Kitchenaid (5KSM1APC) Stainless Steel Metal Spiral Cutter Silver

Product Information

Many spiralized vegetables can be frozen to use later, with a few exceptions. For the most part, the denser a vegetable is, the easier it is to freeze. This includes vegetables like carrots, potatoes, beets, turnips, butternut squash, and radishes. Vegetables with a higher water content aren’t going to fare quite as well in the freezer. These include zucchini, cucumbers, apples, and onions. When thawing, many of these water-heavy vegetables tend to get soggy and should instead be spiralized fresh.

Spiralizers come in all sorts of funky shapes and sizes, some of which can prove to be quite the storage headache. Of course, handheld spiralizers are the smallest option, so as long as you have a little extra cabinet space to spare, you shouldn’t have any issues. The stand mixer and food processor spiralizer attachments are also quite compact—if you get several different blade options, they can start to take up some space, but for the most part, these attachments are not a huge space occupier. Since it’s powered by the mixer, there’s not much effort required aside from putting fruits and vegetables onto the unit. Longer foods, like larger zucchini, had to be trimmed or cut in half to fit the machine during testing, but we still found it super simple to use. Keep in mind also that a small “core” of the fruit or vegetable is left uncut at the end, as well. The blades are dishwasher-safe; the body should be wiped down by hand. Whether you use green or red cabbage, you can slice an entire cabbage for coleslaw or braised cabbage in mere seconds. If your cabbage is extra-large you may need to cut it in half, but if it’s average-size just pop on the straight blade and twirl away. With all of these options, you won’t have to break out your blender or food processor to whip up a satisfying meal. Best of all, the attachments are dishwasher safe to make cleanup easier. Since it’s small, this gadget stores easily. The blades are recessed into a cup-like section, and there’s a handle that grips the food, so fingers can stay away from the blades during use. Plus, the handle acts as a cap for the spiralizer during storage, keeping the pieces together and the blades protected. We also appreciated that the tool didn't leave a lot of waste behind during testing.

The Best Vegetables to Spiralize

A crank spiralizer would also be a great way to take some of the strain out of your hands, but would still not be as efficient as motorized. That said, regardless of the model, pretty much all spiralizers require vigorous and diligent cleaning. Even though some are dishwasher-safe, you’ll likely still need to get into the blade with a brush. While not on this list (because it’s the middle of summer and I couldn’t find one), my favorite winter vegetable to spiralize is butternut squash.

Vegetables like peppers, small radishes, and cucumbers don’t need peeling and probably wouldn’t benefit from it. Regardless of whether or not you’re peeling your produce before spiralizing, all of your fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed before eating. Three cutting cones come with the spiralizer and include a spaghetti, linguini, and ribbon cutter. All of the removable parts are dishwasher-safe, and a small cleaning brush is included to help you remove vegetable debris from nooks and crannies. You can spiralize almost any vegetable that is dense enough to hold its shape when being sliced. What does that include? Most popularly, it includes zucchini and carrots, but also most squashes, root vegetables, peppers, shallots, onions, beets, turnips, and potatoes. Fruits can be spiralized easily, as long as they’re denser fruits, like apples and pears. How do you spiralize zucchini? Cookbook author Donna Currie is also a product tester and writer for The Spruce Eats. She loves the cost-effectiveness and DIY nature of making her own veggie noodles. Having reviewed nearly half the tools in this roundup, she appreciates a spiralizer that is easy and comfortable to use—and gives bonus points if it's also fun. The most important piece of any spiralizer is, of course, the blade. You want to make sure that the blade is super sharp, easy to clean, and durable. If having a wide variety of blade options is important to you, then make sure you’re seeking out a model that offers several blades you can switch out, depending on what shape you’re going for.Is the skin edible or pleasant to eat? Vegetables like potatoes, zucchini, and apples don’t need to be peeled to eat, but if you prefer them without the skin, it’s fine to peel them first. The spiralizer (5KSM1APC) peels, cores and slices fruit and veg for healthy, creative dishes. Discover how to attach it to your mixer: How to attach the spiralizer to your mixer:

This can attach to your stand mixer or food processor; just make sure it is compatible with the appliance you own before purchasing. By securing said attachment onto your appliance, you now have a motorized setup to spiralize your ingredients. This setup is best if you're going to be spiralizing frequently and prepping large volumes of vegetables. It’s also ideal if you already own a KitchenAid stand mixer or Ninja food processor so that you don’t have to make an additional investment. There is a wide variety of blade options for stand mixers, and most food processors offer a two-blade setup. Not to mention, the attachments are rather compact, so they don’t take up a ton of storage space. Place a bowl or plate under the spiralizer attachment, then put the food on to the fruit and vegetable skewer.The blades are stored in a separate case, which attaches to the spiralizer for storage. These blades are also different bright colors for ease in telling them apart, and let’s face it, it’s just more fun than an all-white gadget. For stable cutting, this has one large suction cup on the bottom that attaches firmly to smooth countertops. This unit is dishwasher-safe but also easy to clean by hand; use a small brush to clean the blades. When it comes to carrots, parsnips and other “narrow” vegetables, grab the largest you can find. The wider the better. With cucumber I use the large spiral slicing blade (for added crunch) or the straight blade to create beautiful ribbons of cucumber. These ribbons are quite the show stopper and in just a few seconds you’ll have plenty of cucumber for your favorite salad. Next, we spiralized a large Idaho potato, peeling it at the same time. Our first spud went into a frittata, and a second one met its fate in an air fryer. One downside became obvious with our larger potatoes, which were just about the maximum length the spiralizer could handle. Longer foods, like larger zucchini, had to be trimmed or cut in half to fit the machine, but it was still simple.

To prepare your fruit or vegetables before spiralizing, wash them first, then remove stems, cut the ends off squarely, and remove any eyes, if applicable. Is this vegetable typically peeled before eating or cooking? Vegetables like beets, carrots, onions, butternut squash, and turnips are almost always peeled before use. Zucchini is the go-to vegetable when it comes to spiralizing and that’s for good reason – it’s soft and easy to spiralize with a neutral flavor that adapts well to many traditional pasta dishes. I leave the peel on for added nutrition (after giving it a good wash), but don’t forget to include yellow squash in your zoodle repetoire as well. We tested the four-blade model, which has the same design without the versatility of three extra blades. The thinnest angel hair blade had trouble with softer produce during our tests, though the other blades cut equally well on all the produce. Since this is a hand-crank unit, it takes a little bit of effort and a little practice to get the right rhythm to produce uniform noodles, but it’s not strenuous work. This unit is dishwasher-safe, but also easy to clean by hand. Zucchini does not need to be peeled before spiralizing, and many people enjoy the crunchiness it adds to the noodles. When judging whether your produce needs to be peeled before spiralizing, take the following questions into consideration:There are two main versions in the realm of manual spiralizers. First, there are compact handheld spiralizers. These are typically dishwasher-safe and come with a few blade options that you can switch out. They require the most elbow grease of any model, so they’re best for a person that is going to be spiralizing a small amount of food pretty infrequently. They are also not very forgiving when it comes to the size of the vegetable, so you may need to trim it before you can send it through the blade. When spiralizing vegetables and fruit for salads or pasta dishes, you’re rarely only prepping produce. Usually, you're also blending together a sauce or dressing for the meal as well. This electric spiralizer and hand blender combination tool helps you accomplish all of that without the use of additional equipment. Our top choice is the OXO Good Grips Tabletop Spiralizer because of how well it performed in home testing. If you're looking for a more budget-conscious product, we're also impressed by the Veggetti Spiral Vegetable Cutter. What to Look for in a Spiralizer Many spiralized veggies make for great healthy meal prep. Slice zucchini, carrot, onion and beets on the weekend and store in a ziploc bag or glass storage container in the fridge for various recipes throughout the week. Pull the release lever, then push the blade carrier towards the stand mixer to align the blade core with the centre of the food.