How To Use Food Spiralizer — Beginners Guide

Food Spi­ral­iz­er: Let’s face it, we often day­dream about eat­ing healthy and mak­ing pacts with our­selves only to break them. Now, it is time to say good­bye to an unhealthy lifestyle and hel­lo to a healthy and hap­py lifestyle. But how, when you can’t swal­low a bite of fresh veg­eta­bles with­out gri­mac­ing? Not any­more, though, because through spi­ral­iza­tion, your dream of eat­ing healthy will come to reality.

So, let’s find out what spi­ral­iza­tion is, why it is essen­tial, and how it works.

Dis­clo­sure: As an Ama­zon Asso­ciate, we may earn an affil­i­ate com­mis­sion for pur­chas­es you make when using the links on this page.

Read More: 5 Best Elec­tric Spi­ral­iz­ers | KitchenGearPro Top Picks

What is Spiralization?

Spi­ral­iz­ing is the process of turn­ing veg­eta­bles and fruits into spi­ral strings or, in easy words, zoo­dles with the help of a spi­ral­iz­er. The spi­ral­iz­er machine is cre­at­ing high­ly artis­tic Japan­ese cui­sine and is a recent trend amongst healthy west­ern eaters due to its health ben­e­fits. Spi­ral­ized veg­etable is a healthy alter­na­tive to the high in car­bo­hy­drates stan­dard noo­dles and pas­ta and con­tains a lot of vit­a­mins and nutri­tion. Besides, the spi­ral­iza­tion of veg­eta­bles is a con­ve­nient and fun process and usu­al­ly does not require much time for their preparation.

A bowl full of healthy spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles topped with pre­ferred sauces, top­pings, and olive oil makes a deli­cious yet nutri­tious meal. It is the best pasta/noodles for veg­ans and raw food­ists who avoid eat­ing eggs or just want to stick to a healthy diet. Spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles make an excel­lent sub­sti­tute for pas­ta for peo­ple on a low-carb diet. You can find spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles in restau­rants as well, but noth­ing can beat a home­made meal. Since spi­ral­iz­ing is a very easy process, there won’t be any hassle.

Types of Spiralizers

There are a few types of spi­ral­iz­ers you can use to spi­ral­ize your vegetables.

Handheld Spiralizers

A hand­held or a palm­top spi­ral­iz­er is like a sharp­en­er, pri­mar­i­ly used for mak­ing zoo­dles. It is most suit­able with more squashed veg­eta­bles and fruits. Hand­held spi­ral­iz­ers are best for mak­ing a small­er por­tion of spi­ral­ized vegetables.

Hand­held spi­ral­iz­ers are low-priced and easy to work with. How­ev­er, a draw­back of hand­held spi­ral­iz­ers is that they can’t spi­ral­ize hard veg­eta­bles like car­rots, beet­roots, etc., due to their puny frame.

Manually Crank Spiralizers

You can spi­ral­ize your veg­eta­bles in dif­fer­ent shapes by using man­u­al table­top spi­ral­iz­ers, as they usu­al­ly come with a vari­ety of detach­able blades. Man­u­al coun­ter­top spi­ral­iz­ers work using a hand lever and a suc­tion cup. They are suit­able for prepar­ing large meals.

Electric Spiralizers

Elec­tric spi­ral­iz­ers are more con­ve­nient and easy to use. They are capa­ble of spi­ral­iz­ing firmer veg­eta­bles like beet­root, zuc­chi­ni, car­rot, etc. They are more on the expan­sion side.

Why Spiralize?

Eat­ing dice or cubes of veg­eta­bles can be chal­leng­ing for some, but you can intake more veg­eta­bles with­out gag­ging by spi­ral­iz­ing them. It is an excel­lent source of nutri­tion and essen­tial vit­a­mins. You will eat a big bowl of veg­gies dis­guised as pas­ta by spi­ral­iz­ing your veg­eta­bles. Typ­i­cal­ly, peo­ple make pas­ta and noo­dles using eggs and wheat flour. If you don’t eat them in mod­er­a­tion, they can be bad for your health. Mean­while, spi­ral­ized veg­etable pas­ta has an abun­dance of nutri­ents to offer.

Spi­ral­iz­ing your veg­eta­bles makes an excel­lent sub­sti­tute for pas­ta. It is ben­e­fi­cial in main­tain­ing a healthy lifestyle because spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles con­tain few­er calo­ries, carbs, and fats. In addi­tion, veg­eta­bles nat­u­ral­ly have essen­tial nutri­ents like Vit­a­min A, Vit­a­min C, potas­si­um, and a lot of fiber. Thus, spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles make a ful­fill­ing and per­fect diet.

Even kids would enjoy a bowl full of deli­cious spi­ral­ized veg­etable pas­ta. Spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles are gluten-free, hence ide­al for veg­e­tar­i­ans. Spi­ral­iz­ing your veg­eta­bles are also ben­e­fi­cial if you’re on a Paleo diet. Spi­ral­iz­ing is a con­ve­nient and easy process; it is per­fect for those who don’t get much time to pre­pare com­plex meals due to their busy schedule.

What Ingredients Can a Spiralizer Handle?

There is a huge list of veg­eta­bles and fruits you can spi­ral­ize. But there are a few things you should keep in mind before spi­ral­iz­ing your veg­eta­bles. First, the veg­eta­bles or fruits you are spi­ral­iz­ing must be firm and sol­id to get prop­er spi­rals and shapes. The veg­eta­bles should be about two (2) inch­es long and 1.5 inch­es in diam­e­ter for an excel­lent expe­ri­ence. Sec­ond, you can­not spi­ral­ize a veg­etable if it is not sol­id such as a toma­to, and has big seeds and a stur­dy core like a pump­kin. Final­ly, soft or pulpy veg­eta­bles and fruits are not the options for spiralization.

Some of the most pop­u­lar and fre­quent­ly spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles are:

Zucchini

Zuc­chi­ni is one of the most com­mon spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles, as it makes an excel­lent sub­sti­tute for low-carb and gluten-free noo­dles. It is specif­i­cal­ly known as zoo­dles. You can eas­i­ly pre­pare zoo­dles; just spi­ral­ize zuc­chi­ni, add a pre­ferred sauce or sea­son­ing, and enjoy.

Carrot

You can make a tasty plate of spi­ral­ized car­rot noo­dles. All you have to do is peel and spi­ral­ize your car­rots, sauté them, or eat raw accord­ing to your pref­er­ence. Then, driz­zle some olive oil with sea­son­ings of your lik­ing, and enjoy a bowl full of nutrients.

Beetroot

There is a vari­ety of spi­ral­iz­ing beets avail­able. You can spi­ral­ize them with or with­out peel­ing, but shav­ing their skin is rec­om­mend­ed to get more fine spi­rals. Yel­low beet and Chiog­gia make a great stain­less sub­sti­tute for beet­root. You can enjoy it raw or mix it with oth­er veg­gies of your liking.

Broccoli

Broc­coli has an abun­dance of nutri­tion­al val­ues to offer; hence per­fect for a healthy diet. Spi­ral­ize steamed broc­coli with the stem, squeeze a lemon, and add gar­lic pow­der, red chili flakes, and salt. You can also sauté it in olive oil and enjoy.

Potatoes

You can spi­ral­ize pota­toes to make deli­cious hash browns and curly fries or sauté them in olive oil topped with red chili flakes and parme­san cheese.

Sweet Potatoes

There are so many ways to pre­pare sweet pota­toes; you can spi­ral­ize them to make noo­dles, sweet pota­to rice, and sweet pota­to curly fries.

Butternut Squash

Oth­er than zuc­chi­ni, but­ter­nut squash makes anoth­er excel­lent low-calo­rie sub­sti­tute for spaghet­ti pas­ta. You can serve them with a sauce or sauté them in olive oil.

You can spi­ral­ize and enjoy var­i­ous oth­er veg­eta­bles and fruits, includ­ing turnips, cab­bage, cel­ery roots or cele­ri­ac, cucum­ber, parsnip, rutaba­ga, and kohlra­bi.

How Do Spiralizers Work?

Spi­ral­iz­ers are con­ve­nient and extreme­ly easy to use. Spi­ral­iz­ing meth­ods may vary depend­ing on the type of spi­ral­iz­er you are using, but over­all, they have the same spi­ral­iz­ing process. All you have to do is:

1. Select a blade of your choice; link it to the spiralizer.
2. Scrub your veg­etable or fruit clean and cut the end part of it to make it even.
3. Put the lev­eled end of your veg­etable or fruit oppo­site the blade.
4. Apply force using your hand and twist the han­dle anti-clockwise.
5. Enjoy the rain of fresh spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles and fruits.

How To Cook and Eat Spiralized Food?

There is always room for exper­i­ment­ing and try­ing out dif­fer­ent top­pings and recipes when it comes to cook­ing. Go for any recipe you want, but here we are shar­ing some of the best ways to cook and enjoy your veg­etable noo­dle or pasta.

You can com­bine dif­fer­ent ingre­di­ents and spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles to make mac and cheese, make sautéed veg­eta­bles, toss them in sea­son­ing, and roast or bake them. Make a vari­ety of noo­dles or spaghet­ti using zuc­chi­ni, but­ter­nut squash, and oth­er veg­eta­bles. Steam and add them to a soup to make soupy pas­ta. You can stir-fry them and enjoy a crispy bowl of fried and sea­soned vegetables.

Food Processor vs. Spiralizer vs. Mandolin

Many home cooks get con­fused while try­ing to search for a bet­ter and more con­ve­nient tool for their kitchen. For exam­ple, some peo­ple think that a food proces­sor is all you need, where­as some believe that a man­dolin or spi­ral­iz­er works best. So, let’s com­pare them and see which prod­uct is the best.

Food Processor

A food proces­sor offers sev­er­al fea­tures, as it comes with a vari­ety of blades and attach­ments. It allows you to chop, slice, mince, dice, or turn your veg­eta­bles into a purée with­in a cou­ple of min­utes. It makes all your cook­ing expe­ri­ences quick and con­ve­nient. The major draw­back of a food proces­sor is that it can be hefty and take up a lot of space in your kitchen. In addi­tion, it’s on the prici­er side, where­as spi­ral­iz­ers and man­dolins are cheaper.

Spiralizer

Spi­ral­iz­er or spi­ral cut­ter makes long, spi­ral strings from firm veg­eta­bles and fruits. There are var­i­ous types of spi­ral­iz­ers avail­able nowa­days, such as hand­held, man­u­al coun­ter­top, and elec­tric spi­ral­iz­ers that are sim­ple and con­ve­nient to use. In addi­tion, they are not as expen­sive as food proces­sors and make a use­ful kitchen tool.

Mandolin

Man­dolin pro­vides con­ve­nience when it comes to chop­ping, dic­ing, and slic­ing your veg­eta­bles like a pro. Man­dolins have a sim­ple design that is easy to clean, and their detach­able blades offer more con­ve­nience. How­ev­er, the sharp open blades make it a lit­tle dan­ger­ous to use. On the oth­er hand, it is cheap­er than spi­ral­iz­ers and food processors.

Each kitchen tool, be it a spi­ral­iz­er, food proces­sor, or man­dolin, is essen­tial and use­ful in its own way. It depends on you to choose from them or buy them all accord­ing to your needs and requirements.

Conclusion

Spi­ral­iz­ing your veg­eta­bles is the best way to intake veg­eta­bles in the form of deli­cious noodles/pasta. It helps you eat health­i­er meals with­out forc­ing your­self and has many oth­er health benefits.

To sum it up, spi­ral­iz­ing your veg­eta­bles is essen­tial to thriv­ing in life.

Are you inter­est­ed in buy­ing the best veg­etable spi­ral­iz­er? Check our article:

6 Best Man­u­al Spi­ral­iz­ers For Mak­ing You Eat More Veggies

5 Best Elec­tric Spi­ral­iz­ers | KitchenGearPro Top Picks