2. With a Julienne Peeler
The great thing about a julienne peeler is that you likely already have one in your kitchen. Win! A julienne peeler frequently does double duty with a vegetable peeler. One side juliennes, the other side slices. And that’s perfect for when you want thick, flat slices of zucchini pasta. The single biggest benefit of a julienne peeler is that it’s small. It takes up virtually no space in your kitchen and will most likely reside in your utensil drawer.
Regarding the zucchini noodles themselves, the thinnest, most delicate noodles are sliced using a julienne peeler. Then, you simply pull the strands apart with your fingers. The reason this tool makes #2 on my list is that it takes longer to slice (you rotate the zucchini, creating a rectangular shape), it leaves the largest core and the potential of nicking a finger is high (yep, I’m clumsy).
PROS: cheap and easy to store.
CONS: leaves a fairly large core and requires more time to slice.
5. How to Bake Zucchini Noodles
I use this method the least because it takes the longest and requires the most work: baking zucchini noodles. I had anticipated the noodles to be crispier and more spaghetti-like, but there is really not much of a difference. I much prefer any of the other ways, even though they require more time and effort.
However, set your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit if you wish to try it. Spoon your noodles onto a paper towel-lined baking sheet in an even layer. Then, sprinkle with sea salt. While the paper towel absorbs the moisture, the sea salt aids in drawing it out. And no, at this low temperature, the paper towel won’t catch fire. After cooking for ten to fifteen minutes, take the noodles out of the oven and gently squeeze them in the paper towel to remove any leftover water.
4. With the KitchenAid Spiralizer
If you own a KitchenAid stand mixer, you probably already know about all of the different attachments that are available. These attachments are expensive, but they connect to the mixer’s power hub to become automated. Indeed, KitchenAid offers a spiralizer attachment, as you might have predicted.
The Kitchenaid spiralizer comes in a nice storage box (though it’s quite large) and provides the most blade options, with 7 blades (including a peeler). But even with all these blade options I found that I still gravitated toward the 3 basic blades – the same ones which are included with the Paderno Spiralizer.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this tool has a fixed width due to its automated nature. This implies that big zucchini must be sliced in half and spiralized separately for each half.
This is a fantastic choice if you already own a KitchenAid and enjoy using attachments. However, the price by itself will most likely be the largest disincentive for everyone else.
PROS: includes a peeler, is the only automated spiralizer, and offers the most blade options.
CONS: fixed width, takes up the most storage space, and I discovered that using the Paderno Spiralizer by hand allowed me to spiralize zucchini more quickly.
