The 5 Best Electric Can Openers According To Experts

What do our favorite recipes for black bean dip, tuna melts, and chilaquiles have in common? They all call for ingredients that come in cans!

Proof that great things really do come in small packages, some of everyone’s favorite hearty ingredients are sitting inside cans, just waiting to be consumed. You may already have a manual can opener stashed in your kitchen, but when it comes down to it, an electric can opener is the best one to get because it’s safer, more comfortable, and all-around faster at performing a typically tedious task in a matter of seconds.

“They’re easier, but as with anything electric, it takes a second to learn how to use it, and it takes up more space on your counter and you need to be sure the portable ones are charged, but they’re supposed to make the can opening experience better,” advised Nicole Papantoniou, the Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliances & Culinary Innovation Lab. She added that they’re helpful for the elderly or home chefs with arthritis, motor difficulties, and other impairments.

Whether your current electric can opener has worn out or you’re ready to make the upgrade because you’re tired of your manual can openers breaking, don't waste your time trying to figure out how to open that can of chickpeas without a can opener. (After all, this isn’t an episode of Looney Tunes). Instead, just check out our recommendations for the best electric can openers to add to your kitchen.

Just can’t get enough? Check out our recipes for meals you can make with canned soup.

Our top picks

• Best Electric Can Opener: Cuisinart Deluxe Can Opener
• Best Budget Electric Can Opener: Black+Decker Easy Cut Extra-Tall Can Opener
• Best Splurge Electric Can Opener: Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch Can Opener
• Easiest to Use Electric Can Opener: Oster Retractable Cord Stainless Steel Can Opener
• Best Handheld Electric Can Opener: Kitchen Mama One Touch Can Opener

How we picked these products

To find who makes the best electric can openers, we turned to our friends at the Good Housekeeping Institute, who have identified the most popular models on the market based on availability, reviews, and brand reputation. Their team of on-staff experts—which includes all types: engineers! data analysts! registered dietitians!—rigorously put everyday products to the test (and then more and more tests) in their New York City-based labs to determine which ones you can trust.

Evaluating the three most common can sizes—6-, 15-, and 32-ounces—these Kitchen Tech Experts put a collection of can openers through rigorous tests to assess their user-friendliness, stability, spillage, magnet strength, cleanability, smoothness of each cut, and bonus features like auto shut-off (which can prevent those pesky metal shavings) and cord length and retraction. After reviewing their findings and discussing their road tests in-depth with Papantoniou, we’ve determined that these are the best electric can openers you can buy in 2022.