I Tested 13 Mortar and Pestle Sets to Find the Best Ones for Spices, Pesto, and Curry Pastes

We live in an age in which even our toasters have IP addresses. Even as we expand our home cooking boundaries, we still lean into convenience. But what if I were to tell you that grace and facility exist in a tool that dates to the Stone Age? 

I live in a small, 100-year-old house with a kitchen commensurate with the ideals of the time. Very little has permanent residence on my limited countertop, especially electrical appliances. So if I want to grind spices, I need to crouch down to pull the grinder out of a cabinet and put it back afterward. In contrast, an eight-inch mortar and pestle lives on a shelf (as much decor as a practical tool), grinds spices almost as quickly, is faster to clean, and saves my knees. But spice-grinding convenience aside, a mortar and pestle transforms food in ways mechanical devices can’t. It breaks down fibers, activates oils and terpenes for flavor and aroma, and brings nuanced qualities to food. When I ran an Italian restaurant, I made too much pesto to keep track of, but always in a food processor. But I’ve never tasted pesto as light and velvety as one made with a mortar and pestle. Sometimes, the classics are such for a reason.

With all this in mind, I tested 12 mortar and pestle sets to find the best ones. As there are many styles and multiple materials, I included granite models, basalt molcajetes, ceramic suribachi, and iconic marble versions to highlight their individual strengths.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Granite Mortar and Pestle

ChefSofi Extra Large 8 Inch 5 Cup-Capacity Mortar and Pestle Set

$85 at Amazon

This polished granite set powered through most of my tests without blinking. The vertical grooves along its high sides aid greatly in crushing and grinding, while its two pestles of varying lengths and widths allow you to select the proper pressure for the task at hand.

The Best Marble Mortar and Pestle

Nuova Marmotecnica Mediterranean Mortar and Pestle

$323 at Etsy

Marble mortar and pestle sets have a particular purpose I’ll examine in depth later, but suffice it to say this stunning piece of polished marble produced a velvety pesto with style and ease.

The Best Molcajete

Masienda Molcajete

View on Masienda.com

Our longtime favorite molcajete is carved from solid volcanic basalt and made quick work of grinding spices and seeds. Its porous nature lends extra abrasion, resulting in fine, evenly ground peppercorns, peanuts, and cumin seeds.

The Best Suribachi

Motoshige Suribachi Mortar and Surikogi Pestle

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This delicate ceramic suribachi with a lightweight wood surikogi seemed outweighed in a field dominated by its hulking stone contemporaries. But the deep, sharp, multi-directional grooves quickly turned sesame seeds into a fine powder.

The Tests

I had three disparate types of mortars and pestles to evaluate, so I divided them into purpose-driven tests. For example, the suribachi sets I tested are certainly not meant to make curry paste or pesto. 

• Peppercorn Test: No matter the variety, black pepper is best when freshly ground. However, if you need more than a teaspoon—and even that is pushing limits—using a pepper mill gets old quickly. A blender works, but you’re at the mercy of velocity and gravity for an even grind. However, a mortar and pestle set is an excellent tool for evenly grinding them. I added two tablespoons of whole black peppercorns to each granite and marble mortar and timed how long it took to get a medium-coarse grind. Then, I cleaned them per the manufacturer’s instructions. I rated each model on design, ease of use, and the quality of the ground pepper.
• Dukkah Test: This seed and spice blend from Egypt provided an excellent opportunity to test each granite and marble model grinding spices, nuts, and seeds. In succession, I ground cumin, coriander, peanuts, and sesame seeds, evaluating the evenness of each ingredient’s grind and the overall texture. (Did I get smooth or crunchy peanut butter? Did the coriander husks grind, or just the seeds?) Then, I cleaned them again.
• Pesto Test (Marble Winners Only): Marble sets shine when making pesto, so I tested the winners of the previous two tests to see how they did. The name pesto derives from the Italian verb pestare, which means to pound or to beat. In its original form, long before the advent of food processors or blenders, people pulverized pesto by hand in marble mortars. Working sequentially, I crushed garlic, pine nuts, and basil with a pinch of salt for abrasion before adding grated cheese and olive oil. When finished, I recorded the time that expired, judged the pesto for consistency and quality, and cleaned the mortar and pestle per its manufacturer’s instructions.
• Thai Panang Curry Paste (Granite Winners Only): Our three granite winners from the peppercorn and dukkah tests moved onto the final test. I used this recipe to work through the various ingredients, producing a smooth, finished paste. Well, mostly smooth in some cases. I timed the process, then judged each model on the quality and texture of the paste, how easy it was to process each ingredient, and how simple cleanup was afterward.
• Sesame Seeds Test (Suribachi Only): The suribachi sets I tested were delicate pieces, ill-equipped to handle the pounding the previous tests required. I tested them with a more suitable task: grinding sesame seeds. I placed a quarter-cup of seeds in each suribachi and processed them into a powder. I timed how long each model took to complete the task and then judged them on the consistency and fineness of the grind. Suribachi require a little more work to clean between their deep grooves, so I also rated each one on how easily I could clean them.

What We Learned

What Size Mortar and Pestle Worked Best?

I’m not implying that bigger is better. However, wide bottoms had more surface area for ingredients to fit in a single layer, making them easier to crush and grind.  High, sloping, grooved sides provide a secondary grinding area, allowing finely ground ingredients to collect in the bottom while coarser bits stay on top for easier grinding. When paired with the wide bottom, these high sides prevented frequent ingredient ejection from the mortar. (I found errant peppercorns days after testing.) The 6.25-inch H&S set had a narrow bottom with steep sides that gave poor results, whereas the 7.25-inch HiCoup model had a wider base with gentler sloped walls and provided far more grinding surface.

Match Your Material to Your Task

As you’ll see from our test results, not every mortar and pestle is great for all tasks. Molcajetes are excellent for pulverizing onions, garlic, and chiles for salsas and moles and can also easily handle dried spices and seeds.

Granite models are also great for grinding and smashing, while marble is best suited to pulverizing fresh ingredients, nuts, and garlic but not grinding hard spices because its smooth sides provide less friction.

Groove Was in the Heart

In most cases, models with grooved sides were the best performers. Pesto aside, the extra abrasion these grooves provided made much shorter work of grinding everything, be it peppercorns or shallots. The grooved set from HiCoup blew through peppercorns in a little more than a minute and a half, while the smooth-walled marble set from Williams Sonoma took almost three. Molcajetes don’t typically have grooves, but the porousness of the basalt rock provides even more abrasiveness.

Say Nope to Soap

Many of the models I tested came with instructions to properly season the mortars, which, like cast iron, can get stripped away by washing. Most models that provided cleaning instructions relied on rinsing the mortars with warm water and a sponge, if not your hand. If soap is necessary, manufacturers recommend a gentle, unscented soap so the mortars won’t retain the fragrance. I found that rinsing with hot water was all the test group required, even when dealing with fatty seeds, nut paste, or olive oil.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Mortar and Pestle

First, match the material to your needs. Are you going to make pesto and occasionally grind some spices? Marble is your best bet. Molcajetes are very multipurpose tools but are quite heavy. Granite is like the duct tape of the mortar and pestle world—able to handle most grinding tasks easily.

As far as shape, find the widest bottom you can, with high, gently sloping walls. This combination gives you the most surface area for gently pounding and stirring, allowing the coarse material to go up the sides and work against the mortar’s grooves (if present) while the finer bits collect in the bottom. 

A note: Some makers provide two pestles in large and small sizes. These allow you to select your pestle based on the delicateness of your project, which is a nice touch and saves your hand the extra work of manipulating a heavy pestle to smash a little garlic, for instance.

Our Favorite Mortars and Pestles

The Best Granite Mortar and Pestle

ChefSofi Extra Large 8 Inch 5 Cup-Capacity Mortar and Pestle Set

$85 at Amazon

What we liked: The ChefSofi’s steep, grooved sides and wide bottom were a winning combination. The heavy pestle, weighing in at two pounds, lent extra crushing power in the initial stages of grinding but was comfortable enough to hold so I could really put the grooves’ power to work for me, quickly grinding peppercorns, coriander seeds, and nuts to a fine powder. The mortar’s wide bottom gave ample room for gentle crushing, and the high, steep sides prevented all but one peppercorn from escaping during testing. Considering speed and ease of use, the ChefSofi won two out of three tests and ranked second in the spice blend test, making it our overall granite winner.

What we didn’t like: One of the ChefSofi’s strongest points is also its weakest. The wide, flat bottom, high sides, and 7.75-inch diameter add up to a considerable weight, especially when paired with its two pestles. The wide mouth makes it easy to add ingredients, but the mortar’s bulk presents some challenges when trying to remove them. It rinsed clean in seconds after grinding peppercorns but took about two and a half minutes to extract crushed sesame seed paste in later tests due to the seeds’ oily nature, the mortar’s grooves, and its overall bulk. 

Key Specs

• Material: Granite
• Weight: 18.2 pounds
• Mortar diameter: 7.75 inches
• Pestle dimensions: 8.5 x 2, 6.75 x 1.5 inches

The Best Marble Mortar and Pestle

Nuova Marmotecnica Mediterranean Mortar and Pestle

$323 at Etsy

What we liked: This is an impressive-looking piece of kitchen equipment, with a polished marble mortar and a beechwood pestle. When operating within its intended confines, this mortar and pestle produced some of the smoothest, velvetiest pesto I’ve ever tried. I’m loath to think of ever making it in a food processor after tasting the results.

The mortar has a wide opening with steep sides and a curved bottom. The large pestle allows for a two-handed grip if the urge strikes you, helping to process the garlic and pine nuts faster. The lack of ridges was concerning, as they seemed necessary for breaking down the basil leaves, but a touch of coarse salt with every handful of basil easily alleviated that fear.

What we didn’t like: My biggest gripe with all the marble mortar and pestle sets I tested was their singularity of purpose. The marble sets performed exceptionally poorly when grinding spices. But face them off with some garlic cloves and nuts, and the script changes dramatically. The NuovaMarmotecnica is a great set for pesto or emulsified sauces like true aioli. However, save yourself the aggravation of watching peppercorns leap to freedom as you try to grind them. Also, due to the primary material, it’s a given that this is an extremely heavy set.

Key Specs

• Material: Marble and beechwood
• Weight: 16.6 pounds
• Mortar diameter: 9.5 inches
• Pestle dimensions: 10.25 x 3 inches

The Best Molcajete

Masienda Molcajete

View on Masienda.com

What we liked: This set’s porous volcanic basalt construction provided extra abrasiveness that blew through any task I handed it. The spices pulverized quickly, and nuts and seeds ground to a fine powder. The sides are comparatively short, but the bottom is wide and flat, providing a significant surface for grinding and pulverizing. This molcajete comes in a smaller, seven-inch size, which I equally recommend.

What we didn’t like: I’ll chalk my big complaint up to a learning curve. To be truly effective with the tejolote (pestle), you need to hold it from the top, with your thumb and fingers pointing downward. This grip allows you to pound and stir effectively. Why effectively? Because holding the tejolote in your fist with your thumb up exposes your knuckles and wrist to the abrasive stone. It’s like a pumice treatment on non-calloused skin and is not enjoyable. Performance-wise, one point raised an eyebrow: Although the Masienda handled peppercorns efficiently, softer coriander seeds flew everywhere during the initial light pounding that precedes grinding. I can only assume the slightly lighter seeds were propelled by the tejolote's impact. Stating that a piece of rock is heavy is getting redundant, but it does weigh about 16 pounds.

Key Specs

• Material: Basalt
• Weight: 16.4 pounds
• Mortar diameter: 9.5 inches
• Pestle dimensions: 10.25 x 3 inches
  

The Best Suribachi

Motoshige Suribachi Mortar and Surikogi Pestle

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What we liked: It’s said that everything looks like a nail if your only tool is a hammer. After testing 11 bruiser-weight mortars and pestles, the Motoshige suribachi was refreshingly small and delicate. Whereas the larger, heavier sets pound and grind, this ceramic and wood set gently grinds seeds, nuts, and herbs against its multi-directionally grooved sides. The incredibly lightweight surikogi, fashioned out of a tree branch (bark and all), lightly pressed sesame seeds against the deceptively abrasive sides and reduced them to fine powder in about four minutes. It was easy to clean, requiring hotter water to cut the fatty oils from the sesame seeds, but the whole process took about one minute.

What we didn’t like: Honestly, keeping its intended purpose in mind and not wishing it did more, I can't find much fault with the Motoshige. I’m slightly afraid of its delicate construction as I’m pretty ham-fisted, but that’s on me.

Key Specs

• Material: Ceramic and natural wood
• Weight: 2.48 pounds
• Mortar diameter: 7 inches
• Pestle dimensions: 9.5 x 1 inch

The Competition

• Gorilla Grip Granite Mortar & Pestle: This heavy set was our granite mortar testing runner-up. Its 1.7-pound pestle, high sides, and leopard-spotted grooved interior crushed spices and seeds into fine powder but didn’t break down peanuts evenly nor grind chiles into a smooth paste for the curry.
• HiCoup Mortar and Pestle Set: The HiCoup came with two pestles of identical size and had what appeared to be unimpressive grooves in the sides. Looks can be deceiving, as this set took third place in our granite testing, producing relatively smooth ground spices, nuts, and curry paste—although it produced the stringiest paste of the lot. 
• Mino Ware Suribachi and Surikogi Set: This small suribachi set has a baseball bat-like surikogi, which first impressions led me to believe would be more effective than the tree branch provided by Motoshige. Unfortunately, the smaller size and thicker surikogi led to many sesame seeds fleeing the pool when grinding. It ultimately produced a mixed, grainy sesame powder and took about a minute longer than the competition. The spiral ridges trapped a considerable amount of seeds and sesame paste, which required extra cleaning, shredding the nylon scrubber I used. Use a nylon brush for better results.
• Fox Run Large Marble Mortar and Pestle: Given the results of other ridged mortars, I expected better grinding results from the Fox Run than its marble competitors because of the ringed grooves and heavier marble pestle. It came in a close second to the NuovaMarmotecnica, and did grind spices faster, but the shallow sides provided an easy escape route for errant seeds, negating the time savings. It made a good pesto, but not as smooth as the winner.
• Cole & Mason Granite Mortar & Pestle: The mortar of this set, while visually pleasing, is too narrow at 5.75 inches to get a single layer of ingredients across the bottom, which led to uneven grinding and forced me to stop and scrape down the sides like a mixing bowl. Although I purposely stayed my admitted ham-fistedness when pounding ingredients, I had to cover the mortar’s top with my free hand to keep peppercorns and coriander seeds from flying everywhere, despite the relatively high sides, compared to the narrower bottom.
• Williams Sonoma Marble Mortar & Pestle: This set from Williams Sonoma is a smaller version of the NuovaMarmotecnica, which offers the advantage of a lighter mortar. However, the smaller size means a smaller pestle, and it struggled to crush nuts and grind spices effectively. Limit its use to small batches of pesto or aioli, and you’ll be fine.
• Holcomb Perch Mortar & Pestle: This is a nice-looking set for your countertop. However, the pitched sides and narrow bottom did not keep spices contained.
• H&S Mortar and Pestle Set: This set is more form over function, although it has the right mix of components for very small grinding tasks. The mortar’s ridged interior could nicely grind a tablespoon or so of black peppercorns, but the narrow bottom and low, pitched sides sent two tablespoons flying all over my counter.
• Priority Chef Heavy Duty Extra Large Mortar and Pestle: If we included a “Best Value” category in this roundup, the Priority Chef would be the winner. The comparatively narrow bottom has a pronounced slope, and when combined with the short, grooved sides, I expected ingredients to fly from the bowl. That wasn’t the case, and it quickly and easily dispatched the nuts, seeds, and spices from our first two tests. 

FAQs

What are the main types of mortars and pestles, and what are they used for?

Our Stone Age ancestors developed the slow, sometimes tedious process of pulverizing food between two rocks. Time and ingenuity intervened, and they started using a bowl-shaped rock with a thinner, easier-to-hold rock to work the food against the bowl. Although the materials and shapes varied, the process was much the same in cultures worldwide. As such, we have four main types of mortars and pestles.

• Hard stone (granite) are some of the most versatile of the lot due to the slightly cylindrical or open bowl design, which pits coarse stone against coarse stone to grind whatever food you put into it.
• Molcajete are similar to the hard stone designs but are typically wider, flatter, and coarser than the granite types. This coarse stone-on-stone design makes short work of onions, garlic, chiles, and other vegetables for moles and salsas, and, of course, guacamole. The coarseness makes them as versatile as the granite types, but they aren’t well-suited for more delicate finished products, such as those produced by a suribachi.
• Marble mortars and pestles are historically apothecary/laboratory tools for making medicine. Their typically smooth sides leave most of the work to the pestle, which pulverizes nuts, garlic, and herbs efficiently, although slower than their rough stone counterparts. They can grind spices, but it’s not their best use.
• Suribachi are typically ceramic with pronounced ridges, almost like a grater. As such, they’re excellent for breaking down softer tubers like ginger or potato, making short work of nuts and seeds, and pulverizing herbs. Because of their delicate construction and the typically lightweight surikogi, their best use is grinding and grating, rather than smashing, so they’re not the best choice for harder spices, like black peppercorns.

How do you season a mortar and pestle?

There are two things to accomplish by seasoning a mortar and pestle. The first is to remove any rock residue from them; the second is to help make them impervious to absorbing flavors and odors from the foods you grind in them. Some manufacturers provide seasoning instructions; some don’t. As a general process, follow these steps:

1. Add a half-cup of rice to the mortar and grind it, reaching all areas of the interior. Repeat this process until the rice no longer picks up color from the mortar.
2. Add another half-cup of rice and grind it again. Then add four cloves of garlic and pulverize that.
3. Add a pinch of cumin seed and pulverize that.
4. Add a pinch of black peppercorns and salt, pulverizing them, too.
5. Empty the mortar, then rinse (not wash) it and the pestle. Dry it with a cloth, allow it to air-dry thoroughly, and the mortar and pestle are ready to use.

How do you clean a mortar and pestle?

It’s important to remember that stone is porous and can absorb scents and flavors from what you grind in it, which is why you season it—to slow that process. Scrubbing mortars and pestles with coarse materials or metal speeds the removal of the seasoning. Soap also speeds up removal and scented soap can take up residence in the pores of the mortar or pestle, adding a “spring fresh” essence to everything you grind with them. 

In most cases, even when dealing with fatty substances like nuts or olive oil, you can clean most mortars and pestles by adding some warm water—warmer than body temperature but not hot—and rubbing with your hand. Soap should be mild and a last resort. Dry them by hand and then let them thoroughly air-dry before subsequent use.

Why We're the Experts

• Greg Baker is a freelance contributor to Serious Eats, a six-time James Beard Award-nominated chef, former restaurateur, and recent convert to mortars and pestles. His work also appears in Food & Wine.
• For this review, Greg tested 12 sets of mortar and pestles. He used them to grind peppercorns, make pesto and curry paste, and more. 
• We first published our review of mortar and pestles in 2018, but our winner was discontinued. Thus, it was time for a retest.