A Food Processor Is The Chef-Approved Way To Juice Fruit In A Flash

There are few things more satisfying and nutritious than enjoying a glass of fresh juice. While convenient bottled juice options will do most days, nothing beats thirst-quenching, fresh juices made with seasonal produce, such as grapefruit and blood oranges. You might indulge in a fresh-pressed juice from your favorite local health food store or cafe once in a while and wonder how you can make something like it at home.

Making fresh juice can seem intimidating; what deters many people from making juices at home is the need for specialty equipment. To make fresh juice, many shops and restaurants use high-quality juicers, most of which can be quite pricey. 

But for the home cook wanting to try their hand at fresh, fruity beverages, there's good news. There's an easy way you can make fruit juice using a kitchen appliance you likely already have in your pantry: a standard food processor.

Kelsey Barnard Clark, "Top Chef" Season 16 winner and cookbook author of "Southern Grit," tells People that she juices citrus fruit, including "lemons, limes, or oranges," by removing the peel and puréeing them in a food processor or blender. 

Food processors are powerful appliances and often have sharper blades compared to blenders, so they can also stand up to heartier juice ingredients such as apples, or kale to make green juice. Unlike masticating juicers, which crush and press fruit to extract the juices, food processors function more similarly to centrifugal juicers, which grate produce and spin the resulting mash to separate the juice from the pulp and skin.

To blend homemade juice, simply give your fruit a rough chop and throw it into the food processor. Grate with the shredding disk, and once the fruit is broken down, switch to the chopping blade and purée the juice ingredients together. Finally, strain your juice through a fine mesh sieve (a cheesecloth works great, too) and transfer to the refrigerator to chill. Clark recommends storing juice in jars for a convenient grab-and-go option.

Making fresh juice in a food processor is an easy process, and the cleanup is more seamless than it would be with a heavy-duty juicer. So, go ahead — juice away. 

The beauty of making juice at home is the ability to tailor recipes to your liking and play around with fruit, spice, and flavoring combinations. For an immune-supporting juice, try adding a dash of turmeric, black pepper, and ginger to your fruit juice base before you purée and strain.

When making juices at home, get creative by experimenting with different fruit combinations and even throw a few veggies into the mix. (We love to add celery or cucumber for a flavorful, earthy twist.) As you embark on your juice-making journey, feel free to adjust and taste as you go. Juicer Magazine suggests adding a squeeze of lemon juice if your juice is overly sweet.