The Australian manufacturer unveils its latest robot, the Breville Sous Chef 16 pro. Known for its excellent reputation, the manufacturer wishes to continue in this line with its new model. However, proposed at 570 dollars on the manufacturer’s website, this immediately puts it in the high range of cutting robots. Is the price really justified? That’s what we will see.

A device dedicated to cutting your food

The Breville Sous Chef 16 pro is a food processor that specializes in cutting food. With its 1200-watt direct-drive, high-torque induction motor, the Sous Chef™ 16 Pro is capable of mastering even the most difficult tasks. Priced at $570, the robot comes with several accessories including:

• 2 feed tubes: 2 tubes come with the robot. One, thinner, will be useful for thin and long foods, such as leeks or carrots for which you will not need the pusher. The other one, wider, ensures longer slices while minimizing the time of the operation.
• 2 Bowls: the mini bowl has a capacity of 2.5 coffee cups and the large bowl has a capacity of 16 cups, which is about 3.6 l of useful capacity. Be careful though, as many users have reported a weakness in the bowl that tends to crack with regular use.
• Easy storage box: The food processor comes with a storage box that allows you to store unused utensils. It also has a retractable cord so it can be stored in the box as well.
• The cutting accessories: we will see them just after.

As with most food processors, the Breville Sous Chef® 16 Pro has dishwasher-safe parts. However, not all the accessories are dishwasher safe, which could be a problem in everyday use.

Food processor cutting accessories

The Breville Sous Chef® 16 Pro comes with 8 cutting accessories including 5 discs and 3 blades, all ready to use and allowing it to perform various functions:

• A variable slicing disc: The food processor comes with a variable slicing disc that allows you to choose between 24 cutting settings ranging from very fine with 0.3mm to the thickest with 8mm. This is simply the first adjustable slicer to offer such versatility on the market.
• Reversible disc: The reversible disc allows for both fine and coarse shredding. For finer grating, simply orient the disc so that the finer holes face up. For a coarser result, the disc should be oriented the other way.
• A julienne disc ideal for carrots and zucchini in salad
• A French fry disc. This one allows you to obtain rather thick fries. It is compatible with all types of potatoes. The test on the sweet potato is just as conclusive with homogeneous cuts.
• An emulsion disc to whip and aerate preparations. It is particularly effective for whipping egg whites.
• 3 sets of blades: the micro-serrated S-blade system is very efficient to perform your operations in record time. Thanks to these blades, you can puree, chop or mince food. Homogeneity is also guaranteed.

An efficient cutting machine

The Breville Sous Chef® 16 Pro comes with 8 attachments to perform a variety of functions. Here is our opinion on all of the robot’s functions.

The chopping function

The Breville Sous Chef® 16 Pro is one of the most efficient food processors for chopping. In fact, after testing the function on onions, the result is almost perfect with evenly chopped onions. The powerful motor of the robot ensures the operation in just 5 pulses.

For harder foods such as almonds, the result is just as satisfying with uniform cuts without turning everything into dust.

To do this, simply press the “start pulse” button and you’re done. However, beware of the “pulse” button, which does not stop immediately once released. So anticipate!

The mixing function

We tested the function with the preparation of a pizza dough. The result is still satisfactory with a smooth and uniform dough. The power of the motor is more than enough to mix all types of food without any problem. The kneading blade is also suitable for pastries such as cupcakes.

The grating function

On the other hand, the food processor is less efficient for grating, since in our cheese test, a good part of the cheese was grated, but there was still a complete piece of cheese that had to be passed a second time under the blades of the processor. So don’t hesitate to grate some foods twice. The grated carrot test was more conclusive.

The cutting function

The different cutting settings will allow you to adapt the robot to the food you want to slice. The result is perfect with clean and homogeneous cuts. However, before proceeding with the cutting, check that the blade is positioned at 12 o’clock because it should not be directly placed under the funnel. Also, it is possible to automate the cut. To do this, you will have to gauge the levels yourself the first time and observe the time required. Afterwards, you will be able to program the timer to perform the operation automatically.

Our conclusion after the test

Overall, the Breville Sous Chef 16 pro justifies its reputation with very good results on all the tests performed. This robot is capable of making high quality cuts right at home without any effort. In summary, here are the things we like about the robot:

• a nice design
• efficient programs
• a silent motor despite its power
• the practical storage box for everyday use.
• the large 14 cm funnel, much larger than its competitors. It is therefore able to accommodate the largest vegetables without having to shrink them first.
• a 25-year engine warranty, which makes it one of the most interesting offers on the market

On the other hand, here are the main shortcomings we found during our test:

• the robot is located in a high price range
• a very heavy device, therefore not very easy to handle
• the incompatibility of some parts with dishwasher cleaning
• a fragile minibin, which tends to crack during use

In conclusion, yes the Breville Sous Chef 16 Pro is a quality food processor that we recommend. Nevertheless, it is difficult to explain its price positioning given the performance of some cheaper competitors.