The meat tenderizer is a cook’s best friend when it comes to saving money. Tough portions of meat can be turned into tasty proteins that taste just as tender as more expensive ones by using these basic methods to physically break down dense tissue and fibers.

“Lean steaks with tough muscle fibers that originate from commonly used cow muscles like flank, skirt, and tri-tip, as well as lean game meats, are excellent candidates for using meat tenderizers,” explains David Rose, Executive Chef of Omaha Steaks. “Tenderizing the meat prior to seasoning and marinating allows the steaks to absorb more of the flavor.” For marinades and seasonings to seep in deeply, models with blades or needles work best; mallet-style tenderizers work well for wiener schnitzel and piccata. To prevent hand fatigue, choose one that is not too heavy and fits well in your hand.

We looked into and tested the best meat tenderizers and pounders to help you serve luscious pieces of beef, pork, and poultry. Models with retractable blades and safety locks to classic double-faced mallets are among them. We examined the performance of each tool in terms of speed, convenience of use, and cleanliness in addition to factors like weight, material, and price.

The Best Prongs

Norpro Meat Tenderizer

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• Materials: Stainless steel, plastic
• Dimensions: 7.5 x 2 x 2 inches
• Weight: 4 ounces
• Dishwasher Safe: No

With this reasonably priced plastic tenderizer that has no moving parts, finish the task at hand. It is ideal for marinating different cuts and sizes of beef because it features thick, spikey needles instead of tiny blades, which leave wider holes to hold marinades and seasonings.

The spikes aren’t as strong or pointed as metal blades, so you won’t have to worry about unintentional cuts if you leave this meat tenderizer out in the kitchen gadget drawer. Enough safety for children to use; the top handle is pleasant to grip while pressing the tenderizer into the flesh. This tenderizer works great for making holes in potatoes or dock dough before baking. It’s not just for steaks. You ought to give it a hand wash.

Pros:

• Sharp points to enhance flavor
• Simple to use
• Lightweight

Cons:

• Makes relatively huge holes in meat

Best Cuber Tenderizer

Weston Meat Tenderizer 

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• Dimensions: 6.75 x 13.5 x 13.75 inches
• Materials: Plastic, stainless steel, and aluminum
• Weight: 9.86 pounds
• Dishwasher Safe: No

This manual cuber is very user-friendly and convenient for cube steaks, Swiss steaks, chicken-fried steaks, and other types of steaks that you may make at home. No more searching for specific steaks at the grocery store or asking the butcher to process one via his machine—you can accomplish this task at home using any type of meat you possess, including pork, poultry, game meat, or steak.

Simply feed the meat in at the top, turn the handle, and the meat will come into contact with 31 stainless steel blades that will pierce and tenderize it, much like a pasta roller. When the job is done, this meat cuber-tenderizer can be quickly disassembled for cleanup. It can handle meats up to 5 inches wide and 1.25 inches thick. Although it is more costly, it greatly simplifies all tasks.

Pros:

• Included are combs for removing jams.
• Sturdy construction
• Including tongs
• Mountable onto the counter
• Simply to use

Cons:

• Expensive

Best Handle Tenderizer

Norpro GRIP-EZ Tenderizer

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• Dimensions: 5.75 x 3.25 x 3.25 inches
• Materials: Zinc, silicone
• Weight: 1.5 pound
• Dishwasher Safe: No

This gadget includes a dual-sided spherical base that screws onto the handle, resembling a hammer-style tenderizer but maybe less taxing on the wrists,The meat is flattened and pounded by the flat side of the base, while the spiked side helps to tenderize the meat.

It is a little more accurate than swinging a hammer; to use, just grip it by the Santoprene handle and pound straight down. Because the base of this tenderizer is wider than typical mallet-style tenderizers, it requires less beating before you begin breading your favorite schnitzel recipe. You should hand wash the Norpro.

Pros:

• Lots of surface area
• Heavy-duty
• A cozy grasp

Cons:

• Not easy to clean

Best Blades Meat Tenderizer

Jaccard 45-Blade Meat Tenderizer

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• Materials: Plastic and stainless steel
• Dimensions: 4.5 x 6 x 2 inches
• Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Dishwasher Safe: Yes, simply the top rack.

This revised version of one of the first at-home bladed meat tenderizers features 45 blades that pierce through a steak or boneless chicken breast to produce more tender meat; use it to speed up the marinating process for pork chops so that it can work its magic on thicker cuts more quickly.

With so many blades, this instrument makes tenderizing meat quick and simple. Simply apply pressure to release the blades, which will automatically retract when the tenderizer is raised and separated from the flesh.

The meat may get slightly thinner as it relaxes and spreads out, but it won’t be as flattened as it would be with a mallet-style meat tenderizer. This can be cleaned in the dishwasher’s top rack, and if you want to get really thorough, you can take the blade assembly apart and clean it individually, though doing so is a more difficult operation than we’d like.

Pros:

• Meat has a great flavor when cooked.
• Simple to use
• Sharp as a razor blades
• Blades with two sides for added tenderness

Cons:

• Difficult to assemble and disassemble

Best Splurge

Rösle Plater meat tenderizer for Plating

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• Materials: 18/10 stainless steel
• Dimensions: 12.3 x 3.5 x 3.5 inche
• Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Dishwasher Safe: Yes

This meat tenderizer made of stainless steel functions similarly to a meat mallet, but it has a flat, wide base that resembles a spatula. This makes it possible for the instrument to strike a larger area of the flesh with each blow, producing uniform results.

This makes it ideal for smoothing out irregular slices for recipes like stuffing chicken breast with spinach and artichoke. The greater power from the large weight allows for fewer blows to flatten the meat for pan-frying or breading. The handle has a loop for hanging, but it also slides neatly into a drawer with spatulas.

During testing, this meat tenderizer produced even chicken cutlets and was easy to wash. But because it is heavier, it may be a bit more difficult to get the precision you want. The joint between the base and handle is seamless, so food won’t get stuck, and it’s dishwasher safe.

Pros:

• large expanse of surface
• Hefty structure
• Simple to maintain
• Cosy grip

Cons:

• A cozy hold

Best Overall

OXO Good Grips Tenderizer

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• Dimensions: 9.7 inches
• Materials: Steel, silicone
• Weight: 13 ounces
• Dishwasher Safe: Yes

This is the ideal tenderizing tool, featuring a smooth side for pounding and a textured side with pointed teeth. Together with OXO’s renowned non-slip handle, it has an angled head for efficiency and a strong steel core inside to enhance power. It’s dishwasher safe, too.

We tested this meat tenderizer on both pork and chicken cutlets, and it is small but powerful, delivering well-balanced swings without shredding the meat, leaving the cutlets perfectly cooked for a tonkatsu or chicken marsala. The mix of smooth and rough surfaces that precisely press and flatten meat to the edges made it incredibly simple to operate.

Another benefit is the handle, which is made of soft silicone. This meat pounder took the shortest length of time (35 seconds) to flatten a pork cutlet out of all the ones we examined. All in all, it was simple to use, yet it had plenty of power and completed the jobs with accuracy and speed. There is a small learning curve because of the sloped head, though.

Pros:

• Outstanding value
• Balanced
• Handle that is cozy
• Two sides

Cons:

• Your advantage may or may not come from an angled head