KitchenAid KSM1APC Spiralizer Attachment, Stainless Steel, Silver

Product Information

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.

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. 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. 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: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. 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. 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. Is this vegetable typically peeled before eating or cooking? Vegetables like beets, carrots, onions, butternut squash, and turnips are almost always peeled before use. 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.

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.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.

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 SpiralizerWhen 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. 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.