The 14 Best Stocking Stuffers, According to a Former Chef

Microplane Classic Series Zester

$18 $17 at Amazon $18 at Williams Sonoma $18 at Sur La Table

Working in a restaurant, a microplane zester was one of my most used tools; I always kept one out on my station for finishing fish dishes with lemon zest or giving a bechamel a quick grating of nutmeg. At home, I reach for it just as often. This underrated and compact tool is one of the best stocking stuffers I can think of.

This Microplane was our best overall pick when we tested the best zesters, and it is the model I used at the restaurant and home. It’s comfortable to hold, and the long grating surface makes grating firm or soft foods incredibly easy. Beyond zesting citrus, I use my microplane to finely grate garlic when I don’t want to fuss with a knife and cutting board, to shave a mountain of fine and fluffy parmesan over a plate of pasta, and grate ginger without all the pesky hairs. Plus, I can toss it in the dishwasher.

Le Creuset Signature Stoneware Spoon Rest

$30 at Amazon

Every kitchen needs a spoon rest; it keeps the counter and your kitchen utensils clean. Le Creuset is an editor-favorite French cookware brand. Since you can’t fit one of their signature Dutch ovens into a stocking, a smaller offering from the brand’s attractive stoneware collection — like this spoon rest — is perfect. It's available in several vibrant hues to integrate into any kitchen aesthetic or match with other Le Creuset pieces your recipient may have. If you don’t know what kitchen utensils they have, a spoon rest is the perfect way to go. 

Jacobsen Salt Co. Sea Salt Slide Tins

View on Jacobsensalt.com

At every restaurant I’ve ever worked at, I’ve always had two kinds of salt on my station: kosher salt for seasoning the food as I cook and flaky salt for finishing dishes. Even at home, I have two salt cellars on my counter for both types of salt. But I never know when I’ll need a sprinkling of flaky, crunchy salt on the go. That’s where this portable tinned gift from Jacobsen Salt Co. comes in. It fits perfectly in a pocket or bag (and a stocking!) for extra seasoning whenever the situation calls.

Great Jones Sweet and Savory Baking Mats

View on Greatjonesgoods.com

Even if you’re not roasting hundreds of pounds of veggies per week in a restaurant, lining your sheet trays with parchment paper can get expensive and wasteful. Silicone baking mats are a great reusable solution that keeps food from sticking to your baking sheets without using a new piece of parchment paper every time.

Usually, you can find these mats in a plain, brownish color, which gets the job done, but this set of mats from Great Jones levels up the dull color into something gift-worthy. The two-pack includes one mat adorned with prints of veggies and a cute fish, while the other focuses on the sweet side with pictures of flour, butter, vanilla, and strawberries.

Fox Run Terracotta Brown Sugar Bear Keeper and Saver

$10 at Amazon

I once worked at a restaurant where the giant plastic bins of brown sugar housed a gigantic brown sugar rock. If I needed brown sugar for a recipe, I had to bring a butter knife to chisel away; it was terrible. This happens because the moisture evaporates once the original package is opened, and the sugar crystallizes.

Then I switched jobs, and when I opened the container of brown sugar there, I found soft brown sugar and what looked like a hockey puck made of clay. I learned that it was a piece of terracotta meant to retain some of the moisture. I’ve run into problems with crystallized brown sugar at home, so in my search for a terracotta sugar keeper, I came across this one that gets the job done. It's cute enough to include as one of the best stocking stuffers — this makes a great gift for the baker in your life.

Dusen Dusen Everybody Grinders

View on Areaware.com

One of the most important things I learned working in restaurants was the importance of fresh ground pepper. Pre-ground pepper loses all its aromatic oils and has less flavor than freshly ground peppercorns. Sure, you could buy one of those tiny disposable pepper grinders from the grocery store, but they’re not refillable and don’t look very good on the dinner table. A well-made pepper grinder is the perfect gift for any cook, and this grinder from Dusen and Dusen sports an eye-catching and fun design they’ll want to bring out at a dinner party.

HENCKELS 4-inch Paring Knife

$25 at Amazon $40 at Wayfair $38 at Walmart

To start, any home or professional cook needs three knives: a chef’s knife, a serrated knife, and a paring knife. This paring knife has been in my knife roll for the past eight years and is the one I recommend to everyone. It was also a runner-up in our tests. I love the full tang design and the comfortable handle and bolster. The best part about this knife is the hard steel. It feels like it keeps its edge forever. And for under $25, it’s a great deal.

Le Creuset Revolution Scraping Spoon

$36 at Amazon $36 at Wayfair View on Le Creuset

Speaking of kitchen utensils, every cook could use a good wooden spoon. However, not all wooden spoons are created equal. After years of scraping up fond from pans, sweating down huge batches of mirepoix, and hours spent stirring sauces, squared-off spoons like this Le Creuset Scraping Spoon have become my favorite. The flat head means more of the spoon’s edge is in contact with the pan, and the squared corners match up perfectly with the corners of the pan, so nothing gets left behind.

Material The Good Shears

$35 at Amazon View on Materialkitchen.com

One of the worst habits I’ve seen in professional kitchens is cooks who use their knives for things other than cutting food. I’m talking about cutting open plastic packaging or prying open stubborn cans. Whether you have a $400 knife or a $40 knife, this is terrible for the longevity of your blade and is dangerous.

Skip ruining your knives — and perhaps a trip to the ER for stitches — and add a sharp pair of kitchen shears to your knife collection. I like this pair from Material because they’re thinner and less bulky than most other kitchen shears. They’re not loaded with extra, useless plastic, just a little comfy silicone in the finger holds. What sets these apart is the micro serrations on the blade. The teeth grip hard into whatever you’re cutting, so you don’t need to use as much force, and they don’t get dull. It's a practical gift for home cooks, and it makes for one of the best stocking stuffers.

OXO Good Grips Spatula Set

$21 at Amazon $21 at Sur La Table View on Webstaurantstore.com

Silicone spatulas are among the most versatile tools in any kitchen. When you have them in several sizes, there’s nothing you can’t do. This set was one of our favorites when we tested silicone spatulas, and it is the set I bought for my home kitchen. Single-piece construction is important for a spatula.

One thing I hated about the spatulas I used in restaurants was the silicone heads were removable. In some ways, this is convenient; the dishwashers could take them apart to clean them. However, sometimes, I’d be stirring enough pancake batter for the brunch rush, and suddenly, I’d lose the top of my spatula in the batter.

Many spatulas for home use also have removable heads or are constructed from two pieces that leave a seam where they connect. After a few dishwasher cycles and batches of pancake batter, food particles and moisture can get into those crevices. Even if you wash them regularly, bacteria can grow where the two pieces meet. A full silicone spatula is the best way to go to avoid this.

Winco Fish Spatula

$12 $8 at Amazon $12 at Walmart View on Katom.com

A fish spatula is one of the most underrated and versatile kitchen tools. I found a new use for it daily, regardless of which station I worked in the kitchen. Yes, it's perfect for flipping delicate fish without marring the crispy skin, but it can do so much more. I like to rotate it so the lip faces down and use it to scrape up browned bits from a sheet tray of roasted veggies or the fond from a pan of browning meat. The thin, flexible design is perfect for getting under burgers, pancakes, quesadillas, and anything else you can flip. This will be your favorite home chef's best-loved kitchen tool in no time.

OXO Bench Scraper

$12 at Amazon $12 at Target $12 at Oxo

Bench scrapers are common in pastry areas of restaurant kitchens, but much to the pastry chef's dismay, they'd always seem to find their way over to the savory side and into the hands of the line cooks. The number one way I use it at home is to seamlessly ferry mounds of chopped veggies from my cutting board to a pot. Instead of bringing the cutting board over to the stove or using the blade of my knife, which can be dangerous and too small, a bench scraper allows me to scoop everything up in one trip. It also comes in handy for cooks who like to make dough. I can use it to shape bread and pizza dough and then scrape any flour on my countertop with a few quick swipes.

Dash Meat Thermometer

$13 $8 at Amazon View on Bydash.com

Grilling hundreds of steaks and searing hundreds of chicken thighs per night, I always tucked a small, instant-read meat thermometer into my chef's coat pocket. I still use it at home to temp-check any meat I cook. But I also reach for it to check the internal temperature of a loaf of bread fresh from the oven and whenever I make caramel. This Dash Quick-Read Thermometer was one of our favorites during testing for quick, accurate readings without any unnecessary bells and whistles.

Frieling Spice Grinder

$45 at Amazon $45 at Target $45 at Food52

Like the importance of grinding peppercorns fresh, one of the most valuable rules I learned cooking in professional kitchens was always grinding your spices. Pre-ground spices are much less flavorful, and whole spices are often cheaper. Now, I always buy whole spices at home, and with a trusty spice grinder, I can grind only what I need for each recipe. I use an electric spice grinder for larger projects or when I want something super fine. But for a few cloves or a teaspoon of coriander seeds, I reach for this beautiful cast iron manual grinder. I like the control this grinder provides; unlike an electric grinder, it is easy to avoid over-grinding. This grinder looks beautiful atop my counter next to my salt cellar.