Spiralizers

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Simple, intuitive, inexpensive, and stable, the winner of our previous test easily spiralized apples, beets, potatoes, and zucchini with relatively little waste. Better yet, the Paderno Tri-Blade was able to turn almost all of the produce into even, consistent noodles and ribbons. It was one of the only machines capable of spiralizing butternut squash into long, regular strands—although the stress of this endeavor caused the handle to crack on its last round of testing.

Nearly identical to the Paderno Tri-Blade in both appearance and performance, the Spiralizer Tri-Blade was just a bit more awkward and less secure; its vegetable holder rocked from side to side slightly during use. It was also prone to staining from vegetable juices. Although the noodles weren’t always pretty, it did manage to process all of the produce we threw at it, and it produced little waste.

This upgraded version of the Paderno Tri-Blade is ambidextrous, similarly efficient, and more compact. But the design changes—including a smaller vegetable holder and pusher handle—introduced new problems that made the machine fussier, less stable, and more awkward to use. The machine also took some experience to set up. Still, the Paderno 4-Blade was able to cut all of the produce we put in it, and it includes a handy angel-hair slicer blade and a skewer for making accordion cuts.

This lefty-friendly KitchenAid attachment lets the stand mixer’s motor do the hard work, effortlessly making long noodles out of zucchini, beets, apples, and potatoes. It was the easiest machine to clean, and its extra blades were handy. But it was fussy to use and generated a lot of waste. With butternut squash, the machine’s powerful motor was all for naught since the tiny vegetable holder couldn’t stabilize the squash enough to produce even a single noodle.

Stabilized by a single large suction cup with a release valve, the Veggetti Pro was surprisingly secure on the countertop. But produce larger than 6¾ inches had to be cut to fit inside the holders, increasing waste. This model couldn’t handle butternut squash at all and made somewhat uneven noodles with the other produce.

The Müeller Spiral-Ultra claimed to make spiral cuts, grate, slice like a mandoline, and even juice citrus. Unfortunately, it didn’t perform any of these functions well. Poor design made setup and use tricky. The vertical handle made the Spiral-Ultra ambidextrous but was awkward for both lefties and righties. A collection bin under the blades seemed handy but was badly positioned, catching only one-third of all spiralized produce. Worst, the two suction cups did not fully stabilize the machine, which rocked back and forth dangerously while spiralizing.

The simple, supersharp Benriner makes noodles and ribbons, but they’re fine and paper-thin—better suited for garnishes than for the pasta-like noodles and side dishes most people expect to generate from a spiralizer. It’s got a small capacity—produce must be under 4 inches long to fit under the handle, thus generating a lot of waste. And with no suction cups or clamps to secure it to the counter, it’s highly unstable, rocking back and forth on its plastic feet while in use.