Mini choppers are one of many gadgets that are key to plating up one of Jamie's 30-minute meals in time, but which actually makes your kitchen life easier? We put the best to the test.
There isn’t a chef on television who at some point hasn’t whipped out a mini-chopper to make quick work of a pesto or marinade. In fact, little gadgets like these are the key to plating up one of Jamie’s 30-minute meals within the time frame.
But which ones actually make your kitchen life easier, and which just mean more washing up? We tested the best to find out.
James Martin
James Martin knows the need for a shortcut in the kitchen, and his range of cookware by Wahl includes a mini chopper.
In the league of the Kenwood mini-chopper (cheap and cheerful), it’s nice and compact, and, with three speeds, allows you to control your chopping well. It’s also got little suckers on the feet to keep the chopper from sliding off your work tops.
However, it is incredibly loud and the blade is not that sharp. It made slow work of an onion, but in the end left nice even pieces.
Unfortunately, it failed to finely dice large chunks of celery and carrot and pulped a bunch of green herbs rather than chopping finely.
For a gadget that is supposed to speed things up in the kitchen, it wasn’t a stellar performance.
Magimix Micro mini-chopper
The first thing I did after taking the Magimix Micro mini-chopper out the box was cut myself. The blades are definitely sharp. And the design is well thought out. The unit comes with a spatula which fits exactly to the height of the chopper bowl. This means you can get everything off the outside wall in one spatula swipe.
Unlike the Wahl chopper, the Magimix lid has an opening to pour in liquids. So, for example this would allow you to make the mayonnaise for this coronation chicken recipe in it, using the plastic emulsifying blade for sauces.
It chopped its way through onions, carrots, celery, nuts and herbs in no time, fulfilling its potential as a time saver – it would certainly speed up this recipe for veggie burgers.
The only niggling annoyance is that it only has a pulse button. This is so you don’t accidentally pulp everything, but it does mean you can’t leave it and get on with something else whilst it’s running.
The Russell Hobbs Allure
The brand new Russell Hobbs Allure mini-ball chopper is also a hands-on appliance. In fact, you’re supposed to gyrate it around it’s small round stand in order to optimise chopping potential, and impress anyone who’s watching.
The chopper looks super cool, but it’s really style over substance. Having the motor on the top means you need a lid covering the bowl which is fiddly to secure.
The blade and rotating movement also propels the chopped food to the outside walls of the bowl, and you cannot get it back in the middle to be chopped more. So unless it’s really full, you’ll get big chunks alongside smaller shards. Saying this, it’s powerful, sharp and quick and dealt with everything I threw in it.
Cleaning it was a different matter. With lots of plastic grooves and that lid, it really was an effort to clean. It’s also not dishwasher safe. (Please note: this device is so new, it wasn’t even on the Russell Hobbs website at the time of writing!)
Oxo Good Grips chopper
After all that speed, I wanted to see if any manual mini-choppers could take on their electric counterparts.
The Oxo Good Grips chopper did just that, dicing half an onion evenly and with very little effort from me. To use it, you press down on a sprung handle which pushes the blade into whatever you are chopping. Each time you press down, the blade rotates 45 degrees so it chops different bits each time.
It was very sharp and designed incredibly well, with a removable pot on the bottom and a reusable lid to seal it if you had leftover chopped ingredients. It also comes with a spatula to scrape the sides and the whole thing comes apart easily for washing. Plus, you can secure the spring so it’s even smaller to fit in your cupboards.
When making a recipe like this fruit and nut pilaf, it would be a huge time saver. It does have a much smaller capacity, though, than the electric choppers.
Which was the best?
So which was best? If you are ready to get it out the cupboard plug it in and then wash the whole thing afterwards, I would definitely choose the Magimix Le Micro. It was sharpest by far (I learned the hard way), the quickest, and surprisingly the most simple. It also comes in lots of colours and looks nice – if that’s something you’re bothered about.
However, the Good Grips is certainly a cheaper option and is incredibly convenient for storing anything you don’t use for that meal. Plus you’ll get a nice workout.
Also worthy of your attention:
Recipe: Jamie’s Rib Eye stir-fry
Journal: The top electric juicers