People often ask me for my favorite kitchen tools. Are you looking for a new favorite kitchen tool? A gift for a friend? Here are a few of my favorite things from around the web.
If you are looking for some less expensive gift ideas, try my stocking stuffer list for inspiration.
Prep Tools
One of my most treasured possessions is my Bosch Mixer. I’ve had it for almost 20 years and it is still going strong. The mixer pictured is the newer version of mine, since they have improved it over time. I can make large batches of bread. It works through tough cookie dough like magic.
The mixer actually has a transmission that shifts gears when it needs to adjust to larger batches of ingredients. I can make dough for 14 pizzas in one batch. That is a huge amount of dough.
Hopefully my mixer lives forever, but if it does suffer an untimely death, I won’t even hesitate to purchase a new Bosch.
The chopper. This thing is priceless for making salsas, soups and anything where you need to chop a lot of items quickly. Hate chopping onions? No tears when you use this chopper. Our favorite salsa used to take one hour to prep and now we have it down to ten minutes flat. You simply place the veggies onto the grid, slam the lid and the neatly diced veggies will drop below.
In-Sink-Strainer is perfect for large items like a Costco container of grapes or a large batch of pasta. It rests on the edges of the sink so you have plenty of drainage space below. It collapses to be about one-inch tall when not in use.
My Food Scale is another workhorse in my house. I use it every single day to measure dry goods for baking breads or for measuring portions sizes. It is great to use with almost any dish, bowl or plate. It can measure in grams, ounces or pound. You can add an item and tare it out to reset and measure the next item. It comes in a rainbow of colors so you can choose your favorite one.
A microwave cover is perfect for those messy meals that seem to explode all over the microwave. It has steam vents and is easy to remove, even when the food is steaming hot. We love how it keeps the microwave nice and clean time and time again. It’s easy to just simply wash with soap and water.
Parchment Circles are a priceless item in my home. I have them delivered on a regular basis since we use so many. I use them for pizzas, tortillas, pita bread and a million other things. They are really handy particularly when a gluten free dough is more pliable and needs some support transferring from counter to pan like tortillas or pizza. I buy them in two separate sizes — 10 inch and 12 inch and keep some on hand always. You never know when the need for pizza will strike.
Parchment Paper rectangles are for baking things like cookies or anything on a baking sheet. I also cut them to fit into my 9×13 pans or 8×8 pans. I also use the large rectangles for shaping things like scones or biscuits or even pie crust when it’s on the kitchen counter. They have a large work area that makes dough more easy to work with and mold into shape without getting super messy.
Talk to me for 15 minutes in my kitchen and you will probably hear about my Boos Board. I love these. They are high quality hard maple wood that should last a lifetime if taken care of properly. The wood is as nature intended — clean and pure.
We formerly had plastic cutting boards and I realized they were leaving very tiny pieces of plastic in the food. I was mortified! Worried I was going to make someone sick using the plastic or bamboo boards, I started doing a lot of internet research — I have about 15 pages of documentation on which cutting board to use and why — and found that hard wood cutting boards were the way to go. They are expensive, but again, should last a lifetime if properly treated.
You need to oil them with food grade oil about once a month. That’s actually incredibly satisfying though — watching the oil soak into the wood and protect it for the next month is quite fun.
I love my wooden cutting board so much I actually have two — one is 19x15x2.25 and the other is 12 x 12 x 3.
I recently bought a new apron since my old one is just stained and nasty. This apron is soft, flexible and very comfortable to wear. It comes in lots of colors and would be something easy to add a logo or special design to the front if giving as a gift.
Years ago I switched from wooden spoons to silicone. The wood was splintering and showed food stains from previous dishes. These silicone spoons can withstand high heat and have a firm core for doing everything from browning meat to stirring soup. We have several and I love them.
Baking Tools
Our air fryer is a workhouse at my house. We use it for fries, nuggets, hamburgers, egg rolls, pot stickers and on and on. This air fryer has a large basket that holds about 4 medium-sized chicken breasts. It can hold enough fries and chicken strips for two teenagers.
I wish the air fryer pan was slightly easier to clean, but otherwise it’s just perfect.
Someone in our family eats pizza almost once a day. This simple pizza pan is great for a nice crisp crust. I like this pan in particular because it doesn’t necessarily need to be pre-heated. It gets hot quickly in the oven and crisps up pizza crust nicely — both regular and gluten free.
We were given a griddle similar to this one about 10 years ago. We use it all of the time. It’s great for pancakes, French toast, bacon and a myriad of other things. It’s easy to clean and non-stick.
Last Christmas we were given the Cuisinart Electric Griddler Elite. At first I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. But, once we tried steaks we were hooked! It’s quick to cook, easy clean-up and having both flat plates and grill plates makes it useful for a variety of items from grilled cheese and panini to steaks and chicken. It will open flat and that gives a large surface area for cooking. The dial on the side allows you to set the top lid at several heights without squishing the food.
Hopefully this list gives you a few ides for yourself or someone you love. Feel free to ask any questions or add your own favorite item below in the comments.
Leave a Reply