Breville Sous Chef 16-Cup Review

What the Breville Sous Chef Does

The BFP800XL is a 16-cup, 1200-watt food processor.

It includes a 16-cup main bowl with an extra-large feed tube (5 inches wide, accepts a whole head of cabbage without pre-cutting), a 2.5-cup nested mini bowl for small tasks, six discs with an integrated storage case, and a sealed chute with a reversible pusher.

The motor has a commercial-style induction motor designed for continuous professional use rather than the AC motors used in most household machines.

Motor and Processing Performance

The 1200W motor is the key differentiator.

Where a 720W machine slows or pauses on a raw beet or a dense sweet potato, the 1200W motor maintains full speed throughout.

The practical benefit: dense root vegetables, frozen fruit, large quantities of cabbage or carrots, and stiff bread dough all process without bogging or motor strain.

The thermal overload protection is more forgiving than in lower-wattage machines: continuous processing for 4 to 5 minutes is typically fine at high load.

The Six Discs

The disc set is the most complete in the household food processor category: 1mm slicing disc: Paper-thin slices for gratins, potato chips, and beet salads.

Requires firm, evenly-sized vegetables fed with consistent pressure through the feed tube.

4mm slicing disc: Standard medium slices for most applications (cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes for roasting).

Fine shredding disc: Fine shreds for coleslaw, hash browns, and cheese topping.

Extra-Large Feed Tube

The 5-inch wide feed tube is the largest available in the household food processor category.

It accepts: a whole head of cabbage (quarter for standard), a whole large tomato, a whole beet (instead of halving), and large pieces of butternut squash.

The reduction in pre-cutting time for high-volume vegetable prep is measurable, for a household that makes coleslaw for 10, the wide-mouth tube saves 5 to 10 minutes of prep vs.

standard feed tube models.

Nested Mini Bowl

The 2.5-cup mini bowl sits inside the 16-cup bowl and uses a dedicated mini S-blade.

For garlic, herbs, nuts, or single-serving salad dressings: set up the mini bowl (30 seconds), process, remove and wash (60 seconds).

The large 16-cup bowl stays clean.

Without the mini bowl: processing small quantities in the 16-cup bowl would scatter ingredients around the large bowl without contacting the blade consistently.

Build Quality

Die-cast aluminum motor housing, polycarbonate bowl, Tritan plastic lid.

The integrated disc case holds all 6 discs organized on a carousel, no drawer searching, no loose discs.

The bowl locks with a clear twist-and-lock mechanism; the lid latches separately.

The entire assembly is substantial: the machine weighs approximately 20 pounds, and moving it to a cabinet for storage is a two-handed task.

Compared to the Cuisinart DFP-14BCWN

The Cuisinart handles 90% of household food processor tasks at half the price.

The Breville's advantages, more wattage, more discs (including the 1mm slicer), the nested mini bowl, and the wide feed tube, matter for 10% of households with higher processing demands.

For the full comparison: Cuisinart vs.

Verdict

The Breville Sous Chef 16-cup is the best food processor for households with heavy or demanding use: dense root vegetables, large batch prep, dough, or the need for thin slicing.

The 1200W motor, 6-disc set, and nested mini bowl are a genuine upgrade over mid-range machines.