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Have you ever asked yourself what the knob on the front of your KitchenAid mixer is? It's called the "power hub," and it is used for a wide range of mixer attachments. From juicing to meat grinding, one mixer can do a lot of work with just a quick attachment.
Finding a mixer attachment for your KitchenAid mixer will largely depend on your cooking and baking needs, however, any of them will make your stand mixer so much more versatile. To help you narrow your search, I asked home cooks, personal chefs, and food writers what their favorite attachments were and learned how they use them in innovative or nostalgic ways.
I love this Vegetable Sheet Cutter Attachment for its ease of use and versatility. This handy tool can produce thin sheets of fruits and vegetables, like zucchini, apples, cucumbers, and more, making it great for cooking and baking tasks.
Made of durable stainless steel, this attachment comes with two removable blades to cut thinner or thicker sheets of vegetables. "One of my personal chef clients ordered keto zucchini lasagna, but her husband didn't like how the zucchini lasagna made using my mandoline never had the kind of wide lasagna noodles he wanted," says Chris-Rachael Oseland, a cookbook author and personal chef. "This thing was fantastic for that! I made both zucchini and sweet potato 'lasagna noodles' with it that both looked fantastic and cut in a way people expect for a lasagna."
While the base of this attachment must be hand-washed, the blades are dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup, and it comes with a storage case to store it in between uses. It also has a "Hassle-Free Replacement Warranty," which allows you to replace the attachment for free if it fails within the first year of use.
Fun Fact! While the Veggie Sheet Cutter attachment was in testing and development with the KitchenAid product team, they were able to get an "unofficial record" of a 14-foot-long apple sheet. Try it out with these baked apple roses.
Most of us hate peeling and coring apples; KitchenAid has an attachment for that. Whether you're looking to introduce more fresh veggies into your diet with spiralized zoodles or just want to make a great apple pie, this attachment keeps you away from a mandoline. Best of all, it comes with four easy-to-change blades that will make food prep a cinch.
If you're looking to expand your pasta-making capabilities, this attachment is great for making fun, unique pasta shapes like bucatini, fusilli, and rigatoni. We actually tested it for our list of the best pasta makers, and loved how simple it is to use: all you need to do is attach it to your KitchenAid mixer, drop in walnut-sized pieces of dough, and use the attached cutter to slice your pasta where you want it.
If homemade pasta is on the menu, this attachment set is a must-have. The KitchenAid Pasta Deluxe 5-Piece Set features a pasta roller, spaghetti cutter, fettuccine cutter, lasagnette cutter, and capellini cutter. Made in Italy, this mixer attachment may be designed to create authentic fresh pasta, but home cooks have also found other uses for it.
The pasta roller is great for recipes where you usually use a rolling pin like making empanadas or dumplings. I also like that Erica Wildes, creator of The Chefsmartypants Academy and Funny People Making Food uses it to make homemade matzo.
"[My] mother and nana used to make kreplach by hand," says
Amanda Blum, a writer from Portland, Oregon. "The only way anyone was ever blackmailed into participating (because you don't make 20 krepach, you make 200) was that if any broke in the making, they were up for grabs. At some point, my mother automated the process using the KitchenAid Pasta Roller, and we never had broken ones anymore. She had to hire someone to help her from then on."
If you don't like shredding cheese and carrots (hello, shredded knuckles!), this attachment takes the handwork out of the task with three blades that help you easily slice or shred veggies and other foods.
Amy Halloran, author of "The New Bread Basket," had glowing reviews and memories from the Fresh Prep Shredder/Slicer Attachment. "My mother-in-law's giant shredder and slicer attachment has made gallons and gallons of coleslaw and sauerkraut for my neighborhood after doing decades of duty in Ohio," she says. "We use it at our house and people borrow it and it's just the best."
One of the most fun KitchenAid mixer attachments is the Ice Cream Maker which can make ice cream in less than 30 minutes. The workhorse stand mixer pairs up with this to make cold treats a cinch. You will have to place the attachment in the freezer for at least 24 hours, and you'll be ready to create up to two quarts of a variety of cold treats like ice cream, gelato, and sorbets.
If you and your family prefer shave ice, snowballs, or snow cones to cool down during the hot months, then you have to get this. It's one of KitchenAid's newest attachments and everyone who's tried it absolutely loves it.
This works by having you freeze six ounces of liquid in one of the four molds. Once it's solid, you fit the attachment with either the fine or coarse blade and start shaving. Besides the kid-friendly cool treats, this also works with granitas and frozen cocktails.
If you love different types of sausages, then why not try making them yourself at home? This lets you DIY different meat dishes with a grinder featuring fine, medium, and coarse grinding plates along with two sausage stuffer tubes. Now you can try your hand at creating hot Italian sausages, breakfast patties, or even Polish kielbasa.
Author Emily Breyda says she uses the grinder in her own innovative way since it "can be used to make delicious Russian anthill cakes."
How many times have you wished for another set of hands when baking? The KitchenAid Sifter and Scale Attachment is that second pair of hands. It goes beyond being a simple baking tool; it helps measure ingredients precisely by weight but also features hands-free sifting. I can't think of anything better to help you save time during baking prep. This attachment is great when integrating dry goods or creating mixes like your own self-rising flour. Use the scale directly attached to your stand mixer or on the counter for additional ingredient weighing options.
Common Questions
Do you have to by the official attachment or can you buy a generic one?
Many brands make attachments that are compatible with the KitchenAid stand mixer, but KitchenAid also makes its own. Classic mixer attachments like a meat grinder, pasta roller, and vegetable chopper are most commonly made by third-party companies. Newer attachments, like juicers and spiralizers, are likely to come directly from KitchenAid.
Generic or third-party attachments are often cheaper, of course, but many KitchenAid attachments and accessories come with a warranty. Consider if the savings on the generic attachments is worth not having a warranty on a name-brand option.
How many attachments does KitchenAid make?
At last count, KitchenAid has over 30 attachments for its stand mixers. Some are more niche whisks and beaters, but there are lots more ways to turn your stand mixer into a food processor, a dicer, and even a bread bowl (that you can bake in!).
Do KitchenAid attachments fit all stand mixers?
KitchenAid attachments that connect to the universal power hub on the front of your stand mixer will fit any KitchenAid stand mixer model, even the Artisan 3.5-quart Mini model. The different bowl attachments, however, will not work with all models. The Ice Cream Maker, for instance, only works with specific models.
Why Take Our Word for It?
Allstar Amy Barnes has 25 years of freelance writing experience, with a focus on food, family, travel, and lifestyle including food writing and recipe development. She was an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) 2020 cookbook judge and contributes regularly to McSweeney's "Reviews of New Foods" columns.