But let’s start this post off with some honest truth-telling. If I didn’t have a food blog, I don’t think I would own a KitchenAid mixer. 😱 Just some HONEST TRUTH-TELLING. I don’t bake very often and counter space is super limited in our tiny 0ld-house kitchen. Rather than a stand mixer, I would go big on TWO kitchen appliances: My recipes these days almost always use either the food processor or the blender. They are must-haves for healthy eating: textured vegetables, healthy smoothies, smooth creamy soups, flavorful sauces… but we’ve already talked at length about both of those and if you missed it, just click HERE FOR THE FOOD PROCESSOR and HERE FOR THE BLENDER. This is where my true kitchen appliance passion lies.
All The Love For My KitchenAid Stand Mixer
That being said, this post is about stand mixers, and a KitchenAid stand mixer is such a classic, iconic kitchen appliance for anyone who loves to bake. I think for a lot of people, their Kitchen Aid is to them what my food processor is to me. I literally just had this conversation with the girls at my dinner club – we swapped tips and tricks for how we each use our different appliances for different things and how we all COULD NEVER LIVE WITHOUT whichever one is our favorite – for me, the food processor, and for several of my friends, their KitchenAid mixers. So since I’ve already come clean about the KitchenAid stand mixer being maybe #3-ish on my list of favorite kitchen tools ever, you must know that I had some excellent help with this post. My friends, my sister, co-workers, random extended family members, the internet… all of the little nuggets of KitchenAid inspo that I’ve picked up over the last year and a half have most definitely been inspired less my by own genius and more by the collective genius my people. Let me quickly introduce you to my own little Pinch of Yum MIXER FAMILY 👇 I have these two mixers: I use them both regularly, although to be completely transparent, I probably wouldn’t have the stand mixer if KitchenAid had not supplied our POY operation with such a treasure. The little baby hand mixer stays in the kitchen at all times (it’s my go-to for chocolate chip cookies which I am not sorry to say are probably the most frequently baked thing in our house). And the big KitchenAid rotates between the kitchen counter, the basement, and friends’ and families’ houses. Yes, we loan her out quite a bit. And yes, she has a name. And yes, it’s Sally, obvi. Okay, so a quick mixer overview. *Note: The prices listed here were the prices at the time of publishing this post. These could change. I registered for the SunBeam Electric Hand Mixer when we got married and it’s still alive and kicking almost 7 years later. Not bad for $20. If you’re totally new to cooking/baking or stocking the kitchen for the first time ever, don’t buy the big KitchenAid mixer – get this starter one instead. I’d be willing to bet that it will cover 60-70% of your baking jobs, and bonus: you’ll get a nice arm workout while you’re at it. 💪 The one bad thing is that this little guy isn’t high-powered enough to handle some of the things that the KitchenAid stand mixer can handle, like bread dough, fluffy whipped cream, and meringue. But if all you’re looking for is something for the cookies and cookies and cookies, it’s a winner! This is the KitchenAid 7-Quart ProLine Stand Mixer, and it should be the one you should get if you bake bread every weekend and bake fancy things for dinner parties and maybe aspire to own a bakery or something. Where dose peeps at? I have this one, and let me just say – it is a MIGHTY FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH. It is extremely strong and I would be hard-pressed to find any baking project that it could not tackle head-on. I frequently borrow it to my co-worker who uses it for batch after batch of beautiful homemade artisan bread – just boom boom boom – this machine cranks out the hefty loaves of dough like it’s nothing. She just texted me the other day to say she might be getting one of her own for Christmas, which is 🎉🎉🎉! but Sally will miss you, J. This is the KitchenAid 5-Quart Artisan Stand Mixer, and I know I said if I didn’t have a food blog I probably wouldn’t buy a mixer, but let me just say that if I didn’t have a food blog and I was indeed going to buy a mixer, this would be it. It’s a little smaller than the first KitchenAid I showed you, and it’s in their Artisan series instead of the ProLine, and bottom line: it is SO PERFECT for the regular home-bakers of the world. If you don’t bake bread every weekend but you love baking enough to have a desire (er, NEED) for a stand mixer, look no further. Bonus points for the fact that it’s sparkly and pretty on the counter so it doubles as kitchen decor. 👌 This mixer has a 4.7 star rating from 4,762 reviews. THAT IS A BIG DEAL. People love this mixer.
How To Use Your KitchenAid Stand Mixer
Getting right along with it now. Whether you’ve had one for years, or just got one as a gift, or are self-gifting one for Christmas (no judgement) – here are 12 creative ways you can love your mixer!
#1: Meatballs
Recipe: Swedish Meatballs Why it works well in the mixer: All I’m going to say is that anything that can do the job of mashing up two types of raw ground meat so that your hands don’t have to is A HERO in my book. KitchenAid: hero status achieved.
#2: Pizza Dough (Or Any Dough)
Recipe: Pizza Dough Why it works in a mixer: Two words: DOUGH HOOK. That life-changing dough hook. It does all the work of kneading for you in a lovely contained space. Yassss.
#3: Guacamole
Recipe: Guacamole Why it works well in a mixer: I actually love the process of making guacamole by hand in a normal dinner situation, but if and when I’m making it for a big group and need to mash 9 billion avocados, this is the way its done.
#4: Mashed Potatoes
Recipe: Mashed Potatoes Why it works well in the mixer: Have you ever mashed that many potatoes by hand? Yeah. This is 100% more effortless and it still gives you excellently fluffy results. Case closed.
#5: Shredded Chicken
Recipe: none – just put cooked chicken breasts in there with the paddle attachment and turn it on low to shred! Why it works well in the mixer: Hands-free shredded! Fast and easy! Dinner on the table in two and a half blinks! I love this hack.
#6: Quick Breads and Muffins
Recipe: Cinnamon Sugar Apple Muffins Why it works well in a mixer: You don’t even have to think. Just add the wet, add the dry, and go. I also find this is a more effective way to get everything incorporated vs. using a hand mixer or stirring by hand without over-mixing (which can make your baked goods tougher). It helps me get everything mixed while doing as little mixing as possible. That totally makes sense, right?
#7: Cookies
Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies or Thick and Fudgy Double Chocolate Cookies Why it works well in the mixer: When you’re making LOTS of cookies for, say, holidays in December (hint hint), this will be a lifesaver. Dump it all in, turn it on, and voila.
#8: Meringue
Recipe: Mini Meringues Why it works well in the mixer: This is a perfect use for the whisk attachment! How adorable are you, making mini meringues?! The hand mixer cannot do this – it’s not high-powered enough. Leave this one to the STAND MIXER.
#9: Cakes
Recipe: Red Velvet Cupcakes (see also: buttercream frosting 😍) Why it works well in a mixer: Same as the muffins, this works really well because you can avoid an over-mixing disaster while making sure everything gets totally incorporated – no flour streaks allowed.
#10: Buttercream Frosting
Recipe: Buttercream Frosting Why it works well in the mixer: You could not get more perfect texture than this. It’s smooth, creamy, just the right amount of fluffy, and completely heaven-sent. Again – this is the kind of thing the hand mixer would struggle with, but the stand mixer can take it on NBD.
#11: Scones
Recipe: Bakery Style Blueberry Scones Why it works well in the mixer: Cutting butter into scone dough by hand is hard. Cutting butter into scone dough using a stand mixer is better. 👌
#12: Creative Artisan Breads
Recipe: Cinnamon Swirl Bread (and variations of it) Why it works well in the mixer: This is the recipe that my co-worker introduced me to and it might, by itself, be enough to justify the addition of a stand mixer to your home. You can make these loaves so effortlessly, and you can mix in cheeses, herbs, anything you could ever dream of, and they are beautiful and you will be a star. Done. We also do a lot of whipped cream in the mixer, so that should at least get a mention, and on the flip side, it might also be worth mentioning that we tested homemade mayonnaise with the stand mixer for this post, and just… nope. I’ve also heard that you can make brown sugar in the mixer but I’ve never tried it – anyone know anything about that? What else are we missing? Are there brands of stand mixers that you love? My favorite thing about these posts is all the ideas that come in via comments and social media, so thanks for reading, writing, and sharing your awesome ideas! YOU ROCK. 👊 Quick note! We were not paid to write this post, but this post does contain something called affiliate links. What that means is that if you end up clicking a link and purchasing a product, we earn about a 5% commission on the sale. These links don’t affect the price of the product for you at all. If you don’t want us to receive any commission, you could just open a new browser window and search for the product on your own. And if you do use our links to purchase products, THANK YOU! This enables us to continue to provide awesome free content on Pinch of Yum!
