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If you love to make sandwiches for lunch, you’re likely already familiar with some of the best meat slicers. Best know as the machine the counter person uses at the deli, they slice up your favorite cold cuts, and package them up for you to take home.
However, getting your own meat slicer is a perfect way to control the thickness of your meats. If you’re a chef, meat slicers are an absolute necessity, as they greatly speed up the prep time for meals.
If you are trying to make your own beef jerky (or other culinary projects) – a meat slicer is also a necessity. No matter your purchasing reason, we aggregated millions of customer reviews, tested the top models, and can easily tell you what the best meat slicers on the market are.
Our Top Pick
Chefman Die-Cast Deli Slicer
This extremely affordable slicer cuts through anything, has tons of great customer reviews, and held up to anything we tested it with. While there are more expensive slicers, we recommend this anyone looking for the best value, as well as the best performance. Our top pick.
Other Great Picks
Cusimax Meat Slicer
This is one of the best slicers on the market today. While it’s slightly more expensive than our top choice, it’s still very affordable. We recommend it to anyone who wants to get a deluxe slicer – without spending an arm and a leg.
Cuisinart Kitchen Pro Food Slicer
Cuisinart is well-known for their great kitchen products, and this slicer is no different. With tons of perfect 5 star reviews, and every feature a home chef could want, we highly recommend it.
Beswood 10″ Food Slicer
This is a premium, commercial-grade slicer, that will also work right in your own kitchen. Being commercial-quality, it comes with a slightly higher price tag, but it will likely last for the rest of your life – so we think it’s worth the higher price of admission. Two thumbs up.
Ostba Meat Slicer
This deli slicer is almost commercial level – all while selling for a good consumer price. With a plethora of fantastic reviews, and every feature you’ll want – we highly recommend it. A great choice, for beginners and expert chefs alike.
KWS MS-10NT Meat Slicer
This is a premium, commercial-level deli slicer – but we still recommend it to any serious chefs out there. The price point (especially considering the premium quality) is very low, and it withstood all of our strenuous tests. A definite recommendation.
Befen Meat Slicer
A perfect budget choice, this manual slicer has stellar reviews, and works great for anyone who has less frequent slicing needs. While we recommend an electric slicer for anyone who can afford it, if you’re on a tight budget (or just don’t cut meat very often) – this is a perfect choice.
Westmark Food Slicer
With thousands of great reviews, and a bargain basement price point – this slicer is perfect for the budget-minded. Designed similarly to a paper cutter, operating this slicer is easy, and the customer reviews note how well it holds up over time. Another great recommendation.
Weston Jerky Slicer
If you need to slice up some of your own beef jerky, this slicer from Weston is a great choice. While it’s lacking in additional features (and definitely not the most powerful slicer on our list) – it will work flawlessly for those making their own jerky. Two thumbs up.
Chef’s Choice Electric Meat Slicer
With a myriad of fantastic customer reviews, and some of the best performance we saw out of any of the slicers on our list, this is another winner. While not the cheapest option on our list, if you care about quality craftsmanship, we think the extra cost is undoubtedly worth it.
What Is A Meat Slicer?
A meat slicer is a kitchen appliance that can cut through big, bulky tufts of meat. If you have ever gotten meat sliced at the grocery store, a meat slicer is the machine the person behind the counter used to cut your meat (or cheese).
While these are commercial-grade slicers, home slicers are not quite as bulky, but will still cut through almost anything you can imagine. As such, it’s also important to utilize all the proper safety precautions, if you plan on having a slicer in your own kitchen.
Who Needs A Meat Slicer?
If you’re an herbivore, obviously a meat slicer is probably not something on your ‘must buy’ list. However, for everyone else, we highly recommend purchasing a slicer.
Not only will it allow you to buy meat in bulk (therefore saving you money) – you’ll be able to control how thick each cut of meat is. We love having sandwiches with thick cuts of meat, for example, so it’s a nice luxury to have a deli slicer in our kitchen.
How Much Power Should Meat Slicers Have?
While there is not one accepted value, in terms of slicer power, we recommend a machine with at least 100 watts of power. This is on the low side, as 130 watts is typically the minimum included with most machines.
Slicers that are gear driven will provide the most power, if you are looking to maximize your ability to cut meats. However, for most chefs (and amateur home chefs), 130 watts is an acceptable amount of power – since this will cut through all but the toughest meats, with complete ease.
How Noisy Should A Meat Slicer Be?
Unfortunately, one downside of meat slicers, is the noise they create. While there is not one standard noise level, slicers typically make between 50 and 70 decibels of noise.
If you are not used to this, it can be a bit annoying at first. However, just like a kitchen mixer or blender, once you’re used to it, you will likely barely notice the noise.
The Best Meat Slicers – Blade Selection
Choosing a different blade for your machine could be necessary, if you don’t like the blade that came with it. However, you’ll have to choose very carefully, and make sure the size of the new blade will fit your slicer exactly.
We recommend generally sticking with the blade that comes with your machine. Unless you have some very specific needs, this should work perfectly for all your slicing needs.
Cleaning Your Meat Slicer
While you could (hypothetically) get away with cleaning it less, we recommend cleaning your meat slicer blade after every single use. Once you turn off and disconnect your slicer, use a paper towel to remove any food particles remaining.
Next, use a degreaser spray to thoroughly clean every part of the blade. Using a brush, clean all remaining parts of the slicer.
Once this is done, spray every single part of the slicer with a sanitizing spray. Lastly, lightly spray the entire slicer with water, and let it dry thoroughly, before using it again.
The Best Meat Slicers – Safety
It is crucially important to exercise plenty of caution when utilizing a deli slicer. You do not want to put any fingers or limbs near the blade, and you should also make sure the meat has plenty of room to be sliced.
Do not jam anything into (or near) the blade, as this can ruin your machine. You should also make sure all children and pets stay far away from the meat slicer, at all times.
Can Meat Slicers Cut Frozen Meat?
Thawed meat, or even half-frozen meat is fine. However, meat slicers are not designed to cut frozen meat, so do not attempt this – as it could ruin your machine.
Can Meat Slicers Cut Raw Meat?
Yes, but with a few caveats. First, make sure you thoroughly clean your machine immediately after cooking raw meat.
If you don’t, contamination is all-but-guaranteed. Secondly, if you plan on cutting raw meat often, you should opt for a commercial-grade machine.
How Much Do Meat Slicers Cost?
Meat slicers range in cost from $50 to around $300, with a select few commercial machines costing more. We recommend investing about $100+ in your machine, as it will more than pay for itself, over time.
Of course, if money is no issue, we recommend opting for one of the top of the line machines, which will be closer to the $300 price point. If you only sparingly plan to use your own meat slicer, go for something at the lower end of the price scale.
Do The Best Meat Slicers Cut Bone?
Unfortunately no, meat slicers are not designed to cut through bone. If this is something you are looking to accomplish, you should look into buying a bone saw.
Bone saws are specifically designed for this process, and will cut through almost anything. However, the average chef (and home owner) will only need a meat slicer, for most cuts of meat.
Will The Best Meat Slicers Cut Cheese?
Yes, all the best meat slicers will be able to cut through cheese. Additionally, all of the top models will also be able to slice through bread, as well as other foods.
This is part of why we think buying a meat slicer is such a good investment. It serves many purposes and functions – these machines are certainly not just for cutting your sandwich meat.
Can You Use A Meat Slicer To Cut Vegetables?
Not only can meat slicers cut your favorite carnivorous treats, they can often slice through your favorite vegetables. Additionally, most slicers will cut through fruits as well, meaning one slicer should be able to cut through nearly everything you bring home from the farmer’s market.
How Do You Maintain A Meat Slicer?
We highly recommend cleaning and sterilizing a slicer after every use. Besides this, you don’t need to do much to maintain your slicer.
Every so often, you might need to apply some oil and/or lubricant for the moving parts. Instructions specific to your particular machine will be found in the owner’s manual, so we recommend consulting that, to make sure you keep your machine in pristine condition.
How Do You Sharpen A Meat Slicer Blade?
Sharpening a meat slicer blade is not that different than sharpening a kitchen knife. To start with, you won’t need to sharpen the blade until you see noticeable dullness.
This can either evident on the blade itself, or just in how difficult it suddenly seems to be, to slice through your chosen foods. Once you determine your blade needs to be sharpened, it’s actually a fairly straightforward process.
For the sharpening process, you will need cut-proof gloves, safety glasses, as well as a sharpening stone. Follow the manual’s instruction for cleaning and disinfecting your blade first, then attach the sharpening stone (if this is how you’ve chosen to sharpen your blade).
Switch the machine on, and once the blades spin for a while, turn off the machine, and check (very carefully) to see if the blade is now sharp enough. More than likely, you will need to repeat this process a few times, before achieving peak sharpness.
Once you’ve reached your desired level of sharpness, you should sanitize your slicer again. After this, spray the entire machine lightly with water from a spray bottle, and let it dry.
Once it is completely dry, turn it on and take it through a test run. Is it cutting meat easily?
If the answer is yes – congratulations, you’re done. If it’s still having a tough time, take it through another round of sharpening.
Over time, blades will dull more and more, so you may need to replace the blade on your slicer more often, if you are a frequent user of the machine. However, the average cook will only need to replace the blade once a year (or possibly even less).
The Best Meat Slicers
There you have it – our pick for the best meat slicers. Whether you want something close to commercial-grade, a machine to help you cut your own beef jerky, or just something to make sandwich creation easier – there’s a model out there for you.
We loved the meat slicers we tested, and there are no shortages of great products out there. If you enjoyed our review of these products, be sure and check out some of our other great product reviews.