The first step in your journey is to pick out a spiralizer. It’s important you have a device that fits your needs and the type of cooking you will be doing. Some spiralizers are only able to do smaller, softer vegetables, while others have many different blades and can handle many varieties. Other spiralizers take up much more counter space and are harder to clean, while others fit in a drawer and can be thrown in your dishwasher.
There are a few different types of spiralizers available on the market, and all of them are relatively inexpensive.
Handheld spiralizers tend to be the cheapest and most compact. They slightly resemble large pencil sharpeners, and they are most commonly used with smaller and thinner vegetables such as zucchini. People tend to have trouble using handheld devices with larger, firmer vegetables such as carrots or sweet potatoes. Other larger root vegetables such as beets or parsnips have proven to be nearly impossible to spiralize with these types of devices. Although most handheld spiralizers come with only one blade, some options do come with multiple blades.
Popular and well-reviewed handheld spiralizers include the GEFU Spirelli Spiral Slicer, the Kitchen Supreme Spiral Slicer Spiralizer, and the Spiralizer 4-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer.
In these spiralizers, the vegetable sits on top of the blade, making it easier for you to put pressure down onto the vegetable as you spiralize because of the assistance of gravity. Although you get less vegetable waste, it doesn’t work with all vegetables, especially larger ones such as butternut squash. Some people tend to have problems with smaller vegetables such as carrots as well because they’re too thin to reach the blade.
Vertical-hold spiralizers tend to be more expensive than the handheld versions. Popular brands include the Benriner Cook Helper Slicer and Müeller Spiral-Ultra 4-Blade Spiralizer.
These type of spiralizers are generally the most popular, as they can spiralize the widest variety of fruits and vegetables. Spiralizers that work horizontally can hold vegetables with greater diameters, so they work great for choices such as beets and squash. Because these spiralizers have three, sometimes four, interchangeable blades, you can also experiment with different shapes, sizes, and textures. This is the type of spiralizer I recommend, as they’re the most versatile. They also are reasonably priced.
Well-known horizontal-hold spiralizers include the Brieftons 5-Blade Spiralizer and the Paderno World Cuisine Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer. The Paderno spiralizer is the one I use. They also have a newer, four-blade version, but I, along with many other bloggers and chefs, prefer to use the original three-blade version, as it seems to handle the vegetables better.
If you don’t own a spiralizer, there are a variety of other kitchen utensils you can use to make noodle dishes. If you don’t happen to own any type of special gadgets, you can always get back to the basics and use a knife, cutting vegetables into long strands or thin slices. Below are a few options if you don’t have a spiralizer available.
A mandoline slicer doesn’t quite produce those long twirly noodles, but it can cut vegetables into long, thin, straight slices that are the next best thing. You just slide your fruit or vegetable across the surface blade, and it produces strands quicker than if you were to use a knife.
Julienning is a style of cutting foods into long, thin strips with even sides. You can do it with a knife, but you can also buy julienne peelers that will help get the job done. Julienne slices are usually a bit thicker than mandoline slices, and this can be a good option for wider-noodle dishes.
Using a regular old peeler can give you slices that can function as thin, ribbon-like noodles. These noodles will be wider and more delicate than spiralized version, but they’re a good replacement for fettuccine or other wide spiralized options.
I use three types of blades for my recipes, and they all come from the Paderno Tri-Blade Spiralizer, although I reference them by generic names so you can use the closest spiralizing method of your choice. They are the following:
This blade produces noodles that have the shape and size of spaghetti. It is typically a blade with small, triangular blades (3 mm). This is the most common type of spiralizing blade, and it can be used with almost any type of fruit and vegetable.
This blade looks exactly like the small-noodle blade, only its triangle blades are larger (6 mm), producing a wider, thicker noodle. This blade tends to produce noodles with more curl, making it a great options for creating curly fries.
Unlike the first two blades, a straight-noodle blade produces noodles that are wide and ribbon-like. It also functions well as a slicer, making thin cuts in foods like apples and potatoes. It’s a good option for chips.