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. 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. 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. Place a bowl or plate under the spiralizer attachment, then put the food on to the fruit and vegetable skewer. 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. 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.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: 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: 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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 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.

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? 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 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. 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.Perfect for those who don't like a lot of clutter in the kitchen or prefer a more minimalist approach to prep work, these mason jar spiralizer lids are budget-conscious, simple, and functional. The set comes with three vegetable slicer blades (for small, medium, and large spirals) that each fit on top of any wide-mouth mason jar that you probably already have in your cabinet. It also comes with one stabilizer lid to hold the produce steady as you spiralize and the spirals go straight into the mason jar at the bottom. 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. 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. 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.