BREVILLE THE ALL IN ONE: ONE-MINUTE REVIEW
Anyone who appreciates cooking understands how beneficial a food processor can be for enhancing one's culinary abilities. However, if you don't spend much time in the kitchen, something that takes up a lot of space may not be at the forefront of your consciousness. If this is the case, you may be better off with a lighter option, such as the Breville All-in-One Stick Mixer.
Sure, the motor isn't as potent as what you'll find in high-end food processors or blenders, but this device performs a broader variety of duties and occupies less space in your kitchen. The Breville All-in-One can be used as a food processor, a pulverizer, an immersion blender, or a whisk due to a motor handle with a quick-release mechanism that attaches to different tool heads.
Obviously, the usefulness of any tool will depend on the types of food you prefer to prepare, and kitchen appliances that try to do too many things often end up doing none of them well. However, the All-in-One strikes an excellent balance between versatility and usefulness, making it an exceptionally helpful tool in a variety of situations. This makes it an excellent basic accessory for any home cook; I doubt it will remain unused for extended periods of time.
This versatility can cause it to be neglected, as there is no single duty for which it is indispensable. However, the tool's versatility makes it useful for the average cook, and it will remain so even if they invest in more capable appliances for duties requiring more potent and specialized devices.
There is genuine value here for the majority of home chefs, and the price point is also reasonable.
- Available in the US and Australia
- List price: $159.95 / AU$269
The All-in-One Stick Mixer is available for $159.95 or AU$269 in the US and Australian Breville online stores, but not in the UK Sage online store at the time of this writing.
If you frequently mash, grate, slice, chop, whisk, and blend food, it's hard to imagine that this device won't be useful for a variety of tasks. For more information, see TechRadar's jug vs. immersion blender comparison page.
Although you can find food processors for less than this price, they are unlikely to be more powerful and will typically only include one dicing blade. The fact that the All-in-One has grating and slicing capabilities in addition to the standard food processing capabilities practically justifies the price tag.
You will only have rudimentary blending capabilities, so I wouldn't really consider this a replacement for a blender, but with the addition of the crushing and whisking tools, you get a tool with a ton of features for a low price.
BREVILLE THE ALL IN ONE REVIEW: DESIGN AND FEATURES
- Great entry-level food processor
- Grating and slicing blades included
- Also beats, blends and mashes
The textured base of the 6-cup (1.6L) food processor basin prevents food from sticking to the sides when using the S-blade attachment, and the reversible grating/shredding disk eliminates the need to manually grate vegetables, for example.
The variable slicing blade for the food processor is not as precise as a mandolin, but it has 18 adjustable thickness settings ranging from 0.5mm to 6mm, allowing you to cut precisely homogenous slices in a matter of seconds.
In addition to the food processing instruments, you receive a pestle, a whisk, and nozzles for immersion blenders. Each of these is fairly self-explanatory, and the pestle and whisker simply alleviate some of the manual labor required for certain tasks. It rarely occurs to the average home cook, but this appliance's stick design makes it useful in a variety of situations, so it will likely be used frequently.
Unlike some other stick blender systems, the All in One does not include a container accessory; however, most home chefs will be able to locate an alternative. This makes it less desirable as a blender, but if you're going to make a lot of smoothies, you'll need a more specialized blender. Blenders are also likely to be the most prevalent device overlap here for products that people already own, so excluding them seems prudent.
BREVILLE THE ALL IN ONE REVIEW: PERFORMANCE
- Decent food processing capabilities
- Excellent mashing and whisking
- Reasonable immersion blending
During my testing, I used the Breville All in One to chop ingredients for a quantity of peanut butter protein spheres, a task that had previously rendered my Smeg Hand Blender inoperable. The Breville device had less capacity than its similarly priced Smeg competitor, but it was able to completely process all of the unprocessed ingredients and blend the viscous mixture of dates, peanut butter, and maple syrup.
This task was certainly at the limit of what you would want to accomplish with a handheld motor, but the All-in-One proved perfectly capable of completing it. Those who intend to frequently combine protein patties may be better served by one of TechRadar's top food processors, as it is a more potent device.
I also used the grater or shredder to shred a few hundred grams of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano for a cacio e pepe dish, a really straightforward operation that would have required significantly more effort with a manual grater. However, the quickness and consistency of the electric blade make virtually every grating task immensely simpler; once you have this instrument, it's difficult to go back to manual grating.
The immersion blender functions adequately as a conventional blender. All in One is more than capable of blending the vast majority of soups and beverages. However, if you frequently need to pulverize ice, a more powerful appliance may be required.
When you need to refine a sauce to a smoother consistency, the immersion blender excels; you can simply submerge it into boiling liquids instead of waiting for sauces to settle to be placed in a food processor.
The processor is ideal for those who enjoy making potato puree (or those who prepare their own infant food), while the whisk is useful for baking and other egg-based recipes.
HOW I TESTED: BREVILLE THE ALL IN ONE
- I used the All in One for a month
- I used it as my primary food processor
- I tested all the other features and functionalities
I evaluated the Breville All in One by using it for a month to perform routine kitchen tasks, such as grating cheeses and vegetables, as well as food processing tasks, such as dicing almonds and combining date and peanut protein spheres. On multiple occasions, I also used the device to pulverize potatoes and whisk eggs and other ingredients for baked goods.
The immersion blender capabilities came in handy when I was refining a beef brisket sauce in a pot on the cooktop, and I used the All in One to blend a light banana smoothie in a container without ice. I compared this to the 1950s-style Smeg Hand Blender, which offers a comparable assortment of attachments and features.