KitchenAid KSM1APC Spiralizer Attachment, Stainless Steel, Silver

Product Information

Zucchini is one of the most popular vegetables to spiralize since it can be made into so many creative dishes. Generally speaking, a zucchini is “spiralized” by grating it in a continuous circular motion over round slicer blades, similar to those on a boxed grater. Instead of the short cuts made with a boxed grater, the circular cutting motion of a spiralizer makes one long continuous cut, resulting in zucchini noodles that can be used for any number of dishes. Pull the release lever, then push the blade carrier towards the stand mixer to align the blade core with the centre of the food. It’s important to consider the level of effort that you’ll need to put in based on which kind of spiralizer you choose. Spiralizers are available in both manual and motorized versions. If you’re only spinning out a few spirals for a garnish or a kid’s meal, the hand-powered models are more than sufficient. If you're going to be using the spiralizer frequently for big-batch cooking, occasions, meal prep, or large gatherings, it’s going to require a whole lot of elbow grease to power you through a task like that. In these cases, a motorized version will help save you plenty of time and effort in the kitchen. 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. 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:

When it comes to carrots, parsnips and other “narrow” vegetables, grab the largest you can find. The wider the better. Of course, each spiralizer is built slightly differently. While you’ll get a similar product with most machines, it’s best to learn which machine works the way you’re comfortable with. 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. 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.

What Can You Use a Spiralizer For?

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. Place a bowl or plate under the spiralizer attachment, then put the food on to the fruit and vegetable skewer. 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. KitchenAid mixers have a power hub that connects their motors to other attachments (including food processors, ice cream makers, cheese shredders, and more). The spiralizer attachment, which we tested here, lets you spiralize, slice, and peel fruits and veggies without the need for a separate device. Today, I’m sharing some of the best vegetables to spiralize and the ones I spiralize most frequently. Of course, there are many more options than these and I’d love to hear in the comments below what your favorites are. Below each vegetable I’ve also listed a little spiralizer recipe inspiration on Downshiftology to boost your creativity in using that spiralized vegetable.

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. Spiralized carrots are a great alternative to shredding or slicing for salads or stir fry and let’s be honest, they look way fancier. Grab the largest carrots you can find for easier spiralizing and use a fine or medium spiral slicing blade. 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. We were curious about what the spiralizer would do with an onion and its concentric rings. We removed the papery peel from the onion, then speared the root end. We chose a slicing blade and ended up with a spiralized onion as it separated at its rings. Then we did the same thing with the large spiralizer blade and we ended up with short curved pieces. Just for amusement, we tried an onion speared at the equator rather than the root. While the onion was cut successfully, the results weren’t culinarily useful. 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.

Customer reviews

Again, I use the Paderno Spiralizer (the one you see above), but if you have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, you may love the KitchenAid Spiralizer. Watch my video on zucchini noodles where I compare and contrast five different spiralizers. 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? 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. On the topic of this manual, we felt that its setup instructions were straightforward and included helpful illustrations. It also included tips for food preparation, like cutting off one end of your vegetable (so the flat end fits most easily against the skewer) and limiting the length of the food so that it fits in the attachment. This has one spiralizing blade, but there are pricier versions that come with two or three blades if you want to upgrade. It’s dishwasher-safe but easy to clean by hand.

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. 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. To install the blades, slide them into the blade carrier from above. It’s simple and easy—as is installing the peeler, which slides in from below. The peeler has a release lever and comes out without a problem, but the blades were much harder to remove; we had to pull them so hard that leftover food flew out of them. Of course, you don’t want a blade to come out accidentally while the spiralizer is running, but we think the removal mechanism could be improved. 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.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. 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. 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.