The Best Pepper Grinders, According to Our Testers (2025)
Table Of Content
Source: Bon Appétit
Category: Food
Originally Published: 2025-04-29
Curated: 2025-12-03 16:20
When it comes to finishing a dish, freshly cracked black pepper can pull the whole meal together. But not all pepper mills are created equal. Some jam mid-turn. Others scatter pepper dust like confetti and leave a mess on your counter. The worst ones require a full upper-body workout just to season your eggs.
Our top picks
If you've ever found yourself furiously twisting a cheap mill while your pasta gets cold, you’re not alone. I tested the internet’s favorite pepper grinders to find the ones that made seasoning my food easy, and I chatted with professional chefs for their tips on what to look for in one. Whether you’re in the market for a sleek electric model or an old-fashioned grinder that gets the job done, these are the best pepper mills worth buying.
New in this update: We tested an additional eight pepper mills for this update, three of which earned spots in our top picks: Black Rain Pepper Mill, which unseated our previous pick for the best electric mill from Zwilling; the FinnaMill, an electric grinder that comes with refillable spice pods you can use to grind different spices; and a salt and pepper set from Cole & Mason.
Best overall: Männkitchen Pepper Canon
Pros and cons AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron Pros: 40-plus customizable grind settings
Easy to fill
Large capacity
Extremely aesthetic Cons: Really expensive
Heavy Specs AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron Size: 2.2" x 2.2" x 7.25"
Grind settings: 46
What we love: I didn’t want to love this pepper mill because I cannot justify spending $200 on a kitchen gadget; however, it’s the real deal. The packaging alone—a sleek matte black box—feels luxe straight out the gate. That high-end feel carries over to the Pepper Canon itself, which looks like something you’d see in a Michelin-star kitchen.
Designed with precision and performance in mind, it cranks out pepper at an absurd rate—up to 10 times faster than a typical mill—thanks to its high-carbon stainless-steel burrs and generous internal capacity. You’ll feel the difference the moment you pick it up: This thing is hefty, crafted from a solid block of aerospace-grade aluminum and finished with a hard anodized coating that resists corrosion and wear. It’s also incredibly versatile and has more than 40 grind settings, ranging from chunky cracked pepper to dust.
This article was curated from Bon Appétit. All rights belong to the original publisher.