The concept of spiralizing vegetables really intrigued me — thanks to pinterest. I had a mandoline in the house (from my inlaws and tried it). While I liked it, it was time consuming and frankly, a little dangerous. I didn’t love the julienne pieces.

I wanted the spirals! I researched a little and then decided just to buy one on Amazon. 

Once I got my spiralizer (I ordered the Paderno World Cuisine Spiralizer), it took minutes to set up.

Literally screw the hand crank on. Just wash and peel your veggies, I used zucchini, but carrots, cucumbers, butternut squash and sweet potatoes are a great place to start.

Put in the spiralizer. Select a blade (the one I bought came with three blades) and pop it right in the unit. Secure your veggie and start cranking. It really is that easy. So easy that my 9 1/2 year old son could do it.

Place a plate on the other side to catch all the veggie spirals. Two zucchini will yield what you see below. Plan on around 1 – 2 zucchini per person if you want to substitute for a serving of pasta.
The spiralizer washed easily.
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You can boil your zoodles, but I didn’t really like the taste when I did that. However, when I sauteed them with a little extra virgin olive oil and some garlic, the zoodles were delicious!

Note, it will shrink down. If you want it a little firmer, make your zoodles before you need to cook them and salt them to get some of the water in the zucchini out.

I topped my zoodles with a little parmesan cheese, but you can put marinara sauce or different toppings on.

Note: The spiralizer is a manual machine — non-electric and really works well.
It isn’t that big either — I live in an apartment and have a space problem, so this was a joy to see that it wasn’t taking up that much room. If you want something smaller, you could get a handheld julienne peeler like the Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler or the Veggetti Spiral Vegetable Slicer .

Buy the Paderno Vegetable Spiralizer on Amazon.

This is not a sponsored post, but does contain affiliate links. 

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