The tomato grinder is a versatile and wonderful kitchen tool! From making sauces to canning prep and more, a great tomato grinder is a must-have for many tomato prep tasks.
But with so many options out there, it can be tricky finding the best tomato grinder to get a specific job done.
Read on for our roundup of the best tomato grinders for all sorts of different tasks. You’ll also find some crucial things to consider when choosing the best tomato grinder for your particular needs.
Our Top Picks for the Best Tomato Grinder
Best for Sauce:
VBENLEM 110V Electric Tomato Strainer
Best for Juice:
Omega NC900HDC Cold Press Juicer Machine
Best for Canning:
Weston Food Strainer and Sauce Maker
Best for Removing Skins and Seeds:
CucinaPro Tomato Strainer
Best for Making Sauce
VBENLEM 110V Electric Tomato Strainer
When it comes to making tomato sauce, it’s imperative you choose the best tomato grinder for the challenge. Making tomato sauce can be a long and intensive process, so you want a grinder that can handle a lot of bulk and help cut down on your grinding time.
Another key factor in this choice is finding a tomato grinder with a high output of actual sauce. The less that’s wasted in this process, the better! Bearing that in mind, we recommend the VBENLEM 110V Electric Tomato Strainer as the best tomato grinder for making sauce.
This commercial-grade tomato grinder is sturdy, durable, and a powerful tool that makes a phenomenal, smooth sauce. Its high-grade motor ensures that little to no tomato goes to waste. The grinder design also ensures that no bits of tomato end up in your final sauce product.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Makes a great, smooth tomato sauce
- Durable and high quality
Cons:
- Can have some issues with jamming while grinding certain sizes or shapes of tomatoes
Best for Making Juice
Omega NC900HDC Cold Press Juicer Machine
Drinking tomato juice is a wonderful way to enjoy all the health benefits of tomatoes without worrying about that sometimes off-putting tomato texture. Best of all, when juicing tomatoes, you can even mask the acidic taste with sweeter juices!
To make the best tomato juice at home, with the highest possible juice volume and nutrient index and as little waste as possible, we recommend the Omega NC900HDC Cold Press Juicer Machine for the job.
This grinder is designed to slowly and efficiently break down your tomatoes and other fruits and veggies to extract nutrients. Its masticating blades ensure that as much of the product as possible is broken down without any waste.
You also have options for several different kinds of pressure to apply when extracting the juice from the grinder so you remain in control of the juice output at all times.
Pros:
- Puts out a high volume of juice
- Does a great job extracting every bit of nutrients possible
Cons:
- Some customers have reported issues with pulp jamming after continued use
- Can be delicate in some aspects compared to other juicing machines
Best for Canning
Weston Food Strainer and Sauce Maker
Preparing tomatoes for canning can be a process in a league all its own. There is a lot that goes into preparing your tomatoes for canning and optimizing their storage and freshness, in order to extend shelf life.
If your specific goal when grinding tomatoes is to can them, we recommend the Weston Food Strainer and Sauce Maker, which is the best tomato grinder for canning. It’s designed specifically for easily breaking down large batches of tomatoes with speed and ease.
The ground tomatoes from the Weston Food Strainer and Sauce Maker come out at the perfect consistency for canning. This tomato grinder also has a feature for separating seeds and skins, so there’s no need to strain or fish them out after the grinding process is complete.
Pros:
- Cuts down the prep time for canning by quite a bit
- Makes the perfect consistency for canning tomatoes
Cons:
- Does not have the sturdiest or most durable build
Best for Removing Seeds and Skins
CucinaPro Tomato Strainer
One of the key purposes of all the best tomato grinders is to cut down the time and effort put into mashing, grinding, and otherwise breaking down tomatoes for all sorts of recipes. A crucial component of the grinding process is getting out the seeds and removing the skins.
Sometimes you don’t want to have to remove the skins before you begin the grinding process or take time to strain the seeds aftward. If you are looking for the best tomato grinder to remove tomato seeds and skins, then we recommend the CucinaPro Tomato Strainer.
This tomato grinder is easy to use and store, and, best of all, it’s built to express skins and seeds off to the side during the grinding process. This ensures no unwelcome seeds or funny textured skin makes it into your final ground tomato product.
Pros:
- Consistently performs well removing seeds and skins
- Has a great output amount
Cons:
- Customers have reported issues getting the grinder to suction properly to their worksurface
- Crank can occasionally be difficult to work
Best Multi-Use Grinder
OXO Good Grips Food Mill
Whether it’s making different sauces and jams, a juice that contains many fruits and veggies, or if you are looking for a multi-function kitchen tool, it can be wise to have a tomato grinder that will easily break down other things, too.
If you are hunting for a tomato grinder that can also be used to make things like baby purees, applesauce, and more, we recommend the OXO Good Grips Food Mill as the best multi-use tomato grinder.
This handheld food mill can turn tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables into homemade sauces and purees. It will fit securely to most pots and bowls for easy grinding and is a very safe and efficient hand-crank tomato grinder.
It also comes with several different grinding discs to switch up the texture and fineness of your ground foods. This is especially helpful as you switch between tomatoes and other fruits and veggies you want to grind!
Pros:
- Has a wide variety of grinding applications
- Easy to store and takes up minimal space
- Can be used to grind to several different consistencies
Cons:
- Not preferable for particularly large batches of grinding
- Requires lots of manual work to grind
- Can be difficult to grind harder fruits or veggies
Best Grinding Attachment
KitchenAid Fruit and Vegetable Attachment Strainer
Depending on what kitchen tools and appliances you already have, you may not want to add another tool to the mix. Tomato grinding attachments are an excellent resource to get the job done without adding a new appliance to your kitchen arsenal.
For those who have, or are planning to purchase, the popular KitchenAid stand mixer, we recommend the KitchenAid Fruit and Vegetable Attachment Strainer as the best tomato grinding attachment.
It will remove seeds and skins and has a large enough hopper to make grinding lots of tomatoes a breeze. This is also an easy attachment to disassemble and store, and it’s dishwasher safe–making it easy to keep and to clean when you’re finished using it.
Pros:
- Works fantastically with the KitchenAid stand mixer
- Requires minimal space for storage
- Does not require adding an entire new kitchen apparatus for tomato
Cons
- Can only be used with a KitchenAid stand mixer
- Does not fit with some of the older KitchenAid stand mixer models no longer for sale
Tomato Grinder Buyer’s Guide – Things to Consider
Ease of Use
When choosing the best tomato grinder, one important thing to remember is how easy you want the process to be. Different grinders have different ease of use, so you want one that fits your vision for the tomato grinding process.
Certain tomato grinders require little effort beyond loading the basket, turning them on, and ensuring nothing gets jammed. On the other hand, some tomato grinders must be watched and fed constantly to keep the process going.
There are also certain tomato grinders, like hand mill grinders, that require a truly hands-on process. This may be difficult for folks who struggle with joint pain or arthritis or for those who simply don’t have the time to work a hand crank model.
Do you need a tomato grinder that is easy and simple to use? Do you mind one that’s a little more manual? Which one best suits your skills and comfort level in the kitchen? These are all essential factors to consider when choosing the best tomato grinder for your kitchen.
Durability
The overall durability of any given tomato grinder can be very important in determining which is the best for your specific needs.
If you anticipate bumper crops of tomatoes each year, you certainly want to choose a tool with a longer lifespan. Different tomato grinders can wear out more quickly with repeated use. Some are not even intended to last more than one to two harvest seasons!
When choosing the best tomato grinder for yourself, research the design parts, warranty, and general lifespan of any given tomato grinder. This will help you determine if the expected durability of that grinder makes it the best tomato grinder for your needs.
Effectiveness in Grinding Tomatoes
While it may be a given that just about any tomato grinder can grind tomatoes, the efficiency and effectiveness with which they do it vary from one model to the next. It’s also important to consider how well a specific grinder does the job when choosing your tomato grinder!
Different grinders will rank differently in how well they grind tomatoes. Some are built to remove seeds and skins, while others are not. Some are better for juicing, mashing, etc. Each grinder will have pros and cons depending on how finely you want your tomatoes ground.
For this reason, looking into a tomato grinder’s efficiency will help you decide if that particular grinder will meet your needs and be a good fit for you.
Cleanliness
As anyone familiar with the kitchen knows, half of the hardship with food prep is the cleanup afterward. When selecting the best tomato grinder to fit into your culinary lifestyle, it’s important to determine how it fits into your cleanup efforts.
Some tomato grinders will have dishwasher-safe parts, while others do not. Among those that are not, there are also variances in how easy and safe they are to clean, based on the size and shape of crushing and grinding parts they contain.
Be sure you research the cleaning process for your tomato grinder of choice to ensure that you can effectively and safely clean it with the cleaning tools you have at your disposal.
How Many Tomatoes You’ll Be Grinding
If you plan to grind up a lot of tomatoes, you may find that a smaller or handheld tomato grinder is inefficient for your needs. However, if you plan to do small batches of tomatoes, a large workhorse grinder will likely prove to be way more machine than you need.
Planning out ahead of time how many tomatoes you plan to grind will help you choose the best tomato grinder that fits perfectly into your plans without being too much or too little to meet those needs.
Whether It Will Be Used Exclusively for Tomatoes
Nowadays, many tomato grinders on the market do far more than just grind tomatoes. They can handle all sorts of fruits and veggies. This is something else to consider when choosing the best tomato grinder for you!
If you plan to grind tomatoes exclusively, you may want to aim for an often less costly, more straightforward, tomato-specific grinder. But if you would like to grind up other foods, like apples, for instance, then that’s something to factor in when choosing the best tomato grinder.
The downside to this is that, in some cases, you may sacrifice the efficiency of specifically grinding tomatoes with a grinder that is built to accommodate all sorts of fruits and vegetables, both large and small, hard and soft.
What Size Tomatoes You’ll Be Grinding
If you want to grind up a harvest of homegrown tomatoes, it is important to ensure your grinder has the capacity for your particular size of tomatoes.
Some tomato grinders may struggle a bit more with large tomatoes, especially if you are doing many of them all at once. You might also encounter issues where large grinders pulverize small tomatoes more than you want.
This is why you want to bear in mind the size of the tomatoes you will be grinding and select the best tomato grinder accordingly.
Wrapping Up the Best Tomato Grinder
With many options, we’re sure you’ll find a pick among these best tomato grinders that suits your culinary needs!
While you prepare to rev up your tomato grinder for the first time, be sure to check out our Tomato Plants page for all the insight you need on raising the tomatoes that your grinder will turn into sauces, purees, juice, and so much more.
- About the Author
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Renee Dugan is a lifelong writer, professional editor, and lover of all things nature, gardening and the big outdoors.
A Midwest girl who’s been in the garden since she could first hold a hand trowel, Renee’s love of growing things has bloomed into a passion for healthy living, holistic lifestyle, and knowing where our food comes from.
Now a mother and maturing gardener herself, Renee is passionate about channeling everything she knows and continues to learn about gardening into lessons for her son and others. Her excitement for sharing this knowledge is only superseded by her excitement about being able to finally grow her own citrus plants in pots.
Renee can be reached at renee.s.dugan@gmail.com