I’ve professed my love for my KitchenAid Mixer time and time again, and today is another one of those days. I just invested in my mixer a few years ago as a birthday present to myself and it’s a gift that keeps on giving! Here are my favorite KitchenAid Mixer tips, tricks and hacks to get even more out of your stand mixer.
1 | Shred chicken and other meats – Your mixer is not just for baking. Outside of the holiday season, when I’m doing a lot of baking, I undoubtedly use my mixer for shredding chicken more than almost anything else. Use the beater blade on medium until shredded to the consistency of your liking.
2 | Mash Potatoes – if you’ve ever had to make mashed potatoes for a large group, even with a hand mixer, it gets tiring or you have to do it in batches. Your stand mixer makes it a hands free task and you can work on other things while creating the perfect fluffy potatoes.
3 | Cream Butter and Sugar – Use your beater blade (not the wire whip) or better yet use the Flex Edge Beater. Even if your butter isn’t entirely softened, this will do the trick like a boss!
4 | Easy Sliding – My mixer sits under my counter and I need to slide it out to use it. This is easier if you keep a towel underneath it, plus it helps with keeping your counters clean.
5 | Keep it clean – if you don’t have the pouring shield, just drape a towel over your mixer to keep flour dust or other splatters contained.
6 | Pin won’t push in – This has happened to me twice. After the second time I’ve been less lazy about maintenance, but to fix this, apply a towel with hot water over the pin and work it around a little. Then apply a little dot of vegetable oil. Push it a few times before adding your attachment. If you’re like me and leave your beater blade on all the time. Do yourself a favor and try removing quickly before each use. It’s much easier to remove it when the attachment is clean vs when it has a load of buttercream frosting on it!
7 | Hand Wash – You may not like it, but I’m going to tell you to hand wash your KitchenAid beaters, bowls and attachments. Your glass bowl can go in the dishwasher, but I usually hand wash mine since I’m doing the others. As a time saver as I’m finishing my baking project, I run hot water in my bowl with a little dish soap and put in beaters to soak. By the time I’m ready to wash, most dough or frosting has worked it’s way off and it’s a quick job.
8 | Attachments – This isn’t so much as a hack as a recommendation, KitchenAid has so many useful attachments from the pasta maker to a spiralizer. While the mixer itself may take a decent amount of counter space, it can replace several kitchen appliances. Do your research before you buy a new juicer or ice cream maker to see if the KitchenAid attachment will suit your needs instead.
9 | Storage – many of the attachments can be stored right in the bowl. Keep the ones you use the most in there and the other ones in your pantry or other cupboards so you don’t have to go digging for them.
10 | Extra Bowl – This isn’t a necessity, but I find it handy to have an extra bowl so that I can have more than one thing going at a time. I was lucky that when I bought my mixer, KitchenAid had a promotion going on to get a free glass bowl. It’s nice to have so look for sales or specials or add one to your Christmas list!
Any of your favorite tips you’d add to the list?
