You Can Mince 3 Cloves Of Garlic Instantly With This Press

Garlic is in so. Many. Recipes. But sometimes preparing it can be, well, fiddly. You have to separate the cloves. Peel off their thin papery skins. Chop everything into tiny pieces. It's enough to make someone want to buy, gasp, pre-minced garlic. Don't do it—bottled products often include stabilizers like citric acid and phosphoric acid. They're also generally pasteurized, which zaps a clove's quintessential pungency. That's no good for reaching the maximum flavor potential of dishes like this epically garlicky spaghetti, these lemony garlic shrimp, and this tempting honey garlic-glazed salmon.

Enter the garlic press, which is here to make life easier for garlic lovers everywhere. Here's everything you need to know about this handy kitchen gadget.

What is a garlic press, and how else can you chop garlic?

A garlic press is a tool that pushes an unpeeled (yes, unpeeled!) garlic clove through a small grid of holes, which mashes cloves into a thick paste. The most common garlic press has two handles and a compartment for the garlic. A piston pushes the garlic through the holes as you bring the two handles together.

We also looked at tools that are technically not garlic presses, but do the same job: Garlic twisters, which rely on two sets of teeth to grind the garlic, and ceramic plates, which also uses rows of teeth to break down the garlic. There are also microplanes, which finely grates the garlic, and mechanical choppers.

What else can you do with a garlic press and similar gadgets?

Traditional garlic presses can also be used for mashing other small items like olives, capers, anchovies, and even ginger. Garlic twisters, ceramic plates, and microplanes can be used for hard cheeses, shallots, nuts, and herbs.

Our top picks

• Best Overall Garlic Press: OXO Good Grips Soft- Handled Garlic Press
• Best Splurge Garlic Press: Rösle Stainless Steel Mincing Garlic
• Best Restaurant Quality Garlic Press: Mannkitchen Double Lever Assisted Stainless Steel Garlic Press
• Best Stainless Steel Garlic Press: Küchenprofi Parma Stainless Steel Garlic Press
• Best Garlic Twister: NexTrend Garlic Twister
• Best Ceramic Garlic Grater: Kyocera Advanced 3-1/2-inch Ceramic Grater
• Best Microplane Garlic Grater: Microplane Premium Classic Spice Grater
• Best Garlic Chopper: Chef'n Garliczoom Garlic Chopper
  

How we picked these products

We asked chefs from around the country, as well as our Delish staff, about their favorite garlic presses and similar tools to use at home and compiled the best of the bunch. We looked for gadgets that were easy to hold, easy to clean (hello, dishwasher-safe tools!), and could mince whole garlic cloves in no time. Some of these options fall into the traditional garlic press category, meaning you don't have to peel each clove. Others require you to peel cloves, but have other selling points.

OXO

Amazon

$18.99

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This garlic press has a large capacity chamber, which holds a few cloves at a time. Plus, it boasts a comfortable grip handle and has about 20,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.

"My favorite [garlic press] is the OXO because it has the built-in cleaner that clears out stuck pieces of skin and stem from the garlic cloves," said Ryan Schmidtberger, executive chef and partner of Hancock St. in New York City.

Rösle

Amazon

$49.00

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"Something so simple, simply done right," Lawrence Smith, executive chef of Chilte in Phoenix, Arizona, said of this Rösle press. "With a father-in-law who literally gets up every day before the crack of dawn and hand-minces garlic, this press put him in check. He was resistant at first, but after using it for just two days he’s fallen in love. He even takes it on road trips with him."

This press is operable with one hand, very durable, dishwasher safe, and "the swiper mechanism allows for the highest yield of your garlic," Smith continued.

mannkitchen

Mannkitchen

$49.99

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If you are a garlic girl who goes through cloves like candy, you need a garlic press that can keep up with you. This one from Mannkitchen "is extremely heavy-duty construction [that] makes it reliable," said Aaron Allen, executive chef of Silas Creative Kitchen + Cocktails in Versailles, Ohio. "The press works so beautifully, I use it at home for all of my minced garlic application."

Küchenprofi

Amazon

$31.05

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This garlic press is "odor resistant, creates very little waste, has an ergonomic, triangular handle with great control, and the garlic skin is easy to remove afterwards," gushed Richard Sandoval, founder of contemporary Latin restaurant group Richard Sandoval Hospitality. The stainless steel design makes it simple to clean and gives it a super sleek look.

NexTrend

amazon.com

$21.95

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“This product is my favorite for pressing garlic as it has a twisting action and is made for larger quantities," Victoria Wenning, executive sous chef of Florida's Westin Cape Coral Resort, said of this garlic twister. She will even use it to coarsely grind shallots, ginger, nuts, and herbs. "It allows you to achieve different coarseness, and it’s easy to clean and sanitize as there are no holes," she continued.

Kyocera

Amazon

$14.90

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You might be looking at this option and thinking how on earth does this grate garlic? Well, see those little textured bits in the middle? If you rub cloves of garlic (or hunks of ginger or Parmesan or citrus peel) on those, they'll break down. It's a favorite tool of Kieron Hales of Cornman Farms in Dexter, Michigan. Pro tip! Add a little salt to the garlic to increase the tool's abrasiveness.

Microplane

Amazon

$10.99

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“The best garlic press is… a microplane!" according to Chef Jonathon Sawyer of Adorn Bar & Restaurant in Chicago. "It does the same thing and is a tool almost everyone already has in their kitchen. You don’t even have to peel the garlic before you grate it!”

Chef'n

amazon.com

$14.99

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This little chopper is "easier to clean than a press and very satisfying to just roll on the counter to chop things up," Lindsey Ramsey, director of content operations, said. "You can fit more garlic in it at once than a press."