I’ll admit it! I removed our salad spinner from the RV kitchen. I felt the space could be better used to hold other things. Boy, was I wrong! I’d forgotten how many different ways the salad spinner can come in handy while RVing. Here are just a few ideas and they have nothing to do with salads!
7 other ways to use a salad spinner
- Chicken prep. Many of my recipes call for pieces of chicken to be dried thoroughly before breading with seasoning. I’ve found that I can dry all the pieces at once by spinning the chicken in the salad spinner. (Be sure to thoroughly wash the spinner afterwards to prevent contamination from the meat.)
- Rinse and dry beans. Many recipes require that beans be soaked overnight, rinsed, and dried. I use the spinner for all three! After soaking overnight in a spinner filled with water, I quickly drain the beans. Then I spin them to remove any remaining liquid.
- Defrost frozen shrimp. We love to make shrimp shish kabobs. Did you know that you can quickly defrost frozen shrimp with your salad spinner? It’s true, and so easy. Just place the shrimp into your spinner along with room temperature water. Spin to defrost. Then dump the water and spin again to remove excess water from the shrimp.
- Make fabulous french fries. Your spinner can be used three times when making french fries. First, use the spinner to remove water from the raw potatoes. Then gently spin the potatoes along with your choice of seasoning (finely chopped parsley or rosemary). A gentle spin will evenly distribute the seasoning. After frying the potatoes, use the spinner a final time to remove excess oil from the fries.
- Drain zucchini. Sure, you can use your hands to squeeze the excess moisture from shredded zucchini, but why? Your salad spinner can do the job even better and perhaps quicker, too!
- Prep pasta. Cook pasta per directions. Then rinse and dry the pasta in the spinner. The dressing for your pasta salad will cling to the pasta more effectively.
- Dry swimsuits. (This is definitely the strangest salad spinner hack I’ve seen!) Place a wet swimsuit into your salad spinner and spin. This will help your suit dry more quickly. (Thoroughly wash and rinse the spinner afterwards, of course.)
Do you use your salad spinner in an unusual way while RVing? Tell us about it in the comments below.
Realizing you now need a salad spinner? Find a bunch of options here.
##RVDT1966
I use the spinner to rinse, and dry, excess salty brine from pickling cucumbers. Multiple cycles.
The swimsuit one is genius!!!
Hmm… Small swimsuits or I need a larger spinner.