The 12 Best Healthy Kitchen Gadgets, According to a Dietitian

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There is nothing like a good kitchen gadget to spice up your cooking experience and to make at-home meal prepping easier. Investing in high-quality, multi-function equipment can help both novice and advanced home chefs prepare delicious and nutritious meals with ease and efficiency.

From small gadgets like meal prep containers to bigger ticket items like pressure cookers and blenders, having a robust toolbox of kitchen tools is the key to cooking more at home, even on a busy schedule.

Here are the best kitchen gadgets on the market.

Our Top Picks

Best Blender:

Vitamix Explorian Blender at Amazon

From various speeds to its self-cleaning feature, this pick offers more than your average blender, making it worth the price.

Best Blender Runner-Up:

Ninja Nutri Blender with Auto-iQ at Amazon

No need to worry about pre-slicing or crushing fruits or veggies, Ninja's blades promise to liquify whole ingredients in seconds.

Best Pressure Cooker:

Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Pressure Cooker at Amazon

Whether you're new or experienced in the kitchen, this all-in-one pressure cooker features functions of seven handy appliances.

Best Food Processor:

Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus Food Processor at Amazon

Whether you have limited counter space or just not a lot of time, you'll find food prep simplified with this two-setting processor.

Best Salad Spinner:

Oxo Good Grips Salad Spinner at Amazon

If you have your own garden of greens or prefer buying them fresh at the market, OXO's salad spinner shortens the drying process.

Best for Salad Dressing:

OXO Good Grips Salad Dressing Shaker at Amazon

For when you're trying your hand at homemade salad dressing, this shaker ensures you get the measurements right.

Best Toaster Oven:

Cuisinart TOA-60 Convection Toaster Oven at Amazon

Cook all of your fried favorites using less oil with Cuisinart's seven-function, stainless steel air fryer.

Best Frypan:

GreenPan 12" Ceramic Non-Stick Frypan at Amazon

Ideal for daily use and for an endless variety of dishes, GreenPan's option is non-stick, scratch-resistant, and oven-safe.

Best for Produce Storage:

Food Huggers Fruit and Veggie Huggers at Amazon

Storage of leftover food gets an upgrade with these fruit and veggie huggers that eliminate the need for disposable plastic wrap.

Best for Snack Storage:

Stasher Reusable Silicone Bag at Amazon

An eco-friendly, no-waste choice, Stasher's reusable, air-tight bag replaces the need to buy disposable plastic bags.

Vitamix blenders might just be considered the queen of home blenders. These machines are not your average, make-a-margarita-twice-a-year blender. These blenders are built for daily use and they certainly stand up to the test. A multi-award winning company, Vitamix has been manufacturing high-quality blenders for 70 years.

Although these machines are pricey, Vitamix blenders are built to last and come with full warranties to give you the best value for your money. Their reconditioned models also offer slight discounts in price while maintaining quality and performance.

There are endless recipes that can be made with a Vitamix, including smoothies, soups, salsas, sauces, doughs, baby food, and non-dairy milk! After preparing your recipes, you can pop the pitcher in the dishwasher for no-fuss clean-up.

4.6

More affordable but still powerful, the Nutri Ninja Pro Blender is an excellent option for shoppers on a budget or for those with less countertop or storage space. This blender comes with two, BPA-free, dishwasher-safe cups for blending and sipping on the go—an 18-ounce cup and a 24-ounce cup.

A smart choice for consumers that live alone or with one other person, this machine makes morning smoothies or juices easier than ever. The 1000-watt motor has the power to crush through whole fruits, vegetables, and ice in seconds. In addition to smoothies and juices, shoppers can make delicious nut milk, sauces, dips, and even dough!

Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Pressure Cooker

4.8

Instant Pots are taking over kitchens around the country, and for good reason. These multi-function electric pressure cookers make cooking a variety of dishes fast and easy, and they are a great pick for novice and experienced cooks. The Instant Pot Duo multi-cooker combines seven appliances in one: a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute pan, yogurt maker, and warmer. Shoppers can choose from 3-, 6-, and 8-quart options, depending on household size and storage space.

For some, an electric pressure cooker might seem intimidating, but the 10-plus built-in safety features—including overheat protection, safety lock, and more—ensure safe pressure cooking. Clean up is easy as the stainless steel inner pot, lid, sealing ring, and steam rack are all dishwasher safe. Customers can make chilis, stews, soups, oatmeals, and yogurt, and even cook whole chickens with ease and efficiency.

Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep Plus Food Processor Brushed Chrome and Nickel

Unless you have the knife skills of a top chef, chances are chopping vegetables can be a drag or intimidating. The Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor makes food prep easy. Customers can use this gadget to chop herbs, grind hard cheese, emulsify salad dressing, puree baby food, and process vegetables for the base of a soup, or create tasty salsas and dips in a dishwasher-safe, 24-ounce work bowl.

The mini-processor takes up minimum counter space and stores neatly on the countertop or in a cabinet. Love almond butter but hate the high price tags? One of our favorite things to use a food processor for is fresh, delicious nut butter at a fraction of the price.

Buying bunches of fresh lettuce and greens at the supermarket or farmer’s market is more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly than buying pre-washed greens, but washing and drying them on your own can be a drag. Enter the OXO Salad Spinner, a must-have for salad lovers, and for those who are looking to boost their homemade salad skills.

Dry salad greens with a simple press of the soft, non-slip knob. The non-slip base keeps the bowl steady on the countertop, and the updated built-in brake button stops the Salad Spinner for unloading. Great for those with minimal storage space, the basket doubles as a colander, and the bowl can be used for serving and storage. All parts are top-rack dishwasher safe and BPA-free.

There are several reasons why someone might want to make their own salad dressing. Store-bought salad dressings and sauces can sometimes contain ingredients that you don’t care for or that you’d like to have control over. Or, they might skip ingredients that you really love and want in your dressing. Thanks to the OXO Salad Dressing Shaker, you may never spend money on a pre-made dressing again. Customers can add a range of ingredients, like oil, vinegar, mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, onions and spices.

Cup, milliliter, and ounce markings are printed on the sides for the easy measurement of ingredients, regardless of whether you are a beginner following a recipe or a pro writing down your own recipe for others to follow.

Once ingredients are added, the top screws tight and all you have to do is shake to quickly mix dressings with no spills. The Shaker is ideal for serving and it can then be used to store leftover dressing and sauce in the fridge. Made from Triton, the Shaker is dishwasher-safe, highly durable, BPA-free, and holds up to 1.5 cups of dressing.

An air fryer, toaster, and convection oven all-in-one? Sign us up! This product is a bit large and on the pricier side, but it covers so many bases for every level of home chef and simplifies recreating your favorite restaurant meals.

Air frying, which uses powerful ultra-hot air, allows you to prepare delicious fried favorites—from wings to fritters to fries to shrimp—at home using less oil. And since toaster ovens stay on the countertop, this fryer doesn’t have to move back and forth, from cupboard to counter.

The possibilities are endless when you have a quality, non-stick frypan in your kitchen. Green Pan makes affordable, non-toxic cookware using a ceramic non-stick coating called Thermolon, which does not require the use of toxic chemicals like PFOA or PFAS during the production process.

The Thermolon ceramic non-stick surface allows customers to use less oil or butter while still achieving excellent cooking results. Food releases quickly and easily—plus, cleanup is a breeze. Oven and broiler safe up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit you can whip up tasty shakshuka and perfectly cooked meats.

You know those times when you use half of an onion for a salad or recipe and then have to save it, which usually means discarding single-use products like tinfoil or plastic wrap? Food Huggers makes this type of waste and hassle obsolete. Each set of Food Huggers comes with five “lids” that fit right over fruit or veggies and ensures an air-tight seal to keep foods fresh while eliminating unnecessary waste.

These genius products are BPA- and plastic-free as well as dishwasher-safe.

Food storage is a must-have in any kitchen, and green, sustainable storage options like this one are all the rage (for good reason). If establishing a green kitchen is new for you, investing in Stasher Bags is a great place to start. Stasher bags are made from platinum silicone, which does not degrade over time. From the freezer to the microwave, to the oven and dishwasher, Stasher bags are made to last, each one keeping thousands of single-use plastics out of our oceans and landfills.

These bags are completely free of BPA, BPS, lead, latex, and phthalates and come in a variety of sizes, from half-gallon to snack size. Use the bags to freeze and store washed fruits and vegetables for healthy snack time anytime and on-the-go.

What Our Editors Say

"I use these bags to store everything from vitamins, my toothbrush and toothpaste, to snacks and pre-made meals. I appreciate that they’re freezer safe—making it helpful for meal prep—and its varied sizes make it easy to keep belongings organized and separated when traveling. I can tell the quality and durability from the bags’ thickness, seals, and edges. My only note is that I wish they could be turned inside out for quicker drying." — Tori Zhou, Associate Health Commerce Editor

Victorinox 8 Inch Fibrox Pro Chef’s Knife 40520, 47520, 45520 Frustration Free Packaging

4.8

You do not need to be a professional chef in order to benefit from a chef’s knife. A modern chef's knife is a multi-purpose knife designed to perform well at many differing kitchen tasks, rather than excelling at any one in particular. It can be used for mincing, slicing, and chopping vegetables, slicing meat, and disjointing large cuts. This one is an affordable, highly rated knife that cuts with ease and efficiency.

Unlike many other knives, this item is technically dishwasher-safe. However, remember that placing knives in the dishwasher may cause them to lose their sharpness quicker.

Zesters might just be one of the most underrated kitchen gadgets. These small but mighty tools are excellent for breathing life into leftovers, brightening basic recipes, or adding oomph to your favorite weeknight meals.

Use the zester grater for fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and herbs such as lemons, limes, parmesan, ginger, coconut, orange, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, and more. Rinse the grater zester under running water to clean immediately, or pop it in the dishwasher for a deeper clean.

Why Trust Verywell Fit?

The items listed in this roundup are items that Sydney Greene, MS, RDN, as a registered dietitian and avid home cook, has in her own kitchen, as well as items that she would recommend to her clients, friends, and family. Each gadget has been vetted for quality, efficiency, and durability. She has also read through reviews and product comparisons to choose items that stood out for price and likability.

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