The 6 Best Meat Grinders for Top-Notch Burgers, Meatloaf, and Sausage

We’ve been saying it for years: The best burgers are made with freshly ground meat. While we’ve run plenty of experiments to back this statement up, the gist of it is that they have better texture and flavor than ones made with the pre-ground stuff. 

Of course, burgers aren’t the only thing that benefits from a meat grinder. Grinding meat at home gives you more control, as you can dial in the fat ratio, adjust the texture, and pick the quality and cut(s) of the meat. This is a boon for the best-ever meatballs, meatloaf, chorizo, and, yes, burgers. 

To find the best meat grinders, we tested 11 of them. We included stand mixer attachments, electric models, and hand-cranked grinders—landing on top picks from every style.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Meat Grinder

Weston #8 Electric Meat Grinder

$150 $143 at Amazon $150 at Wayfair $150 at Dick's

This meat grinder was super easy to use and did a wonderful job in our tests, grinding beef chuck and pork shoulder quickly and consistently. It comes with three grinding plates (which handily stash inside the stomper) and has built-in cord storage.

The Best Meat Grinder Attachment for a Stand Mixer

KitchenAid KSMMGA Metal Food Grinder Attachment

$100 $75 at Amazon $75 at Williams Sonoma $14 at Walmart

For people who already own a stand mixer, purchasing a food grinder attachment is the move. This sturdy meat grinder takes advantage of a KitchenAid stand mixer’s powerful, variable-speed motor, and its large food tray makes it easy to grind big batches.

The Best Splurge Meat Grinder

Weston #12 Electric Meat Grinder & Sausage Stuffer

$200 at Amazon $200 at Wayfair $200 at Dick's

Like the Weston #8, this is one sturdy, well-made meat grinder. The #12 has a more powerful motor and grinds four to five pounds per minute, versus the #8’s two to three pounds per minute, per the manufacturer. In our tests, it handled beef, pork, and even mirepoix with ease, and stuffing sausages with it went smoothly. 

The Best Meat Grinder With Lots of Attachments

STX International Turboforce Classic 3000 Series Electric Meat Grinder & Sausage Stuffer

$170 at Amazon $16 at Walmart View on Stxinternational.com

Lightweight and easy to assemble, this meat grinder includes four grinding plates, three sausage stuffing tubes, a burger press, and even bear claw-esque meat shredders. It handled beef and pork well and mirepoix passed easily through its largest die. 

The Best Budget Meat Grinder

Cuisinart Electric Meat Grinder

$100 at Amazon $18 at Walmart $100 at QVC

This model took longer to grind meat, but sausages from it turned out great, with no busted casings. It had a large footprint and, at under $100 at the time of writing, it’s well-priced for an electric meat grinder.

The Best Manual Meat Grinder

Chop-Rite Model 5 Clamp-Down Meat Grinder

View on Lehmans.com

A manual meat grinder is as no-frills as it gets. This model excelled at its job and is built to last. Its smooth grinding action offered minimal resistance, and, without a motor, it was by far the quietest model we tried. Keep in mind it does require a counter overhang to be properly mounted.

The Tests

• Beef Test: We ground one pound of beef chuck (cut into 1.5-inch cubes), chilling the meat for 30 minutes before grinding and timing how long it took each model to grind the meat using a small die. 
• Pork Test: We ground two pounds of pork shoulder (cut into one-inch pieces), tossing it with spices and chilling it for 30 minutes before grinding. We timed how long it took each model to process the meat, using the large die.
• Mirepoix Test: Using the largest cutting die available, we fed pieces of onion, carrot, and celery through the grinder to make mirepoix. 
• Sausage Test: Using the ground pork from the prior test, we made sausages with each model with their sausage-stuffing attachments. 
• Usability and Cleanup Tests: Throughout testing, we evaluated how easy the machines were to assemble and disassemble, how stable they were, how easy they were to use, and how loud they were. We also cleaned the meat grinder’s parts after every test.

What We Learned

Meat Grinder Parts: An Overview

All meat grinders have the same basic anatomy, made up of the following parts: the pusher and hopper, the screw, the blade and plate, and the cover. 

• The pusher and hopper are the loading dock for the meat: It's where it sits before being fed into the grinding mechanism.
• The screw is the mechanical part of the grinder that actively pushes and draws meat downward, toward the blade.
• The blade and plate work in tandem to actually grind the meat. The blade has intersecting arms that are sharp enough to chop the meat. The plate is a flat piece of metal perforated with holes—the size of the holes determines the meat's coarseness.
• The cover sits over the plate, keeping it sturdy as the grinder works.

Metal Grinding Parts Were Key 

When grinding meat, keeping it cold is of utmost importance to avoid fat-smearing. A big part of the temperature control equation is ensuring that the main components of the grinder (the hopper, screw, blade, and plate) don’t overheat when operating. Metal parts can be chilled in the freezer prior to grinding. They also don’t get as slick as plastic ones when smudged with fat, so they’re easier to take apart and clean. 

The Sharper the Blades and Plates, the Better

The best grinders had blades and plates that were sharp. Just like a keen chef’s knife allows you to chop and mince with ease, sharp meat grinder blades and plates mince and grind meat finely and precisely, without smearing or mashing it into a paste. 

Also, like knives, meat grinder plates will, with moderate use, need to be sharpened once a year. Our favorite meat grinders came with at least two plates (also known as dies): coarse and fine. 

The Best Meat Grinders Were Very Sturdy

A meat grinder that wobbles as it works? No, thank you. Our favorite grinders—even the lightweight models—were sturdy. Strong motors and easy-to-operate, smooth hand cranks processed meat and vegetables without fuss or shaking.

Meat Grinders Just Weren’t All That Quiet

A meat grinder’s doing a rather tough job and even the best models weren’t super quiet. Some, like the KitchenAid, weren’t as loud and allowed us to have a conversation as we used them. However, if a meat grinder wasn’t as quiet, but did a great job and was sturdy, we didn’t hesitate to recommend it. 

Should You Buy an Electric or Manual Meat Grinder? 

Electric meat grinders allow you to turn them on, feed the meat into the tray/hoppers, and then the machines do the rest of the work with very little help. They’re fast and can easily handle large amounts of protein at once. Of course, they’re also larger, take up more storage space, and are louder.

Hand-cranked grinders use a clamp mechanism—not unlike a pasta roller— and are affixed to a countertop. You’ll need a counter with a substantial overhang for it to work. With no motor, hand-cranked grinders are smaller and quieter, but still powerful enough to grind burger meat easily for four people.

Do You Need a Meat Grinder with Adjustable Speeds and a Reverse Function? 

Being able to adjust the speed of grinding is a plus, but not a must. For grinding, consistent speed is more important than variability. Multiple speeds are more helpful for sausage stuffing, which requires a good amount of force to push a mix into casings. A reverse function is useful for resolving minor jams during grinding, saving you time as you won’t have to disassemble the grinder every time a troublesome piece of meat gets caught on the blade. Most standalone electric grinders come with a reverse function, and with a hand-crank grinder, you can reverse course just by turning the crank in the opposite direction.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Meat Grinder

First, you’ll want to decide if an electric or hand-cranked meat grinder is right for you. Either way, it should have a mostly metal construction and be super sturdy. The best meat grinders have sharp blades and at least two plates that grind meat efficiently without smushing it.

Our Favorite Meat Grinders

The Best Meat Grinder

Weston #8 Electric Meat Grinder

$150 $143 at Amazon $150 at Wayfair $150 at Dick's

What we liked: This meat grinder was thoughtfully designed, with three grinding plates that can be housed inside of the stomper when not in use and built-in cord storage. It was very stable and did a great job efficiently grinding beef chuck and pork shoulder. While it has just a single speed setting, it does have a reverse function that can be helpful in case of a jam.  

What we didn’t like: It was loud and struggled more than some of the models in the mirepoix test, but still did a fine job.

Key Specs

• Materials: Metal; plastic
• Plates included: 3 (fine, medium, and coarse)
• Other included accessories: Cutting blade, sausage stuffing funnel, stuffing spacer, stomper

The Best Meat Grinder Attachment for a Stand Mixer

KitchenAid KSMMGA Metal Food Grinder Attachment

$100 $75 at Amazon $75 at Williams Sonoma $14 at Walmart

What we liked: If you already own a stand mixer, purchasing a grinder attachment is likely best, especially if you are tight on storage space. It allows you to take advantage of the powerful motor of an appliance you already have and means you won’t need to find a home for another bulky piece of equipment in the depths of your kitchen cabinets. This grinder produced textbook ground beef and pork, and it also performed well in the mirepoix test. We highly recommend the metal attachment over the plastic version, as the former can be thoroughly chilled before use.

What we didn’t like: This grinder’s major drawback was its tallness. Once you attach the grinder to the mixer and place it on a kitchen counter, the machine operates at an awkward height. This model worked well for grinding sausage, but its height made it difficult to feed uncased sausage into the hopper with one hand while controlling the casing process at the bottom with the other.

Key Specs

• Materials: Metal
• Plates included: 3 (fine, medium, and coarse)
• Other included accessories: Removable food tray, cleaning brush, food pusher, sausage stuff tubes, sausage stuffer plate

The Best Splurge Meat Grinder

Weston #12 Electric Meat Grinder & Sausage Stuffer

$200 at Amazon $200 at Wayfair $200 at Dick's

What we liked: For even more power, there’s this Weston meat grinder. In our tests, it proved itself to be a workhorse: grinding beef, pork, and mirepoix easily and stuffing sausages quickly (a good bit quicker the the Weston #8, actually). It was sturdy, had two speed settings, and featured an easy-to-operate dial.  

What we liked: Like its smaller sibling, this meat grinder was loud. 

Key Specs

• Materials: Metal; plastic
• Plates included: 2 (medium, and coarse)
• Other included accessories: Cutting blade, sausage stuffing funnel, stomper

The Best Meat Grinder With Lots of Attachments

STX International Turboforce Classic 3000 Series Electric Meat Grinder & Sausage Stuffer

$170 at Amazon $16 at Walmart View on Stxinternational.com

What we liked: This easy-to-use meat grinder had a very large pan that easily accommodated two pounds of pork. If you want a lot of attachments, this is a good option. It had a whopping four dies and even came with claw-like meat shredders. It worked well for grinding meat and vegetables, though it did “juice” vegetables more—so to speak—than some of the other grinders. We liked that it had two speeds and a reverse function, though. 

What we didn’t like: This model was also loud. When we fed sausage casings onto the tube, the tube kept coming undone from the plastic housing it fit on. We were able to secure it, but it would’ve been better if it was a single piece. 

Key Specs

• Materials: Metal; plastic
• Plates included: 4 
• Other included accessories: Sausage stunning plate, stainless steel cutting blades, 3 sausage stuffing tubes, kibbe attachment, meat shredding claws, burger press

The Best Budget Meat Grinder

Cuisinart Electric Meat Grinder

$100 at Amazon $18 at Walmart $100 at QVC

What we liked: While this sub-$100 model took longer to grind beef and pork, it made great sausage. It had a less powerful motor than our other top picks, but it’s a good pick for cooks who want a meat grinder, will only use it occasionally, and don’t want to spend a ton. 

What we didn’t like: During the sausage test, the lid kept coming off of the meat pusher, which was annoying.

Key Specs

• Materials: Metal; plastic
• Plates included: 2 (medium and coarse)
• Other included accessories: 2 sausage attachments 

The Best Manual Meat Grinder

Chop-Rite Model 5 Clamp-Down Meat Grinder

View on Lehmans.com

What we liked: If you’re a hands-on type and enjoy getting a little exercise in the kitchen, the Chop-Rite may be the one for you. This hand-crank grinder is not cheap, but its quality craftsmanship is evident from the moment you start using it. It requires very little effort to operate the crank, and it grinds meat with surprisingly little resistance. The body of the grinder is cast iron that's treated with a nonstick coating to keep it from corroding and rusting. It produced ground meat that was a little coarser and more rustic, but the meat certainly wasn't overworked. And with no motor, it’s got a very compact footprint and operates very quietly.

What we didn’t like: You need a table or counter with a good amount of overhang clearance to clamp it down. In terms of accessories, it’s as bare-bones as it gets; it comes with only a medium grinding plate and no sausage-stuffing attachments. You can order other sizes of plates separately, but that seems like a stretch for an already expensive piece of equipment.

Key Specs

• Materials: Steel, Xylon coating
• Plates included: 1
• Included accessories: None

The Competition

• LEM #8 575 Watt Countertop Grinder: This model did a good job of grinding meat, but it was unpleasantly loud, and the opening to feed meat into the grinder was narrow enough that it made the grinding process fussy.
• LEM BigBite #8: This model did not do a good job stuffing sausages. It was also very heavy.
• LEM #10 Stainless Steel Clamp On Hand Grinder: This handsome stainless steel grinder was serviceable in grinding meat, but it didn’t operate as smoothly as the Chop-Rite, and made grinding by hand feel more like work. 
• KitchenAid KSMFGA Food Grinder Attachment: Don’t think of this as a more affordable plastic version of the metal KitchenAid grinder we endorse above; the blade is cheaper and not nearly as sharp.
• Gideon Hand Crank Manual Meat Grinder: This was frustratingly prone to jamming. It is also difficult to secure to a counter, so it tends to move around when in use.

FAQs

Can you clean a meat grinder in the dishwasher? 

We recommend checking the manufacturer's care instructions. And, when in doubt, just hand-washing with hot, soapy water. You can find our more in-depth guide to caring for a meat grinder here.

Are meat grinders worth it? 

While investing in a meat grinder might not save you much money in the long run, meat grinders give you more control over the size of the grind and the freshness of the meat. We recommend a variety of meat grinders at different price points and think there's a good choice for anyone interested in making their own sausage or grinding meat for burgers.

Do you need to lubricate a meat grinder? 

Not every meat grinder is the same, so we recommend checking the manufacturer's instructions for any ongoing maintenance needs. In general, most meat grinders should be lubricated with mineral oil, but where and when to apply can vary by model.

Why We’re the Experts

• Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm is the associate commerce editorial director at Serious Eats. She’s been with the site since 2021 and has been testing gear professionally for more than six years. She previously worked at America’s Test Kitchen and Food52.
• Sara Bir is a CIA-trained chef and writer. She currently works as the senior editor at Simply Recipes.
• We have been using meat grinders for years, both in restaurant kitchens and in the Serious Eats test kitchen. We’ve come up with various methods for grinding meat at home, from using food processors to chopping meat by hand. We’ve run experiments with meat grinders, developed recipes with them, and written extensively about their virtues. 
• For this review, we tested 11 meat grinders, grinding pounds and pounds of beef chuck, pork butt, and mirepoix and stuffing sausages. We also closely evaluated how easy they were to assemble, disassemble, and clean.