If you love food and cooking but want to make your busy life easier, you might want to look to the pros. We asked a chef and food blogger to tell us about the best under-the-radar kitchen gadgets. From hand blenders and silicone utensil sets to food choppers and wine storage systems, there's plenty you might not have thought about.
We were lucky enough to get the inside scoop from Becca Du, a food blogger and recipe developer at Cooking Therapy, who also works for BestReviews as a product manager. Her recipes draw inspiration from her heritage as a Chinese/Vietnamese American who grew up in Los Angeles. She features Chinese and Vietnamese dishes she learned from her mom and grandma, as well as foods from various other cuisines, inspired by the rich food culture of LA and San Francisco. She tests her recipes extensively, so of course she appreciates these kitchen gadgets that make cooking and cleanup easier.
In this article: Turelar Immersion Blender, Fullstar All-in-1 Vegetable Chopper and Cook with Color Mini Silicone Utensil Set
Du recommends this immersion blender "for sauces, soups and ice cream." She says that it's not only underrated but highly affordable. She appreciates the easy cleanup and notes that it's "great for making large quantities of sauces and soups." She likes that you "don't need to put everything into a blender in batches, you can just blend it in the pot." She uses it for making her ube ice cream recipe.
Fullstar All-in-1 Vegetable Chopper
What Du loves about this gadget is that it "makes chopping fruits and vegetables a lot easier." And, it's not just for chopping veggies. It also acts as a mandoline slicer and grater. The fact that there's "no crying from onions" is undoubtedly a big draw too. Du also appreciates that it makes cleanup easier. Since it quickly and easily juliennes veggies, it's great for Du's Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon.
Cook with Color Mini Silicone Utensil Set
You might be wondering why you'd want mini utensils, but Du tells us she uses them "more than my regular-sized whisks and spatulas." She says the set "helps me whisk sauces and scoop stuff from [my] food processor and stand mixer." The set includes a whisk, tongs, a regular baking spatula, a slotted spatula and a "spoonula."
Chefman Electric Smokeless Indoor Grill
Love grilling but don't have the space to store an outdoor grill or a yard to use one in? This indoor grill is the answer. Du appreciates that it's easy to clean. She also notes that it "doesn't set off the smoke alarm." It's much less time-consuming than setting up and using an outdoor grill. Du likes to use it for her bun thit nuong recipe.
Brightroom Stackable Slide-Out Drawer
Organizing your kitchen properly can make cooking feel less stressful. You won't have to spend as much time searching for ingredients and putting stuff away afterward can be simpler. Du likes these stackable slide-out drawers for extra storage. "My stuff below the kitchen sink looked like a disaster before I got these," she says.
Hiware Unbleached Parchment Paper Sheets
Parchment paper is essential for stopping certain foods from sticking to baking sheets or browning too quickly, but it can be annoying to cut it to size. "I am too lazy to cut parchment paper anymore, so I just use these," remarks Du. And we don't blame her. You can buy them in 9-inch by 13-inch and 12-inch by 16-inch versions. Du uses them while making her brown butter miso chocolate chip cookies.
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Machine
If you want to make homemade ice cream, this will save you loads of time compared to churning it by hand. Du says it's "not that under the radar, but I just love this thing so much and have had it for years." She likes that "you can use the flavors you want and how much sugar you add" and that "it's not that expensive." It's what Du uses to make her honey rosemary ice cream.
Coravin Timeless Three Plus Wine Preservation System
Storing open bottles of wine can be a pain, but this gadget makes it simpler and makes any wine that's left last far longer. "This is good for people who don't wanna commit to an entire bottle of wine," Du tells us. "You can have just one glass and this keeps it fresh for the next time."
Comfy Package Plastic Food Storage Container
Having a range of food storage containers makes it easier to keep leftovers fresh, plus you can use them to hold all kinds of ingredients, from dried goods to chopped veggies. "This might be very chef-y but I prefer these to normal storage containers," says Du. "I like that I can label them with tape and I can stack them."
Prices listed reflect time and date of publication and are subject to change.
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