Repetitive food preparation tasks like cleaning, washing, and chopping vegetables can be a great divider among chefs and cooking enthusiasts.
For some, these chores are far from mundane, and calmly completing them is part of the immense joys of cooking, while others would happily do without them.
Users seeking to cut down the time spent in these recurring activities explain the rise in popularity of store-bought prepared food items and appliances like food mixers, food processors, and vegetable choppers to significantly speed up these processes.
If you are in this second camp, we can’t fault you.
We can all agree that in today’s fast-paced world, anything that can help you get tasks done quicker without detracting from the quality of the end-result (or affecting you negatively) is a big plus.
Veggie choppers play this role perfectly, providing you a faster way to chop vegetables, herbs, and fruits, so you never have to wake up at the crack of dawn and spend your whole morning doing food prep.
These tools will help provide the ingredients for a host of dishes, ensure you meet your daily nutritional requirement, and leave you with enough time to enjoy the joys of cooking without being in a rush.
Whether you seek to save time, deal with dexterity issues, or find a safe way to let your kids help in the kitchen, here are the top vegetable chopper options you can get today to improve your kitchen workflow immediately.
Vegetable Chopper Types
While there is an abundance of vegetable chopper styles to choose from, whichever unit you buy will fall into one of two categories:
Electric: Like most kitchen appliance types, with vegetable choppers, electric units require far less effort and are a significantly faster way to get the job done.
Electric vegetable choppers use an electric-powered motor to run the chopping system, providing a more time and energy-efficient way to complete the task. These machines are super easy to use and typically come with no learning curve.
Plus, electric units come in especially handy when handling large amounts of vegetables or fruits as they can take much more in one go, and they do not require any physical exertion (cranking) on your part.
However, while the electric chopper may seem like the obvious choice, it does come with one major downside. Electric vegetable choppers are more likely to over blend your veggies, creating more of a paste than simple chops due to the high-powered motors that run these machines.
Manual: Vegetable choppers are among the few kitchen appliance types where the manual version is the more popular option.
The primary reason why many users favor manual choppers is that they are more efficient at producing simple chops that are perfect for most recipes, and there is a much lower risk of turning your veggies into mush.
Manual vegetable choppers work using simple motions like pressing down on the blade or cranking a lever to begin chopping. This barebones system gives you far more control over the texture end-result. However, on the flip side, these units are more time-consuming to use.
Question: What is the difference between a vegetable chopper and a food processor?
Vegetable choppers, food processors, and blenders are similar tools that perform the same function: breaking food items into smaller bits or turning them into a paste. Hence, when shopping for these items, it might be tough figuring out the differences between them.
The key to understanding them is to realize that aside from their names, the only thing that separates these devices is the extent to which they break down the food item.
Vegetable choppers are generally manually-operated devices that break down food into large-sized chopped without creating pastes. This form of grinding is excellent for cutting onions, carrots, and other items you want to be diced.
Food processors typically take things a step further, using an electric motor to grind food and produce less-textured, paste-like results. In contrast, blenders take things all the way, grinding whatever you throw in them into a liquid.
However, these terms are often used loosely and interchange by manufacturers while marketing their products.
Our Top Pick (Electric): Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor
If like us, you are very particular about the size of your chops, the chances are that you are wary about using electric vegetable choppers, and we can’t fault you on that.
A common quirk with electric choppers and food processors is that they typically bring an excess of grinding actions that can leave you with bits that are too mushy for your vegetable salad recipe.
With the Mini-Prep Plus, Cuisinart, one of the foremost names in the kitchen appliance space, aims to solve this problem by producing a miniature food processor that packs far less power and much more control.
The Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus sports a high-speed 250-watt motor powerful enough to make quick work of all your chopping tasks, whether you are cutting up fruits, vegetables, or hard nuts. With its power, this motor can also puree or emulsify your food items to make pasty recipe items like salad dressing.
However, Cuisinart takes some extra steps with this mini food processor to ensure that your fruits and vegetables are never over-processed.
First, this machine features a chopping mode that activates the pulse-controlled buttons, so the chopping action is only active when you hold the power button, and you can turn it off with a simple release. This activation system ensures that you can work on your veggies for extremely short periods and consequently have them chopped just right and not turned into dough.
The machine also includes a grind mode that offers more traditional pureeing of foods, creating finer pastes. You may also have to set the device to grind mode to produce enough power to handle much harder food items like seeds, nuts, and peppercorns.
Second, the cutting blade included in the Mini-Prep Plus is dual-sided. On one side, you have a sharp edge that works to puree or blend vegetables, fruits, or cooked foods into pastes. The second edge is a blunt one that is better equipped for chopping your veggies into manageable chunks.
Plus, this blade is auto-reversing, as selecting either grind mode or chop mode automatically switched the blade action direction.
Another central selling point of this unit is the inclusion of a massive 24-ounce chopping bowl (with handles). With this sizable container, you can now have a day’s batch of salsa without having to break them into smaller portions and working the chopper multiple times.
As you would with most blenders and food processors, you want to fill the work bowl only two-thirds of the way to avoid overloading the blade assembly’s central hub.
Furthermore, the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus will also save you time on maintenance. Both the work bowl and the lid are dishwasher-safe, and there is a spatula included in the box for easy emptying of the bowl.
If you need an electric vegetable chopper that gets you the perfect chop every single time, you can’t go wrong with the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor. Plus, with every purchase, you get the backing of Cuisinart’s 18-month limited warranty.
Drawback: One major drawback of the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor is the inclusion of liquid holes on the food bowl’s top. These holes are meant to provide an easy way to add oils and other liquids to your veggies while being chopped.
However, these holes can cause problems during the chopping process, as vegetable essences can sometimes spill out of the container and mess up your kitchen counter, mostly when you fill the bowl up too close to the top.
We consider this feature an unnecessary gimmick, as you can easily add any liquids you want before you start or pause the grinding and add them in while the machine is inactive.
Nevertheless, provided you keep the bowl filling to only two-thirds of the way or less, you shouldn’t have too many cases of spilling.
Highlights
- A high-speed 250-watt motor brings enough power to chop or puree your vegetables quickly
- Dual-sided stainless steel cutting blade with both a sharp and dull edge to match your needs
- With dedicated chop mode and pulse-controlled touch buttons
- Ample 24-ounce chopping bowl (with handles)
- Ultra-lightweight appliance with tiny footprint
- Dishwasher-safe lid and bowl
- BPA-free plastic construction
- Included spatula
- Free recipe book
- 18-month limited warranty
Our Top Pick (Manual): Mueller Austria Pro Vegetable Chopper
Vegetable choppers are among the only kitchen appliance types where the manual version is the more popular option. All it takes to understand why is one look at this pro vegetable chopper from Mueller Austria.
Unlike electric options, manual vegetable choppers do not use motors. Instead, these iterations work when you apply manual pressure to the blade, pressing down onto the veggies and chopping them. With this method, you are applying significantly less power and using a substantially more targeted approach that is far less likely to leave you with a mushy result.
Hence, manual vegetable choppers are perfect for creating neatly-cut small chops that are better for your taste buds and perfect for creating those picture-perfect recipes.
The Mueller Austria Pro Vegetable Chopper takes things a step further still. Here, you get the ultimate in veggie chopping, as the Mueller Austria Pro packs a selection of 8 different stainless steel blades, so you have the perfect cutting edge for every occasion. You get a mix of 3-size chopper blades and five specialty blades (for shredding, grating, slicing, and julienne) in the box.
With this added functionality, this simple manual chopper brings the power of multiple kitchen tools in one small appliance. Quick switching of the blade will immediately grant you the ability to make perfect-size chops for any meal.
Plus, with Mueller Austria, you are getting one of the durable options you can buy.
This company has a renowned reputation in the industry for creating high-end entries that outlast options from most of the competition, and their pro veggie chopper is no different. In a world of poorly made options that may break easily, mess up your veggies, or even cause injury, the Mueller Austria Pro Vegetable Chopper provides an entry—big on quality and safety features—you can trust at no significant price premium.
Other big pluses with the Mueller Austria Pro include its compact size and the consequent tiny footprint it takes up on your kitchen counter. The chopper also features machine-washable parts that facilitate an easy clean (you also get a scrubbing fork in the box) and a food-holder ridge that keeps your food items from slipping during the slicing action.
Furthermore, the Mueller Austria Pro Vegetable Chopper is also excellent for enhancing your kitchen productivity as it ships with a food container that can hold up to 4 cups of food in one go.
Are you ready to start creating the perfect diced onions in your kitchen without shedding a tear? The Mueller Austria Pro Vegetable Chopper is one of the best options you can get for your money.
Plus, with each purchase, you get a welcome backing of the company’s lifetime warranty and live telephone customer service ready to help you with any potential issues.
Highlights
- Manual chopping action creates picture-perfect chops without turning your veggies into mush.
- A selection of 8 different stainless steel blades for every occasion
- Five specialty blades for shredding, grating, slicing, and julienne
- Chopping blades in three different sizes
- Massive 4-cup food container
- Food-holder ridge prevents food from slipping
- Durable, safety-first construction
- Dishwasher-safe
- Lifetime warranty
- live telephone customer service
Other 6 Best Vegetable Chopper We Also Recommend
Every seasoned cooking enthusiast knows the joys a capable vegetable chopper can bring to your kitchen. With the right pick, you can steady churn out perfectly diced veggies and fruits for even your most adventurous recipes.
If you want to spend the shortest possible time choosing a chopper for your kitchen but want the best you can get, you can’t go wrong with either of our top picks.
However, we understand that choosing kitchenware is a delicate business. Preferences for kitchen gear can vary significantly from cook to cook, depending on the characteristics of the item that are most valuable to you.
Hence, in our search for the perfect vegetable chopper, we also rounded up a list of other top-quality electric and manual offerings that are sure to impress.
Kuhn Rikon Pull-Chop Chopper
Most electric choppers use a simple tap-to-chop or, in the case of manual veggie choppers, push-down-to-chop action that instantly activates the machine’s process. While this system is effective in most situations, in some instances, it can cause issues.
Tap-to-chop systems typically come with a high degree of sensitivity that can lead to over-chopping your food, even with only a slight hold.
The Kuhn Rikon Pull-Chop Chopper decisively fixes this process by incorporating a unique pull-chop system that offers an enhanced, more controlled approach to activating the chopping motion.
With this veggie chopper, you get spinning blades that work in tandem with a pull lever, similar to the pull-start used by many lawn mower brands. Each easy pull of the lever activates the edges, making them spin for a few revolutions. Hence, by repeatedly pulling the lever, you can precisely control how much chopping occurs and stop right when your food is as processed as you want it.
Unsure of how many pulls you need to handle your chop load? The manufacturer includes a handy guide on the product page:
- Approximately five pulls for coarse chopping.
- Ten pulls for more delicate cuts.
- At least 15 pulls for making puree, sauces, or dips.
This incremental activation process makes the Kuhn Rikon Pull-Chop an excellent pick for all food types, including bulbs, vegetables, fruits, breadcrumbs, and nuts.
Other perks of the Kuhn Rikon Pull-Chop Chopper include a 2-cup food container that helps to streamline your chopping tasks and a non-slip base that tacks on firmly to your kitchen counter, preventing the machine from spilling its contents or toppling over.
Once you are done chopping your veggies, you can easily clean the unit by sticking the food bowl in the dishwasher and cleaning the lid by hand with a wet rag (do not immerse the cover in water). The included steel blades are removable for easy cleaning as well.
Take special care when removing, handling, or cleaning the super-sharp blades to avoid injury.
Highlights
- Controlled push-down-to-chop for enhanced preciseness
- Dishwasher-safe, microwaveable, and fridge safe food bowl
- Sizeable 2-cup food container
- Non-slip bases prevent slips and spills.
- Suitable for all food types
BLACK+DECKER Electric Food Chopper (HC150B)
This offering from BLACK+DECKER is a top-seller on Amazon and one of the most popular vegetable choppers on the market, and it’s not hard to see why. BLACK+DECKER is an industry giant renowned for producing some of the most durable and efficient work and home appliances around, and their premier food chopper offering stays true to this ethos.
Here, you get a remarkably well-rounded electric food chopper that covers all the basics, giving you a durable build, comfortable, efficient controls, and a dependable performance you can trust to deliver every time.
At its core, this electric chopper packs a 70-watt motor that brings enough power to ensure stable performance even against tough nuts. Up top, you get a decent 1.5-cup food container that houses a set of dual-level stainless steel blades that helps to guarantee excellent long-lasting performance further.
Like the setup you get on the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor, with the BLACK+DECKER Electric Food Chopper, you will find oil holes on the food container that are excellent for adding liquids to your blend on the fly. However, here too, these holes can sometimes lead to sputtering and consequently the staining of your kitchen counter.
Like with most vegetable choppers on the market, operating the BLACK+DECKER Electric Food Chopper is quite intuitive. The appliance features a single pulse control button that offers precise control over the machine’s operation, allowing you to adjust the chopping action duration to match your desired results.
Once you are done chopping your veggies, you can shift into maintenance mode, which is super easy, considering that all the machine’s removable parts (except the blades) are dishwasher-safe.
Highlights
- Layered stainless steel blades for effective chopping action
- 70-watt motor to handle even the toughest foods
- BLACK+DECKER signature durable build
- Touch pulse-control buttons
- Suitable for all food types
- Dishwasher-safe parts
Lightweight Option: Chef’n VeggiChop Food Chopper
A common problem with many vegetable choppers is that they pack too much power, sometimes blending your food too smoothly and leaving you with an end product that is mushier than you would like.
If you fear encountering this issue, the Chef’n VeggiChop Food Chopper is the perfect fit for your needs.
This unique veggie chopper goes against the trend of packing more power and specialized blades to ensure the thorough processing of your food.
Instead, what you get here is a simple manual chopper construction, complete with two simple blades, providing an effective mechanism that chops your fruits and veggies into manageable chops rather than turning them into mush.
Important
On the flip side, the Chef’n VeggiChop Food Chopper’s effectiveness at making sizable chops also means that it may struggle against more challenging food items like carrots and ice.
Consequently, the Chef’n VeggiChop Food Chopper is an excellent pick for getting the right chopping action in a host of situations. Whether you want to create a batch of evenly mixed fruit chops, mix pieces of cooked food, or making sauces like hummus, salsa, and guacamole, this easy-to-use chopper can be the perfect kitchen companion.
The elementary design of this veggie chopper also helps create some additional perks with this package. The veggie chopper, in its entirety, is dishwasher-safe. After each use, dismantle the appliance and rack all its pieces in the dishwasher’s top rung.
Furthermore, the manufacturer ships a second, freezer-safe sealing lid in the packs that makes the unit safe for storing food in the fridge or bring on the go. The machine’s small portable size makes it an ideal choice for creating chops on the road.
Highlights
- Simple blade setup ensures your food never turns into mush.
- Excellent for mixing fruits, hummus, salsa, and guacamole
- The whole chopper is dishwasher-safe.
- Second freezer-safe sealing lid included
- Suitable for all food types
- Ultra-portable
Heavy-Duty Option: Mueller Austria Ultra Heavy Duty Chopper
While the Chef’n VeggiChop Food Chopper is the perfect pick for creating decent-sized chops without mush, it will falter when faced with stricter opposition like hard nuts and firmer foods like carrots and ice.
In this situation, you need more power, and that is exactly what the Mueller Austria Ultra Heavy Duty Chopper promises. With its unique design, this chopper’s most vital selling point is its ability to provide all fast and reliable chopping even with the most rigid food items.
Central to this heavy-duty chopper’s ability to handle a tougher workload is its use of layered surgical-grade stainless blades that will chop through any food item you throw at it without a single hiccup. Furthermore, the setup also includes an oversized hand crank that adds even more leverage, helping the blade slice through the workload with minimal effort on your part.
Plus, underneath the veggie chopper, you will find an anti-skid base, complete with suction cups that hold the appliance in place, preventing any movement while you crack through the hardest nuts and veggies.
The extremely secure hold the base brings also combines with the extended crank to allow one handed-usage, a big selling point for a manual machine that brings such power.
However, the Mueller Austria Ultra Heavy Duty Chopper is not solely a heavy-duty nutcracker and veggie slicer.
Here, you also get a massive 5-cup bowl (with handle), guaranteed to fit supplies for anyone’s meal, and added functionality in the form of an integrated egg white extractor. The chopper also doubles as an efficient option for completing less aggressive tasks like whipping eggs, shredding cheese, and mixing dough.
Once you are done chopping your veggies, this heavy-duty manual cleaner dismantles easily and is certified dishwasher-safe, provided you stick to the top rack.
Highlights
- The heavy-duty blade can handle even the most demanding food items turning them into perfectly textured chops.
- A massive 5-cup bowl with a handle that is one of the largest you will find anywhere.
- Fitted with anti-skid base, complete with suction cups
- Integrated egg white extractor
- Easily dismantles into dishwasher-safe parts.
- Suitable for all food types
Best Rechargeable: KitchenAid Cordless Chopper (KFCB519BM)
Do you need to chop food items while on the road? Thanks to this offering from KitchenAid, you no longer have to deal with the stress of using a manual veggie chopper or go through the hassle of seeking a power source to run your full-on electric unit.
With the KitchenAid Cordless Chopper, you can now enjoy the efficiency of an electric vegetable chopper on the road without needing to stay plugged in. No cranking or manual pushing is required.
This unit packs a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that lets you get kitchen work done wherever you are.
According to the product page, the manufacturer rates the KitchenAid Cordless Chopper as being able to chop up 40 onions (90-100grams per onion) on a single charge. Alternatively, if you are strapped for time, a quick ten-minute charge from empty should power the machine enough to thoroughly chop 11 similarly-sized onions. It takes two hours to charge the device from zero.
To better inform your usage of the drive, you also get a battery status indicator that notifies you when the device is low on battery or is fully charged. Plus, the device also includes a massive 5-cup work bowl, which should be more than enough to handle all your cooking tasking on the road in one go.
Other features you get with this product include a 2-speed setting knob that lets you switch between chopping mode to another to mix, blend, and puree. It also contains a whisking spatula and storage space at the bottom of the device for the spatula.
Whether you need a veggie chopper to take on off-road trips or you like the freedom of doing your chopping without being tied to the kitchen, this is for you. You can complete the transition to cordless today with the KitchenAid Cordless Chopper and enjoy all the benefits of a full-on electric chopper as well as the added mobility.
Highlights
- Packs a rechargeable lithium-ion battery to enable on-the-road usage
- No cranking or manual pushing needed
- Massive 5-cup work bowl
- 2-speed setting option
- Included whisking spatula
Barebones Option: Kwik-Kut Cutlery Serrated Food Chopper
If you are one that likes always to keep things simple, this barebones, one-piece food chopper may be right up your alley.
The Kwik-Kut Cutlery Serrated Food Chopper ditches all motors, batteries, cranks, and moving parts, opting for a simple one-piece chopper with no extra pieces to worry about during use.
However, don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this device. If you use it the right way, the Kwik-Kut Food Chopper can work for almost everything. Whether you are chopping veggies, making egg salad, tuna, mincing nuts, or tenderizing meat, this chopper is up to the task.
Plus, since this chopper is free from any foot container, you can handle larger portions of food in one go. To use the device, place the food items on a board or in a bowl and stab them using an up-and-down motion until they reach your desired texture.
Kwik-Kut Cutlery Serrated Food Chopper is made here in the U.S.A. with high-end stainless steel. Hence, the device is rustproof and is guaranteed to last you a lifetime. Plus, all you have to do for maintenance is wash the chopper by hand after each use with warm, soapy water.
Highlights
- Easy-to-use all-purpose chopper
- Saturday, durable, and rustproof
- No moving parts
- Easy to clean
- Made in the U.S.A.