Spirelli Spiral Slicer (13460)

I had already one like this, which I bought in Europe. This one was bought to be a gift. This cutter is just wonderful. It makes a zucchini or a carrot to become like a spaghetti, with long and very regular stripes. The blades are very, very sharp, thus the vegetables don't break, allowing a very nice visual effect. Honestly, I can't understand some negative comments: it is so easy to operate and the only real requirement is to put some pressure on what you're cutting. By doing this, it works to the perfection, leaving just a central uncut piece. The cleaning after use is also so easy and effective. No stains at all, no hidden residuals. I've used my one for about 2 years and I have absolutely no complaint. Perhaps someone will think that $30 is a high price for a cutter. Well, you get what you pay for. And this one really justifies its price.

Update after many uses: I have used this a number of times for zucchini pasta and salad spirals, works great for that! It does not work great on carrots or potatoes. While trying to spiral carrots a piece of the black plastic at the grating blades broke off. I will admit I tried the "Veggeti" and this one is better than that one! That is why I am upgrading to 3 stars. I also tried a table top version which I honest though wasted more than it made. I will continue using the Spirelli for zucchini, squash and cucumbers, but I have to say it is limited to what it can spiral. Original review: not bad for occasional use, but plastic is not built for harder vegetables like raw carrots. Does spiral cucumbers and parsnips well, but only in the middle of the blade. The top that has teeth to grip the top of a vegetable in order to spin with you hands is not very good. I have cut myself on this. I say go for the table top spiraler.

I supposed this was a great gadget, based upon the majority positive feedback posted about the gadget. However, in my experience, the product just does not measure up. CON 1. The box came with no instructions inside and had lots of German on the outside. It would have been helpful if I read German, I suppose. PRO 2. I tried it only three times: twice with zucchini and once with carrots. Firm zucchini (make sure center of zucchini is also firm) works great. CON 3. Squishy-centered zucchinis and other veggies do not work with the hand guard. The hand guard will cut through them instead of holding them still enough to continue spiral-cut. Messy clean-up for sure, as you try to fish everything out--squishy or firm--without cutting your fingers on the blades. CON 4. Your veggies have the best use with this gadget if it is the same circumference as the opening itself. With my skinnier veggies, because of the lack of instructions, I was trying to angle it so that I could make full use of all the blades. It seems to work best if you put the veggies straight into the opening, no matter how fat or skinny your veggies. CON 5. Your veggies cannot be fatter than the opening of this gadget. If they indeed are, I suggest you shave it off with a peeler and use the shavings for something else, like raw lasagna or something. CON 6. If your veggies are too thin, on the other hand, they get caught in the funnel and snap apart like my carrots did. CON 7. Carrots, no matter how I angled them, yielded a circular core "column" that was about half inch diameter that goes through the funnel center of the tool to the other side. Thank goodness my young ones like carrot sticks. However, it was a huge waste of food for the zucchinis that were just tossed off the plate, off the high chair, or to the floor. CON 8. Based on my experience, my spiral cut carrot strands never looked like the picture advertised on the box. CON 9. You don't ever use up all the veggies. I wasted cones of veggies when they were not long enough to continue to be spiral-cut and too short to work with the hand guard. CON 10. You pretty much need to keep the veggie steady in your hand as you grip and "sharpen" or else you end up with cuts that are short and these get caught in the spiral cutting grooves. CON 11. Cleaning out squishy stuff from squishy-centered vegetables or the remaining short-strip veggies that get caught in the spiral cutting grooves is a MAJOR hassle. I found I needed to poke with a knife between the stainless steel blades. CON 12. I thought the pencil sharpening motion for the initial spiral cutting of a vegetable (before you absolutely have to use the hand guard) would be a great fun skill for young cooks in the kitchen. Not even fun for me and in fact the blades and the grooves and even the hand guard that you cannot snap in place is plain dangerous for little fingers. Also didn't want to show the kids that I was poking a knife into the grooves to get the short strips out, in case they try the same thing and damage the blades. CON 13. All the cons weighed up against this product so much that the dread of even using it was enough for me to evade it and even forget about asking for a refund in the refund time frame. I guess it was because it was the second spiral cutting tool that failed in a row to meet up to expectations that also kept me from furthering the search for one that really does score. CON 14. Since the full refund option passed me by, I was even thinking of reselling my Spirelli. However, I would rather save the next unfortunate soul from such misfortune. I suppose another person's trash is someone else's treasure. Even so, I have chosen to save the hassle of shipping, the use of fossil fuels to advance the shipping and have decided the least carbon footprint option, which is to simply add one more woeful item to my kitchen clutter collection. Truly, what a waste of space--this gadget does not even pay rent! In short and quite frankly, I am quite disappointed with ordering kitchen gadgets to experiment with from Amazon. I would rather just go to my local home economics store down the block (0.1 mile)--refunds there would be way easier and much more accessible when needing to bring the kids. At least I know I won't have to take the 1.5+ mile commute to the shipping office, pay for my own shipping, or get partial refund at this point.

My husband found this on Amazon and ordered it for me. I have to say I was skeptical at first. I had wanted a spiral vegetable cutter for some time but all the models I had seen were huge counter top contraptions that I had no interest in, nor did I want another thing cluttering my already full cupboards. When it came I gave it a try that night and IT ROCKS. I made delicious squash and zucchini "pasta" with butter, Parmesan, and garlic. Two nights later I made it again with homemade pesto. Again later that same week with fresh red meat sauce. We don't eat pasta so this has given us a multitude of alternatives! My husband absolutely loves the long strands it creates.... He twirls the veggies "pasta" around his fork just like you would real pasta. It's quick and easy to make gorgeous veggie pasta and this small device fits neatly in my utensil drawer. Three tips:1) To clean it well use a toothbrush or a small bottle brush. That will help brush all of the bits out of the blades. 2) Use smaller veggies to get best results. They will have less seeds, yield less waste and give better results. 3) Be cautious when you get to the end of the veggie you are cutting. Those blades are sharp! Other than that this is a great little device. Well worth the price! I've used mine at least 10 times in the short time I've had it. Enjoy!

After reading the reviews, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to use this for carrots. True, it didn't come with instructions, and the youtube video only demonstrated spiraling zucchini, which is the easiest vegetable to do. Here's how to do it. Set the spiraler flat on the counter and hold it with your left hand. Insert your cylindrical vegetable straight in--do not lean it to the side so it totally makes contact with the blade (this is what I first did and broke a few carrots doing it.) Only the tip should have contact with the blade. With your right hand, hold the top of the vegetable with a paper towel . The guard is useless and the veggies get slippery, so the paper towel helps you grip. Then with firm, even pressure, twist the vegetable, keeping it upright in the cylinder. Do one full twist, re-grip, and twist again. As other users mentioned, it works great on zucchini and yellow squash. But it also works great on carrots, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. I cook the spirals in the skillet or microwave, and I also cook them in the oven at 425 after lightly spraying with cooking spray and sprinkling with a little salt and pepper. Just make sure when you purchase the veggies, they aren't wider than the cylinder. Think long and skinny. There is some waste, but I expect this whenever I make something fancy. (I just throw the waste in the freezer with my other veggie scraps for my next batch of homemade vegetable broth.) I love this thing! It makes veggies fun again and is small enough for easy storage!

I used to have an OXO julienne peeler and thought it did an OK job of julienning items. The teeth on that product got bent and I found it did find with the hard, outside flesh of a zucchini or squash, but not as well with the softer, seedy centers. Then someone decided it should be used as a potato peeler and it never worked right again. So I bought the GEFU Spirelli Spiral Cutter. Provided you buy 'skinnier' produce (1-2.5" diameter) items, this product works great. Keep the veggie very upright (you don't need to press the veggie up against the whole length of the cutting blade) and it will produce a lovely, long string of jullienned veggie. Zucchini and squash are a great pasta substitute. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are very pretty when roasted in the oven with a little oil, salt & pepper. I even have good success with carrots and cucumbers. For the safety conscious: I don't use the hand guard for most of the process. I tried it when the veggie got pretty small, but didn't have much success with it. When I can't spin the veggie anymore, I dice the rest and call it good. The obvious con, if you're an efficiency expert, is that there is a center core of about .25-0.5" that is waste if you choose not to dice it and cook it up as well; and the end nub of the veggie is also "waste" or diceable because it's just hard to push the whole veggie down the V shape. It comes clean mostly by running water over it. I do use a toothpick for the pesky bits that choose to hold on too tight. This item is small, easy to use, clean and store. I don't really understand user complaints of not knowing how to use it or "cheap" materials. Mine has worked fine for over 6 months with regular use. Julienning really doesn't get easier than this...

Love it!! Just bummed I paid $30 for this in July and here it is December and it's less than $20 now. :-( If you're low-carbing it and want a great replacement for "noodles" OR you are just wanting to eat more veggies, this is definitely one way to do it. My kids love it, my man loves it, and I love it. Easy to use. No, it doesn't come with tremendous instructions, but omg, if you can't figure this out, you need to buy a set of Tinker Toys and start figuring things out by playing with them. Place vegetable in, twist. Easy as that. You can't 'noodelize' the last couple of inches, but pop those puppies in a zip lock and use them in a soup or something, for crying out loud. So far, I've used this for zucchini and carrot strands, which I saute in olive oil with garlic. Place a grilled or stuffed chicken breast on this and voila! instant low-carb pasta fake-out. Or, you can top with crumbles of feta, olives, and toss in a greek dressing for an awesome pasta salad. I know I've only scraped the iceberg on what you can do with this little device; bottom line, it's a great (and SMALL) addition to your kitchen tool repertoire. I don't like to buy a lot of junk for my kitchen and always ask myself: "can I do this without this tool?" I can solidly answer that I cannot make these veggie 'noodles' without this tool. It stays busy, trust me.

I bought this after seeing it on Pinterest. I used it once for zucchini and the "noodles" came out great and looked really cool, but there is tons of waste afterwards. You need 3 large zucchinis to get a decent amount of "noodles" for more than one person. The product works as described, but it isn't worth the money in my opinion.