Food 3D printers print food pastes rather than plastic filaments, printing delicious chocolate, jam or toffee layer-by-layer to create a custom dessert or savory dish based on your design.
Want to 3D print a model of your face in chocolate? Or print your company’s brand in biscuit to send to potential clients?
Our ranking below features some of the best 3D printers for printing food, and compares them on accuracy, speed, variety of food types you can 3D printer, and more.
The Best Food 3D Printers in 2024
1. WiiBoox Sweetin — Food 3D Printer For Kids
- Cost: Check latest price at Amazon here
- Maximum food printing area: 90 x 90 x 70 mm
- Food 3D printing speed: 15 – 70 mm/s
- Accuracy: 100 microns
- Printable materials: dark chocolate, white chocolate, mashed potato, fruit jam, biscuits, white bean paste, cream candy, and purple potato mud.
Pros
Easy to operate.
Accurate and precise.
Low-cost for a food 3D printer.
Cons
Small food printing area.
The WiiBoox Sweetin is sold as the easy to operate, accessible food printer perfect for families at home together. The printer itself comes with a number of models to print out, and you’re free to unleash your creativity by designing or downloading your own STL files to print. It’s super simple to use: just load your design onto the supplied USB and print away!
The WiiBoox 3D food printer works by preheating the chocolate filament packs (or other food filament type), setting the temperature and speed you want to print at, and then it’s ready to start! You can change the print speed based on how accurate you want your 3D printed chocolate piece to be. Comments on Amazon recommend that you leave any 3D printed chocolate model for at least 10 minutes before removing it however to ensure it has cooled down and solidified.
The WiiBoox Sweetin is accurate with 100 micron precision so any cakes you decorate or chocolate food you 3D print will look crisp and smooth. Unlike some of the other food 3D printers on this list, the WiiBoox Sweetin appears to only use a 0.6mm diameter nozzle, and though it comes with their own 3D slicer you can also set it up to use Cura.
Overall, it’s a low price food 3D printer with good reliability and is easy to use. We recommend it as a great food 3D printer for kids and families to enjoy spending time together cooking and having fun, and creating delicious chocolates and sweets at the same time.
2. FoodBot S2
- Price: $2,100 — Available on 3DPrintersOnlineStore here
- Max print volume: 150 x 150 x 73 mm
- Food print speed: 15 – 70 mm/s
- Accuracy: 100 microns
- Printable materials: biscuit, chocolate, cheese, jam, mashed potatoes, creamy candy, mung-bean paste
Pros
Versatile.
Changeable speeds based on the accuracy and intricacy of your print.
Ability to use nozzles ranging from 0.3 to 1.5mm based on your needs.
5.2 inch touchscreen and sleek UI add to the atmosphere.
Cons
Can fail from time to time.
A versatile food 3D printer, the FoodBot S2 can print chocolate, biscuit, jam, cheese, mashed potatoes, toffee and more! You can change the speed between 15 and 70 mm/s based on the accuracy and intricacy of your print, and alter the temperature based on your preferences.
What stands out however is how great the printer itself looks — if Apple ever made a 3D printer, this is how I imagine it would look. The design is futuristic, elegant and modern; it really adds a sci-fi feel to any kitchen. The 5.2 inch touchscreen and sleek UI add to this atmosphere.
As for accuracy, you’ll have no problem creating detailed food 3D prints with its 100 micron precision, with the ability to use nozzles ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 mm based on your needs. It comes with its own free 3D software to slice and prepare prints, and prints via either USB or SD card.
FoodBot stress how hygienic their S2 food printer is. The actual food filament never touches the printer, as it comes in disposable plastic dispenser tubes and is extruded straight through the nozzle. This makes keeping the printer clean and safe very easy, as there are no innards to clean, just the nozzle.
Overall, it’s an impressive and easy to use food 3D printer with a wide variety of materials and uses. You can see more photos of it in action on the FoodBot Facebook page.
3. Zmorph Fab (with Thick Paste Extruder Add-on)
- Price: $3,999 — Available at Matterhackers here
- Maximum print volume: 235 x 250 x 165 mm
- Thick paste extruder available here
Pros
Reliable, tough and gritty.
Known for being unbelievably versatile.
Good layer resolution and excellent stability.
Cons
Zmorph do not certify that the printer’s food prints are edible or take any accountability for that.
Most people know of the Zmorph Fab as a workhorse 3D printer, drawing praise for its reliability, toughness and grit. It’s also known for being unbelievably versatile — it can be converted from a 3D printer into either a CNC mill or a laser engraver!
Now in addition to this, if you buy Zmorph’s thick paste extruder you can also print in chocolate, nutella, cookie dough and a few other food 3D printer filaments too. It prints pastes in a similar way to how it prints plastic filaments, so you benefit from the Zmorph Fab’s 50 micron layer resolution and excellent stability.
All the technology developed for the Zmorph Fab that makes it one of the best 3D printers around also works perfectly to make it a great food 3D printer. The accuracy, reliability and stability all apply in food 3D printing, and the Zmorph VX therefore is the perfect 3D printer for those who want a printer that can do it all. It’s ideal if you’ve been looking for both a food 3D printer and standard FDM 3D printer, but don’t want to buy two printers.
It is worth noting however that Zmorph do not certify that the printer’s food prints are edible or take any accountability for that. The add-on is therefore more of a fun extra to have fun at home with your family, but not for those looking to sell chocolate 3D prints or to use it in a restaurant. The printer was not built with food 3D printing strictly in mind, but it is a fun add-on for $250.
4. Mmuse Delta Food 3D Printer
- Price: $1,655 — Available on 3DPrintersOnlineStore here
- Maximum print volume: 100 x 100 x 100 mm
- Speed: 150 – 300 mm/s
- Printable materials: Sauce (pancake/tomato/chocolate/salad)
Pros
High printing speeds.
Comes fully assembled and ready to print.
Lighter than most food 3D printers.
Cons
Don’t expect pinpoint accuracy.
The only delta 3D printer on our list, the Mmuse delta brings the advantages of high printing speeds associated with these types of 3D printer to the food sector. Whereas some other food printers max out at around 70 mm/s, Mmuse claim the delta food 3D printer can print between 150 and 300 mm/s — depending on the quality of print and type.
It can print materials including chocolate, pancake, candy and tomato sauce, so you have the option of either sweet or savory. Unlike most delta printers it isn’t a DIY 3D printer, instead coming fully assembled and ready to print — saving time and effort. It’s also lighter than most of the other food 3D printers, at a very manageable 5kg.
Rather than offer a wide variety of nozzle sizes, the Mmuse delta sticks with the standard FDM 3D printer nozzle diameter of 0.4mm. It’s more of a fun food 3D printer for kids to enjoy and play with than an industrial food printer for restaurants. Don’t expect pinpoint accuracy and Michelin-level food presentation, but you can definitely still enjoy creating fun food prints of your favorite kids’ TV characters and other fun 3D printed food projects.
5. Foodbot D2 — Dual extruder food 3D printer
- Price: $6,999 — Available on 3DPrintersOnlineStore here
- Maximum print volume: 80 x 150 x 100 mm
- Print speed: 25 – 50 mm/s
- Precision: 100 microns
- Printable materials: Chocolate, biscuits, bean paste, purple potato cream, creamy candy, jam, and mashed potatoes
Pros
Can print two materials concurrently.
The 3.5 inch touchscreen and ergonomic UX make food printing a breeze.
Have solid, sheet metal frames which aid stability, accuracy and precision.
Cons
Pretty expensive.
An upgrade on the Foodbot S2 that also features in our ranking, this extraordinary machine not only can print intricate food structures, but can print them with two materials concurrently!
The dual heads mean you can print either two different colors of the same food material, or two different materials. So you could create your own design in part toffee and part chocolate, or any other combination you want. Additionally, the 3.5 inch touchscreen and ergonomic UX makes food printing a breeze. Here’s a video of it in action on their Facebook.
This second print head is very useful in commercial business opportunities such as creating custom edible brand logos that need to be in two different colors or materials. Custom cake decorations, intricate chocolate pieces, mini portrait pieces and busts, and general personalized gifts are made easy with the Foodbot D2.
Both the D2 and S2 food printers have solid, sheet metal frames which aid stability, accuracy and precision food 3D printing. The D2 prints at between 25 and 50 mm/s dependent on the material printed, and can be converted to use nozzles varying from 0.4mm to 1.5mm. It’s heavier however, at around 25kg — so keep this in mind if you need something very portable.
6. Mmuse Touchscreen
- Food 3D printer price: $5,700 — Available on 3DPrintersOnlineStore here
- Print volume: 160 x 120 x 150 mm
Pros
Futuristic and beautiful.
Fast speeds of between 30 and 60 mm/s.
Can print via WiFi, USB or SD card.
Comes fully assembled.
Cons
High price.
Another chocolate 3D printer, the Mmuse is a food 3D printer that looks like something out of the matrix. It’s futuristic and beautiful, selling itself as a chocolate making experience, not just a 3D printer. It’s fast too, able to print between 30 and 60 mm/s of delicious 3D printed chocolate.
There’s a reason for the high price. The Mmuse chocolate 3D printer is designed to be as convenient as possible to operate, so you can 3D print food via WiFi, USB or SD card. The beautiful touchscreen on the Mmuse makes printing a breeze, and features a strong aluminium shell. Mmuse also claim it utilizes an ‘intelligent temperature control technology’, allowing it to 3D print chocolate at the perfect temperature so the chocolate prints as smoothly and evenly as possible. Additionally, Mmuse have designed the printer nozzle to be as easy to clean and replace as possible to maintain hygiene over years of printing.
It comes fully assembled, so all you need to do is get hold of the chocolate bean filament, choose the print settings you prefer, and let it print away. The easy-to-use touchscreen makes delicious chocolate printing a pleasant experience. If you’ve got the money and you love chocolate enough, this may be the one for you. Also, if you’re a chocolatier and want to automate some aspects of production, this could be perfect.
7. Natural Machines Foodini
- Price: Only available for rental, $580 per month
- Print volume: 250 x 165 x 120 mm
- Printable ingredients: allows you to use your own real, natural, fresh ingredients for almost any food
Pros
Created to streamline the repetitive tasks which are time consuming and difficult to do by hand.
A versatile food 3D printer.
Very advanced.
Cons
Not suited for beginners.
One of the most well-known food 3D printers out there, the Foodini is a food 3D printer breaking barriers left, right and center in the foodtech sector. Foodini, made by Spanish firm Natural Machines, recognize that though cooking is an enjoyable process for many, there are many tasks that could be automated. The Foodini food 3D printer was therefore created to streamline the repetitive tasks which are time consuming and difficult to do by hand.
Foodini is a versatile food 3D printer, able to print pizza, spaghetti, and even burgers. Its glowing reviews led to fairly wide use in restaurants, like the byFlow Focus has similarly achieved. Restaurants which use the Foodini include London’s Food Ink restaurant, the entirely 3D printed restaurant, as well as La Endeca at Hotel Arts, in Barcelona.
Overall, the price is steep, but this is because of how advanced the Foodini is. It’s less of a cooking tool for use within homes and more of an industrial tool for professional kitchens, but this doesn’t make it any less of an incredible foodtech achievement.
What is a Food 3D Printer?
Typical FDM 3D printing involves a 3D printer’s extruder depositing melted plastic filament along the dimensions specified in the STL file. It’s somewhat similar to icing a cake in that regard, but when you’ve completed one layer the next layer is then deposited on top of that existing layer.
3D printed food will have a layered appearance as FDM parts do — if you look hard you’ll see the tiny layers at slightly jagged angles like the steps on a pyramid, or a spring being pressed together.
With the icing a cake analogy, now assume that instead of icing, you can do the same action but with any edible food type. Chocolate, toffee, sugar, jam and savory flavors like tomato sauce / paste and cheese. Instead of being limited in the shapes you can make by the type of cake tin you use, you can now create incredibly intricate structures by perfectly depositing each part of food exactly where it is supposed to be.
Food 3D printers are similar to FDM 3D printers — one printer on our list is a modified FDM printer — they deposit food instead of plastic filament in exactly the same way. This allows them to be more precise and accurate that any human could be, and also means that menial food jobs in restaurants and kitchens can be automated, saving time and energy.
What’s more, since you only extrude the exact amount of food you need, this makes for more efficient use of food, saving both money and the environment! This is a key and reoccurring theme in additive manufacturing.
Food 3D printers are gradually making their way into STEM education as a novel and fun new way of teaching both 3D printing skills and about what we eat. Food 3D printers for kids are also a great way of family bonding while creating something delicious to eat after, as well as by small businesses who want a new way of creating custom, up-market chocolates and other treats.
Benefits of a 3D Food Printers
- Better for the environment. 3D printed food materials can be created from alternative proteins like algae, leaves, and even insects, which are ground into a paste ready to be 3D printed. These ingredients otherwise would not be used, and are a form of protein and nutrients which may be key to future diets.
- Increased food customization. Though everybody’s food is already arguably customized, it isn’t to the level that food 3D printers offer. Not only can you create and pick the exact ingredients you want, but you can also create custom shapes and geographies that you want your food to occupy. Want a rabbit-shaped chocolate bar? Or an emoji-shaped burger? Easy. 3D printers conquer conquer the first three dimensions for you, saving you the fourth dimension — time.
- Saves time & stress. 3D food printers can automate the boring and repetitive kitchen tasks for you so you don’t need to do them. Simple tasks such as presentation and laying out of ingredients can be done by the food printer, and if you are creating food from pastes then you don’t need to chop those ingredients up yourself.
More food related articles:
- We’ve also written a feature story on 3D printed food.
- We also have a more specific ranking on the best chocolate 3D printers.