The $10 Kitchen Tool That Makes Chopping Ground Beef So Much Easier

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You can turn a pound of ground beef into a ton of great meals, many of which require you break up the meat into small pieces (think tacos, chili, Bolognese sauce, etc.). If you're still using a spatula or the back of a spoon to smash up the meat, you're giving yourself a whole lot of extra work. Potato mashers are a better choice, but, to make your cooking life much easier, consider investing in a meat chopper, which you can typically find online and in stores for less than $10, like this highly rated tool available on Amazon.

Meat choppers are straight, long-handled tools with a sturdy end that is blade-shaped. To use one, place your ground beef, turkey, chicken, pork, or sausage directly into a hot skillet or pot. There's no need to break the raw meat into small pieces beforehand. Press down with the blade end of the meat chopper, smashing and turning as you go. This results in the meat being perfectly crumbled and spread out in your cooking skillet in no time at all, as long as you don't use the wrong kind of pan and don't get heavy-handed with the chopping. Because the meat will be broken up into more uniform pieces, you can expect better, even browning and a quicker cook time. Trust us when we say that you'll wonder why you didn't invest in this convenient gadget sooner.

Despite the name, you might find yourself reaching for your meat chopper to complete all kinds of kitchen tasks that don't involve ground meat. For example, if you've ever added a can of tomato paste to the base of a soup, stew, or bold red sauce upgraded with that paste, you know how thick and sticky it can be. It's so viscous that it tends to cling to whatever utensil you're trying to break it up with, but a meat chopper could be perfect for smashing it into small chunks that will break up more quickly with the heat of your pan. You could also use your meat chopper to break down tender canned tomatoes for chilis and soups.

For potato salad, you can use the same chopper to break your potatoes into chunks or deploy it to scramble eggs and break up hard-boiled eggs for egg salad. Got rice that's too sticky for your needs? Gently separate and break up the grains with a meat chopper. And, when it comes to meat, this tool is handy for more than just ground cuts; we can see it being a big help when shredding chicken or pork for barbecue, beef for pot roast, and turkey for traditional Mexican mole.