The Best Salad Spinners for Your Greens

The primary aim of a salad spinner is to help you eat more fresh foods. Rather than feeling intimidated by the task of hand-rinsing greens, you can use a salad spinner to minimize prep. It makes healthy eating faster and more convenient. A salad spinner eliminates the arduous process of rinsing greens leaf by leaf, spreading them on paper towels and patting them dry with additional towels.

With the best salad spinners, you can speed things up. They clean more effectively and even reduce waste. The tool will get your greens cleaner than you can by hand. The best salad spinners can be used for delicate greens like Bibb lettuce or spinach. They can also stand up to heartier leaves like kale and chard.

Wondering how to use a salad spinner? A salad spinner has several key elements. A large bowl houses a slotted sieve or basket that rests on a pivot point. The pivot point, which is attached to the center of the bowl’s base, enables the spinning of the basket. A lid holds everything in place and is often part of the spinner’s mechanism.

Before you put the lid on a salad spinner, you give the basket’s contents a quick rinse. You can put greens, berries and even delicate vegetables like mushrooms in your salad spinner. Once the lid is on, you can use a plunger, crank or string to set the pivot point’s mechanism into motion. This will spin the basket. The spinning activates centrifugal force that pushes the solid contents and the moisture to the basket’s edges. The moisture is expelled from the basket and runs to the bottom of the bowl for collection.

This functionality makes salad spinners great for prepping for a meal. Keep a salad spinner within reach to use directly after shopping trips. Many grocers keep their greens damp, which helps them appear perky. However excess moisture on the greens will lead to spoilage. Rinsing and drying greens right after you buy them can make them last longer. Plus, if they’re already rinsed and dried, they’ll be ready to eat when you take them out of the fridge.

The science behind this gadget is pretty straightforward. Invented in the 1970s, the salad spinner relies on technology that is powered by hand. This mechanical simplicity means that manufacturers have developed subtle features to differentiate the best salad spinners from the other options on the market. One of these features is the instrument that initiates spinning.

Old-school models relied on strings. Manufacturers have more recently turned to cranks and pumps. A pull cord will use friction to incite motion. Hand cranks and plungers make use of gears. With a hand crank, the user activates a system of interlocking gears, while a plunger is purely reliant on force to engage gears. A hand crank requires a bit more effort than a pump. However, the additional effort results in a spin that can be slightly faster.

The best salad spinners featuring plungers use soft, non-slip polymer. With a few pumps of one hand, you’re spinning your greens through the engagement of gears. Given the use of gears, a pump feature can be accompanied by a brake mechanism, which is activated by an additional button. Using the brake can cut back on wait time. It also gives greens an additional forceful shake, ridding them of any lingering moisture. Pumps, too, are often easily locked into place within the bowl’s cavity, making storage that much easier.

Regardless of which spinning activation route you go, you’ll need to consider a few other basic qualities, such as size. Salad spinners come in the following standard sizes:

• 2 quarts for berries, small side salads, herbs and other salad accompaniments
• 3 quarts to hold enough greens to feed about four to six people
• 4 to 5 quarts are well-suited to a crowd of up to six or eight

When in doubt, opt for a larger-sized model. Outside of a need for a bit more storage space, sizing up really does not have any drawbacks. Large salad spinners will hold a greater volume of greens. In addition, they give you a wider base that is more secure for spinning given the surface area it sits on. That said, if you want to make salads for one, or if you like to keep cleaned, fresh herbs on hand at all times, a smaller model could serve you well.

No matter its size, your chosen salad spinner will need an exceptional lid. Because you’re generating force through speed, you need something that isn’t going to slip off. The best salad spinners will offer lids that lock into place not only to quiet your fears of flying greens, but also to ensure your hands are freed up to keep the bowl fixed to your work surface. A tight lid is also a vital part of mechanism engagement. A plunger-powered tool will directly rely on the alignment of gears activated by a pump atop the lid. Models using cranks or strings are more efficient when minimal air can escape from the spinner’s top.

Your salad spinner’s material is extremely important. Select an option that includes a BPA-free plastic basket. For the bowl, you need something durable and light, either a stainless steel or BPA-free plastic. Many bowls boast slip-free silicone bases, allowing you to spin without fear of the vessel going flying.

A winning characteristic of the best salad spinners is a capacity to act as a serving bowl. Many models are intended to do double duty. A stainless steel bowl can make an especially attractive serving dish.

After spinning the moisture off your greens, you can remove the basket and dump the water from your bowl. After you give the bowl a quick rinse, you can then transfer the greens from the basket back to the bowl. This is ideal for ease and speed. It also means fewer dishes and more seamless storage. The bowl can go straight to the fridge. That basket you remove from the bowl should function on its own, as well. The best salad spinners have baskets that can function as a colander when used on its own. This means it needs to be sturdy and have a flat base.

The best salad spinners are technically dishwasher safe. However, handwashing is recommended to ensure you reach nooks and crannies. Washing your salad spinner by hand can also prolong its lifespan.

The best salad spinners will come with a lid that is in no way connected to the base, so you can easily remove and clean it. A simple basket pattern with large, evenly spaced holes will allow water to easily escape. It also minimizes leftover debris that can be troublesome for cleaning. If you can’t run a colander under a faucet to rinse and effectively remove all sticking bits, you should look for another model.