Zucchini is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the world of spiralizing. It’s great as a spaghetti substitute, topped with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese(Opens in a new window) or herbed and served with grilled scallops, but there’s more you can do with the spiralizer – and we’re not just talking about sweet potato curly fries (although those are delicious, too). Spiralizing allows you to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your meal in an unconventional, fun way.
Roasting, sautéing, or even going raw with your spiralized fruits and vegetables will make just about any dish more interesting and healthy. Plus, it saves time breaking down some of those tougher vegetables like butternut squash, cabbage, and onions.
If you're low on cabinet space, a handheld spiralizer(Opens in a new window) is a smaller alternative to the larger tabletop version and both will work with the ideas below and these other delicious spiralized recipes. Here are some of our favorite things to spiralize and tips for how to cook them.
1. Cauliflower
Cauliflower can easily be transformed into a rice alternative with your spiralizer. Our technique? We use the green spaghetti-cut blade and stick a chopstick in the core of the cauliflower to stabilize it while cranking. Add some chopped veggies, scramble an egg, and drizzle soy sauce on it for a cauliflower fried rice.
2. Broccoli Stems
The next time you’re cutting up a head of broccoli, save those stems instead of throwing them out! Spiralize the stems by using the green blade of your spiralizer once again, and you’ve got a great addition to a stir fry, or they’re great raw in a slaw. You’ll be surprised how tasty the stems can be – they’re crunchy with a hint of sweetness.
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3. Butternut Squash
Slicing up a butternut squash for soup or to be roasted is tough work. (Anyone else feel like they’re about to stab their hand or break the knife?) With the spiralizer, you can easily break down a squash in less than 30 seconds and roast it in half the time.
First, cut off the bulb of the squash, where the seeds live. Then, use the orange blade (the fettucini-cut setting) to crank out the LONGEST NOODLES EVER. If you've got a smaller squash, the hand-held spiralizer works well too. We like to cut the noodles, lay them out on a baking sheet, coat them with oil, season with cinnamon and nutmeg, and stick them in the oven for 20 minutes. You’ll get a mix of crispy laces and soft shoestrings of squash.
4. Cabbage
Making coleslaw for a crowd can be tiring. Instead, try using the orange blade again to transform a few heads of cabbage into slaw. Add a little mayonnaise and vinegar, and you’ve got a crunchy, tasty side dish.
5. Pears & Apples
Looking for a healthy snack? We love making apple or pear chips with the red ribbon-cut blade of our spiralizer to get paper-thin slices. First, core the pear or apple, then make a slice down the side so that each crank spits out a chip. Roast the slices and bake them into a tart or use a dehydrator to dry them out. Good tip: we’ve found that firmer pears work best!
6. Beets
Beets can be a very messy to work with – they instantly stain cutting boards, knives, hands and any foods they touch. But when beets are spiralized with the green blade, they don’t release as much purple juice, which makes working with them a breeze. Try roasting, pickling(Opens in a new window), or keeping the spiralized beets raw for a salad.
7. Onions
It takes about 20 seconds to break down an onion using the spiralizer’s green blade and you end up with great spirals for frying, adding to salads, or piling on burgers. We also like this technique because there’s no tears or oniony-smelling fingers this way.
What do you like to spiralize? Plus, get ideas for what to make with a mandoline and make these cute spiralized carrot monsters to get your kids to eat their veggies.