Both lids – one to top the basket and the other housing the spinning mechanism – are transparent, allowing you to easily see when your food is ready. As the bowl is clear and elegantly styled, it can also be used for serving your salad dish. During our tests, we evaluated several products that are designed to dry and clean veggies. We chose options ranging from small and compact to large and voluminous. In addition to evaluating the functionality of each, we designed objective tests to look at how well each cleans fine particulates and dries. We also look at the capacity and ease of use. After hours of spinning veggies, we gather our data for a well-rounded look at what the best salad spinners on the market have to offer. Salad spinners are a game changer when it comes to meal prep. Fill them with greens and water to wash your lettuce, and then spin to drain and remove excess water. You can also use your salad spinner to drain veggies after washing. Salad spinners are essential since clean, dry leaves are better-prepped for dressing on salad (and they stay fresh longer). You can even store your greens in the colander – the vents help with air circulation, which slows down the rate of spoilage.

Ideal for adding a perfect coating of your favourite salad dressing, the KitchenCraft Compact Salad Spinner also features an opening in the lid. A transparent acrylic bowl houses the clear plastic spinning basket; the lid is all white. Making it easy to clean, this sald spinner can be disassembled and put into the dishwasher. The lever takes some force to push it down, but once the bowl gets spinning the lever is easier and easier to push, and it can be done with one hand. The brake stops the spinning immediately, which the company says will help "fluff" the greens. We did feel like the rapid momentum that the lever motion was able to achieve, coupled with the sudden braking, helped shake every bit of water off the leaves, making this a very effective salad spinner. And the flat design of the lid makes it ideal for storing the greens right in the spinner. Salad spinners can range in capacity from less than three quarts to over six quarts, with most falling somewhere in the middle. Consider the amount of storage space you have to spare relative to the number of people you have to feed. For a family, or the entertainer who is always hosting dinner parties, the larger the option the better. Some spinners even have a collapsible design to help you save on storage space without sacrificing capacity. At 6.2 quarts, the Brieftons BR-SS-02 had the most capacity for greens. This is extremely handy when entertaining for a larger dinner party. Our tester found you could fit 6-8 large servings of salad in this spinner. The braking button worked exceptionally well, despite having the largest capacity. This is where this model shined, but on other functions and features, it failed to impress our reviewer. Spinning should be a fluid process since that's the purpose of these products. However, not all of these models stop well when it comes time to hit the brakes. Some of the salad spinners come with a brake button. Other models with a crank arm spinning mechanism do not include this feature. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to each braking system. Crank arms rely solely on the arm for braking, and we found this style can be challenging to stop when functioning at higher speeds in comparison to the button-style brakes, which were more effective at braking.If you need something that won't break but can handle washing and drying smaller batches of lettuce, this 3-quart Progressive Collapsible Salad Spinner with a silicone construction and collapsible design is a wonderful option. It's ideal for traveling and use in smaller kitchens or dorm rooms. In testing, we found it actually reduces to just 3 inches when fully collapsed, so storage could not be more convenient. A plethora of great features make this all-plastic salad spinner a winner. The lid has a hole and a strainer, so you can fill the whole thing with water, use the spinner to agitate the greens, then pour the water out through the hole, while the strainer keeps everything inside. This is especially helpful for very dirty or sandy greens, such as spinach, and it's the only spinner we tested that had this feature. As far as bowl material goes, for efficient spinning, you need to be able to see your product to know when it's dry. Clear bowls are best for this, but they're not as attractive if you want to also use them as a serving bowl. Stainless steel bowls tend to be more expensive but make attractive serving bowls. The minimalistic Ikea Salad Spinner, or Tokig, offers a budget-friendly product for drying your salad. Measuring 15 cm in height and with a diameter of 24 cm, this spinner is a good size for a small family.

Additionally, some units had a colander that was more difficult to clean for one reason or another. We attempted to take apart, clean, and prepare to dry each unit in under five minutes. All of the contenders were cleaned within this timeframe, but some were easier than others. Five of the models impressed us throughout the cleaning process; these were the Cuisinart CTG-00-SSAS, OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner, OXO Steel, Mueller 5-Liter Vegetable Washer, and Prepworks Collapsible 3-Quart Spinner. With salad proving a popular healthy meal option, there are many models on the market today – small salad spinners, ideal for individual servings, ones that allow dressing to be added while you spin, and those that spin simply by pressing a button. Here are our top 5 best salad spinners. A salad spinner is a must-have for anyone who enjoys fresh salad greens. Our culinary experts researched more than 75 of the most popular options before purchasing 9 of the best salad spinners available on the market. We tested these spinners side-by-side, using them in our own kitchens for more than 20 hours of comparative analysis. We carefully assessed drying efficiency by measuring the amount of water removed from various produce, and purposefully dirtied clean lettuce to examine how well each spinner removes dirt and debris. Our test team carefully considers each model for relative capacity, ease of spinning, braking, and ease of cleaning. Our in-depth review offers expert recommendations for the best overall salad spinner, as well as a few that excel for niche purposes.

Our Top Picks

Sometimes, you can find an outer bowl with a flow-through design with holes in the bottom to drain the water as you spin. The advantage is that the lettuce dries faster, but this has to be done over a sink to avoid messy spillage. Many types of salad spinners have an outer bowl that doesn't feature holes in the bottom, though. The upside is that you can do your spinning on the counter, but you must dump your bowl periodically to drain the water. There are some models, like the Westmark, that have pour spouts that allow for a more convenient draining experience. The spin basket had an unusual pattern of cutouts; some are horizontal while others are angled upwards and downwards, which might account for how thoroughly the water was able to pull away from the greens.The spinning action works with a pump mechanism, and the pump handle has a comfortably rounded shape made of grippy plastic. It feels great in the hand and doesn't require much effort to operate, for lefties and righties alike. All salad should be washed before eating, to ensure that dirt and harmful bacteria are removed. Traditional methods of drying salad leaves, such a shaking in a colander or patting dry with a kitchen towel, can damage the cells and leave your lettuce limp. For this metric, the first thing to note is that the mechanism to spin the colander varies across models. Five spinners use a crank arm, four use a push button, and one uses a pull handle/arm. These types of mechanisms can work effectively and ergonomically, but there were certain limitations to each type. Models with a crank arm can struggle to stay in place during the spinning action because the force is not applied in a downward fashion. The humble salad spinner may seem like an unnecessary kitchen tool, but we beg to differ: It's revolutionary when it comes to yielding crispy, fresh greens. The centrifugal force created by spinning pulls out dirt particles hidden in the ribs and crevices of your lettuce, spinach, arugula, and more while drawing out any excess liquid. Warding off that lingering moisture helps keep your salad from getting soggy or moldy, but also maintains the consistency and flavor of your salad dressing. Apart from helping to achieve the perfect salad, these handy gadgets are also useful in washing large batches of herbs, cleaning cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or brussel sprouts, and washing berries.

The SwiftDry Salad spinner uses the same plastic bowl and unusually shaped spin basket as its pull-cord model. But this version has a lid with a lever that pops up. Pushing the lever down will activate the spinning motion through a series of gears that you can actually see through the translucent green plastic housing if you look underneath the lid. Operated by a winding mechanism, the speed of the Compact Salad Spinner by KitchenCraft can be easily controlled to cater for more delicate herbs or hardier lettuce leaves. In addition to the twist-action handle, the lid has a substantial clip to hold it firmly in place.Oxo is a widely recognized and trusted brand for durable, intuitive, and efficient kitchen tools. This salad spinner is no exception. With this model you can easily prep, wash, and dry a large amount of lettuce, strawberries, bulky root vegetables, canned beans, and so much more. With a 4.95-quart capacity, the basket was able to handle enough food for a family meal when we put it through washing and spinning a large head of romaine lettuce, a pint of blueberries, a quart of strawberries, and a pound of cooked pasta. If you're looking for a salad spinner that's efficient but also modern and attractive, the Oxo Steel model is a great choice. It has the elements expected from Oxo's trusted brand, plus a sleek design that looks as good on the table serving your freshly spun salad as it does on the counter as a tool. As the name would suggest, salad spinners work by spinning its contents really fast to remove any excess water and/or dirt. They usually have a removable colander where you can wash your greens before spinning them dry. There are several different mechanisms that a salad spinner might use to spin the greens: Two sturdy clamps keep the lid in place for storage and while you're pouring water out. The spinning action is initiated by a knob that you turn, which is comfortable to hold and can be turned in either direction — nice for lefties.