The Vegetable Peelers That Are Actually Worth Buying, According to Testing (2024)

Both the straight and serrated Y peelers from Tovolo handled our produce tests with ease. They’re sharp stainless steel and swivel to handle corners and curves. So we recommend buying them as part of this set of three, which includes a julienne peeler to round out common vegetable prep tasks.

The lightweight trio is comfortable and dishwasher safe, and they’re magnetic to stay stacked for compact and easy access. One caveat: None of the peelers has an eyer, which can be a detriment for potatoes and apples. But for vegetables like carrots, cucumbers and zucchini, it’s a versatile set that gets you peeled and sliced lickety-split.

With a silicone handle that's comfortable to hold, we love that this non-slip peeler has a sharp, swiveling blade that smoothly navigates bends and bumps to keep vegetable prep speedy.

During testing, we found its built-in eyer didn’t gouge produce — though it was sometimes a little small for going at larger blemishes. We also appreciate its compact size and that's it's dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup. Note that this peeler is also sold as part of a three-piece set that we recommend, which includes a stainless steel serrated blade for tender and soft-skinned produce as well as a julienne peeler.

This reimagined peeler was comfortable in the palm — it has a finger holder to help keep it in place — and performed well with a variety of fruits and veggies. It’s a great choice if you have arthritis or dexterity limitations. It also keeps fingers away from the stainless steel blade, if you have younger kids helping with prep.

One caveat: The peeler can clog with the peeled strips, and you can’t immediately see that due to the design, so you will sometimes have a misfire when attempting to peel a new strip. It comes with a cap for safe storage and is dishwasher safe.

If you keep a KitchenAid stand mixer within reach, this makes a great vegetable peeler. The attachment plugs into the power hub on the front of the mixer and makes peeling a variety of vegetables as easy as flipping a knob. You slide your produce onto the attachment’s skewer mount and then insert the peeler blade and align it with the food. It peels your potato, zucchini, cucumber, and more quickly and with little waste.

This attachment is handy if you are prepping, say, a whole pie’s worth of apples, and it’s also helpful for those who have trouble using standard peelers. It works with produce up to 5 ½ inches in length, so long veggies will need to be trimmed. Bonus: It can also be used as a corer, slicer and spiralizer, so there’s a little extra incentive to leave it set up.

We don't often recommend single-use tools, but this one proved to be worth it. Corn, with its rounded shape and separate kernels, can be cut with a knife, but can be dangerous and wobbly to stand the ear upright. And traditional peelers are often too shallow, which means you sacrifice the sweet kernels.

But this peeler makes taking corn off the cob a pleasure. The curved design allows you to maintain contact with the cob, so you don’t damage the kernels, and leaves you with a very smooth cob. Plus you can work with the ear on a flat surface, which keeps the task safe.

The blade is Japanese stainless steel, so it won’t rust and is dishwasher safe. And OXO, well-known for its ergonomic design, maintains its record with the non-slip handle. The Corn Prep Peeler is part of a collection of other specialized vegetable peelers from Oxo, including an assorted set that tested well all-around, a large peeler that proved useful for cabbage, and more.

We lined up more than a dozen vegetable peelers for testing by the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab.

We peeled more than 20 pounds of produce — butternut squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and apples — on the universal peelers to determine the comfort and ease of use, the ability to navigate irregularly shaped produce, and the thinness of the peeled skins. Then we tested the specialized peelers (like corn peelers and eggplant peelers) on the vegetables they were suited for and compared results. The peelers that were top scorers against our eight data points of analysis made this list.

✔️ Handle: The best advice is to find a peeler that’s comfortable for you. Peeling is an inherently repetitive motion, so you want a tool that won’t cause fatigue or pain. One pro tip: Look for a non-slip handle regardless of which model or brand you choose.

✔️ Material: The most common materials for vegetable peelers are stainless steel and carbon steel. Stainless steel stays sharp and is generally dishwasher safe. Carbon steel can rust over time if not washed and dried thoroughly, but it is very sharp and can hold its edge.