Hamilton Beach 70735 Spiralizing Food Processor Review

The box holds the 450-watt processor base, a 10-cup bowl with a pour spout, a lid with a large feed chute, a food pusher, a spiral blade, a ribbon blade, a reversible slicing and shredding disc, a stainless steel S-blade, a cleaning brush and a user guide.

The 2.5-inch chute takes a whole zucchini or a block of cheese without pre-cutting, which is the difference between a quick prep and a pile of knife work. The pour spout lets you empty a sauce or a soup without lifting the bowl off the base. The suction-cup feet keep the machine planted while the S-blade runs through a batch of hummus or chopped vegetables. One reversible disc covers both slicing and shredding, so you swap it less often.

The footprint deserves a tape measure before you buy. At 16 inches tall the 70735 is tall for a countertop appliance, so check the clearance under your upper cabinets and the height of the shelf where it will live.

Everyday chopping and pureeing is the machine's core job. The stainless S-blade handles fruits and vegetables, meat for patties, Parmesan, cheddar and crackers, and guacamole and hummus sit squarely in its wheelhouse. Buyers on Amazon most often praise performance, and guacamole comes up again and again in Amazon's summary of its customer reviews, along with garden vegetables.

Slicing and shredding run through the reversible disc and the wide chute. Cheese blocks, cucumbers, potatoes and cabbage go in with little prep, and one buyer on Amazon reports grating 6 lb of cheese in under 5 minutes. Amazon's summary also notes that buyers single out speed and power among the things they like.

The spiral and ribbon blades turn zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, carrots, sweet potato and apples into noodles and ribbons. The owner's manual gives a rule of thumb worth remembering: if you can grate it, it should spiralize well.

Two speeds plus pulse give you enough control to stop at a coarse chop or run on to a fine puree. Cleaning is a strong point: all removable parts, including the brush, are dishwasher safe, and ease of cleaning is one of the positive topics Amazon's summary draws from buyer reviews. The suction-cup feet hold the base steady on the counter.

Spiralizing runs on speed 1 only. Feed one piece of food at a time, held vertically, trimmed to roughly the chute diameter for the cleanest strands. Use light, constant pressure: pressing harder does not speed anything up, because the blade turns and the food does not.

Plan for waste. About an inch of every piece stays unprocessed, which matters most with carrots and zucchini, where an inch is a real share of the vegetable.

• Peel first for most produce. Peels add pulp that clogs the blade. Zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber and apples can go in unpeeled.
• Seeded vegetables are a problem. Seeds catch in the blade and break up the strands. For butternut squash, use only the solid neck.
• Brush the spiral blade between items. Pulp buildup is the main cause of ragged or inconsistent spirals.
• Noodles come out very long. Cut them with a knife or scissors before cooking.
• Dry the noodles with paper towels or blanch them before saucing, and reduce watery sauces. Store spiraled noodles covered in the fridge for two to three days.

The manual explicitly excludes kneading, and that surprises people. A 10-cup bowl leads many shoppers to assume bread and pizza dough are in scope. They are not. The same list rules out crushing ice, grinding grain, coffee or spices, and slicing frozen meat. Starchy potato puree is out too, because it goes gummy.

The 450-watt motor is entry-level for a 10-cup machine. It is fine for chopping, slicing, shredding, purees, salsa and hummus, but it is not a heavy-duty motor. The manual calls for a rest after extended continuous running and a 15-minute cooldown if the overload protection trips.

Cheese needs to be cold. Chill hard cheese about 30 minutes, and freeze soft cheese about 30 minutes before shredding. The manual also sets load limits: 2 to 3 cups of 1-inch cubes for fruits and vegetables, 0.7 lb of meat, 5 oz of Parmesan, 8 oz of cheddar, jack or mozzarella, and up to 10 cups of crackers.

Liquid is a separate matter. The 10 cups is dry capacity, and the bowl carries a marked liquid line well below it. Reviews at other retailers mention that watery mixtures can leak from the top, so fill conservatively with soups and thin batters.

The spiralizer is good, not dedicated-grade. It wastes an inch per item, needs the blade brushed out, and struggles with seeds and soft produce. A dedicated cone-style electric spiralizer gives cleaner strands, but it is a second appliance on the counter.

Noise draws divided opinion among Amazon buyers: some find it fine, others say it is extremely loud. Treat it as a known characteristic rather than a defect. Durability is the topic where buyer feedback turns negative, with some owners reporting a failure within months, including a cracked bowl, a cracked shredding disc and a motor that quit while shredding cheese. That sits against a star spread where the large majority of ratings are four or five stars.

All removable parts, including the cleaning brush, are dishwasher safe on the top rack only, and the manual warns against the high-heat sanitizing cycle, which damages the parts. Wipe the base with a damp cloth.

Remove the lid before lifting the bowl. Reversing that order can damage the interlock. If the lid feels stuck, check that the feed chute is aligned over the bowl handle and that the bowl is fully seated; that alignment is the usual fix.

Four attachments plus a brush need a home, so plan a drawer or a bin for them. The cord stores in the base. Keep the 16-inch height and 4.7 lb weight in mind when you pick a cabinet or shelf.