13 Surprising Things Your KitchenAid Mixer Can Actually Do

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Turn Cooked Chicken Into Perfect Shredded Meat in Seconds

Most people spend minutes struggling with two forks to shred chicken, but your KitchenAid has been waiting to do this job for you all along. This feature doesn’t even require any special attachments! Using the regular KitchenAid paddle, you can easily shred chicken or pork – without slaving over the meat using just two forks.

Simply put the meat you want to shred in the bowl and let the paddle do the work for you. Simply toss cooked, boneless chicken into the mixing bowl, secure the paddle attachment and turn the mixer on a low speed. The magic happens in under a minute, and you’ll have perfectly shredded chicken that looks like it came from a restaurant. This technique works brilliantly for pulled pork, shredded beef, and even fish for tacos.

Create Restaurant-Quality Fresh Pasta From Scratch

No matter what form it comes in, pasta is a universal favorite – especially if it’s fresh and made from scratch. Fortunately, pasta is just one of the many things to make using a stand mixer from start to finish. For a truly authentic experience, begin by milling your own grains, then mix and form your dough with the 6.9 L Dough Hook accessory.

The Pasta Sheet Roller Attachment makes it easy to transform your dough into thin, flat sheets perfect for cutting into noodles or making ravioli. It’s easy, fun, and efficient and I love that you can feed a sheet of dough through the roller with one hand and catch it with the other, which isn’t nearly as easy to do with a manual attachment. The attachment even works with gluten-free pasta dough, opening up possibilities for everyone.

Grind Your Own Fresh Meat for Burgers and Sausages

A KitchenAid® stand mixer’s power hub uses the mixer’s motor to run your favorite attachment. This provides power for an attachment like the KitchenAid® Metal Food Grinder, giving it the torque needed to grind raw meat for Swedish meatballs, classic burgers and chili or unique creations like turkey souvlaki sliders and spiced lamb burgers.

What makes this attachment even more versatile is that This specialized attachment can also chew through hard cheeses, stale bread for breadcrumbs, and raw veggies for salsa and sauces. You’ll never buy pre-ground meat again once you taste the difference fresh-ground makes. You may have known there’s a meat grinder attachment for your KitchenAid mixer, but did you know it can make sausage, too? Just attach the little white tube onto the meat grinder, and you’ll be able to create your own homemade sausage – yum!

Transform Vegetables Into Noodle Alternatives

If you’re a fan of the veggie noodle trend, this spiralizer KitchenAid attachment is for you. Sharp blades and your stand mixer’s motor quickly spiralize zucchini, squash, potatoes and other produce. Five different blades create a variety of cuts, from tight and thin spaghetti-like spirals to thick ribbons.

I use this to spiralize zucchini and summer squash and am impressed by the long, twirling strands of zoodles (zucchini noodles!) it makes. It comes with spiralizing, slicing, coring, and peeling blades and can handle a whole bunch of fruit and veggies – like apples, beets, and sweet potatoes. This attachment perfectly captures the growing trend of replacing traditional pasta with healthier vegetable alternatives.

Make Creamy Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Machine

It’s so easy to make ice cream, sorbet or gelato with the KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker Attachment. Simply attach the bowl to the base of your household KitchenAid® Stand Mixer* to quickly and easily make up to 2 quarts of your favorite frozen treats at home. Once your ice cream bowl is fully prepped*, quickly and easily make up to 2.0 qts of ice cream, gelato or sorbet in under 30 minutes.

The secret is planning ahead – you need to freeze the bowl for a full day before using it. This cool gadget transforms frozen water, juice, milk, coffee and more into a pillow of soft, fluffy shaved ice – all in a mere 60 seconds! Whether you’re craving vanilla bean, chocolate chip cookie dough, or exotic flavors like lavender honey, this attachment delivers professional results at home.

Extract Fresh Citrus Juice Effortlessly

The KitchenAid® Stand Mixer Citrus Juicer Attachment allows you to use the power of your KitchenAid® stand mixer to juice citrus fruits quickly and easily. Ideal for working with large quantities of citrus fruits, this attachment rapidly extracts juice from handheld fruits directly into a bowl, pitcher, or measuring cup, catching seeds in a built-in strainer.

One user noted: “I purchase lemons, limes, and oranges in bulk, then juice them, pour by type into seperate ice cube trays, and freeze them. This handy attachment allows me to get almost twice as much juice from each fruit than two other types of manual juicers that I have, plus it catches almost all the seeds and pulp.” This is revolutionary for anyone who loves fresh margaritas, lemonade, or cooking with citrus.

Whip Up Perfect Mashed Potatoes Every Time

Mashed potatoes are a holiday favorite, but they can take a toll on your time (and energy!) when mashing by hand. Lighten up your workload by making oh-so-creamy potatoes in your stand mixer. The paddle attachment makes quick work of boiled potatoes, butter, milk and any add-ins you desire.

Just mix the spuds on a low or medium speed until you reach the desired consistency. The key is not overmixing, which can make potatoes gluey. Your stand mixer gives you precise control over the texture, whether you prefer them chunky and rustic or smooth and restaurant-style. By putting your stand mixer on the highest speed setting and using the KitchenAid® whip accessory, more air enters your mixture to increase the volume. This is especially handy when making soufflés, mousses or different types of meringues.

Mill Your Own Flour From Whole Grains

Buying pre-ground grains at the store can get expensive. Plus, you’re taking a gamble that the oat flour you picked out is still fresh. Luckily, there’s a better way. This grain mill KitchenAid attachment makes it easy to mill your own grains.

Simply connect the attachment to your mixer’s power hub, pick a whole grain (such as corn, rice or wheat) and choose a grind consistency level. Then, feed the grain through the chute and let the machine work its magic. This attachment is a game-changer for bread bakers. Fresh-milled flour has superior flavor and nutrition compared to store-bought options that may have been sitting on shelves for months.

Create Perfect Whipped Cream and Meringues

If you want to crank out a batch of whipped cream, chilling the bowl (and the whisk attachment) is one way to guarantee maximum volume. Pop a bowl made out of metal, a conductor, in the refrigerator or freezer, and it will quickly and effectively take on the cold. Wood, an insulator, not so much.

The stand mixer’s whisk attachment incorporates air better than any hand whisk could manage. A stand mixer can also be a great tool when creating desserts like tiramisu. Top any dessert with homemade whipped cream, and you’ve instantly elevated the look and taste. Professional bakers swear by this method because the consistent speed and power create perfectly stable peaks every single time.

Process Vegetables Like a Food Processor

Shred, slice and julienne fruits and vegetables with the KitchenAid® Food Processor Attachment. Whether you’re looking to slice veggies for a side dish or process them for a chunky salsa or dip, this attachment turns your stand mixer into an essential component of cooking and meal prep. It even features an adjustable ExactSlice™ system to get the desired sized pieces every time.

Whether you’re making salsa or salad, or just prepping a recipe, your life will be a whole lot easier if you let your KitchenAid do the dicing and slicing for you. This attachment eliminates the need for a separate food processor, saving both counter space and money. The uniform cuts it produces make your dishes look professionally prepared.

Knead Bread Dough Without Breaking a Sweat

I didn’t use the dough hook that came with my KitchenAid mixer for a long time because, frankly, I didn’t realize what it was for. (I maintain that the name is misleading.) This weird-looking hook is actually designed to “knead” bread dough so you don’t have to do it by hand. It stretches and folds the dough, forming the gluten strands that give bread its structure and saving your arms from the next-day “I made too much bread” ache.

In testing, it effortlessly mixed cookie dough, whipped egg whites, and kneaded hearty bread dough. The dough hook can handle everything from delicate brioche to heavy whole wheat loaves. Professional bakers know that consistent mechanical kneading often produces better results than hand kneading because the speed and pressure remain constant throughout the process.

Make Homemade Marshmallows Like a Pro

Homemade marshmallows are SO much better than the store-bought kind. And with the help of your stand mixer, they’re not too challenging to make. Once you’ve brought all the ingredients to a boil, pour the liquid into your stand mixer and beat on high until the mixture is thick and has doubled in volume.

The stand mixer’s power makes it possible to achieve the perfect texture that would be nearly impossible to create by hand. These fluffy, pillowy treats are perfect for hot chocolate, s’mores, or just eating straight from the bowl. The mixer’s consistent speed ensures the gelatin mixture reaches the exact consistency needed for that signature marshmallow bounce.