At the end of a tough day, it can be hard to motivate yourself to cook a healthy meal. We’ve all been there: Sometimes you just have to order in or resort to pre-packaged foods. But make this a habit, and your healthy diet can start slipping — fast. Most restaurant meals are much more caloric than homemade dishes and studies suggest that spending time cooking meals at home leads to better dietary habits.
By preparing your own fare, you’ll have more control over what ingredients go into each serving. And when you have the right kitchen tools on hand, assembling healthy meals can become a cinch. Did you know there’s a spiralizer that can prep veggies for a salad in a flash or a multi-level steamer for cooking protein and greens all at once? We found these and other gadgets (plus guilt-free recipes!) that will motivate you to drop that take-out menu and whip up your own five-star meal.
RELATED: 12 Brilliant Meal Prep Ideas to Free Up Your Time
20 New Kitchen Gadgets for Healthy Home Cooks
1. Cut It Out
Turn an ordinary salad into a delicious chopped dish with the Trudeau Toss and Chop Salad Tongs. Simply throw your fixings (like kale and beets for the fall cleanse salad pictured above) in a serving bowl and the inventive scissors will cut all the vegetables at once. ($17, amazon.com)
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2. Preserve Your Produce
Hate using half a lemon for a recipe and the leftover piece goes bad? Food Huggers silicon covers create an airtight seal for lemons, cucumbers, avocados and other produce, which preserve freshness. Whip up these zucchini bread pancakes and use these colorful accessories to protect the leftover zucchini from spoiling or dehydrating. ($10; foodhuggers.com)
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3. Bowl-in-One
Save time by using the Black and Decker Glass Bowl Chopper to blend or dice foods, then nuke them in the microwave, or just serve them in the same bowl. You can even use this device to make homemade almond butter if you’ve got a nutty craving. ($21; blackanddeckerappliances.com)
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RELATED: 8 Lower-Calorie Nut Butter Recipes
4. All Yolks Aside
With a quick squeeze of this silicone tool, you’ll suck up the yellow center and be left with just egg whites for cooking. The Quirky Pluck Yolk Extractor is the perfect accessory for making spinach, eggs and ham muffins, where you need to extract in bulk. ($9; amazon.com)
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5. Give It a Curl
You’ve never cut vegetables like this before. The Paderno Spiralizer creates strands of zucchini, cucumber, potatoes and more. Use your twirled veggies as a substitute for regular pasta in stir-fry and Italian dishes like this zucchini noodle meatball recipe. ($65; williams-sonoma.com)
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6. Savor the Flavor
The Prepara Herb Saver will keep your sprigs of rosemary fresh for up to three weeks. In other words, you’ll easily be able to make lemon chicken with thyme and hazelnut orzo for dinner without having to run out to the store for herbs. ($32; wayfair.com)
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7. Easy Squares
Love avocado but hate digging the tasty fruit out of its peel to create an avocado and pomegranate frisé salad? With a quick press and twist of this Williams-Sonoma Avocado Cuber you’ll have perfect pieces in seconds. ($18; williams-sonoma.com)
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RELATED: 9 Must-Try Guacamole Recipes
8. A Perfect Steam
Steam multiple foods at the same time in the microwave with the Chef’N SteamSum. It’s ideal when everyone has a different go-to green or to when you want to make a veggie-heavy dish like this curry spice bowl. ($64; amazon.com)
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9. Center of Attention
Dishes like loaded peppers or spinach and quinoa stuffed tomatoes are a healthy and delicious dinner option, but boy can those cores and seeds be pesky to remove! Cut it out in one fell swoop with this Chef’N Pepper Corer, then easily add your ingredients to the clean vegetable shell. ($10; williams-sonoma.com)
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10. It’s All Greek to Me
If you’re addicted to Greek yogurt, but not the price tag for store-bought brands, try making your own instead. Homemade batches of protein-rich yogurt is just steps away with the Dash Greek Yogurt Maker. (Plus, you can use soy or almond milk if you’re going dairy-free.) Time for some blueberry parfaits! ($40; wayfair.com)
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11. Try the Pie
The kids want pizza for dinner, so give it to them! Homemade, that is. Whip up pear and prosciutto pizza together and bake it in the backyard with the Cuisinart Alfrescamore Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven. ($200; cuisinart.com)
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12. Lose the Stems
Your next kale salad will be a breeze to prepare thanks to the Chef’n Looseleaf Kale and Herb Stripper. It quickly removes the tough stems that are attached to kale, Swiss chard and collard greens. ($8; surlatable.com)
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RELATED: 10 Creative Recipes With Kale
13. Shake and Go
Talk about time-saver — especially during your morning routine. Blend and drink this Matcha Pear Green Protein Smoothie, or any other shake, out of the same container using the Oster Blend’N Go MyBlend Blender. ($25; oster.com)
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14. Seal It Shut
When making a dish like cherry chia seed pudding, you know you’re going to have leftovers. Pick and choose which size Lifefactory storage containers can fit your extras and enjoy them over the next week. ($15-20 depending on size; lifefactory.com)
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15. Pop Things Off
Yes, microwave popcorn tastes so good, but do you know what’s actually in those bags? Trust us, you don’t want to! Pop your own using the Waring Popcorn Maker with Melting Pot, and maybe sprinkle some dark chocolate drizzle on top for a healthy dessert. Or, use your kernels to make these coconut curry popcorn balls for a party popping snack. ($60; amazon.com)
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16. Berry Convenient
After you wash and clean your grapes and berries to make a seasonal fruit salad, it’s hard to know what to put them in for storage. A regular container tends to collect water at the bottom. Throw them into the Chef’N Bramble Berry Storage container, which gathers and keeps condensation separate from the food. ($10; amazon.com)
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17. Just the Right Temp
Get the perfect steak every time with the Cuisinart Wireless Meat Thermometer. Put the metal end into your protein, then keep the wireless monitor on you as you walk away to watch TV or entertain guests. You’ll be able to see exactly when your steak with chimichurri sauce is done. ($40; cuisinart.com)
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RELATED: 30-Minute Meals for Quick, Healthy Dinner Ideas
18. Two-Timing
Even one extra dish can be a pain after slaving away in the kitchen to make a scrumptious meal like this gazpacho shrimp salad. Instead, use the Joseph Joseph serving bowl to wash the veggies, toss and serve in the same bowl. ($17; wayfair.com)
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19. Measure It Out
You’ll no longer groan when you have to rinse grains before cooking them for a dish. This Chef’S Planet Handheld Measuring Colander lets you measure, rinse and strain — easy peasy. So go ahead, make that sweet and savory quinoa oatmeal recipe. ($15; williams-sonoma.com)
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20. Year-Round Grilling
Craving some BBQ? Now you can keep an eye on your protein rain or shine, thanks to the George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Electric Grill. No matter the weather, flip your burger or tequila-glazed grilled shrimp. ($130; georgeforemancooking.com)
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Written by Alex Orlov and Amy Schlinger
Disclosure: All products featured on our site are hand-picked by our editorial team in the hopes of getting you closer to your health and fitness goals. We only recommend products we love and believe that you will, too. If you come across an affiliate link on our site, that means we receive a small commission should you decide to make a purchase.
Originally published April 2015. Updated March 2017.