What to Buy Instead of a Food Chopper

I love cutting up vegetables. There’s something therapeutic about grabbing my knife and dicing an onion or slicing delicate scallion slivers. But I get it—not everyone digs it. And when I was a prep cook and had to chop literal buckets of bell peppers and onions, I admit it wasn’t exactly a day at the spa. Sometimes you just want to press a button and out pops a perfectly diced or sliced vegetable. 

Many a product has been peddled to do this task for you, with a recent TikTok trend shilling manual food choppers that resemble the kind hawked in infomercials in the late aughts (did anyone actually buy and love a Slap Chop?). 

But, sorry to ruin it for you—most manual food choppers haven’t improved with time. They tend to break easily and the blades wedge into produce rather than cleanly slicing through it. Plus, instead of cutting neat cubes, oftentimes you get rectangles.

Instead of throwing your money away on a doodad that’ll struggle to dice a tomato, here are six alternative food choppers that actually work well and that maybe, just maybe, will make food prep more enjoyable.

The Best Food Choppers

A Food Processor for Dicing, Slicing, and Chopping 

When I was a prep cook, one of the best parts of my day was slicing cucumbers for pickles. I’d lug out a ginormous Robot Coupe food processor, slot in the slicing attachment, and get cracking: It whizzed out gallons of perfectly cut rounds of cuke in a jiffy.

Food processors are the closest thing you can get to a manual chopper except, hey, they do all the hard work for you. They can pulse, grind, blitz, slice, and chop, and all you have to do is press a tab or a button. Our favorite food processors are from Cuisinart and Magimix and both sailed through our tests, easily pulverizing almonds and shredding carrots. They also kneaded a supple and stretchy pizza dough—what manual chopper can do that?

We’ve also reviewed mini food processors, which are great if you want to quickly pulse an onion into shards or whip up a dab of basil pesto. Overall, a good food processor (be it mini or full-sized) is a powerful machine that’ll last much longer (and do a better job) than that plastic manual chopper. 

A Mandoline for Paper-Thin Slicing (and for Cutting Fantastic French Fries) 

Wanna create fancy, elegant dishes that emulate those of your favorite froufrou restaurant? Get a mandoline. This contraption lets you slice near see-through pieces of produce: feathers of fennel, wisps of onion, and paper-thin pieces of potato. Mandolins are also great for making perfect matchstick or crinkle-cut fries. You’ll impress your friends. You’ll impress yourself. 

Since sliding your hand toward a blade might seem like a bad idea, grab a cheap pair of cut-resistant gloves or check out this safety mandoline that keeps your hand far from anything sharp. 

A Garlic Press for Mincing Cloves 

Before you roll your eyes, hear me out! If you love this tiny potent allium as much as I do, a garlic press makes it easy to add clove after clove to any recipe. Just pop the garlic in, give the handles a squeeze, and out pops some pungent bits of allium. It’s like those Play-Doh extruders of yore, but you can actually eat the results. I use our winner from OXO daily—it’s got grippy, soft silicone handles and squeezes out bits of garlic with minimal effort. 

A Sharp Chef’s Knife—and a Paring Knife for Tiny Tasks 

A good, sharp chef’s knife will make you a veritable food prep master—onions, potatoes, and carrots will tremble in your wake. We’ve extensively reviewed all kinds of blades, but one Serious Eats staff favorite is the Misono UX10. This knife arrives sharp and stays sharp even after cutting months’ worth of produce. (I know because I’ve done it.) Who needs a dull, crosshatched manual chopper when you can own a knife such as this? The answer is nobody. 

If you don’t want to spend that much on a chef’s knife, don’t worry, we got you. This knife from Mercer has long been our budget-friendly pick for years. It’s durable, sharp, and nicely balanced.  

A paring knife is another useful blade to have at the ready. Its petite form makes it great for coring strawberries, supreming citrus, and many other tiny prep tasks. And one of our favorites from Victorinox is only $14.

FAQs

What is a manual chopper?

A manual food chopper usually features a crisscrossed set of blades. When you push down on the plastic top, the blades drive into a piece of food and “chop” it into pieces. 

What is the best machine for chopping vegetables?

We may be biased, but you can’t go wrong with a sharp chef’s knife and a food processor. While the former gives you ultimate precision and control, a food processor pulverizes produce at the touch of a button. 

Why We’re the Experts 

• Grace Kelly is a commerce editor at Serious Eats, where she’s been reviewing kitchen gear for over two years.
• She was formerly a prep cook and part of her job included breaking down literal buckets of produce. 
• She’s tested all kinds of sharp things, including petty knives, and swears by her Cuisinart food processor.