If you are a healthy eating enthusiast, you must know the importance of spiralizing multiple ingredients when it comes to a healthy diet. Wouldn’t it be best to spiralize different ingredients into unique shapes using an appliance already present at your home? Now you must be wondering about that multi-purpose appliance, which can act as a spiralizer and save you quite some bucks. It’s none other than food processors. You can do spiralizing with a food processor.
Yes, right! Food processors come with many attachments, especially blades, to help you prepare your food. Luckily, some have spiralizing blades, letting users cut their favorite ingredients into unique shapes. All you have to do is attach the spiralizing blade to the food processor by removing the previous attachments and taking advantage of the versatile device.
Can all food processors spiralize?
This is true that spiralizing with a food processor is an option, but not all food processors come with this option. It entirely depends on the brand or model of the appliance, whether it includes a spiralizer attachment or not. Some come with the spiralizing blade, while others don’t. Also, if you have a food processor that does not include this attachment, you can look for the spiralizer blade that fits the specific model. However, if you fail, you must look for a new food processor or a spiralizer.
So, if you haven’t used a spiralizer before, it’s nothing to be worried about. Many of you want to add plenty of vegetables to your diet as they are a good source of many essential nutrients, and the best part is that you can artistically add them. Whether you want to make long thin noodles for making salads or stir-fries, give your favorite ingredients interesting shapes of noodles and pasta, or just cut them into slender spiral strands, the food processors with spiralizing attachments can do it all.
How does a spiralizer work?
Spiralizing with a food processor can give ingredients like fruits and vegetables interesting shapes whether you plan on eating them or preparing them for cooking an exotic dish. The most common vegetables and fruits that are spiralized using a food processor include potatoes, reddish, carrots, zucchini, apples, and melons. Usually, raw vegetables are cut to give different shapes and sizes of ingredients, but you can also cut other substances.
Now that you know about the ingredients that can be cut into multiple shapes using a spiralizer, you must be wondering how a spiralizer work. Spiralizers function a little like pencil sharpeners; all you have to do is fix the ingredient into the hollow slot of the gadget and rotate it in a circular motion. It will form thin slices or strips of noodles. However, in some spiralizers, you can place the vegetable on a fixed point and turn the handle to cut it into slices. For further explanation, let us look at the step-by-step process of using a spiralizing blade in a food processor.
- The first step of spiralizing with a food processor includes removing the blade that has already been attached to the food processor.
- Take the attachment holder with the spiralizing blade, and place it in the food processor.
- Now put the spiralizing disc between the feeder tube and the lid of the food processor.
- Cut the fruits, vegetables, or whatever ingredients you plan on spiralizing, and then put them into the feeder tube. Do not add all the ingredients simultaneously; put them one by one.
- Start the machine and put gentle pressure on the ingredient so it may pass through the tube thoroughly.
- After you are done with all the ingredients, remove the lid and have the spiralized ingredients.
Tips for using a food processor as a spiralizer:
Now that we know that food processors can be used as spiralizer, it’s time to know how to use their plans properly for the best results. Let’s look at some techniques that can make the process easy for you.
- The first thing you should keep in mind is to cut the vegetables or ingredients into smaller sizes so that they may easily fit into the food processor. When you think that the ingredient or vegetable is small enough to fit in the tube of the food processor, could you not cut it further?
- While putting the pressure on the appliance, be gentle. Please do not put a lot of pressure using strong force as not only can it damage your appliance, but also the final result will not be satisfying. The food will be most likely mushy or have a very mixed consistency.
- If the spiralizer keeps on getting stuck repeatedly, it does not mean a problem with the appliance. It indicates that the spiralizer has not been cleaned properly. So, in that case, open the food processor and clean all the stuck food, whether it’s accumulated on the blade or any other part of the machine.
Do food processors have a single spiralizing blade?
Some food processors have a single spiralizing blade that produces similar results to whatever ingredient you put into it. However, depending on the model and brand, some food processors have multiple attachments of spiralizing blades that allow users to cut vegetables and fruits into unique shapes and sizes.
Also, suppose you want to attain some specific shape by spiralizing a vegetable. In that case, you can buy the spiralizing blade separately and then attach it to the food processor, but make sure it is suitable to the model of the food processor you have. Save yourself some money and time by spiralizing your favorite vegetables in seconds.
Common issues in spiralizing with a food processor:
There’s no doubt that a food processor has been a blessing for healthy diet enthusiasts, as they can spiralize whatever they want to add excitement to their diet. However, some possible problems can disturb spiralizing of the ingredients with a food processor. Do you want to know about them? We bet you do! Let’s have a quick look!
- One of the most common issues faced by people who use a food processor as a spiralizer is that the ingredients get mushy. Why is that so? Let us tell you! If the final result of the spiralizer is not satisfying, or the spiralized ingredients are uneven, it means you have overprocessed them. So, one has to be careful while processing the ingredients.
- If you observe many uneven cuts on this spiralized ingredient, you are not putting even pressure on the ingredient. Hence, always put gentle and even pressure on the ingredient while putting it into the food processor for balanced cuts.
- The most common issue people face while using a food processor as a spiralizer is that it jams. If the food is not moving through the blades, either you are not putting even pressure, or the device is clogged.
What are the common brands of food processors that include spiralizing blades?
There are multiple types of spiralizers available on the market, but each is different from one another. Some of them are expensive, while others may be quite large. It all depends upon the purpose for which you are looking for a food processor spiralizer. Here we will mention some common brands that feature the best food processors and spiralizers, and let us see how to use them.
KitchenAid food processor spiralizer:
Regarding food processors, KitchenAid does not have a spiralizing blade that can help you to spiralize multiple ingredients. However, the KitchenAid stand mixes have a variety of spiralizing blades that help you create different spiralized vegetables to add to your food. The different blades include large core spiral slicer, small core spiral slicer, medium spiralizer blade, and find spiralizer blade.
Cuisinart food processor Spiralizer:
Just like this brand has food processors that perform multiple functions, including slicing, dicing, chopping, and whatnot, it also includes spiralizing attachments. A complete kit for spiralizing ingredients is included along with the food processor in the package. The kit includes the following materials:
- Spaghetti spiralizing blade
- Ribbon disc spiralizing blade
- Angel haircut spiralizing disc
- Spiralizer cover
- Ingredient pusher
- Feeding tube
Conclusion:
If you want to add more healthy ingredients like vegetables or fruit to your diet, spiralizing the ingredients into fun shapes is one of the best ways. But in our opinion, if you have a food processor at home, spending money on buying a brand new spiralizer is just a waste of money. Hence, use the food processor to spiralize ingredients following the tips and techniques mentioned earlier in this article.
Secondly, if you have neither, buying a food processor with a spiralizing blade attachment is recommended. Also, if you have a food processor that doesn’t have a spiralizing kit, you can buy it separately according to your model and brand.
