50 Holiday Gift Ideas for the Home Chef

$5 – $20

$20 – 50

$50 – $100

$100+

1) 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer

Every slice your hand trying to open and slice avocados? This tool has all three features you need to safely and efficiently make perfect avocado slices: an opener, a de-seeder, and a slicer. Try it with our Ultimate Chicken Nachos recipe!

2) Sushi-Making Kit

Bring some friends over and have a sushi party with this easy-to-use sushi-making kit. It comes with two bamboo sushi mats, a rice paddle, and a rice spreader. If you get this gift for someone, Jiro would be proud.

3) Himalayan Salt Block

If you’ve seen our recipe for Himalayan Salt Block Seared Surf-n-Turf, you’ll need this. You can use it in the oven or on the barbecue and it imparts a wonderful flavor to your food. No extra seasoning required!

4) Bear Claw Meat Shredder

With this tool, you can pull pork and shred chicken like a pro. These are also useful for tossing salads or picking up a hot turkey without burning yourself. Try using them with our BBQ Jackfruit Sliders with Slaw recipe!

5) Citrus Squeezer

Maybe you prefer getting a workout trying to squeeze out the juice from lemons, limes, and oranges by hand. If you don’t feel like working up a sweat in the kitchen, this gadget will effortlessly give fresh citrus juice without any seeds. It definitely comes in handy when we make Zesty Lime-cooked Shrimp Ceviche.

6) Silicone Baking Sheets

If you’re environmentally-conscious and hate wasting new aluminum foil every time you bake something (like our Double Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies), try using these reusable silicone baking sheets. They’re also ridiculously easy to clean!

7) Apple Slicer & Corer

It’s a hassle individually slicing apples. This tool makes it easy to make perfect-sized apple slices without the core.

8) Vacu Vin Wine Saver

If you go to any high-end winery tasting room, you’ll notice that they use this nifty device to quickly and efficiently remove air from the bottle, which prevents oxidation and keeps your wine tasting fresh and delicious.

9) Spice Cabinet Organizer

Is your spice cabinet a complete mess? Do you find yourself constantly fishing for the right spice jar, wasting time in the kitchen? If so, this convenient spice cabinet organizer keeps all your spices tidy and neat. A must-have!

10) Nonstick Springform Pan

If you’ve ever wondered how deep dish pizzas or cheesecakes are made, this is your answer. This dishwasher-safe pan snaps open on the sides, allowing for seamless, unbroken crust to your dish.

11) Cuisinart Salad Spinner

We hate when you’re eating a Roasted Thai Salad and bite down on some dirt you didn’t see before. This simple-to-use device lets you quickly wash off and dry your lettuce, arugula, kale, etc., keeping it fresh and contaminant-free.

12) Stainless Steel Garlic Press

Mincing garlic by hand is soooo cumbersome. This garlic press lets you both peel and mince garlic (or ginger) in a breeze. It has three chambers for easy clean-up.

13) Silicone Egg Rings

Have you wondered how to make the perfect Egg McMuffin Sandwiches? Worry not, these nifty gadgets let you make perfect circular egg patties.

14) Laguiole-Style Knife Set

Looking for a colorful, sturdy, and sharp knife set? These 9-inch stainless steel knives also come with a wooden storage block.

15) White Marble Mortar & Pestle

To make true, authentic guacamole, you should use this beautifully-crafted marble Mortar & Pestle. It’s also useful for crushing herbs into fresh, fragrant spice mixes.

16) Cuisinart Smart Stick Immersion Blender

This is perhaps our most-used device in the kitchen. With 2 speeds, an ergonomic design, and a detatchable base, this immersion blender comes in handy when mixing/blending, anything, like Sundried Tomato Hummus.

17) Tasty Food Photography eBook

For any home chef looking to take professional-looking photographs of their food, this eBook, created by Pinch of Yum, is absolutely essential.

18) Craft Carbon Steel Wok

Of all woks out there, this particular one is king. It is lightweight but made from tough carbon steel. Great for making Pad Thai. Note that it is round-bottomed (so only suitable for gas, not electric stoves)

19) Nutribullet High Speed Blender

This high-end, quality blender will whip up a smoothie, a fire-roasted salsa, or a soup in mere seconds!

20) Chemex Coffeemaker

For the coffee addicts out there, this easy-to-use coffeemaker reportedly produces the purest flavor coffee and also has an elegant design.

21) Kainnt Mandoline Slicer

A mandoline is a cooking tool used to easily slice, julienne, or crinkle-cut ingredients. This one has 5 different blades and a convenient bottom-compartment. It’s great for making a Potato Gratin.

22) Crab Leg Cracker Tool

This sturdy multi-use crab cracker is designed to easily cut through crab/lobster shells, isolating the meat from any shell fragments. Very useful for making Crab Bisque with fresh crab.

23) Electric Crepe Maker

If you’ve ever made crepes before, you know that they can be fickle and hard to get right. With this device, you can whip up a whole batch of delicious crepes in no time at all. Also super easy cleanup.

24) Pyrex Meal Prep Storage Containers

Any chef knows the importance of proper food storage. Pyrex brand glass containers are microwave-safe, easily stackable, and keep your food fresher longer.

25) Shanti’s Spice Box

This has been an amazing investment for us. It contains 30 different Indian spices, giving you the flexibility of making almost any Indian dish, like Aloo Gobi.

26) Cuisinart Food Processor

Food processors speed up your ingredient prep by light-years. This 3-cup device will chop, grind, blend, and mince. It also comes with a spatula so you don’t leave behind any Magic Green Sauce.

27) Oneida Camlynn Mirror Flatware Set

This stainless steel flatware is lightweight yet sturdy and dishwasher-safe. Very elegant as well.

28) Wancle Sous Vide Cooker

Sous-vide is a technique that involves cooking food for a long time in a low temperature water bath. It used to only be used by professional chefs but now it’s price is accessible to the budding home chef. Try our Santa Maria Tri-Tip recipe with this.

29) Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

This fun toy lets you make delicious homemade ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Easy to use and easy to clean. It made excellent Ginger Peach Ice Cream.

30) Chef’s Choice Knife Sharpener

Dull blades are no fun. This electric knife sharpener has a three-stage process that will keep your knives (both straight and serrated) extra-sharp.

31) Ceramic-Coated Cookware Set

Any home chef needs a good cookware set. We recommend this one since it comes with 10 pieces, has nonstick ceramic surfaces, and won’t break your wallet.

32) Kitchen Aid Dish Rack

This multifunctional drying rack for dishes makes your life so much easier. It is well-designed, self-draining, and stores a tong of dishes at once. It’s a game-changer.

33) Yongnuo Lens for Nikon DSLR

Any good camera needs a good lens. This lens, known as a “Nifty-Fifty”, is the ideal lens for food photography and is much cheaper than brand-name lenses.

34) Ninestars Automatic Touchless Garbage Can

At first I was skeptical, but after buying and using this garbage can, I LOVE it. You don’t have to touch a button or press down on a pedal to open it. It’s literally magical.

35) Nostalgia 3-in-1 Breakfast Station

If your home chef is pinched for space in the kitchen, this nifty gadget is a cool space-saving breakfast maker that will let you simultaneously make coffee, toast bread, and fry eggs & sausage.

36) Wood Spice Rack

For anyone just getting into home cooking or moving to a new kitchen, or just want to supplement your spice inventory, this is a great gift idea and comes with 16 different spices in easy-to-use jars.

37) Handmade Clay Tagine

This cooking dish is commonly used in Morocco as a way to steam and braise complex tastes and aromas, such as our Chicken, Olive, & Raisin Tagine recipe. It can be used in both the oven and on the stove.

38) Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine

Zoe got me this for our first Christmas together. This multifunctional device lets you roll, cut, and separate pasta. It lets you choose a specific thickness and width of pasta. Here’s our Foolproof Pasta Dough recipe.

39) Instant Pot

This 7-in-1 device is super versatile. It uses controlled pressure and temperature to lets you slow cook, steam, or saute almost anything. It makes dishes up to 70% faster than when using traditional methods.

40) Nikon D3100 DSLR

Every food photographer needs a good camera. This makes for a great holiday gift. It comes with two lenses, shoots in both raw and jpeg formats, and also supports 1080p video.

41) Wüsthof 8-inch Chef Knife

The quintessential element of every home chef is an excellent chef knife. Wüsthof is know for being the top-of-the-line knife makers. Perfectly balanced, ergonomic, and extra-sharp.

42) Staub Everyday Pan

Staub makes the premier cookware in the world. Made in France, these are made to last. We recently used ours to make a Creamy Meaball Piccata.

43) Northern Brewer Homebrew Kit

Although we don’t post it on the site, we dabble in homebrewing. This is the starter kit that we use that has all the right tools to make your first 5 gallon batch of beer. It’s awesome to bring your own 6 pack to a potluck.

44) Ooni 3 Outdoor Pizza Oven

How cool is this?! We don’t actually have one but this baby will preheat to 700F in 10 minutes cook a pizza in only 60 seconds. It would be great for our White Garlic Mushroom Pizza recipe.

45) Vitamix 5200 Blender

I’m sure you’ve seen this professional-grade blender at Costco before. It can make incredibly smooth textured recipes like ice cream, peanut butter, or soups.

46) Apple Watch Series 5

With an Apple Watch, you can leave your phone charging in another room. It lets you set timers, check messages, and show you how many calories you burn while making Pumpkin Gnocchi. Oh and don’t worry about getting it wet in the kitchen, it’s waterproof.

47) Char-Broil 4-Burner Gas Grill

Grilling is one of the most fun and social ways to cook. What home chef wouldn’t love to have a cast-iron grated grill for the holidays? Try this grill out with our Hawaiian Chicken Kebab recipe.

48) Philips TurboStar Air Fryer

Air frying is an alternative method of frying food, giving delicious results but much healthier. This is one of the highest-rated on Amazon and is definitely on our wish list.

49) Amazon Echo Plus

When you’re cooking and have messy hands, Amazon’s Alexa can be your voice-activated personal assistant, setting timers, playing music, or asking cooking questions.

50) Hoover Bagless Vacuum Cleaner

Cleaning is just as important as cooking and having a powerful but lightweight vacuum cleaner makes your post-meal cleanup much less cumbersome. This one is also especially great at picking up our cat’s fur.