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Though a seemingly simple task, peeling vegetables or fruits requires a hard-working tool—one that won't end up in the back of your kitchen drawer to be forgotten. Swivel or Y? Smooth or serrated? Palm peeler or classic? Ceramic or stainless steel?
There are two types of blades on a vegetable peeler: A stationary blade, which is fixed and operates more like a traditional paring knife, or a swivel blade that moves back and forth. The latter makes the process easier, as the blade moves to the proper peeling position on its own, with no need to adjust your grip or hand position. Swivel, or "straight" swivel, peelers have a floating suspended peeling blade to better adapt to the form of the fruit, vegetable, or cheese.
Blades can also be oriented either vertically or horizontally, as with a Y-peeler, so consider how you prefer to position your hand for peeling. Ahead are the best vegetable peelers of every kind.
Best Overall: OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler
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Blade flexes and peels in both directions
Comfortable and easy to grip
Peels smoothly in thin, long strips
Needs to be handled carefully due to its very sharp blade
The OXO Good Grips swivel peeler has swiveling twin blades so lefties and righties can peel in either direction. Plus, the blades flex, so they bend to cut larger swaths of peel than a rigid blade would.
It has an oversized, nonslip silicone grip for great hold, even with repetitive strokes. Why is this important? It means the peeler stays in your hands even when wet or you’re peeling under running water, minimizing the risk of it slipping. There is also a built-in potato-eye remover that lets you dig out blemishes without switching to a knife—or ruining the produce. Customers gave this dishwasher-safe peeler points for how smoothly it peels and the thin, long strips it produces. A few note that the blade is very sharp, however, so handle with care.
Best Y-Peeler: Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler, 3-Piece Set
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Lightweight and comfortable to hold
Sharp blade works smoothly and consistently
Affordable
Not dishwasher-safe
Like a swivel peeler, this Y-shaped peeler can be used with the left or right hand. An advantage of a Y-peeler is for mass peeling, especially when your hand may become uncomfortable from a standard peeler.
The Kuhn Rikon original Swiss peeler is beloved by professional chefs for its durability, lightness, sharpness, and consistency. Like a swivel peeler, it has an integrated potato-eye remover, so there’s no need to swap out for a knife. It’s equipped with a sharp carbon-steel blade that cuts better than most other peelers—and stays sharp. However, the peeler is not dishwasher-safe.
Best KitchenAid Attachment: KitchenAid Spiralizer Plus Attachment
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Blades are dishwasher-safe
Great for peeling multiple fruits or vegetables at once
Multiple blades for different uses
Vegetable length is limited
Lopsided fruits might be hard to position
If you own a KitchenAid stand mixer, this peeler tool attaches to the power hub of the mixer, turning it into a motorized peeler for potatoes, apples, and more. This attachment fits all household KitchenAid stand mixers. In addition to three spiralizing blades (medium, fine, and extra-fine), it includes three different types of slicing blades.
Love zoodles? Peel vegetables first and then switch to one of the three spiralizing blades to make grain-free pasta or garnishes out of zucchini, carrots, and other vegetables This can also core, peel, and slice apples all at the same time. The blades are top-rack dishwasher-safe.
Best Multi-Blade: Vremi 3-in-1 Julienne Vegetable Peeler
Blades are sharp and easy to adjust
Operates smoothly
Nonslip handle and silicone finger-grip
A bit tricky to clean due to sharp blades
If your kitchen space is tight or you are looking for an all-purpose, lightweight kitchen appliance, the Vremi 3-in-1 julienne vegetable peeler is for you. Rather than buy a peeler, mandoline, and a julienne zester separately, this BPA-free peeler combines all these into one handy, compact appliance without taking up extra space in your drawers.
It is a multi-functional, three-swivel rotating blade peeler for cutting, peeling, shredding, and slicing fruits or vegetables. There are three stainless steel blades: a straight blade to remove skins, a julienne zester to create garnishes, and a serrated blade to peel softer skins. No need to swap out the blades: The wheels on the sides of the peeler make it simple to choose the blade you want. Reviewers are largely happy with the performance of all three of the blades, saying each is sharp and operates smoothly.
The Vremi 3-in-1 features a nonslip handle and silicone finger-grip. Wash it by hand only, and let it air-dry.
Best Electric: Starfrit Electric Rotato Express
Works quickly
Doesn't take off a lot of potato flesh with the peel
Easy and fun to use
A bit loud
For mass peeling—let’s say a large gathering or meal prep for the week—an electric peeler like the Starfrit Rotato Express electric peeler comes in handy (no pun intended). It peels just the skin without wasting produce in 10 seconds—a feature that garnered high marks from reviewers. This safely designed electric peeler means there's no need to touch or hold vegetables while peeling them: It stops automatically.
The peeler arm adjusts for every thickness and type of vegetable and can be used to zest citrus. It contains onboard storage under the device to hold blades as well as a thumb knife to remove the eyes from potatoes or other produce blemishes. The peeler includes a 6-volt adapter, though it can also operate with batteries.
It’s made from durable plastic and has a nonslip base that secures it to your work surface, and it's hand-wash only.
Best Ergonomic: Chef'n PalmPeeler Vegetable Peeler
Easy to use
Blade is sharp
Ergonomic design
Only comes in one color
This peeler slides over your finger like a ring to sit in your palm of your hand and comes equipped with finger grips. The result? Your fingers are less likely to cramp up, as you're using your whole hand to peel. Are kids helping in the kitchen? This is a safe option to let them pitch in.
Chef'n PalmPeeler comes with a stainless steel blade and a built-in potato-eyer, and it's safe to put on the top rack of the dishwasher.
Best Ceramic: Kyocera Ceramic Y Peeler
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Very sharp, rust-resistant blade
Comfortable ergonomic handle
Peels very smoothly
Lightweight plastic body
Why choose a ceramic-blade peeler? Ceramic blades won’t rust, pit, or corrode. They also won’t cause fruits and vegetables to brown or change the taste or smell of food. Kyocera's ceramic Y-peeler is very sharp and has an ergonomic handle. A ceramic peeler like this is wonderful for dishes or recipes that call for skinless fruits and vegetables and delicate produce like tomatoes. It also packs an eye-corer to remove imperfections.
Best Serrated: Messermeister Pro Touch Serrated Swivel Peeler
Rust-resistant stainless steel blade
Can peel fruits and veggies with challenging skins
Handle is a bit small
Smooth or serrated blades? This Messermeister Pro Touch serrated swivel peeler has a stainless steel serrated blade, which allows you to not only grip wet vegetables but peel them easily. Great for peeling slick, soft-skinned tomatoes and other fruits with challenging skins, such as mangoes, grapes, eggplants, and ginger. (Several reviewers gave it high marks for this.) It also creates zoodles if you don’t have a spiralizer or standing mixer kitchen attachment. And because it's made from thick-gauge stainless steel, it will not rust, bend, or deform.
Best Julienne: Precision Kitchenware Julienne & Vegetable Peeler
Sharp dual blades
Sturdy stainless steel build
Works smoothly and quickly
Affordable
Does not work as well on softer vegetables
Does tackling that pumpkin or butternut squash seem daunting? An alternative to a spiralizer, the Precision Kitchenware julienne peeler can create zoodles from sweet potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and more, as well as garnishes (think super-thin lemons or ribbons of carrots. It's armed with sharp dual blades made of stainless steel: One side is a standard vegetable peeler, while the other features julienne blades that cut the veggies into small ribbons. This julienne peeler can also remove potato eyes.
Neat and compact, it won’t take up extra space in your kitchen. You can even hang it up, thanks to the hanging loop. It comes with a cleaning brush and guard to protect you from cuts and nicks, and it's dishwasher-safe.
If you want an all-around great peeler, we recommend the OXO Good Grips swivel peeler. With swiveling twin blades, it peels in both directions, making it ideal for both lefties and righties. If you are looking for something that can tackle more projects, we recommend the Vremi 3-in-1 julienne vegetable peeler. With three different blades, it’s a peeler, mandoline, and julienne zester in one.
Why Trust The Spruce Eats?
Marisel Salazar is a food writer and recipe developer with a degree in communications and a concentration in nutrition from Cornell University.
What to Look for When Buying a Vegetable Peeler
Blade sharpness: The main feature you'll want to look at is how sharp a peeler's blade is. This will determine how smoothly and quickly it peels a vegetable—and how easy it will be for you to use it. Peeler blades are typically made of one of three types of materials: stainless steel, ceramic, and carbon steel. Stainless steel blades are by far the most common and for good reason: You can sharpen them like you would knives. Ceramic blades can be (and stay) just as sharp as the former, but they're more prone to breakage. Carbon steel blades are susceptible to rust if not taken care of properly.
Blade performance: Whether the blade swivels or not also determines how quickly and easily you'll be able to peel. A swivel blade allows you to peel in both directions with more freedom, whereas using a stationary blade means you'll have to make sure you're holding it at the proper angle for it to grab the peel. You also want to look at how deeply and smoothly the blade peels. Make sure that the peeler's second blade serves to guide the first, peeling blade, and not cut further into the vegetable and risk food waste. The second "guiding" blade should also have a raised ridge so that less of it comes into contact with the food, allowing the first blade to peel more smoothly.
Design: One of the most important design elements to examine is the amount of space between the peeler's blade and the bridge (the part that connects the blade to the handle). The ideal amount of space between the two is 1 inch, according to experts. Less than this makes clogs more likely; more and you sacrifice control (and the likelihood of peels flying around). Another important design feature is ergonomics, mainly how comfortable and easy it is to hold the handle and whether the peeler is lightweight enough that you won't tire easily.
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