5 Best Salad Choppers to Reduce Prep Time

Salads are great with every meal! However, as most salads require ingredients preparation you might feel put off serving it due to the extra work involved, but a salad chopper will save time and make chopping all the ingredients quick and fun. So, stop buying pre-cut foods, waste less and enjoy the freshest salads possible. 

Skilled cooks might choose a mandoline or a chef knife for slicing ingredients, but salad choppers require no skill and are available in a range of designs, from scissor style to more sophisticated models that equally cut and toss ingredients. Some brands even include a container to store and serve the salad without having to use extra dishes after chopping. A perfect tool for when working with kids, and a great way to teach them how to appreciate healthy food!

List of best salad choppers

• Most popular – Fullstar Vegetable Chopper – Spiralizer Vegetable Slicer – Onion Chopper with Container – 4 Blades
• Best mezzaluna – Amco Stainless Steel Mezzaluna with Silicone Handle
• Best with bowl – Mueller Salad Spinner with QuickChop Pull Chopper, Vegetable Washer with Bowl
• Best electric – Hamilton Beach Electric Vegetable Chopper & Mini Food Processor, 3-Cup
• Best scissors – Gravity Products Heavy Duty Kitchen Salad Scissors

Things to consider before buying a salad chopper

The blade 

Most salad choppers have non removable stainless steel blades. Always check reviews on the longevity of the blade as it is a necessity to have a sharp one that stands the test of time. 

Safety

As stated above, salad choppers are a great tool to make cooking fun and when working with kids. A mezzaluna or slicing wheel is perfect for use by experienced cooks and professionals, but our younger chefs and beginners will appreciate safer salad choppers which require only a pushing or scissor motion. 

The design

Some models will chop only salad and other leafy ingredients, but if you are a keen salad consumer and like a multitude of salad ingredients it is best to choose a chopper that can handle both soft and firmer products such as tomatoes, zucchini and carrots. There are also salad fruit cutters that are suitable for cutting fruit to add colour and taste to your salad.

Hand-powered or electric

Hand powered salad choppers and mezzalunas are mostly compact. Some have pull-cord mechanisms and other models work with the pressure of the hands.

Electric salad choppers or food choppers are usually more expensive but they are faster and will also cut through harder ingredients. 

Overview of best salad choppers

Most popular – Fullstar Vegetable Chopper – Spiralizer Vegetable Slicer – Onion Chopper with Container – 4 Blades

With more than 58,000 reviews on Amazon at the time of writing this review it is by far the most popular vegetable chopper. Personally, it reminded us about an old-fashioned fry/chip cutter which we loved to use as children. This model has 4 interchangeable blades to julienne, chop and slice vegetables. The built-in chop lid drops the cut foods directly into the 1.2L collection tray which also functions as a storage container. Be careful as the blades are razor sharp, but they can be snapped in and out with ease and guarantee uniform chopping. A non-slip base keeps the chopper in place when in use and all pieces can be disassembled and are dishwasher safe. We recommend this model for chopping larger amounts, for daily use or smaller amounts, it could be quite time consuming to assemble and disassemble.

Read also: Best pairing knives

Best mezzaluna – Amco Stainless Steel Mezzaluna with Silicone Handle

It might need a little practice but a mezzaluna is probably the easiest tool to chop and mince herbs, fruits and vegetables by only using a rocking motion, but be very careful as the stainless steel blade is super sharp. This model has a comfortable grip with a non-slip, silicone handle and is suitable for those with arthritis as it can chop through foods with less hand strength. This handheld mezzaluna is dishwasher safe making clean up quick and easy but as always with blades and knives, we recommend hand washing to keep sharpness at a maximum.

Read also: Best gifts for real foodies

Best with bowl – Mueller Salad Spinner with QuickChop Pull Chopper, Vegetable Washer with Bowl

A pull-cord mechanism is probably not what you thought of when buying a salad chopper, but this model is all-in-one, a chopper, a strainer and a 3 quarts (1kg) bowl. The strainer is great for rinsing the food, and the spinner function dries the produce perfectly without splashing the entire kitchen. The stainless steel blade attachment is used for chopping vegetables, and fruit. The bowl can be used to serve or to use as a storage container for leftovers as a matching lid closes the bowl hermetically. Remove the pull-cord piece before putting all parts in the dishwasher.

Read also: Best food storage containers

Best electric – Hamilton Beach Electric Vegetable Chopper & Mini Food Processor, 3-Cup

Hamilton Beach is known to produce trustworthy, easy to use appliances and this vegetable chopper is no different. It is easy to assemble and use with a simple press of the lid to activate the model. Releasing it will stop chopping. This model chops, purees and emulsifies ingredients with stainless steel blades although overfilling the bowl can make the products stick and will need to be pushed down during the process. The 350 watt motor is powerful but has only one speed, very fast, which is perfect to make purees. We recommend pulsing the softer ingredients. The bowl, lid and removable blades of this chopper are all dishwasher safe.

Read also: Best mini food processors

Salad chopper scissors

Best scissors – Gravity Products Heavy Duty Kitchen Salad Scissors

Personally, we are not the biggest fans of salad scissors, but it has to be said that they are always easy and comfortable to use, especially when they have a soft and non-slip grip handle like this model. The stainless steel blade is sharp and although it is advertised as rust free, do always dry it well after use. We recommend using a small soft brush to help with cleaning as food might get stuck in the scissors., then rinsing with soapy water.

Read also: Best kitchen shears and scissors

Highlights of the best salad choppers

It’s really amazing to see the wide selection of electric appliances and manual utensils that you can use to help make a salad.

Plus, the mini salad choppers are way more handy than the big food processing machines. They are also easier to store as they don’t need as much space. Cleaning is a breeze, too.

With all these benefits, there is no reason to go without a big healthy salad for lunch, dinner, or just a snack!