic container, resulting in your food. We have no interest in either machine because we believe that our other products do not share these food contamination risks.
Competitors, such as the OXO Tot Food Masher, which require muscle force to mash food to the correct consistency, would inevitably score lower. It is difficult for a simple choice like this to equal an electric blender’s smooth smoothness with revolving blades. Although softer foods produce more excellent outcomes, we believe the OXO Tot is appropriate for children who can manage texture, not infants.
Ease of Use
The vast majority of the goods that we tested were rather straightforward to use. In most cases, the degree of difficulty in putting together and running a device is proportional to the number of components it has. The user interface, on the other hand, ranged from a single knob to have no buttons at all to having settings that required manual interpretation.
All blenders are simple to operate, have user interfaces that are straightforward, and don’t demand a lot of effort from the user. On the other hand, the all-in-one machines like Hamilton Beach need additional study in order to function appropriately. When determining how long food needed to be cooked, it was necessary to consult the user handbook on a more frequent basis. Despite this, these other contestants received scores in the low 5s out of 10. It would be convenient for parents if these companies included a magnet or laminated guide of cooking times in their products rather than expecting them to constantly consult the manuals.
Health and Safety
We analyze each product to determine whether it contains any components that, when used as intended, can put users’ health or safety at risk. When it comes to blenders, the blades and the presence of a safety system that stops the blades from turning when a person’s finger is close by are of the utmost importance.
We considered the possibility that steam machines could cause the plastic to leak chemicals into food, particularly when the plastic is heated while food is being prepared. If the steam tanks were difficult to clean or it was difficult to see what was going on inside them, then they likely contained mold or bacteria that might contaminate your baby’s food. We investigated the machine’s design to determine whether or not it made any efforts to reduce the likelihood of this happening.
The Oster Pro 1200 received a score of 9.9 out of a possible 10, placing it in top place among the products that are similar to it. It does not have a water tank, therefore it cannot cause accidents connected to steam and it does not have cracks in which rust and mold can form. On the other hand, the BEABA Babycook is an all-in-one device that requires you to transfer cooked food from the steam container to the blender container after it has been prepared. It receives a low score of 4.80 out of 10 due to the fact that it puts you at danger of getting burned.
Ease of Cleaning
Cleaning food from any surface can be difficult, especially if the food is spiky or has an unusual form. Due to the water chambers’ inaccessibility, cleaning the all-in-one items’ water chambers requires additional care (periodic cleaning to prevent mineral deposit build-up).
Some machines have pieces that can go in the top rack of the dishwasher, which is helpful. However, we find that a bottle brush makes hand-washing easier and that rinsing after use is better. We suggest hand-washing whenever feasible to prolong product life. It also prevents the potential breakdown of the plastic, which could lead to chemical leaching.
The Oster Pro 1200 received one of the best rankings (9.5 out of 10) for simplicity of cleaning because its components are simple to disassemble and dishwasher-safe. The all-in-one machines are the most difficult to clean due to their steam tanks, which require frequent maintenance, and their inaccessible or difficult-to-reach regions. Unfortunately, the Baby Brezza Complete ranked poorly, receiving a 4 out of 10. This baby food machine contains numerous parts. The unusual blade with small holes must be rinsed promptly after use; otherwise, cleaning the holes would require effort.
Baby Food Maker vs. Blender
When it comes to making baby food, we have to admit that the multi-cookers that also make purees are superior to the all-in-one cookers that only make purees. They are also more expensive, and it’s possible that they could be harmful to the health of your infant. Because of this, we decided to broaden the scope of our product catalog to include additional kitchen appliances that do not prepare meals but excel in other areas, specifically the production of purees. These machines produce purees that are smoother and more flawless than those produced by traditional baby food producers, who cook the food before pureeing it. This is demonstrated by the results and the data. Our reward recipients do not cook meals. We are of the opinion that it is simpler to steam or heat food on the stovetop before blending it than it is to use the equipment that is reviewed in this article that is all-inclusive. In addition, using this more conventional method of cooking eliminates the potential hazards to one’s health and safety that are involved with cooking food in plastic, which can lead to the leaching of chemicals into the food being prepared. It is for this reason that our products that have won awards are puree machines rather than all-in-one baby food manufacturers.
Conclusion
Choosing an excellent baby food maker can be more complicated than you think, particularly if you lack experience in this area. Fortunately, we’ve conducted messy and tasty research for you. Our in-depth reviews provide the knowledge you need to make your kid’s most excellent purchasing decision. We are confident that one of these options will fulfill your needs and objectives for preparing baby food.
Learn more here about how to prepare your baby’s food.Frequently Asked Questions About Baby Food Maker
“One jar of baby food costs about $1, but if you made mashed potatoes, your baby could eat them without butter and spices for probably only a few cents. Now your whole family can enjoy what you cooked.
Blender or food processor: You will need either a blender or a food processor to prepare homemade baby purees. You probably already have baking sheets in your kitchen. Still, you will use them to roast and bake fruits and vegetables before blending.
According to many parents, it’s good to use baby food makers for more than their intended purpose. Most provide steaming and pureeing functions, which might be beneficial for new parents who want to prepare a quick steamed side dish or a fruit smoothie. Six days ago
It is feasible to prepare baby food with a standard blender; however, a baby food blender will produce the best results. First, it is preferable for small quantities. It also prevents your kid from consuming any contaminants present in excess in your meals.
What ingredients do you need to make baby food at home? When giving your baby food in the form of purées, you will need something to grind or blend the food to the right consistency. You can use something you probably already have at home, like a blender, food processor, or immersion blender.
So, What Should a Parent Do? Do not feed your infant homemade baby food containing high-risk items (carrots, beets, squash, spinach, and green beans) until after six months of age. It should be uncomplicated since solid foods are not suggested until six months.
Here’s the lowdown on what and when to feed baby:
- Stage 1: Purees (4 to 6 months).
- Stage 2: Denser consistency (6 to 9 months).
- Stage 3: Soft, chewable chunks (10 to 12 months) (10 to 12 months).
