Looking for a Good Mandoline Slicer? 4 Reviews That'll Change How You Chop

I don't know about you, but I'm a terrible slicer. It's true! Slicing quickly and accurately using a knife is a skill that can be trained, but it's difficult and it requires a steady hand.

As an alternative, many chefs (both professional and amateur) turn to a slicer. There are many out there, but one of the absolute best is the mandoline slicer. In review after review, the mandoline comes out on top due to its simple effectiveness.

So what's the best mandoline slicer on the market today? That's a tough question to answer, because there are a few great options, each bringing something unique to the table. The best I can do is review a couple of the top contenders and let you decide.

This article will look at a handful of good mandoline kitchen slicers, reviewing each one for effectiveness, ease of use (and cleanup), and durability.

Honestly, this is a slicer you'll turn to all the time. It's a game changer!

Ready to get started?

If you're reading this, chances are you know what a mandoline is already. If so, feel free to skip ahead. On the chance you stumbled across this piece, here's a brief description.

A mandoline consists of two flat surfaces. One surface can be adjusted up and down, while the bottom surface is fixed. There is a fixed blade at one end, and you simply slide the food across the blade. The slices fall underneath.

It's a great product, because your slices can be uniform and very precise. You can do thick cuts or thin, and you can do fancy techniques such as julienning by using additional parallel blades.

If you ever wonder how a restaurant achieves such thinly sliced veggies, it's likely they're using a mandoline of some kind.

A good quality mandoline kitchen slicer has blades that stay sharp and can cut through even tough or rigid foods. Cheese, root vegetables and carrots are no problem. In addition, finer foods like eggs will slice perfectly too.

Electric mandoline slicers exist too, and (when professional quality) they're often a better choice for a busy kitchen or large quantities of food preparation. That said, a standard, manual machine is perfect for most households.

The Benriner mandoline is one of the most popular items in this field, and for good reason. It combines good craftsmanship with a very reasonable price point, and it allows you some real versatility in the kitchen.

The Benriner has a distinctive, powder blue body, and it's made out of sturdy resin plastic. It comes with a finger guard to prevent cuts, as well as three horizontal blades which let you cut everything from garnishes to thin french fries.

The standard flat blade is both sturdy and razor sharp, well capable of taking on root vegetables as well as more delicate ingredients. The blade is at a sharp angle, which seems to give you a cleaner, easier cut than models with a horizontal cutter. The blade can be removed and sharpened, if required.

All the pieces can be removed for easy cleaning. Don't put this guy in your dishwasher! Rinse and wash by hand, it's simple to do.

The safety guard: it's nice to have for tiny pieces of food, but realistically it's not very user friendly. You won't end up using it very often. Still, it's nice in a pinch.

If you're planning to slice larger items, like a whole apple for example, be sure to opt for the larger sized unit, it gives you more surface area.

It's a durable, easy to clean and easy to adjust unit. The Benriner is one of the best mandoline slicers period, even at this low price tag. Some professional kitchens even use it. Be sure to check it out.

If you are hunting for a slicer that can handle a wide range of tasks, and if you want to do your cuts with maximum safety, this is a great choice.

The body of this unit is sturdy and sizeable. It has a built-in stand to give it some height, and non-skid feet to keep it from moving around on you while you work.

The blade surface is all metal, and it's wide enough to handle larger foods (so you don't have to pre-slice as often.)

All the blades are integrated with this unit, so you don't have loose parts lying around. You switch between the different cuts and depths using the adjustable knobs and switches on the side.

This mandoline features one of the best finger guards around. It's a hinged unit which has pegs that secure the food in place. It's one of the few guards that's actually useful for daily chopping.

The super sharp blade is angled and cuts through foods of all types with relative ease. The whole thing folds flat for simple storage too. The ease of use for this item is off the charts.

Be sure to let the mandoline do the work, don't try to muscle it. Treat it well and you'll have a top notch, professional quality mandoline slicer for a good long time.

The V-Slicer, by Borner, is a top-seller, and it has a great reputation built on years of expertise. The product is as distinctive as its unique shape, and you'll fall in love with this deceptively simple food prep wizard.

The V-shape of the blades provides a laser-like cut for foods of all types. This blade is reversible, providing you with the option of cutting at either 1/4 inch or 1/16 inch slices. Two julienne inserts give you the option for cutting in strips as well, both thick and thin.

There is an included finger guard with is quite helpful. It has steel tines which dig into food for extra grip. It's nice to have a sizeable amount of plastic between your fingertips and that blade! The food pusher is ambidextrous, and it gives you a solid purchase to grip onto.

I appreciate that the whole unit comes apart easily. That makes cleanup really easy. All you need to do after use is rinse under water. When you're storing it away, all the pieces fits inside a plastic caddy to keep everything tidy, together and flat.

This is a good quality mandoline with great reviews. It cuts like a champ and packs up small. It's a top seller, and worth checking out.

Sometimes you don't need a product with bells and whistles. I appreciate that! If you just want a basic mandoline that can chop up veggies to perfection in a pinch, you might want to consider one of the smaller, handheld options such as this one from Kyocera.

Featuring an angled cutting blade which is ceramic coated, it can cut most foods with ease. Very little pressure is required, which surprised me. The product is small enough that you can easily place it on top of a bowl, pot or pan while slicing, saving you a step.

It does come with a small plastic finger protector. It's not perfect, but it's surprisingly useful and capable of gripping most foods nicely enough. Certainly worth using, if possible.

It's easy to clean and store. This is one of the best little mandoline slicers with reviews that are surprisingly positive considering its price tag. If your requirements aren't too complicated, this might just be your answer.

As you've seen, the best reviewed mandoline slicers tend to have the sharpest blades. Those blades will cut your fingers just as readily as a zucchini or a hunk of cheese. For that reason, it's always a good idea to use this device carefully.

As mentioned above, most units come with a safety guard of some sort, which creates a barrier between your digits and the blade as you chop. Often, however, that barrier turns out to be more of a nuisance than a help, and many people discard it.

My main advice: don't be a hero! It's better to sacrifice an inch of carrot than to spend the evening in the emergency ward. Slice slowly, carefully, and always be aware of your fingertips.

If you find yourself using your mandoline slicer often, or if you're a professional, you might want to pick up this handy companion piece: cut-proof gloves.

It's a little bit inconvenient to pop on gloves part way through your food prep, but a trip to the hospital will really cramp your style. If the food is small, slippery or finicky, it's worth it to wear hand protection like this. (Especially if you're averse to blood, as I am!)

Be sure to pick up a pair that's adequately protective, while not too bulky. Be sure you can machine wash it too, since they'll get mucky.