What is a spiralizer and what can it do for me?

When I first came across a spiralizer, I had no clue what it was. What is a spiralizer? I thought. Do you make spirals with it? Is it for art? Does it just make food fancy and pretty to look at? Why would I want one?

I had heard spiralizers are great for making veggie pasta, swirls of all kinds in salads and other things, but when I got mine home and took it out of the box…I still had no clue how to use it (sigh).

So I’m going to try to rectify that here for you, with some spiralizer ideas, and lots of pictures! (I don’t know about you, but I need pictures!)

What does a spiralizer look like?

Here’s a picture of one so you can see why it looks like a bit of a mystery:

To me it looks more like a spaceship than a piece of kitchen equipment.

How you use it

See the round circle with small spikes? That’s where you put the base of your vegetable.

You can use courgette (zucchini), beetroot, carrot, butternut squash – fruits as well. As long as it’s a hard fruit or veg, you can spiralize it (mushy ones just make more mush, and you’ve got a blender – or a fork – for that).

You cut off the top stem, peel it (if it’s a squash), and then put the smaller end around the tiny round hole that is at the top of the metal blades that you see on the left.

You want the hole to be in the middle of the vegetable and the vegetable to be as straight as possible (a challenge with home-grown veg, I know, but hey it’s fun).

Now here’s the tricky part: you will need to brace it against something so that when you turn the handle (the one all the way to the right), your spiralizer won’t go sliding across your kitchen counter, as mine did when I first got it.

You want to press down on the base while you turn the handle, as if you are trying to make your spiralizer grow roots in your counter.

What can I make with it?

You can make loads of things, and the results are worth it, I promise! You’ll be amazed at the lovely spirals that come out the other side, and when you marinate your ‘noodles’ in a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, maybe with a dash of salt and spices, you can create some amazing things.

And some of the noodles are reeeeally long!

The main picture at the top of this article features some of my Italian-style Pasta that I made with a courgette and some raw tomato sauce. (And boy is it good!)

More tasty examples for you

This is an Asian dish that I made using butternut squash, tamari, olive oil, garlic and other spices and some diced veggies.

I sprinkled my noodles with some sesame seeds and fresh coriander, and boy was it delicious!

You can also spiralize a very small amount of something to add a touch of class to any dish, as with this raw curry, where there is a bit of spiralized cucumber on top.

Where can I get one?

Aha! If you haven’t yet gotten your spaceship (whoops, spiralizer!), you can get one here.

Hopefully this has inspired you to get spiralizing!

Let me know how you get on!