The Best Vegetable Peelers, Tested and Reviewed

If you’ve ever peeled a huge pile of carrots with a dull peeler, you understand the importance of finding the best vegetable peeler. A peeler can make meal prep easier for a home cook or it can make you vow to never consume another skinless potato. Sure, a peeler is among the most simple and inexpensive kitchen tools, but the right one should be thoughtfully designed nonetheless. It should feel comfortable in your hand, stay sharp for a good long time, and be effortless to use. Luckily, we tested a ton to find the very best peelers among thousands of options. Keep reading for our updated 2022 list of the best vegetable peelers to buy right now.

Our favorite Y-peeler is the 4" Swiss Peeler from Kuhn Rikon. This is the kitchen gadget that most Epi staff members have used in their homes for years, so we can attest to its ability to remain ultra-sharp. Kuhn Rikon peelers come in a set of three for $14, so one pack will last you a very long time. In our testing we found that this peeler maneuvered the tight knobby corners of ginger well and sliced cheese into thin, even strips. It has a carbon-steel blade and a small notch that functions as a potato eyer. The plastic handle is wider, shorter, and not as smooth as the Tovolo, our runner-up, but in terms of weight and price, this is the best peeler.

This Y-peeler is a favorite gadget for three reasons. First, its handle, which is larger than most and has a smooth, rounded surface, is easy to grip and extremely comfortable. The three-piece set comes with a serrated blade, a julienne blade, and a regular straight blade, all of which fit together like puzzle pieces and attach magnetically for easy storage. Each style glided smoothly along potatoes and apples and handled the tight corners of ginger and the tougher surfaces of cheese and squash with ease. These peelers cut thinly enough to avoid waste but can still take on squash skin and peel long threads of cheese.

The first thing to know about Kuhn Rikon’s Piranha peeler is that it has a serrated blade, which we found made for an easier glide along the vegetable. We didn’t mind the serrated edges on the vegetable, and for peeling a thin, fragile piece of produce like a tomato, you can’t beat a serrated edge. Unlike the Kuhn Rikon’s Y-peeler, this straight peeler has a long handle made of smooth, easy-to-grip plastic. It’s comfortable to hold and easy to maneuver around large surfaces of an apple and small corners of ginger. It peeled off long strands of cheddar cheese better than any of the straight peelers and dug through the tough skin of butternut squash with relative ease.

If you have a strict policy against serrated peelers, the Swissmar is the best straight peeler for you. It’s smooth and sharp and cuts extra close to the flesh, which is great for peeling thin-skinned produce like apples and carrots without wasting the fruit. If you peel a lot of thicker-skinned vegetables like butternut squash, take note that in our testing, these tasks required multiple strokes from this peeler. The Swissmar passed the cheese test, making long, thin peels of hard cheese with minimal breakage. The rotation of its blade is extra swift, making for fast, sharp cuts. Though it’s one of the less attractive models we tested, it works fast and efficiently. There’s a sharp potato eye remover on the tip as well, making it easy to rid every potato from blemishes.

We tested a combination of 15 Y and straight peelers on apples and potatoes. Then, for more of a challenge, we assessed how they performed on fresh ginger, butternut squash, and cheddar cheese. Cheese was a particular revealer of the best peelers, as many of the low-quality models weren't able peel off a whole strand or were prone to getting cheese stuck in their blades. We found that the efficacy of Y versus straight peelers didn't differ. The two designs involve slightly different hand and wrist movements as the cook is peeling, and the decision of which is best ultimately comes down to what motion is more comfortable for you.

Does food stick to the blade?

One of the greatest frustrations of vegetable peelers is that food sticks to and clogs the blade. According to America’s Test Kitchen, this is caused by a lack of space between the peeler’s blade and its bridge, the part that connects the handle to the top of the blade. We considered the amount of space between the two parts and its effect on the peeling process. We also considered whether the peelers were dishwasher-safe or required hand-washing, however it did not weight heavily as peelers are generally easy to clean.

How deeply does the blade cut?

We were looking for a peeler that made shallow cuts to prevent waste and make zesting easy. Performance in this area depends on the position of both blades in relation to each other and how well the peeler rotates. The function of the second blade is to guide the first one along—not to cut into the flesh of the vegetable.

Does the blade make smooth motions?

Here we looked at how easily the blade glided along the fruit or vegetable’s surface. This again depends on the second guiding blade. Top-performing peelers have a raised ridge along the front of the guiding blade. This means less of the guide’s surface comes in contact with the food, allowing the peeler to glide along more easily.

How comfortable is the peeler to use?

The peelers we considered the most comfortable were relatively lightweight, but more importantly, had easy-to-grip, ergonomic handles. The palm potato peeler, a style in which the blade is under a disk and the cook's finger is placed through a loop at the top, is capable of peeling, yes, but the design is awkward and feels strange in the hand.

We’re big fans of the Oxo Y-peelers. They have comfortable handles, are easy to clean, and come in a set with a straight, serrated, and julienne blade. Ultimately, the Kuhn Rikon won out over these also-great peelers because of what we know about its long-term ability to retain sharpness.

We recommend sticking with stainless steel blades for your peeler: The Kyocera Ceramic Peelers were some of the worst performers in all of our tests. They were unable to make long, swift cuts on hard cheeses or tougher vegetables, like butternut squash. We also found that ceramic blades go dull faster than their stainless steel counter parts. Ceramic can be a great material in the kitchen, but when it comes to peelers, no thanks.

The 4-in-1 Müeller Y-peeler boasted a corn stripper on the back which worked nicely. However, if you wanted to use the straight blade peeler instead of the serrated blade, you had to hold it upside down, which felt hazardous and awkward. As for the New Soda Big Peeler the wide blade was great for larger produce, but the long narrow handle was uncomfortable and awkward to hold compared to the wide grip of the Kuhn.

For our straight peeler test, we tried out the cousin to the Swissmar Double-Edge Peeler, the Swissmar Curve Peeler. It was so swift and non-stick in cutting and releasing strips of vegetable peel that it lacked control, flinging the peels across the kitchen and onto the floor. The Spring Chef and Zulay were nearly identical both in appearance and performance. They had a nice sharp blade that made quick work of potatoes and carrots. Their performance for these easier-to-peel veggies was on par with the winners, however, the blade was extremely sticky when tested on the block of cheddar.

It turns out there are two standard styles of peeler for a reason, and we rejected the strangely shaped, gimmicky ones early on in our testing. We tried two different Chef'n Palm Peelers, the square shape and the teardrop shape, but both felt flimsy and awkward. Plus, peels kept getting caught in the space between the blade and the palm piece. The additional blade guard for the latter peeler kept falling off, so it didn't feel like a bonus.

The Kuhn Rikon 4-Inch Swiss Peeler is the best vegetable peeler. If you prefer a straight peeler over a y-shaped one, the Kuhn Rikon Piranha peeler glides easily across a variety of surfaces and is comfortable to hold. The Tovolo Magnetic Tri-Peeler set and the Swissmar Double-Edge straight peeler are also great runner-up choices.