The Vegetti Pro Spiralizer vs. Two Popular Alternatives
Which one is worth your money?
>
With low-carb diets quickly gaining popularity, entrepreneurs are right alongside them finding ways to solve unique problems that arise. Like, how do you satisfy that deep-seeded craving for pasta that we all inevitably desire for every so often? The solution, as it seems, was hidden within an surprising vegetable: the zucchini.
Zucchini noodles are a quick and tasty, low-carb alternative to traditional spaghetti noodles. The key to replacing your fettuccini with zucchini however is a spiralizer.
What is a Spiralizer?
A spiralizer is an inexpensive kitchen gadget that slices a vegetable in a spiral form (makes sense, right?) and when used properly can really add some excitement to your new healthy diet and lifestyle. Because they are commonly advertised for use with zucchinis, spiralizers are often called zoodlers or zoodle makers. But spiralizers are great for making so much more than vegetable noodles like potatoes, carrots, squash and more, saving you tons time from slicing vegetables and fruits for salads, soups, hashbrowns, stir fry, dehydrating and more.
Most spiralizers take the same form, which is most commonly a spiked arm that holds the vegetable against a sharp blade with a handle that turns your chosen mounted vegetable around and around, slicing it in a spiral as you go.
Arguably the most common or well-recognized spiralizer out there is the Veggetti Pro – most likely since our TVs are constantly bombarded with informercials displaying its purported convenience and ease of use. We picked one of these devices up ourselves – as well as a two others – to determine which one actually deserves a spot in your cupboard and on your counter.
Our Experience with the Veggetti Pro
If you haven’t seen the infomercial for the Veggetti Pro a hundred times like we have, it’s just as stupid and hilariously awkward as you’d imagine it would be. BUT, even the worst commercials can actually advertise a surprisingly good product (see the red copper pan).
So anyways, how does the Veggetti compare to a few other popular spiralizers? We compared them all using what we consider the most important three metrics: (1) the durability of the device, (2) what vegetables can realistically be spiralized (our list:zucchini, cucumbers, apples, broccoli stalk, butternut squash, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, yams/sweet potatoes and beets), and (3) how easy it is to actually use. Let’s hop into how the Veggetti stacked up against these three criteria.
Durability & Quality
We don’t have to tell you that “As Seen on TV” products like the Veggetti have a reputation for feeling cheaply made. Well, unfortunately the Veggetti Pro doesn’t break the mold and could be similarly categorized.
It’s made almost entirely of plastic, which isn’t the thinnest and weakest they could have used, but it certainly does seem to bend a little under the weight of a crank. While we personally haven’t had any issues with the rotating handle breaking off, we have heard some horror stories of other folks having that issue even within just a month’s worth of owning. As long as you just go slow and don’t push too hard, you shouldn’t have issues with it crumbling under your grip.
Before you judge the quality from the negative reviews on Amzon, remind yourself what do you expect from a $20 product you ordered from TV? This isn’t a Cuisinart food processor, it’s a spiralizer. It’s going to be a littler cheaper quality but you get a lower price as a result.
The Vegetables that Work and Don’t Work
So how does the Veggetti Pro actually perform with a variety of vegetables? We used a handful of veg, from soft to stiff, to compare, the ones we consider the most commonly used by a veggetti: zucchini, cucumbers, apples, broccoli stalk, butternut squash, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, yams/sweet potatoes and beets.
The Veggetti makes quick work of softer and less fibrous vegetables that includes zucchini, cucumbers, apples and broccoli stalk. Where it runs into problem is the more dense vegetables. While it handles potatoes and butternut squash quite well, albeit with a little extra elbow grease, beets, cabbage, carrots and yams are a different story.
Yams in general are a very difficult vegetable to spiralize because of the dense starchy composition. But, with a softer yams it does quite well and similar to potatoes. Carrots need to be extremely large diameter (~2″+ thick) in order to function properly as they just fall away from the blade leaving you with chunks, not spirals.
Cabbage, beets and fresher, harder yams need a good amount of effort and patience, but it certainly can be done with good results.
Overall it depends what you want to be using the Veggetti Pro for. For zucchini, cucumbers, apples, squash and potatoes you should have no issues. But if you’re buying it for cabbage, beets and yams you might want a more capable model.
Ease of Use
While they make it look easy and effortless in the informercial, it’s not always the case. Like we mentioned before, harder vegetables actually require a decent amount of force, specifically because of the horizontal design, since you have to push the vegetable horizontally to the blade, rather than vertically using gravity (unlike the Mueller, which we tested out below).
It also comes with three blades that are easily interchanged to swap sizes
As well, the suction cups that are mounted to the bottom of the device are nearly useless so for harder veggies you need to hold down the device with your other hand to prevent it from sliding around on the counter. Some people find using it on a perfectly smooth counter top and slightly wetting the suction cups helps them stick, but we’ve personally had no such luck and unfortunately the suction cups just suck in the opposite way you want them to.
Should You Get the Veggetti Pro?
It just depends on what you’re going to be using it for mostly. If you are buying it to use primarily with zucchini, apples and other softer/fresher ingredients it’s a definite buy. We love ours and use it as a zoodler regularly. But you might have a challenge with some stiffer ingredients.
Our Results Using the Spiralizer 5-Blade Vegetable Slicer
While the Veggetti might have a catchy name (sort of?) and a large marketing budget, the Spiralizer – yes that’s the brand name – 5-Blade Vegetable Slicer has rode the coat tails of the Veggetti all the way to the top of the Amazon charts. It’s undoubtedly the most reviewed spiralizer on Amazon with more than 10,000 reviews. Which, we’ll add, are almost overwhelmingly positive resulting in a 4.6/5 rating after those 10,000 reviews – which is needless to say, an impressive feat. But what makes it so much more popular than the Veggetti? Let’s dig in and find out.
Durability & Quality
The biggest difference that we’ve found between the Veggetti and the Spiralizer zoodlers are the durability of the devices. We’re not saying that the Spiralizer feels and operates like a handcrafted quality device, it’s still a cheap-ish plastic gadget made somewhere in Asia, BUT it is significantly more heavy-duty than the Veggetti.
The plastic components are thicker, the weakpoints reinforced a little better, and the handle is thicker and stronger. That being said, one area where they did drop the ball is the spikes that are used to hold the vegetables to the turning handle. We actually had one snap off after about 1.5 months of use, and other users have reported the same. It still works fine, and after another 2 months we haven’t had any others pop off but it still could happen.
The Vegetables that Work and Don’t Work
Just like the Veggetti, softer vegetables like zucchini, apples, cukes run through the blade almost effortlessly.
Because of the more durable construction you can push a little harder without feeling like the handle is going to snap on you. Potatoes work really well in the Spiralizer, and yams are hit and miss.. It depends on the yam it seems. The tougher construction also means that harder veggies like cabbage, squash and beets actually work!
Because of the similar horizontal design to the Veggetti, it’s still susceptible to stress because of the mechanical disadvantage of pressing your vegetable horizontally onto the blade. So it’s still difficult to slice those harder veggies. But, the blade is sharp and it’s sturdy enough, it just needs a little patience.
However, similarly to the Veggetti this model has a hard time with carrots for the same reason. They need to be really large carrots for it to work properly otherwise they just slide all over and don’t spiralize at all. We don’t even bother slicing carrots with this anymore since it’s such a pain, to be honest.
Ease of Use
Because of the sturdier plastic construction, you can have a little more confidence using this spiralizer. That being said, you still can’t push it too hard! Take care with the harder vegetables so you don’t break it.
Unfortunately, the suction cups that are designed to stick to the counter don’t work very well either. If we had to choose one, these are better than the Veggetti, but not by much. You’ll probably find yourself using another hand to hold it down.
One last thing to consider is that the company almost always only ships 3 blades instead of the five they advertise. It’s not really a big deal, since the three sizes are the most common you’ll use but it’s interesting they’ve chosen to omit sending the other two most of the time. We’ve heard that some other users have had success getting them if they email customer service but again, it might not be worth it.
Should You Get the Spiralizer Zoodler?
If we were choosing between the Spiralizer and the Veggetti, this one would be our choice. The plastic is thicker and more durable and it’s just going to last longer and make your life easier when working with harder vegetables.
While yams, cabbage and beets are still a patience-tester and needs some practice to perfect the technique, it actually does better than the Veggetti so that’s another reason it’d be our pick.
Because of the horizontal design, there are still some weak points in the design. The last option we tested out actually has a vertical design which eliminates some of those issues.
Mueller Spiral-Ultra
The last spiralizer we tested as an alternative to the Veggetti is the Mueller Vertical Slicer. We’re hesitant to call this one our favourite for a few reasons we’ll cover below, but it’s definitely a close race between this one and the Spiralizer above. It will just depends on what you’re using it for mostly.
Durability & Quality
If you haven’t already noticed, we’re not the biggest fan of the traditional horizontal design of spiralizers. Pushing a vegetable horizontally to the blade causes stress on the various components that could leak to breakage. With the Mueller, you press down onto the blade, assisted by gravity and basic mechanical advantage which makes it much easier to slice certain vegetables, and requires less force. Oh by the way, The reason more spiralizers don’t look and function like this? Mueller has a patent for this specific design!
The Vegetables that Work and Don’t Work
Because of how this model slices vertically, it is significantly easier to slice certain harder vegetables like cabbage, yams and beets.
Yams are always notoriously difficult in spi
ralizers but this one makes surprisingly quick work of yams and sweet potatoes.
While the Mueller does a superior job with those more difficult veggies, it still has an issue with carrots. Again you can try the really big carrots that will stay within the blade more easily, but it’s still a challenge. You’ll want an actual processor to get proper spiralized carrots and not one of these countertop plastic doohickies.
If it wasn’t obvious, zucchinis, cucumbers, apples and all the other softer, “easier” fruits and vegetables are no problem and make nice consistent spirals in three different sizes.
Ease of Use
One of the most notable benefits of the Mueller is that the device sticks to the counter MUCH better than the horizontal style of spiralizer since you are pressing down into the counter as opposed to pushing it horizontally. In addition, pressing downwards gives you more mechanical advantage that puts less stress on the plastic handle.
We also found the Mueller to be a little easier to clean than the other models.
So while the Mueller clearly has some great advantages over the other two options, it still has some drawbacks too.
Because of the downwards cutting method and the exposed blade, it is likely going to be easier to cut yourself if your hand slips of the handle than the horizontal style. We’ve never spilled blood in OUR kitchen, but we could see it happening more frequently than a horizontal model if you’re not careful.
The only other drawback to the Mueller is the catching tray. It’s a little small, so you’ll have to change it often (sometimes even halfway through a vegetable) so that the spirals don’t bunch up , filling the container and stopping the crank from turning. It’s not a deal breaker by any means, just something to keep in mind that other users find annoying.
Should You Get the Mueller?
If we had the choice a second time to buy between the Mueller and the Spiralizer.. we’d probably go with the Mueller. But it’s a tough choice! Despite the slightly annoying small tray that you need to frequently empty for larger meal preps, all the other benefits just outweigh that negative. We also find it’s a little easier to do yams which is a huge plus if you plan to be prepping and frying up yams frequently!
