I believe I speak for most of us when I say that one can never have enough (useful) kitchen tools. Especially those that make our lives a little easier in the kitchen, right?
If you’ve never heard of a spiralizer, you are in for a treat. A spiralizer is a manual (handheld or counter mounted) gadget that makes spaghetti and other pasta shapes out of vegetables. Seriously!
Anything I can do to help me get more vegetables into our diet is great, especially when everything that gets sprialized is naturally free of gluten and grains. It’s perfect for those of us who follow a grain-free diet, need to make gluten-free meals, or just want a fun way to eat more vegetables.
You can spiralize apples, beets, broccoli, butternut squash, cabbage, carrots, celery root (celeriac), chayote, cucumbers, jicama, kohlrabi, onions, parsnips, pears, plantains, radish, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, taro roots, turnips, white potatoes, zucchini, and more!
Because I know it’s hard to see on pictures whether or not you are going to like something, my little guy (the 3 year old) and I recorded a video for you to see how the spiralizers I own compare. If anything else, you have to watch the bloopers at the end.
Another reason I love spiralizing is that I can spiralize veggies one night, store them in the fridge in a container, and have them ready to go when I need them a day or two later. Click here to see how I spiralize veggies ahead of time and store them.
Now that I have you thinking about getting a spiralizer or using yours more often, let’s compare some of the most popular models. There are tons of spiralizing units out in the market and you should know that there are quite a few imitators out there; meaning, same machine design (for the most part) different brand label.
I believe that a kitchen tool is most useful when it doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary parts and it does a great job. I’ve seen some pretty intricate things calling themselves spiralizers but they are cumbersome to use (and clean), which is why most people stop using theirs.
There are two main categories of spiralizers. Handheld and counter mounted. In those two main categories, there are lots of variations in design.
The Handheld Julienne Peeling Method
While it’s not officially a spiralizer, this inexpensive peeler cuts veggies into julienne-cut strands. My favorite is the OXO Julienne Peeler because it’s easy to grip and there is a safety cover that covers the very sharp pointed blade when not in use; this prevents you from being poked when reaching inside your kitchen drawer (it’s happened to me more than once).
The pro is that it’s inexpensive and it doesn’t take a lot of room. The con to this tool is that it takes a long time to make enough for a family. Sure, it might take five minutes to make a single serving, but I can sprialize for a entire week with another model in five minutes. Time is of an essence.
The Handheld Spiralizer, or “Vegetti”
I’ve purchased the Vegetti when it first came out after recording a podcast with my friend Aviva. She was a huge fan and got me all excited. Once I tried it, I hate to admit that my enthusiasm was quickly deflated. I watched a ton of YouTube videos on how to use it and I could never get it to work right for me. I quickly got stored in the junk drawer and I stopped spiralizing all together for months.
The pro is that it’s inexpensive and it doesn’t take a lot of room. The cons outweigh any purchase thoughts you might have. It wastes a lot of veggie that is easily used up in other models and it takes a lot of time to make enough for a family meal. This one gets two thumbs down. If it’s going be this cumbersome to get spiralized veggies on the table, I am not going to do it as often as I’d like.
The Counter-mounted Spiralizers
I first purchased a Padermo spiralizer after buying my friend Ali Maffucci’s cookbook, Inspiralized: Turn Vegetables into Healthy, Creative, Satisfying Meals. I have to admit that the counter mounted spiralizer revolutionized the speed at which I could get a veggie filled meal on the table.
Once I started having fun turning my veggies into noodles, my youngest son, Gabriel, became excited about making spiralized veggies too!
There are two drawbacks to the Padermo model; the first one is that the suction cups don’t’ stay suctioned on the counter well and I have to keep pressing the suction cup corners down. The other is that the spiralizing blades are exposed and now that my kids love to spiralize, they pose a big risk and it’s quite easy to cut oneself during spiralizing or washing. Otherwise, it does the job well.
Whichever method you use, be sure to check out my best tips on how to spiralize veggies and store for the week.
Photography: Ali Maffucci
Gaby Eliz
My kid loves almost all veggies except carrots. But one day he decided he did not like fruits: apples, berries, bananas… Now I cannot get him to eat them! Help!
Brenda
When my girls were at home, and now with my grandchildren, we ate the same number of bites as their age. My 7 YO granddaughter was the first to try to negotiate-lol-it was an easy and fun way to try new food.
Julie
When my kids were little we had a veggies first rule at dinner. I served them their vegetable side dish before the main course and they just knew that they had to eat them before they got the main entree. That worked well for us. Now that they’re older (10 and 14) eating their veggies is a habit. My 14 yr old son takes carrots, celery, and cucumbers with hummus in his lunch and my daughter likes carrots or cucumbers with a little salt or celery with peanut butter. I also sneak spinach and/or kale and baby carrots into smoothies.
Amanda
My son has multiple food allergies, so I really need to get veggies in him. He has recently started to get picky on me, so I am always looking for different ways to make food fun for him! The Inspiralizer looks like a great tool for that!
Charlotte
I too bought and tried the Vegetti and was let down by how difficult it was to get a good amount of veggies spiralized quickly. Call me a wimp, but hand cranking like that is not easy. Thanks for telling us about the Inspiralizer!
stephanie
My brother has to change his diet for health reasons, the spiralizing tool would give some excitement to his veggies. I think he’s been missing spaghetti, and her be thrilled with some new noodles.
Jenny Roesler
We are unfortunate with veggie eaters in the family. My only daughter is spoiled and doesn’t really try things if she didn’t have them before. She is 4 and one thing I noticed is that she ate a bunch of veggies when she was a baby (we were starting solids) and one day she decided to cut them from her diet. I think that it is mostly due to the look and texture so the Inspiralizer looks like a fun idea for us to try different things and she might be able to help (meaning eat it after). Hope we can do it 🙂
Diane
I started to give my kids veggies before the rest of the meal was finished cooking. They were hungry so they ate them. Now they just eat them with dinner. I never tried to cover them with cheese or anything just steamed.
Jenny
I have 2 daughters. One loves veggies; the other detests them. I’d LOVE to try the spiralizer to see if I could get my oldest to eat more veggies!
Sarah Becker
Wow – this looks like an amazing tool. I would love to incorporate more veggies into my kids meals and this could be a fun way to do it. They are limited on the veggies they will eat in the traditional forms. Would love to have one.
LILI YEN
my biggest struggles are time and variety. it’s hard to make more time in the busy weekdays, so many times i default to easy steamed veggies. that makes it hard to have variety in our family’s veggie diet. Thanks for the giveaway! it looks like an interesting option!!!
Gisella Santiago-Gronka
Your blog posts/newsletters and cookbooks have been immensely helpful and a blessing for me as well as the kids. I still struggle getting them to eat a new vegetable from zuchinni to beets and sweet potatoes. I’m not opposed to disguising them and have in fun ways with some success. I’d love to try the inspiralizer! What a fabulous tool to make eating veggies more fun!
Cortney Domasig
My kiddos love love love veggies (it’s my husband who I have to sneak veggies into haha). We have tried spaghetti squash in replacement for noodles but I had never thought about spiralizing! Seems great! I can’t wait to give it a try!
Anna
I have a julienne cutter much like the one you described, but I agree that it is not suitable for an entire meal for a family. I use it for lunch box items, but I am looking for something more useful for a family of five. Thanks for your reviews!
Ruth
This looks great! It is hard to get children in our family to eat zucchini without making it extra interesting! 🙂
Tina Hansford
I love this and would love to have it in my kitchen. I don’t really ever have problems getting vegetables into my kiddos. All four of them are very healthy eaters. I find continually offering them even things they don’t like they eventually start to like it. For example…myself and 2 of my kids love spinach and are sad when the pot is empty. 2 of them are not fans and would pass it by without a second thought. I always give them just enough to have a bite. My rule is one bite you have to eat it and you have to swallow it but if you are not a fan then you don’t have to eat more. Most of the time I find they eventually will eat it without complaining and sometimes ask for more of whatever it is lol.
Maranda
I too struggle to get get veggies into my kids diet. The rule had been that you have to try at least one of the veggies on your plate, but as soon as the food enters the mouth, the frame and gaging begins. I now have a new rule, you must CHEW 7 times. Why seven? That’s just the number I picked. 🙂 To my surprise it is working. The faces of tortured little children turn delightful when they get to bite number 5. It also helps to put the veggie on the fork with a bit of meat. I think it’s a texture thing.
Mindy
My kids actually eat a good assortment of veggies. Mixing them with fruits and turning them into a smoothie is a great way to get them eating raw veggies. I add anything from carrots to asparagus to kale to the smoothie.
Cathy
I can barely get one kid to eat any veggies and the other won’t touch them. I don’t know how much of it is psychological at this point, but I sure could use new tricks to try!
Candice
My 19 month old likes broccoli most of the time, some days frozen peas. Have tried dips, veggie ‘fries’, variety, but the more effort I put into making her something, the less likely she’ll eat it! No smoothies, no hidden veggie muffins or mini quiches. So frustrating.