Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor Review
A brilliant aid for any kitchen
Verdict
Small enough to store easily, but large enough for a wide range of kitchen jobs, from making sauces and salsas, to dicing onions, the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor is a brilliant tool. With a tough glass bowl and dishwasher-safe components, it’s also easy to tidy up at the end, making it a brilliant addition to any kitchen.
Pros
- Glass bowl
- Two speeds
- Easy to clean
Cons
- No drizzle hole
Key Features
- CapacityThe glass bowl takes up to 0.5-litres of liquids and ingredients.
Introduction
For many cooking jobs, such as making sauce, a full-size blender or food processor is overkill, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need a lot of power.
For those little jobs, the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor is a powerful mini chopper that can cut and blend easily.
Design and features
- Dual blades
- Two power modes
- Glass bowl
Most small food processors are made of cheaper ingredients and tend to have a plastic bowl. With the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor, you get a 0.5-litre glass bowl.
That’s a nice upgrade over the competition, such as the Cuisinart Cordless Mini Prep Pro. Glass bowls not only feel nicer, but they’re less prone to scratching and staining.
Inside the bowl are the removable blades. While a lot of mini food processors have a single set of blades at the bottom, the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor has multi-layered blades throughout the bowl, providing even cutting at different heights.
Assembly and use are both easy. First, the bowl needs to sit on the provided plastic mat, which stops it slipping around. Then, with the blades in place and food in the bowl, I just had to place the lid on and then put the plug-in motor on top.
There’s just a single button to use this machine: a light press runs the chopper at low speed (3800rpm); a heavier press runs at high speed (7300rpm). Pressing the button on and off gives a pulse option.
Once finished, the lid and blades can be removed, so the blended food can be removed easily. The bowl, blades and lid can all go in the dishwasher, and the motor can be wiped down.
Once dry, storage is easy: I even managed to fit my sample into the drawer where I keep my pots and pans.
Performance
- Excellent blending
- Lots of power
I put the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor through its paces with a couple of jobs. First up, I made a sauce for beef tacos. Using a combination of garlic, tinned tomatoes, spices, tomato puree and vinegar, I soon had a nicely blended combination with small bits of onion.
The result cooked down nicely into a thick sauce.
To give the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor a tougher test, I made pineapple salsa, which uses chopped up slices, including the tough core. When I’ve made this salsa with less powerful processors, the pineapple gets mixed into very small bits, but the salsa is not perfectly smooth.
With the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor, I found that it quickly cut the pineapple down into a smooth puree. I did have to scrape the bowl sides down once to get a last couple of bits of pineapple, but the results were excellent.
Mixed with various spices, and then topped up with some chunks of fresh pineapple, I’ve not had better results with this recipe.
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Should you buy it?
You want the power of a big processor in a mini form
Capable of doing just as good a job as a large food processor, the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor is great for sauces, salsas and smaller jobs.
You want the convenience of a battery-powered product
If you don’t want to mess around with power cables, then a battery-powered processor is a better choice.
Final Thoughts
For those jobs where getting the full-size food processor out is too much hassle, but you don’t want to compromise on power, the Haier I-Master Series 5 Compact Food Processor is brilliant. It’s easy to use, has a glass bowl, and chops tough ingredients fast. Simple to clean and store, it’s a great accessory for any kitchen.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every food processor we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main food processor for the review period
We chop common items, which inlude (depending on the processor type), herbs, onions and ice.
We mix a marinade to see how well the food processor can deal with finer ingredients and liquids.
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FAQs
No, this is a plug-in product.
The jug, blades and lid are dishwasher safe, but the motor should only be wiped down.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
