The 7 Best Mortar and Pestle Sets of 2024

Best Overall

IKEA Adelsten Mortar and Pestle

$20 at Ikea

This modern-looking mortar and pestle set is inexpensive without sacrificing style and quality. Made from marble, the mortar’s bowl has the ridged interior you’ll need for maximizing success while minimizing effort, especially when it comes to grinding whole dried spices and crushing raw garlic. (Crushed garlic is an upgrade in almost any recipe that calls for minced garlic.) The mortar is even reversible. Flip it over and you’ll find a shallow basin for grinding half a teaspoon of freshly toasted cumin or pulverizing a little fresh ginger.

During testing, the small side of the mortar worked well for about half a teaspoon of peppercorns, cumin, or coriander; a larger portion tended to bounce out. As for the large side, an avocado for guacamole mostly filled the bowl when in two halves. It moved around a bit during the initial mashing, but after that, we could complete the job without having to stop and cut it into smaller chunks.

The pommel handle of the pestle in this set fit nicely into our hands and was easy to hold without getting tired. The marble set did a great job of getting basil and garlic creamy in the lightly ridged bowl, but could also crush whole spices to powder.

The modest size of this product makes it a workable addition to even smaller kitchens, where you can store it on your countertop or a kitchen shelf. The polished exterior is easy to clean, and we had no problems brushing the last finely ground spice powder from the mortar’s rougher surface and washing it with clean water when finished. As a bonus, this set doesn’t need seasoning before first use. We washed it with just clean water, scrubbing lightly with a brush to remove any surface grit, and let it air dry.

Capacity: 0.75 cups | Weight: 6 pounds | Material: Marble | Dimensions: 3.94 x 3.94 x 4.72 inches

Best Budget

Cole & Mason Mortar and Pestle

$28 at Amazon $30 at Wayfair $55 at Wayfair

This tidy, well-balanced mortar and pestle duo comes with a price tag that makes it a good choice for a first mortar and pestle set or one dedicated to smaller jobs. This set is attractive enough to be a permanent fixture on your counter or compact and light enough to stash away. It is especially efficient at grinding dried spices in small quantities. We also put garlic in it and found the blunt pestle head matched the bowl shape nicely, making it ideal for crushing. We could even smash one or two avocado halves for a personal batch of guacamole.

Unlike many other mortars and pestles, this set splits the difference between a polished and an unpolished surface. The bowl’s exterior and top of the mortar are smooth for easy cleaning, while the bowl’s interior and the pestle’s tip are coarser for better grinding. We like that the granite pestle is rough on the working end, which helps thoroughly pulverize tough peppercorns or coriander seeds without breaking a sweat, but smooth on the end we held as we rolled it over spices and herbs.

Capacity: 1 cup | Weight: 3.96 pounds | Material: Granite | Dimensions: 5.12 x 5.12 x 3.15 inches

Best for Small Kitchens

Chef'n Mortar and Pestle

$40 at Amazon $47 at Wayfair $45 at Williams-Sonoma

The exterior marble surface of this mortar and pestle seems smoother than granite versions that are more obviously ridged and roughly textured. Inside, however, the mortar is filled with tiny pits that we found could grind ingredients as efficiently as craggier surfaces, especially when paired with the coarse texture on the working end of the pestle. That texturing does mean that Chef’n recommends seasoning the set before you use it for the first time, a process that took us about an hour.

What sets this mortar and pestle apart is the separate silicone base. It feels steady and less likely to scratch a countertop than bases made from stone if they slide around. It also slightly softens the impact of pounding with the pestle, making it comfortable to use force. We like that we could set the rounded mortar bowl at different angles on the base for better contact in different grinding stages. This set’s relatively compact size and manageable weight (4 pounds) are ideal for small spaces, so it won’t need to be stashed away after every use. That also limits its capacity, so we recommend keeping portions small and adding basil in batches.

Capacity: 1-1.25 cups | Weight: 2.92 pounds | Material: Granite | Dimensions: 4.9 x 4.9 x 6.45 inches

Best for Dry Spices

ChefSofi Mortar and Pestle Set

$26 at Amazon View on 177milkstreet.com

This set is big and sturdy, as a mortar and pestle set should be, without being overwhelmingly bulky. The mortar has an attractive bowl with a 2-cup capacity. We like how the tall walls and rough-textured surface of the bowl let us easily grind whole spices to a fine powder without chasing them too much around the interior. (You’ll notice immediately that spices ground just before use are far more fragrant and flavorful than those bottles of pre-ground spices.) The set does weigh in at 7 pounds, making it heavy for its capacity.

Beyond dry spices, this versatile set is a decent size for small batches of common mortar and pestle tasks, like guacamole, salsa, curry paste, and pesto. The tool can quickly turn sharp raw garlic into a more mellow paste with a few efficient thumps. In all, it satisfies most home-cooking needs and can even move to the table for serving. It comes with a self-adhesive pad that you can stick to the bottom to keep from scratching your table or counter, and it was one of the few sets we tested that came with detailed seasoning instructions, making it a good choice for someone new to this tool. One downside: it's not the most comfortable pestle we've held. It's fine for smaller tasks, but if you've got a big batch of something, your hand might get a little sore.

In a previous version of this roundup, the ChefSofi Mortar and Pestle Set appeared as our best overall pick. After testing, we decided it was a better fit as the winner of our "best for dry spices" category, as grinding rice for seasoning took time and effort. Grinding garlic and spices after the rice went better and made a nice paste. For pesto, it didn’t take much to overload it with leaves so that they started to climb over the edges of the bowl, although they stayed inside fine once they started to break down. Finely ground spices did want to cling to the mortar’s rough granite surface but could be brushed out. A single avocado mostly filled the bowl, but it mashed easily without being chopped first.

Capacity: 2 cups | Weight: 7 pounds | Material: Granite | Dimensions: 6 x 6 x 6 inches

Best Design

Williams Sonoma Marble Mortar and Pestle

$100 at Williams-Sonoma

If you want to make a statement, this stunning white mortar with its handsome wooden pestle might be the one for you. The mortar is made in Italy from Carrara marble, so it should come as no surprise that this set is especially adept at making pesto the old-fashioned way. It’s pricey compared with the other models we tested, but it's still more affordable than many Italian marble imports on the market. The marble doesn’t need seasoning, but it is prone to stains, which Williams Sonoma recommends removing with lemon juice or vinegar.

The beechwood pestle is designed to create smooth emulsions of fragrant basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil. We also used it successfully to grind dry spices, but it took a little more brute strength to work the lighter wood pestle instead of something weightier, like granite. Still, if your goal is to have a beautiful mortar and pestle or make an authentic version of pesto superior to what you can achieve with a food processor, this is a kitchen essential.

Short, sharp pounds were most effective and less tiring when breaking down basil leaves. After the first couple of drizzles of oil, the vertical pounding motion would just get splashy, so circular grinding and stirring worked best to finish off the pesto.

Capacity: 2.5 cups | Weight: 7 pounds | Material: Marble | Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 7 inches

Best for Guacamole

IMUSA Molcajete Spice Grinder

$16 at Amazon $18 at Walmart View on Instacart.com

If your signature dish is guacamole, this granite molcajete should be on your wishlist. There’s no better vessel for making and serving the classic and crowd-pleasing Mexican dip. This 2-cup set will quickly and easily grind small batches of tomatoes, jalapeños, cilantro, and avocado. The pestle’s dumbbell shape fit our hand well and was comfortable when bashing and rolling, although the shallow bowl and short pestle meant her fingers could get messy with a large batch.

You’ll get good performance from this set for all the other things you want a mortar and pestle to do, but it’s especially wonderful for making any taco night feel like a trip to your favorite Mexican restaurant. We recommend mashing the avocado in the mortar, moving it to a small bowl to mix in other ingredients, and then proudly serving your guacamole in the molcajete.

Capacity: 2 cups | Weight: 5.3 pounds | Material: Granite | Dimensions: 3.9 x 6.7 x 6.7 inches

Best Large

Vasconia Granite Molcajete Mortar and Pestle

$31 at Amazon $31 at Walmart $38 at Wayfair

There are times when you want to whip up a party-size batch of salsa. Or, maybe you want to make enough curry paste to last you the rest of the year. For kitchen projects like these, a dainty mortar and pestle simply will not work. You’ll need a seriously sizable mortar and pestle, and this set will not let you down. Though we still liked this set for smaller jobs, since mortars make less mess if they’re only filled to about a third of their capacity when pounding and grinding.

This big boy warrants pride of place on your countertop. It’s so heavy (almost 9 pounds) that you won’t want to haul it in and out of the cabinet every time you need it. The bowl holds 4 cups, so you’ll have the room you need to pound out plenty of pesto. We found the wide surface quickly emulsified herbs and oil to a creamy texture. The molcajete’s sturdy sides will hold all your ingredients where you want them—in the bowl and not on the floor. The weight of the pestle means grinding up spices requires less elbow grease.

Capacity: 4 cups | Weight: 8.9 pounds | Material: Granite | Dimensions: 8.8 x 9.2 x 13 inches