The Best Kitchenaid Attachments To Use In Your Kitchen

Which KitchenAid attachment should I use for (insert delicious baked good or dinner option here)? Whatever it is, Kitchenaid attachments can be tricky. Whisk? Bread hook? Paddle? Whatever you’re making, I want to teach you which attachment you should use for whatever you are cooking or baking.

I love my KitchenAid mixer.  I use it all the time. It’s a bit heavy, which is burdensome because we keep it in a lower cabinet beside the oven, but I wouldn’t trade it for a thing.  There are some times when a handheld mixer doesn’t do the trick (like when making homemade chocolate buttercream icing).

It occurred to me the other day while I was using my mixer that, although I have a general sense of which mixer attachment to use depending on what I’m mixing, I had no idea why.  So I did some research and put it all in one place so you can also know why certain Kitchenaid attachments work for certain mixing.

The Most Common Kitchenaid Attachments Standing Mixer:

The Pouring Shield

This nifty little KitchenAid attachment helps you get the next ingredient into the bowl without having to lift the top.  If fits directly on top of the bowl and secures in place so you don’t have to worry about it moving while adding ingredients.

I had no idea what this actually was until researching for this article.  I just thought it was some random thing that came with it that I would never use. Apparently, it’s a legitimate KitchenAid attachment that’s seriously underutilized.

The Flat Beater

The KitchenAid flat beater is a multi-purpose attachment that is meant to be used for mixing heavier mixtures, like frostings and cake batter.  This Kitchenaid attachment is especially recommended for made from scratch cake mixes…….. or box mixes that you add extra stuff to that makes it seem homemade.

Other uses for the KitchenAid flat beater:

Brownie batter

Pancake batter

Cookie dough

Did you know you can also use this beater to mix things like meatloaf, so you don’t have to get your hands all slimy and gross?

The Whisk Beater

The KitchenAid whisk attachment, like a traditional hand held whisk, is used to incorporate air into mixtures, such as eggs and whipped cream.

The biggest benefit to this is obviously NOT having to hand whisk your heavy cream or egg whites. This little spinning Kitchenaid attachment does all the hard work for you.

Other uses for the KitchenAid whisk beater:

Mayonnaise

Meringue

Cake batter

The Dough Hook

Most KitchenAid mixers come with a “C” dough hook, which can be used for pasta and bread dough. 

It works by kneading dough from the sides of the bowl. This is the same thing you could do by hand, but this saves you a ton of work (and a little sanity).

Other uses for the KitchenAid dough hook:

Cinnamon rolls

Pizza dough

There is also a spiral “corkscrew” shaped dough hook called the “PowerKnead”, which kneads dough from the bottom of the bowl.  This corkscrew, although it’s REALLY COOL looking, only works with specific Kitchenaid mixers. It fits on most of them but may damage mixers that it didn’t come with.

Make sure you don’t buy KitchenAid attachments for the wrong standing mixer.

Additional Kitchenaid Attachments You Might Like:

The Flex Edge Beater

It’s a KitchenAid beater with a scraper on the side, which minimizes time spent stopping mixing to scrape the bowl with a spatula.  Honestly, how much time do you spend trying to scrap the sides of your bowl during a mixing project?

More than you should.

The Sifter + Scale

This KitchhenAid sifter and scale attachment allows you to add dry goods directly to the mix while measuring and sifting for you.  It holds up to 4 cups of dry goods at a time and cuts down on the dishes because you don’t have to measure in one dish, sift into a second and finally add.

It also minimizes giant, messy clouds of flour and throwing dry goods out the side of the bowl.  (I’m just saying, it’s a thing for me.)

The Ice Cream Maker

Seriously?? You can make ice cream with a simple KitchenAid attachment? Apparently.

With this handy attachment, you can make up to 2 quarts of ice cream, sorbet or gelato in about 30 minutes. I would have never thought in a million years my Kitchenaid mixer would have the ability to make this sweet frozen deliciousness.

What a world we live in. A KitchenAid ice cream attachment.

KitchenAid Attachment Honorable Mentions

Here are a few extra extras that I don’t own, but are very high up on my list of needs and wants related to my KitchenAid mixer.

The kitchenaid Dust Cover and Attachment Holder

Wait………. what?

You mean there’s a way to keep my Kitchenaid attachments with the mixer without housing them all in the bowl?

Shut up and take my money.

The Peeler/Corer/Slicer/Zoodler

No, that’s 100% not what it is called. Zoodle is just a fun word.

The KitchenAid Spiralizer attachment is, however, a slicer, peeler and core-er (also probably not a word) all in one. I love the concept of this and plan on making it an addition to my arsenal very soon.

That’s it. There’s all the information I learned about some of the standard and extra attachments out there for the KitchenAid standing mixer.

In case you forgot…..

Which Kitchenaid Attachment Should I Use?

Whisk- meringues, cake batter, mayo

Flat beater- various batters (brownie, cake), cookie dough

Dough hook- doughs (duh)

If you want a great and original recipe for blueberry buttercream icing that you can make using your KitchenAid Attachments, check this one out.

If all things bread is what interests you, but you want to keep the carb count down to a dull roar, use a KitchenAid attachment for this easy low carb bread.

kitchenaid Attachments i covered in this post