We Tested Graters: Here Are the Best Ones

Jun 12, 2025

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Make quick work of cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and more.

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A grater is an essential kitchen tool—with it, you can cut down on meal prep time and get 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).

To find the best graters on the market, we tested 22 different graters in our lab and judged them based on ease of use, performance, cleaning, and value. In addition to talking to Slagle, we also chatted with Cristina Flores, VP of product at Eataly North America, on what makes a great grater.

The four-sided grater features coarse, fine, ribbon, and slicing blades.

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

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It makes quick work of harder items, like aged cheeses and citrus zest.

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

The blades aren't exposed, and there are storage tubes to catch the shreds.

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

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The storage container holds up to 2 cups.

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

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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.

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.

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 have 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 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.

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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.”

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.

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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.