Ina Garten Says to Replace This Kitchen Tool Often

Whether you know her as Ina Garten or the Barefoot Contessa, decades of experience have turned this culinary maven into our go-to resource for recipe inspiration, cooking tips, and basic kitchen maintenance questions. When she speaks, we listen, which is why we’ve taken her advice to replace vegetable peelers every year to heart.

 “Vegetable peelers get rusty, they get dull, and they’re very cheap, so you can just throw them out and buy new ones,” Garten told us. But her advice wasn’t limited to just vegetable peelers. Another tool that she recommends replacing more often than you think? A Microplane zester.

Microplane Classic Zester Grater 

In a 2017 interview with Bon Appétit, she extolled the virtues of this inexpensive gadget: “You know what I love is a rasp (a microplane) because I love the zest of citrus fruit. And actually now I do garlic on the rasp because it grates it so finely.”

Her love of citrus zest shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who owns one of her cookbooks. It features prominently in many of her recipes, including Lemon Chicken Breast, Panko-Crusted Salmon, and Frozen Key Lime Pie, to name a few. Garlic and Parmesan cheese are additional ingredients with a heavy presence in her cookbooks, so it makes sense that she considers an inexpensive Microplane to be such a vital kitchen tool. With a few flicks of the wrist, you can have fine strands of lemon peel, a cloudlike pile of cheese, and tablespoons of garlic or ginger crowding your cutting board. But if you’ve owned your Microplane for a long period of time, you might notice that you have to exert a substantial amount of pressure to zest even the thinnest-skinned lemon. Once you get to this point, it’s time to replace it. 

Since a Microplane only costs $13 at Amazon, you might want to buy two to make sure you always have a sharp grater on hand when you need it. At least, that’s what we’re going to do.

Shop More Kitchen Tools at Amazon

Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peelers, Set of 3 

Hotec Stainless Steel Kitchen Tongs, Set of 2 

Zulay Kitchen Premium Garlic Press Set 

OXO Good Grips Wooden Spoons, Set of 3 

Chef Craft Spatula 

At the time of publishing, the price was $13.