10 best gadgets to make prepping fruit and veg easy
We've picked 10 of the best gadgets to make prepping fruit and veg easy – from nifty apple and pineapple corers to a mini chopper, mandoline and more
Preparing fruit and veg neatly can be one of the most time-consuming elements of cooking. Happily, aside from just excellent knife skills, there are some clever gadgets on the market designed to save you time with these regular tasks. These gadgets mean it's even easier to reach your five-a-day by making it a doddle to prep your fruit and veg.
We've gathered some of the best gadgets to buy for easy veg prep, covering a range of fruit and veg from cherries and apples to salad, beans and tomatoes. Some products are one-use gadgets for tough-to-tackle fruit like watermelon or pineapple, whereas other gadgets – such as a powerful mini chopper or sturdy mandoline – can be used for a whole variety of everyday kitchen tasks. Even one-use gadgets may prove themselves incredibly useful if you have a glut of a certain veg to use every year or have specific fruit or veg you're regularly buying and prepping.
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Best kitchen gadgets for easy veg prep at a glance
- Best for cherries: OXO Good Grips Cherry & Olive Pitter, £15
- Best investment gadget: KitchenAid mini chopper, £69.95
- Best for apples: ProCook apple divider, £6.95
- Best for salad: OXO Good Grips little salad and herb spinner, £18.99
- Best for courgettes: Kilner spiralizer, £11.98
- Best for watermelon: TKMARS watermelon cutter, £10.99
- Best for slicing: Zyliss folding mandoline, £28.79
- Best for beans: Krisk bean stringer and slicer, £9.99
- Best for tomatoes: Fybida tomato sauce maker, £55
- Best for pineapples: Healthy Living pineapple corer, £8
Best kitchen gadgets for easy veg prep to try in 2023
OXO Good Grips cherry and olive pitter
- Available from John Lewis (£15), Amazon (£15)
Best for cherries
If you've got your hands on a glut of British cherries while they are in season, a cherry pitter is the tool you need to save you plenty of time when prepping them. This sturdy pitter (which can also be used for olives) removes the pit while leaving the fruit whole and has a handy splatter guard to prevent cherry juices splashing. Then you're ready to take your pick of cherry recipes – from a classic cherry pie to a batch of cherry jam.
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KitchenAid mini chopper
- Available from Harts of Stur (£69.95), Amazon (£89)
Best investment gadget
A top-quality mini chopper, such as this KitchenAid model rated 5/5 by our testers, can perform a highly versatile number of kitchen tasks when it comes to prepping veg. Whether whizzing cauliflower into cauliflower rice, quickly chopping onions, blitzing herbs into pesto or blending a homemade curry paste, it makes quick work of food prep.
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ProCook apple divider
- Available from ProCook (£6.95)
Best for apples
If you're always chopping up apples for kids or lunchtime snacks, you'll love this nifty gadget. Small enough to be simply stored in a drawer, the sharp blade evenly cores and slices an apple into eight wedges in one fluid motion.
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OXO Good Grips little salad and herb spinner
Best for salad
If your herb garden is overflowing or you've simply got a small batch of salad to wash, this sturdy salad spinner makes quick work of cleaning your produce. It's designed with herbs in mind but can take salad, too, and has a compact size so won't take up too much room to store. Check out our full review of the best salad spinners here.
Kilner spiralizer
- Available from Amazon (£11.95), Nisbets (£11.98)
Best for courgettes
Got too many courgettes in summer? Spiralizing is a great way of prepping them and is attractive for entertaining. This clever spiralizer jar from Kilner means it's easy to store extra, too. Check out our collection of spiralizer recipes for inspiration, including carrot bhajis, crispy potato nests or a Greek courgetti salad.
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TKMARS watermelon cutter
- Available from Amazon (£10.99)
Best for watermelon
This clever watermelon cutter aims to make prepping a whole watermelon a bit less intimidating. When pulled through a watermelon, the simple cutter slices the melon into cubes that can then be tipped out. Blend your fruit into our refreshing watermelon lemonade recipe or show off your neat cubes in this griddled halloumi & watermelon salad.
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Zyliss folding mandoline
- Available from Amazon (£28.79)
Best for slicing
For the most professional looking potato dauphinoise, vegetable gratin or even homemade crisps, a mandoline is the tool you need. A good mandoline can evenly and thinly slice veg, and this versatile Zyliss model has extra features, too, enabling you to julienne veg and vary your thickness from 0.5-6mm.
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Krisk bean stringer and slicer
- Available from Amazon (£9.99)
Best for beans
This nifty gadget saves you from lots of chopping. There is a sharp blade at one end that can be used for topping and tailing beans, then the destringer cutter in the middle makes both destringing and slicing beans easy, great for tougher runner beans. Use your sliced beans in a runner bean cacio e pepe or creamy Sri Lankan runner bean curry for simple veggie dinners.
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Fybida tomato sauce maker
- Available from Amazon (£55)
Best for tomatoes
Preserve a summer glut of tomatoes by turning them into passata that will see you through the winter months. If you've got tomato plants producing plenty of fruit, this is the ideal way to use up a glut. This tomato juicer purées your tomatoes in minutes – add whole fruit to the top, twist the handle and smooth passata comes out one side while the skins and pips come out a separate chute.
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Healthy Living pineapple corer
- Available from Dunelm (£8)
Best for pineapples
Prepping a pineapple has never been simpler with this tool that cores and slices it in one go. At under £10, it's a great bargain buy that saves you buying expensive tubs of chopped pineapple. Use your fruit in anything from a tangy pineapple fried rice to a retro pineapple upside down cake.
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