The Seemingly Unnecessary $13 Tool That’ll Always Have a Place in My Kitchen

I know many of you are right there with me when I say that I don’t have much patience for highly specialized kitchen tools. Who can give up that valuable kitchen real estate? As a city dweller, I peacefully parted ways with my pineapple corer after a few years of shoving it around in the drawer, and have no trouble passing up strawberry hullers. But when I was gifted a small vegetable slicer made by OXO, my initial skeptical response was quickly proven wrong.

The minute I stuck a radish into the little chamber and briskly slid it across the blade, I was smitten. Amazon calls it a Brussels Sprouts Slicer, but it’s good for so much more! It’s essentially a tiny mandoline, but I fell hard for it for a few reasons.

For one, it’s absolutely perfect for things like radishes, garlic, or mushrooms — you know, things that are overpowered by a regular large mandoline. There’s also no way you can cut yourself with this because it has an insert that you use to push the ingredients into the blade, and it makes the most perfect super-thin little slices. You look like you have incredible knife skills, but you’re cheating, and who cares? No one (but you) will know that you aren’t a slicing ninja.

It’s small, so doesn’t take up much space, and the “food pusher thing” snaps easily over the blade, so you have no risk of nicking a finger as you rummage through your tool drawer. And it’s dishwasher-safe, which is another benefit.

Okay, now the proof — look at this gorgeous salad! This is literally just vegetables I sliced with my little vegetable slicer, and then drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil, and finished with a sprinkle of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I used various colored carrots, spring onions, young leeks, baby zucchini, and radishes, cutting the longer vegetables into short chunks before making quick work of them with my slicer.

If you yearn for perfect little vegetables wafers, but don’t quite have the slicing chops, you may want to invest 13 bucks and see if you fall as hard as I did! Or even if you do have the knife skills, it’s worth pointing out that I find this tool very therapeutic. The slices are just so thin and consistent. Very satisfying.