I’ve been asked many times about kitchen tools I use, so decided to share the list of kitchen gadgets I cannot part with. Whether you are setting up a new kitchen, looking for kitchen gifts for you or others, or trying to optimize your kitchen for Ramadan, I hope this guide will help you to choose the must have kitchen items.
Apart from the kitchen basics – a good quality all purpose multipurpose knife
1. Vegetable Peeler
If there is only one kitchen tool I can have for food prep, I’ll ask for a vegetable peeler. Whether you’re using it to peel potatoes, carrots, or any other vegetables, a peeler really speeds up your preparation time. I use a simple but high quality peeler that will stand the test of time.
Click to Buy : Good Grips Swivel Peeler
2. Food processor
A food processor should be a standard appliance in any kitchen. Whether making hummus or shami kabab, chopping onions, cabbage, grinding nuts – it all takes minutes using a basic food processor. If you plan carefully, you might not even have to wash it in between foods – do the onion before the shami kabab and no one will mind. We have a blender/food processor duet that we use every single week to slice onions for the week in a jiffy. It’s one of my favorite kitchen appliance to give as gift too.
Click to buy : Cuisinart Duet Blender/Food Processor
3. Coffee Grinder
We have a pair of coffee grinder in our kitchen. My husband uses one to grind his coffee and we use the other one to freshly grind spice blends – garam masala, chaat masala, spice blend for biryani, kabab, you name it. It’s been an essential kitchen gadget in our home since the days in grad school.
Click to buy : Coffee Grinder
4. Pressure cooker
Do you like to cook 3 to 10 times faster? Oh, yeah! That’s me. I love to cook but I like to make it fast so the pressure cooker is my best friend in the kitchen. I use it to cook haleem, beef, lentil, chickpea and much more. Ours is 6 quart which is perfect for the amount I cook and freeze.
Click to buy : 6-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker
5. Air fryer
We used to own a classic toaster oven
Click to buy : Simple Chef Air Fryer
6. Kitchen Shears
My shears aren’t just for cutting twine or food packaging – I use the shears to butcher chicken and trim fat from meat. I use the shears to cut up pizza and dried fruits. Use it to snip herbs for recipes which is a whole lot easier and less messier than slicing with a knife.
Click to Buy : Shears with Soft Grip Handles
7. Hand Mixer
I don’t own one of those super expensive stand mixer. A hand mixer with dough hooks gets the work done for me and I’m happy to save some countertop space. I use Kitchen Aid 5 speed hand mixer with dough hooks. The dough hooks are extremely handy when making cookies, pies, paratha, etc. The one I use(about 10+ years old) is discontinued and replaced with a 9 speed hand mixer.
Click to buy : 9-Speed Digital Hand Mixer with dough hooks
8. Electric Kettle
A great gift we’ve received from one of my aunts. We had a big aqiqah party(Islamic tradition of the sacrifice of an animal on the occasion of a child’s birth) when my daughter turned 6 months. Even though the party was elsewhere, 22 family members gathered in our home for 4-5days. And you know what happens when there are 22 people in the same house? That’s right! There is no stopping from making chai(tea). About a week after everyone left, we received the electric kettle as a gift from my aunt.
Since then, we have used it every single day not for just boiling water for tea. It takes about 3-4 minutes to boil water and I boil water for rice, pasta and everything else. Very fast, convenient and easy.
Click to buy : Stainless Steel Electric Kettle
9. One cup blender
I love one cup blenders so much, we have two in our home. One for blending soups(i.e. lentil soup, tomato soup), quick marinades for grilling and the other for smoothies and juices. I don’t like onion smell in my juice or smoothie (and I’m a bit OCD), so needed a second one. The single serve blender cleans up easily and tucks away neatly. Also, for smaller meals, there is no need to get the regular bulky blender dirty. Can you tell I’m lazy about washing too?
Click to buy : Single Serve Blender with Travel Lid
10. Electric Skillet
Our electric skillet is one of the best wedding gift we have received and it’s still going strong. The portable design of the electric skillet makes it simple to use and store. Once I’m done cooking, I can just unplug and put it in the table. From this shrimp stir fry, beef and broccoli stir fry to this chicken roast and zarda pulao, I use the electric skillet to cook weeknight dinners, weekend feast and more.
Click to buy : 11-Inch Square Skillet with Lid
What’s your must have kitchen tools to ease your meal preparation? What else would you add to this list?
If I were to make a list, I think mine would be almost identical! 🙂 I have an air-fryer but haven’t used it as much as I’d like to, thanks for the tips. One thing that I use all the time is my granite mortar and pestle. It’s one of my favorite tools, buy a good one and it should last maybe generations? 😉
Glad your list is very similar. I use the air fryer almost everyday and love it.
As for the mortar and pestle – my husband recently has been asking me to get one and I’ve caught him admiring a few mortar and pestle at the stores. I haven’t signed up to it yet so that I don’t have to wash it after every use. I usually make garlic, ginger paste once in every 2-3 months. Now that you are recommending, I’ll have to get one. Thank you for the suggestion.
Thank you for stopping by Lani.
Toaster Oven-Happy Shopper I just received my cute little toaster oven today and was anxious to try it out. This is my first ever, toaster oven and it works wonderfully. I baked a small pan of cornbread and it came out perfect, cooking all the way through. I am very impressed and pleased with this purchase and all of its little non-sticking cooking gadgets. I can”t wait to try baking a cake in it.