I love using my trusted KitchenAid stand mixer. It’s the one kitchen appliance I can always rely on to whip, beat and knead whenever I turn my hand to baking. But apart from being my dependable baking friend, my KitchenAid has a few other tricks up its sleeve.
This sturdy kitchen appliance is not solely for those who enjoy making cakes and bread. It has the added benefit of tackling many other culinary tasks. With the add-on of over 20 attachments, it can shred, grind, mince and dice, taking the chore out of food prep. The best stand mixers aren't limited to just KitchenAid — but there's a few from this brand that are particularly worth picking up if you use yours regularly.
KitchenAid attachments can open up your culinary experience at home to new possibilities. Serve delicious noodles, a fresh-ground burger or perfect pasta, and finish with homemade ice cream for a sweet treat. And, rather than relying on separate appliances, opting for attachments means you'll undoubtedly save on cupboard space.
KitchenAid stand mixers are an investment, and the same is true for the attachments. Some will set you back over $200. So, we’ve looked at what we consider the best five attachments worth buying to help you up your game in the kitchen.
1. Ice cream maker
- The KitchenAid ice cream maker is available for $89 @ Amazon
The ice cream maker attachment has a double-layer mixing bowl, dasher and drive assembly. The drive assembly is the part that attaches to the stand mixer motor head and connects the dasher, or what I prefer to call the ice cream paddle.
The 2-quart bowl attaches to the base of the stand mixer, just like the standard mixing bowl. However, it needs freezing before use, as once the bowl is completely frozen, the liquid within the double walls of the bowl starts to freeze the ice cream liquid during the mixing process.
The handles on the bowl have been redesigned to give a better grip. The bowl is now easier to connect to the base unit and twist into place. With such a powerful motor it’s important that the bowl is secured, and the handles aid the locking and unlocking process.
The dasher rotates to thoroughly blend, scrape and mix the ingredients before they are frozen. This stage should take 30 minutes before the bowl can be placed in the freezer for 24 hours.
The appliance is easy to clean, although we recommend allowing the bowl to reach room temperature before washing. And the drive assembly and dasher can be washed in the top rack of the dishwasher.
Although the ice cream maker attachment fits into most KitchenAid mixers, including the full-sized tilt-head and bowl-lift models, there are some exceptions, including the mini versions, so check before you buy.
We think the KitchenAid ice cream maker comes in at a good price and gives you the option of making homemade ice cream without the clutter of another appliance.
2. Meat grinder
If you love a fresh burger, you’re going to be impressed with the KitchenAid meat grinder. Apart from being fun to use, the machine's heavyweight motor makes grinding meat a cinch. Forget fast food takeouts, you'll be dining in on gourmet burgers and sausages.
The benefit of grinding the meat yourself is that you know what is in the end product — you can pick the cut of meat you like and the meat-to-fat ratio that fits with your healthy lifestyle.
And if you’ve already invested in a KitchenAid, you’re bound to have a certain level of confidence in the kitchen and will probably be perfectly happy to make your own burgers and sausages.
Grinding meat takes some effort: meat is tough. But the strength of the KitchenAid motor and sturdiness of the attachment means it’s an easy task. And, again, like the other attachments, it means you won’t have your cupboards cluttered with yet another separate appliance. The attachment merely needs connecting to the power hub of the stand mixer, with a dish above to hold the meat ready to go through the grinder.
It also comes with three grinding plates giving you the choice of fine, medium or coarse mince, two sausage stuffer tubes and a food pusher to get the meat moving. And apart from meat, there’s no reason why you can’t also add a few herbs and spices to the mix.
On the plus side, it works with all KitchenAid stand mixers, but on the downside all the metal elements need to be washed by hand, although the sausage stuffer parts are plastic and are dishwasher-safe.
3. Vegetable spiralizer
A vegetable spiralizer is a healthy tool to add more fresh fruit and vegetables into your diet. Forget calorie-laden pasta, a spiralizer will allow you to swap the carbs for faux noodles.
Slaving over a chopping board with a sharp knife to chop, slice and peel your veg, will become a thing of the past, and you’ll also end up with a much more professional finish. And from personal experience, using a spiralizer is a much safer option than a mandolin, which I’ve now abandoned following an accident that led to a trip to the hospital.
For the best results, KitchenAid recommends using the right size blade to get the most out of your spiralizer, and it offers 5-blade, 7-blade and thin blade sets. This will allow you to achieve the best results for your zucchini noodles, stir fries, coleslaws and salads.
Apart from slicing vegetables into thin strips for spaghetti-like strands, you can create ribbon, peel potatoes and core apples. I find tough vegetables, such as cabbage, particularly tricky to cut finely, while watery cucumber turns into a slosh. The spiralizer manages these challenges with ease, and finely chops cabbage for slaw and forms ribbons of cucumber.
The spiralizer doesn’t do the complete job for you. To get started you'll need to wash and prep the fruit or veg, removing the ends, and cutting out any eyes. Then, insert the attachment into the hub and secure it in place, before attaching the fruit and vegetable skewer onto the mount.
Place a bowl below the attachment, then position the fruit or veg onto the skewer. If using the peeler, insert it onto the blade slider first at the bottom until it clicks into place, then add the required blade into the holder at the top. Pull the release lever and push the blade carrier towards the stand mixer and align the blade core with the centre of your food, press the blade core into the centre of the food and then you’re set. Begin at a low speed, before increasing it to between 4-6.
Setting up the peel, core and slice attachment may seem a little complicated, but after a few goes, it will become second nature. Although if you need some help getting started, KitchenAid has a useful video that shows you what to do.
To make life as easy as possible, all the main attachments are dishwasher-safe if placed on the top rack only.
With a little practice you’ll soon be enjoying a whole wealth of extra fruit and vegetables in your diet.
4. Food processor and dicing kit
Very much like the fruit and vegetable spiralizer above, the food processor and dicing kit attachment can slice, shred and Julienne your produce, plus it also tackles hard cheese. Although we wouldn't recommend buying both attachments, one or the other could be a real bonus in the kitchen.
And just like the other attachments, it’s secured into position on the hub port of the stand mixer. It comes with four cutting discs, two of which are reversible, used for cutting and slicing different thicknesses. Another blade offers a dicing option, which when combined with a dual blade can cut items into small cubes — perfect for salsas, casserole or soup dishes. The final blade slices and has a lever that positions the blade to cut at six different positions — giving a wide choice of thicknesses.
Ingredients can be dropped down the wide feed chute and gently pushed with the provider pusher. The ingredients can then be collected in a bowl below the food processor. It provides consistent results that would be difficult to achieve manually.
Although it brings a great deal of versatility to your KitchenAid’s, the food processor and dicing kit attachment is pricier than the spiralizer, costing $183 at Amazon. So your decision will be based on whether you think it’s worth paying over two and a half times the amount for these extra features.
5. Gourmet pasta press
Have you ever tried to make pasta? If you’ve used a manual pasta machine with a handle, you may have found it difficult to achieve a silky-smooth finish. KitchenAid’s gourmet pasta attachment will take away all the hard work out of rolling the dough.
Complete with six pasta plates, you’ll have the option to make spaghetti, bucantini, rigatoni, fusilli and small or large macaroni — just add sauce. The benefit of using the KitchenAid attachment is that you already have the standing bowl to make the dough.
The main issue we’ve found with this attachment is the issue of cleaning it, with some reviewers saying the cleaning took the fun out of using the machine. However, the machine does come with a picking tool to remove dried dough and KitchenAid has a video that illustrates the best way to clean the attachment.
The gourmet version of the pasta machine is one of the most expensive KitchenAid attachments ($219, Amazon), although there is the option to buy a 2-piece pasta cutting set ($114, Amazon) or a pasta roller ($89, Amazon) if you're keen to enjoy homemade pasta without the high price tag.
