Foods should be sliced evenly. This is an art that chefs learn in school and master over time. The majority of home cooks cannot handle a knife as well as professional chefs, so their cuts are likely to be less consistent.
In addition to making the food look more presentable, uniform cuts ensure the food cooks evenly, so some bits won’t be soft while other bits are still crunchy. Making perfectly perfect cuts with a mandoline is much easier than using a knife, and it’s particularly useful for cutting super-thin potato chips.
With the aim of helping you decide which mandoline is best for your kitchen endeavors, we evaluated each based on design, ease of use, convenience, size, cleaning, and overall value.
The mandolines were tested on a variety of fruits and vegetables, from tomatoes, radishes, potatoes, carrots, zucchinis, and bell peppers, to see how well they could slice straight, julienne, crinkle-cut, and wavy, to ensure they were the best.
| Products | Price |
|---|---|
| Mueller Multi Blade Adjustable Mandoline Slicer | |
| Dash Safe Slice Mandoline Slicer | |
| Fullstar All-in-1 Mandoline Slicer | |
| OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer | |
| Swissmar Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline |
1. Mueller Multi Blade Adjustable Mandoline Slicer
This mandoline stands out from the competition with five cutting blades. Two graters, two shredders, a wavy slicer, and a regular slicer are available as options. To help you distinguish the blade from the body, the attachments are gray and the body is white.
In addition to the finger hole on the body, the blades have a groove designed to prevent injury when they are removed.
There is a bit of a knob on the hand protector, but it will protect your fingers if you use it. Many reviewers have praised its ease of use and cleanliness. The blades also come with a storage case.
2. Dash Safe Slice Mandoline Slicer
In contrast to most mandolines, this model by Dash allows you to pull food through the blade. Using a spring-loaded handle, it lowers the blade into the food, holding whatever you’re cutting in a chute to feed it into the path of the blade.
With this design, your hands are never in any way close to the sharp edges of the blade, so you don’t need to wear gloves or a handguard to maintain safety.
Using this mandoline is a lot of fun. Because of the size of the food chute, you must pre-cut certain foods in order to fit them into the feeder. Due to its versatility, it can prepare a wide range of foods including salads, slaws, soups, and more.
Both a julienne knob and matchstick knob engage those blades, which makes them versatile. A catch tray sits directly under the cutting zone, but every time we sliced very watery items, like tomatoes, the juices leaked beyond it.
It is easy to assemble this mandoline, but there are quite a few parts that must be assembled according to the manual, so read carefully. Additionally, the blades are fixed, so the blades can only make one type of cut, and they cannot be replaced.
You can easily clean it with the small brush that’s included, but you also can put it in the dishwasher. When not in use, the legs can be folded down for convenient storage in a drawer or on a shelf.
3. Fullstar All-in-1 Mandoline Slicer
This tool is not just a mandoline; it can also chop, grate, spiralize, and store, making it a perfect tool for vegetable lovers. Five interchangeable blades make this model easy to use, as does a dial to adjust the thickness of the cut.
In addition to cutting julienne strips and ribbon slices, the standalone spiralizer features two sizes of blades. Julienning or straight cutting along with grating are all possible with the mandoline.
All vegetable types were easily cut through with the slicing blade and the cuts were even and quick. This set includes a cut-resistant glove that can be used to cover larger items as well.
Using the handguard was not problematic for medium-size to smaller vegetables, but it might feel awkward and unnecessary for larger, bulkier items. When it comes to smaller veggies, such as radishes and small potatoes, the handguard works great, but it leaves about 1/4-inch untouched at the end.
In the middle of the base sits a catch tray that keeps the mandoline and dicers stable while cutting. The catch tray can be removed and used to store foods that have been prepared in advance. For easy cleaning, all the parts are top-rack dishwasher safe after cutting.
4. OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer
The safety features of this Oxo pick make it stand out. This V-shaped blade allows you to slice quickly without the risk of a knick, and the runway texture keeps food from sticking (which is a major safety hazard).
The mandoline features a handguard for secure food holding and finger protection and rubberized feet for stability on your countertop.
The color-coded dial lets you select four-slice thicknesses (1.5 mm, 3 mm, 4.5 mm, and 6 mm), and you can produce straight crinkle, and julienne cuts with this slicer.
5. Swissmar Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline
Mandolines are versatile instruments that offer the same efficiency and versatility as French mandolins. Also, the blades have a V shape, which tends to snag less than a single blade. There are three blades with this unit, so you can slice and shred thick and thin food, as well as make julienne cuts.
In addition to the grips on the feet, the small foot on the opposing end of the platform angles the platform a little for ease of use. A food guard and a caddy for storing it are also included.
Things to Consider Before Buying Mandoline Slicer
Blade Type
Mandolines are best known for their blades, of course. Three types of mandolins have three blades: French, Japanese, and V-shaped (described below under Types of Mandolins). These three varieties offer different capabilities.
Which blade type to choose depends on the kinds of foods you’ll be cutting, how often you’ll use the tool, and if you’ll be using specialty blade shapes.
It is certainly not necessary to have extra blades, but it can be a fun way to get more creative with your fruit and vegetable prep. A mandoline with an easily replaceable blade is always a plus: You won’t need to replace the entire mandoline when the blade becomes dull.
The thickness of some mandolines may be fixed while the thickness of others may be adjustable. You should look for a model that’s adjustable if you want control over the thickness.
Kickstand vs. Handheld
You may want to consider whether the mandoline has a kickstand or if it is handheld. Personal preferences usually dictate which option to choose. While some people hold the mandoline with the non-dominant hand, others make use of a stand to stabilize the mandoline.
Because you can determine the angle at which you want to slice when using a handheld mandoline, they generally offer more control. You don’t have to transfer the sliced product from the cutting board to the bowl as you can position it directly over the bowl.
French mandolines often have a kickstand model, which allows you to slice with your non-dominant hand. This design feature is believed to be safer by many, but ultimately it comes down to your own assessment.
Many cooks believe that the rubber stand that secures the kickstand can be defective, so a handheld model is more controllable.
Safety
A number of safety features are built into this tool. There are a number of different food holders or handguards you can attach to mandolines, which prevent them from sliding as you slice.
Additionally, your fingers can remain inches from the cutting edge. There are three main types of handguards: plastic, rubber, and metal. The plastic ones seem to be the most convenient, as the metal ones can be difficult to handle.
You can always use a kitchen towel or mesh, protective glove in place of a handguard if your mandoline doesn’t come with one.
However you slice it, it is worth repeating that the mandoline blade is extremely sharp. No matter how comfortable you are with it, you should always take extra precautions.
Size
It is usually easier to store and handle wider and smaller models of a mandoline due to their ease of handling. An increase in the size of a mandoline can make it more difficult to navigate, thereby increasing the possibility of an accident.
If you have a large vegetable, you will need to cut it down if your blade is wide enough. If you’re purchasing a mandoline that comes with interchangeable blades, you’ll need a place where it won’t get knocked around when you store it.
Price
What’s the difference between a mandoline costing $15 and $300? The blades of the cheaper models will likely wear out faster. Mandolines made of stainless steel and much larger in size are the most expensive.
Consider starting with something less expensive so you can see if you enjoy it and if you actually use it. It would be a great idea to invest in something fancier and more durable if this is a tool you’ll use frequently in your kitchen.
A more expensive mandoline typically comes with more blade capability, so if you plan on cutting waffles or juliennes, a more expensive machine may be worth it.
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