Best Mandoline Slicers (2023) Tested and Reviewed

By Kendra Vaculin, Wilder Davies, and Alaina Chou

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Even the best mandoline slicer can inspire complicated feelings. Mandolines can be scary—nothing keeps you on your toes like the ever-present threat of slicing the ends off your fingers—but the tradeoff is their unparalleled speed and consistency. For some dishes they’re indispensable: think ethereal shaved salads. They make light work of shredding cabbage for a huge batch of coleslaw and ensure evenly thin slices of potato for a family-style potato gratin. If you’re interested in tackling projects that require a thinner cut than even your best chef's knife can manage, a mandoline is the best kitchen gadget for the job. But which is the best mandoline slicer for a beginner—or someone looking to take their slicing game from good to great?

Read on for our mandoline top picks (for both beginners and experienced home cooks); for the specifics of how we tested, what to look for in a mandoline slicer, and an overview of the rest of the field, scroll to the bottom of the page.

The best mandoline slicer for beginners: Kyocera Soft Grip Ceramic Mandoline SlicerThe best mandoline slicer for experienced cooks: Benriner No. 64 Japanese MandolineHow we testedWhat we looked forOther mandolines we testedA note on cut-resistant glovesThe takeaway

The beauties of the Kyocera are many. First, there is the function and ease of use: It works exactly as you think it should. Swipe the vegetable down the supersharp ceramic blade (that, unlike steel, is rustproof) and watch the perfect cuts accumulate at lightning speed. A spinning bar on the back of the tool adjusts the thickness of your cut: Each side of the bar offers a different width (0.5 mm, 1.3 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm) and is numbered. At seven ounces, it's the lightest of the bunch (the 9.3-ounce Zyliss is the next lightest, while the heaviest is the 3.4-pound Oxo Good Grips Chef's Slicer). And, thanks to a soft grip, ergonomic handle it's easy to wield over a bowl, a cutting board, or a composed dish. There are no extra blades or Transformer-like moving parts, which can sometimes get in the way. The only extra piece included is a plastic safety guard, which has spikes long enough to firmly grip most fruits and vegetables. According to a few Kyocera owners we know who use it regularly, the slicing blade stays sharp for years. The bottom line? This is an uncomplicated tool that elegantly delivers what you want out of a mandoline and takes the guesswork out of a potentially intimidating gadget.

The only downside to the Kyocera is what also makes it great: its simplicity. Unlike some other mandolines we tested, this one is not fully customizable. There are four preset thicknesses, and the blade can only make straight cuts (no julienne blade). That said, we still think it's the best choice..

The no-frills Benriner No. 64 mandoline (so named because it's 64 mm wide) is a favorite amongst professional chefs, and we were excited to put it to the test. Like the Kyocera, it's simple and supersharp out of the box with a straight blade that executes even slices every time at every width. Cutting thicker slices of starchy sweet potatoes with this tool does require a bit of muscle, but if you’re taking all the right safety precautions (the produce guard that comes in the box works well), it's not uncomfortable to do.

A few of the Benriner No. 64's features make it a natural top pick. First, its grippy rubber base meant we could lean it against any surface without fear of slipping, providing just the right angle for smooth use. Next, the large adjustment knob on the back of the tool was one of the most precise and simple methods for selecting slice thickness of any mandoline we tried. The three interchangeable toothed blades are a cinch to insert by loosening and tightening the bolts on either side of the tool, and you can easily order replacement blades should they ever go dull. Once inserted, the blades allow you to cut very skinny strips with ease; we particularly liked the julienne thickness, though there is one thinner and one wider option available as well. Finally, unlike the Kyocera, the Benriner mandoline can be completely disassembled, which makes it the easiest to clean of any model we tried by far. There's a reason this tool is beloved by chefs everywhere. If you're interested in something beyond straight slices (maybe you’d like to be more precise about the thickness of your cuts, or you want to try out different blades), there is no better mandoline than the Benriner No. 64.

Though this model is beloved by professional chefs, you don't need to be one to enjoy it. However, the fully customizable thickness settings require more attention on the part of the user, as do the interchangeable blades. Unlike some other models we tested, the blades must be screwed in rather than snapped into place—a detail that makes them extra secure, but a bit more time consuming to install. We also found the Benriner's handle to be less comfortable to grip than that of the Kyocera.

To test the mettle (and the metal) of the mandolines, we used produce we thought was a common use case for a mandoline: fennel and cucumber for shaved vegetable salads, cabbage for slaw, apples for tarts. We also made sure we tested produce that represented a range of sizes and textures—we looked for a mandoline that could handle both petite, crispy radishes and big, starchy sweet potatoes with ease. We sliced these five vegetables and one fruit on all 14 mandolines, first using the straight blade and testing adjustable blade thickness settings, then testing any additional blades that created specialty cuts. Depending on the mandoline slicer, that could mean fine bird's nest julienne cuts, matchsticks, and french fry cuts as well as ripples and waffle cuts.

All of the models we tested came with a guard and we tested them to gauge the effectiveness, but we also tried the mandolines without the guards. Thankfully, no digits were harmed in the making of this story, but we also have a pair of NoCry Cut-Resistant Gloves to thank for that.

Any way you slice it, a mandoline has pretty much one job. As such, set up should be simple and it should be obvious how you’re intended to use it. In addition to seeing if it's intuitive to use, we took into account whether the instructions were easy to understand. Some models, like the Kyocera and the Benriner, had brief instructions that fit on the back of the box. Others, such as the Oxo V-Blade, included a manual that was 17 pages long.

We also evaluated how easy it was to operate the adjustable blade, change thickness settings on the slicer, and the difficulty level of swapping blades for models that offered alternative cuts. We were looking for blades that were easy to remove and install without requiring too much contact, but that stayed in place once fixed into position.

At its most basic, a mandoline needs to cut. We evaluated how easily each model sliced while testing the full range of thicknesses and specialty cuts. Some mandolines faltered when the setting was placed at the thicker end of the spectrum. Others showed signs of strain on sweet potatoes, which have more resistance than less starchy vegetables like cabbage and radishes. We also evaluated the quality and consistency of the cuts. Were they even? Were they straight? Sharpness of the blade is important too: Just like with a chef's knife, a sharp blade is safer than a dull one as the latter might lead to unnecessary struggle and potential injury.

In general, we found that mandolines that had the ability to make thicker cuts than our winners (which both max out at 3 mm) struggled to do so when faced with the sweet potato test—if you’re looking to cut starchy, hardy vegetables into slices nearing a half inch, you’ll have an easier time using a sharp chef's knife than one of these tools.

All of the models we tested came with hand guards, which, in theory, can be used to grip the fruits and vegetables while slicing to ensure that your hands never get close to the blade. We evaluated how secure these guards were and whether or not they actually did what they promised. In some instances, they enabled us to safely hold a small radish and shave it down to the tiniest nub. In others, the grips were wobbly and unstable or created a barrier between us and the task, making it feel counterproductive and potentially dangerous.

Most high-quality mandolines must be hand-washed. We evaluated how safe (and easy) it was to clean out gunked-up blades and attachments, and, in some instances, scrub pigment off of plastic that was tinted by fruits and vegetables. If a product was labeled as dishwasher-safe, we treated it as such to see how well it held up.

We tested mandolines that range in price from $14 to $85. Part of the testing was to determine whether the extra bells and whistles were worth the cost or if a more humbly priced mandoline could get the job done.

In our first round of testing, we determined that the Zyliss 2-in-1 Handheld Slicer was a good option for a home cook who wants to feel extra safe. Aside from being mercifully uncomplicated to use, the Zyliss has a sturdy guard and a lock that makes it feel more secure than other models. It was easy to adjust the straight blade with the nudge of a lever and the Zyliss created even slices for all of the produce. It also had a very effective julienne setting, which required no manual changing of blades. The push of a button on the side activates the sharp teeth that cut sweet potato fries better and faster than any other model we tried. The big strike against the Zyliss was its finely serrated blade, which created lightly textured slices when we were seeking smooth, silky cuts.

The Oxo V-Blade Mandoline has, as the name suggests, a V-shaped stainless-steel blade with a plastic body. This model opens up like a Transformer to reveal three more blades, which can make crinkle cuts, julienne strips, and french fries. Once installed, the blades were a mixed bag: Julienned sweet potato slices were nicked and inconsistent, but the crinkle setting cranked out decent ripples. There are features to recommend—the guard on the V-Blade is similar in concept to the Zyliss and works even better—but the heft and number of bells and whistles, some that deliver and some that don't, didn't feel worth it.

We tested three additional Benriner models. The basic vegetable slicer, the extra-wide Super Slicer No. 95, and the Classic slicer all follow the same design principles as the No. 64, with three interchangeable toothed blades, a ribbed surface, and a wide, comfortable handle. But the vegetable slicer and classic slicer don't have a rubber grip on the base, and in lieu of a large knob on the back to adjust slice thickness, they feature a small, imprecise bolt. The Super Slicer is just a bigger (and more expensive) version of the No. 64, which makes it a bit more cumbersome and difficult to store.

Like the Oxo V-Blade, the Swissmar Börner V-Power Mandoline is a many-piece contraption. It's a highly rated product by users online, but we found it a bit awkward and unwieldy. We felt we had to be extra careful when changing out the V-shaped blades (julienne blades and a french fry cut are available), and it wasn't easy to adjust the thickness of each slice. That said, the Swissmar clicks together nicely into a compact unit for upright storage, and it yielded some of the wispiest cabbage strips of our entire test.

We’ll start with the good of the Mueller Multi Blade Adjustable Mandoline: This is a kickstand-style model that's dishwasher safe (a rarity) with knob-activated julienne blades and a whopping five interchangeable blade styles to choose from. There's a grater, two shredders, a wavy blade, and of course a blade for making straight cuts, all of which snap in and out of place with relative ease and stash comfortably in the included storage box. Unfortunately, with all those extra features make it quite bulky. There were other downsides as well. The thinnest setting for this slicer is 1 mm (as opposed to the paper thin .5 mm you get with our winning picks). The blades themselves weren't as sharp as some of the other models we tested (especially the wavy blade), and food got caught easily in the tip of the V. The grating and shredding attachments worked well, but you’re better off opting for a good box grater (which has the added bonus of more surface area and a vertical angle that gives you better leverage). All in all, this mandoline wasn't worth the extra heft and extraneous pieces.

Like the V-Blade, the now-discontinued Oxo Chef's Slicer comes with a stable stand and intuitive dial. This model, which weighs 3.4 pounds, felt more like a sturdy small countertop appliance than a kitchen tool. Though it claims to execute a total of 21 different cuts, this contraption only truly excelled at the straight slices. It's also double the price of our winning model. With smaller, less expensive tools that can do the same job just as well or better, why bother with a cumbersome, costly item?

The Oxo Good Grips Chef's Mandoline Slicer 2.0, is a redesign of the discontinued version, now with a straight blade. The adjustable mandoline has a lot of swanky new features we liked, like a meter that displayed the width of different thickness settings, compact storage for the interchangeable blade, and a folding kickstand. However, the blades were too dull, barely able to handle firm root vegetables at its thicker settings.

The Dash Safe Slice was unlike any other mandoline slicer we tested. It features a vertically-oriented blade that requires you to manually pump it up and down with one hand while pushing food down a chute with the other—the guillotine of mandolines, if you will. The back of the slicer is where you’ll find the thickness dial (which ranges from .5 to 8 mm) and two knobs that activate julienne and matchstick settings. While it's quite a bulky contraption when all set up, it does break down into a more compact form. True to its name, the Safe Slice was the safest mandoline we tested by a long shot, allowing us to cut even slices of varying thicknesses without bringing our hands anywhere near the blade. But what makes this contraption safe also limits its capabilities. Because of the chute, there are serious constraints on how big a vegetable can be without needing to cut it in half. That chute also means you can't control the angle at which you’re slicing things, resulting in oblong slices of cylindrical ingredients like sweet potatoes and cucumbers. If you’ve resisted using a mandoline for fear of ending up in the ER, or if you want a gadget that's ultra kid-friendly, this may be a fine option for you. But if you can stomach using a regular swipe-and-slice-style model, you’ll be rewarded with more versatility.

We had high hopes for this handheld mandoline slicer from the makers of our favorite rasp-style zester, which looked like it could one-up the Kyocera with the added bonus of a julienne blade. It could not. While it cut most things with relative ease on the straight setting, items had a tendency to get caught on the tip of the V-shaped blade (just as they did on the Mueller model). You activate the julienne blade by removing a portion of the plastic board that holds the blade and flipping it over. We found that this piece dislodged itself far too easily when we attempted to run heftier vegetables like sweet potatoes over it—a potential safety hazard. Another small but notable downside: The ridged lines that run across the plastic board left marks on softer items like apples.

With a completely removable blade controlled by an adjustable dial that ranges from 0 to 9 mm in thickness and allows you to toggle between julienne and straight cuts, this stainless steel kickstand-style slicer offers range in terms of cut size and ease in terms of cleaning. But at $85, the Gramercy cost more than every other mandoline by a wide margin. Granted, that price tag gets you a pair of cut-resistant gloves, but it's a spendy pick even when you subtract the $12 that a set of NoCry gloves will run you, and it ultimately didn't outperform either of our (markedly less expensive) top picks.

Read the review section of any mandoline slicer sold online and you’ll find horror stories of meal prep sessions-turned-trips to the ER. Cut-resistant gloves offer the promise of safe slicing, but do they deliver?

To answer that question, we took a pair of NoCry gloves for a spin in our most recent round of testing. Made of a mix of polyethylene, fiberglass, and spandex, these gloves are meant to provide an added layer of protection for tasks like deboning fish, grating cheese, and, for our purposes, using a mandoline. Our goal wasn't to try purposely to destroy them, but to see if they made a difference in our user experience, comfort, and safety when used in conjunction with the slicers we tested. In practice, using the gloves allowed us to shave tiny radishes down to nothing without fear of shaving a finger off along with them. They’re not fully puncture-resistant, and they won't last you a lifetime—we didn ‘t wear these out, but based on our experience in this test and with these gloves in the past you could expect to get about a year of service out of each glove. We’d say they’re well worth the $12 investment every two years.

The best mandoline slicer needs to do one thing well: slice thin. The Kyocera Soft Grip is lightweight, feels great in your hand, and most importantly, delivers paper-thin wisps of produce. If you’re new to the mandoline game, this is the tool for you. If you’re interested in a little more versatility and don't need the helping hand of thickness presets, the Benriner No. 64 Japanese Mandoline is the move. It's simple and reliable with the added bonus of a few interchangeable blades and a super precise adjustment dial.