We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Shopping Kitchen Products Cooking Tools The 7 Best Graters of 2024, According to Our Tests Make quick work of cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and more. By Rachel Center Rachel Center Rachel covers all aspects of the home space and tests products to find the best for consumers. When she's not writing, you can find her streaming, hiking, and decorating. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 22, 2024 In This Article View All In This Article Our Top Picks Reviews Final Verdict Our Testing Process How to Shop More to Consider FAQs Take Our Word for It What Is Real Simple Selects? Photo: Real Simple / Taysha Murtaugh A grater is an essential kitchen tool that allows you to cut down on meal prep time and gives you the treat of freshly shredded and sliced foods. You're going to want one that's stable so it doesn't jump around when you’re grating, and it should be sharp enough that ingredients glide easily, says Ali Slagle, recipe developer and author of I Dream of Dinner (so You Don't Have To). “There’s nothing like fluffy grated cheese or fresh citrus zest, but a grater also makes quick work of ingredients that are kind of tedious to chop, like garlic and ginger," she adds. To find the best graters on the market, we tested 22 different graters in our Birmingham lab and assessed them on ease of use, performance, cleaning, and value. In addition to talking to Slagle, we chatted with Cristina Flores, VP of Product at Eataly North America, on what makes a great grater. Our Top Picks Best Overall: Microplane Specialty Series 4-Sided Box Grater at Amazon $44 Jump to Review Best for Zesting: Microplane Classic Series Zester at Amazon $15 Jump to Review Best Box: SALE Cuisipro 4-Sided Boxed Grater at Amazon $42 $35 Jump to Review Best for Cheese: Zyliss Smooth Glide Dual Grater at Amazon $22 Jump to Review Best Flat: SALE Rosle Medium Grater at Amazon $45 $38 Jump to Review Best Rotary: SALE Vivaant Cheese Grater at Amazon $40 $30 Jump to Review Best With a Container: KitchenAid Gourmet 4-Sided Stainless Steel Box Grater at Amazon $25 Jump to Review Best Overall Microplane Specialty Series 4-Sided Box Grater PHOTO: Amazon $44 at Amazon $42 at Walmart $45 at Williams-Sonoma What Stands Out The four-sided grater features coarse, fine, ribbon, and slicing blades. What Could Be Improved It's recommended that you buy cut-resistant gloves to protect your fingers from the exposed blades. All four sides of this box grater performed phenomenally during our testing. We were able to produce uniform shreds of hard and soft cheese on both the coarse and fine grater blades with little to no effort. There were similarly great zesting results while using the fine blade, so much so that we'd be fine using the grater as an alternative to a separate zesting tool. This grater is made with high-quality surgical stainless steel, and we liked that the size of the grating holes were larger compared to ones we've seen in other box graters. This Microplane grater also features a dedicated area for slicing, should you want to slice up some cucumber for a salad or potatoes for potato gratin, and a bi-directional blade that produces ribbon-style shreds. We also tried this out on smoked mozzarella and found it to work quite well. Plus, we never felt fatigued or uncomfortable, which is due in part to its steady base and ergonomic, soft-grip handle. It helps that it's very easy to clean, too (yes, it's dishwasher-safe!). Just note that the exposed blades are very sharp, and this doesn't come with a guard of any kind, so cut-resistant gloves are recommended. Material: Stainless steel | Blade Types: Coarse, fine, ribbon, and slicing | Care: Dishwasher-safe Real Simple / Fran Sales Best for Zesting Microplane Classic Series Zester PHOTO: Crate & Barrel $15 at Amazon $18 at Walmart $18 at Crate & Barrel What Stands Out It makes quick work of harder items, like aged cheeses and citrus zest. What Could Be Improved It's not good for soft cheeses, and it's difficult to clean by hand (but it is dishwasher-safe). Both of our experts, like many home chefs, love the Microplane. It's essentially become a household name for its ability to create fine grates, and after testing, we can confirm that it lives up the hype. The long narrow blade made it very easy to move it around an orange and zest smaller corners, and the canal on the back captured most of the zest, which made it easy to remove it with the swoop of a finger. It also did an amazing job on hard cheese. It took practically no effort at all to grate Parmesan. The final result? Fluffy flakes of cheese that almost curved on themselves. The soft cheese, however, was a different story. We had to apply a lot more pressure and didn’t get great results, with most of the cheese gumming up in the back of the grater or prematurely breaking off. Plus, when we went to clean this grater by hand, it wasn't as easy as other options. The smaller holes made it difficult to get food out, to the point where we gave up and put it in the dishwasher. Material: Stainless steel | Blade Types: Fine | Care: Dishwasher-safe Real Simple / Irvin Lin Best Box Cuisipro 4-Sided Boxed Grater PHOTO: Amazon $35 at Amazon $37 at Target $40 at Walmart What Stands Out The four different blade surfaces are super sharp and rust-resistant. What Could Be Improved Cut-resistant gloves should be worn, and the bottom cap can be difficult to get off. Box graters are a go-to choice for many home cooks, thanks to their versatility and stability. We found this box grater to be exactly those things, and due to its performance, we believe it will last a long while. This can be credited to its sturdy material and impressive sharpness—the rust-resistant blades on this grater are so sharp that we would recommend cut-resistant gloves to prevent injury. That said, the sharpness resulted in extremely effecting grating, and there's an ergonomic handle with a non-slip finish for added safety. Both soft and hard cheese ended up distinctly shredded, and the zesting portion of the tool was able to zest an orange without taking out the pith (though the zest was a little wet). Overall, our we were pleased with this grater’s value, and it took practically no effort to use. Material: Stainless steel | Blade Types: Ultra coarse, coarse, fine, and slice | Care: Dishwasher-safe Real Simple / Donna Currie Best for Cheese Zyliss Smooth Glide Dual Grater PHOTO: Amazon $22 at Amazon $22 at Wayfair What Stands Out The ergonomic handle, non-slip feet, and razor-sharp blades allow for easy grating. What Could Be Improved The surface area is smaller than box-style graters. People might be averse to this type of grater because it looks like it requires more effort to use than your average box grater. However, we did not find that be the case—it's very easy to use. The handle is sturdy enough to hold with just one hand, and we didn’t have to apply an excess amount of pressure for it to successfully shred and zest food. We had great results with our soft and hard cheeses, with the coarse grinding option producing larger and thicker clumps of cheese quite easily. The fine blade left very small clumps and ribbons of cheese. You can use both the coarse and fine blades for zesting: When using the coarser blade, the grater produced thick and ribbon-like zest pieces' that would be great for a garnish, while the finer blade gave us smaller, delicate little circular flakes. The only drawback of this grater is that because it's smaller, it doesn’t give you as much surface area to grate as traditional box-style graters do. Material: Stainless steel | Blade Types: Coarse, fine | Care: Dishwasher-safe Real Simple / Perri Kressel Best Flat Rosle Medium Grater PHOTO: Amazon $38 at Amazon $45 at Walmart What Stands Out It's great for hard cheeses and zest. What Could Be Improved It's not great for soft cheeses, and the zest isn't as fine as it is with a rasp-style grater. Flat graters offer convenience that other graters can’t match. By laying the grater flat, you don’t have to apply as much pressure as you would to hold an upright grater in place. We certainly found this to be true in testing, as we were able to actually place it over our plate while grating. It was incredibly easy to use with hard cheese in particular, because the rubber feet provided great support. Soft cheese, on the other hand, didn’t fare as well. We were able to produce some shreds, but doing so required more pressure. Plus, the soft cheese started to break off while grating. We had success with our orange zest, though the holes on this grater aren't quite as fine as the Microplane and other rasp graters. Still, we’d recommend this for its smart design, solid performance, and high-quality build. Material: Stainless steel | Blade Type: Medium (between fine and coarse) | Care: Dishwasher-safe Best Rotary Vivaant Cheese Grater PHOTO: Amazon $30 at Amazon What Stands Out The blades aren't exposed, and there are storage tubes to catch the shreds. What Could Be Improved You can't rest it on the counter when grating. Rotary graters are ideal for people who don’t want to risk cutting their fingers when grating, as the blade is inside the plastic housing. All you have to do is place your food in the hopper and turn the crank, and you’ll end up with perfectly grated food. The hopper in this rotary grater is larger than others we've tested, so we didn't need to refill it often. We were really impressed with how the hard cheese came out—a large volume of fluffy, feathery cheese with each turn—and we thought it was much thinner than anything you can buy at the grocery store. Soft cheese was not as easy to grate, as it required a lot more pressure to obtain shreds. Granted, it wasn't designed for soft cheeses, so this wasn’t surprising. This rotary grater comes with two blades and convenient storage tubes that you can attach while grating. Keep in mind that this grater style does require extra elbow grease to operate, as you can’t rest it on a countertop while grating. Material: Plastic, stainless steel blades | Blade Types: Fine, coarse | Care: Dishwasher-safe Real Simple / Kimberly Holland Best With a Container KitchenAid Gourmet 4-Sided Stainless Steel Box Grater PHOTO: Amazon $22 at Amazon $16 at Wayfair View on Bed Bath & Beyond What Stands Out The storage container holds up to 2 cups. What Could Be Improved It didn't do a good job zesting an orange. People who meal prep will really appreciate this convenient box grater from KitchenAid. It comes with a compartment that you can attach to the grater while shredding, so you can transport it directly to the fridge without having to pull out an additional food storage container. The little compartment can hold between 1/2 cup and 2 cups, giving you enough cheese to sprinkle over a salad, or cover a small pizza. We liked how stable this grater was on the counter, and found that the best results came from grating cheeses. The blades produced consistent shreds on both hard and soft options—the shredded mozzarella looked just like what you’d get at the grocery store. The fine blade was not as successful when grating citrus; it ended up being quite wet and clumped together, so we would probably stick to a rasp-style grater, like the Microplane, for that specific task. Material: Stainless steel | Blade Type: Coarse, medium, fine, slicer | Care: Dishwasher-safe Real Simple / Taysha Murtaugh Final Verdict The Microplane 4-Sided Stainless Steel Professional Box Grater is our favorite grater because it produced even shreds of hard cheese, soft cheese, and citrus, the latter of which was hard to achieve with other grater types we tested. It was also comfortable to use and the blades were sharp enough that we didn’t need to apply much pressure to get the job done. Our Testing Process We tested 22 different graters in our lab and evaluated them on ease of use, performance, cleaning, and value. Our first test involved examining each grater out of the box, noting its versatility, size, weight, and whether or not it was comfortable to hold, among other features. For box- and rasp-style graters, we tested their grating abilities with hard cheese (Parmesan), soft cheese (mozzarella), and citrus (an orange). We took into account how much effort it took to grate each food type, how effective the grater was at shredding, and the quality, size, and texture of the grated food. For rotary-style graters, we performed the same tests with just the cheeses. We also noted whether there were any special features or additional accessories that made the grating experience better. After we completed these tests, we cleaned each grater and rated them on how easy they were to wash, including how difficult it was to get food out of the holes in the blades. We used all this information to come up with the best graters. How to Shop for a Grater Like a Pro Grater Type The most common type of grater is a box grater, which is loved for its versatility because it comes with four grating options (though some brands offer more). The next most common grater is the rasp grater, which some people also refer to as a Microplane (Microplane is actually a brand that makes rasp graters). Rasp graters with fine blades excel at zesting citrus, so much so that many homes cooks often have these types of rasp graters in addition to a box grater. There are other rasp graters that also have larger grating holes that produce more medium or coarse shreds. Other types of graters include flat graters, which can be operated horizontally, and rotary graters, which have no exposed blades. For rotary graters, you put your cheese in a hopper and turn a crank to lower it into the cylindrical grinders found inside the machine. The one that’s best for you depends on what types of food you're looking to grate and how often. Box graters are a solid choice for anyone, but we found during our testing that some zest better than others. We also discovered that box graters are easiest for shredding soft cheeses, so if you frequently shred soft cheese but also want to zest citrus, we recommend getting a box-style grater and a rasp grater with fine blades. Rotary graters are designed for things like cheese, nuts, and chocolate, and are great for people who want to avoid getting their fingers cut while grating. Meanwhile, flat graters are convenient because you don’t have to put in the additional effort of keeping them upright the way you do with other more traditional graters. Real Simple / Kimberly Holland Blade Types Blade types include coarse (largest), medium (between coarse and fine), fine, and a slicer. “A simple general rule of thumb is a coarse blade grater is best for any ingredient, like cheese or a vegetable, that’s going to be cooked—think hash browns, zucchini fritters, mozzarella or cheddar cheese that should melt while cooking,” Flores says. “A fine grater is best for finishing (like Parmigiano-Reggiano or lemon zest on a dish) or ingredients where a little goes a long way (like spices—whole nutmeg, horseradish, grated ginger)," she adds. "A medium grater could be used in either scenario, but I don’t really feel a medium grater is essential to one’s kitchen. Coarse and fine should do the trick!” Box graters usually come with all three of those options, and usually a slicer, too, making them a great investment. However, if you do a lot of fine grating, getting a separate rasp grater may be a worthwhile investment. During our testing, we found that rasp graters often did a better job at zesting than box graters. For Flores, having a separate rasp grater is essential. “I am of the belief that everyone should own a Microplane,” she says. “It’s a top five item used in my kitchen. I use a box grater and Microplane, but if I had to pick only one, it would be a Microplane.” Comfort Getting a grater that is comfortable in your hand is important because grating is a slightly labor-intensive kitchen task that, depending on how much you need to grate, can take a long time. Box graters have such a sturdy base that oftentimes you don’t need to put much pressure on the handle for it to stay in place. For rasp graters, you have to balance the grater on your countertop to keep it upright, making it less stable than a box grater. For rotary graters, you have to hold it up entirely with one hand and turn the crank with the other, which can become tiresome. For the least amount of effort, flat graters work well because you can lay them horizontally on a counter and they should stay in place so you only need to grate with one hand—the Rösle Stainless Steel Medium Grater is a good example of a well-made flat grater. More Graters to Consider Zwilling Z-Cut Tower/Box Grater: We really liked the included storage compartment built inside this grater, the fact that you could use the grater horizontally, and the two-way blades, which resulted in consistent and professional cheese shreds. However, it’s much more expensive than other comparable models. Utopia Kitchen Stainless Steel 6-Sided Grater: This grater stands out for having six grating options, including a zester, coarse blade, small blade, large blade, and two slicers. It did great when grating cheese but unfortunately fell really short with the orange zest. Real Simple / Prairie Rose Questions You Might Ask Will the blades on a grater dull overtime? Yes. “Graters are essentially lots of little knives,” Slagle says. “Imagine your knives if you never sharpened them—that’s the grater you’ve had for five years.” Unlike knives, though, there is no way for you to sharpen the blades on a grater. So unfortunately, this is a product that you will have to replace as the years go by. Slagle says the biggest mistake she sees people make with their graters is not replacing them when they start to wear. “If you’re struggling when you grate on it, or the ingredients are grating in mushy mounds instead of individual pieces, then it’s time to retire it,” she says. You can prolong the life of your blades by washing your grater by hand, since the environment of a dishwasher is known to dull blades over time and, according to Slagle, by being mindful of your grating technique. “It’s tempting to grate quickly up and down in a small area, but longer swipes down the full grater will extend your grater’s lifespan,” she says. Do I need a separate grater for zesting? It depends on what you typically cook. We found during our testing that rasp graters with fine blades tend to do the best when it comes to zesting, like the Microplane Classic Zester. If you find yourself frequently zesting citrus or grating spices for recipes, both Slagle and Flores recommend having a rasp grater in addition to a box grater. “I consider a rasp grater one of the most essential kitchen tools,” Slagle says. “You could grate citrus on a box grater, but the pieces might be larger and therefore more assertive than you’re after; they may also pick up some of the bitter pith, for better or worse.” If you’d prefer to have one grater and one grater only, we encourage you to try zesting on whatever grater you choose—if it has a fine blade option, that is. We found during our testing that some did produce acceptable zests, like the Microplane 4-Sided Stainless Steel Professional Box Grater. Take Our Word for It This article was written by Rachel Center, a product reviews home writer for Real Simple. We researched the best graters and tested 22 of the most popular options in our lab, evaluating them on ease of use, performance, cleaning, and value. We also sought the advice of Ali Slagle, recipe developer and cookbook author, and Cristina Flores, VP of Product at Eataly North America. What Is Real Simple Selects? Next to each product on this list, you may have noticed a Real Simple Selects seal of approval. Any product appearing alongside that seal has been vetted by our team—put through tests and graded on its performance to earn a spot on our list. Although we buy most of the products we test, sometimes we do get samples from companies if purchasing a product ourselves isn't an option. All products go through the same rigorous process, whether they are purchased or sent by the company. Love our recommendations? 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