The 5 Best Salad Spinners of 2024

The Bottom Line: The Best Salad Spinners

If you’re looking for a great all-around salad spinner at an approachable price point, I don’t think you can do much better than the OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner (view at Amazon). Its user-friendly pump-based design is super easy to operate, and it does a great job of flinging moisture off of any greens you put into it. If you’re up for the splurge, though, the Williams Sonoma Stainless Steel Salad Spinner (view at Williams Sonoma) is an absolute dream to use—and it looks gorgeous on your countertop, too!

Choosing a Salad Spinner

Keep the following points in mind as you’re shopping for salad spinners:

How Big Is It?

First and foremost, you’ll want to choose a salad spinner that’s large enough for your needs. If you primarily cook for one, or if you live in a smaller space and don’t have a ton of storage, you may opt for a smaller spinner such as the PrepWorks (which is collapsible, by the way!). On the flip side, if you have more mouths to feed or if you prefer washing your greens in bulk, a larger spinner might be ideal for you.

What’s It Made Of?

While the majority of the salad spinners in our list are made of plastic, there are some models that incorporate other materials, like stainless steel and silicone. You can even find glass salad spinners on the market, too—in fact, the OXO spinner on our list comes in a glass version (as well as a stainless steel version). While these materials often raise the price of the spinner, they may also mean the spinner is more durable or dishwasher-safe.

How Do You Operate It?

This all comes down to personal preference and how much elbow grease you want to exert when spinning your salads. While every spinner on our list involves some degree of manual operation, there are several spinning methods you can choose from. There’s the “pump” method, which involves pushing a button on the lid to spin your greens, and a hand-crank method that operates similarly to a manual car window. Other models, including the ZYLISS on our list, have a pull-cord mechanism that gives you a mini arm workout as you spin. Determining your preferred method will help you narrow your options within the salad spinner space.

Our Salad Spinner Tests

For this article, I tested six salad spinners. I spun a variety of greens, from spinach to romaine to chopped cabbage mixes, in the spinners to gauge how each handled different types of produce. After washing and spinning the leaves, I observed how much water remained on them. 

I also noted any flaws or “quirks” in the operation of each spinner: Does it slide around on the counter or stay in one spot? Does the lid stay securely in place, or is it a bit loosey-goosey? Do you need both hands to use the spinner? Do you have to perform magic spells to get it to spin correctly? Things of that nature. 

I then washed each spinner according to the manufacturer’s instructions (taking a few “creative detours” of my own in the name of testing) and evaluated how easy or tedious it was. Finally, I considered each spinner’s overall value before ranking them in various categories for the final list.

We Also Considered

Dreamfarm Spina Spin and Strain Colander ($35 at Amazon): I do like what Spina was going for with this one: It’s essentially a colander with a handle that you can rotate on its axis to turn the whole thing into a salad spinner. However, the design is too quirky to be functional, in my experience. First, there’s no outer bowl to catch the water, so you’ll have to either spin the greens in your sink (gross) or equip your countertop with lots of towels to sop up the water that will inevitably spew out of the basket during the spinning process. It also doesn’t have a lid, so there’s nothing to keep the greens from flying out of the basket while they spin. Because of these design factors, I had to operate the spinner very gingerly so as to not spill my greens everywhere, so it didn’t remove much water from them. Furthermore, the basket is relatively small, and I couldn’t fit many greens in there for fear of spillage. All things considered, I think the $35 you pay for this thing would be better used on one of the other spinners.

Common Questions

What is a salad spinner, exactly?

As their name implies, salad spinners are gadgets designed for spinning salad greens to remove moisture from the leaves. Not only does this help prevent soggy, wet lettuce in your salads, but it also helps keep the leaves crisp and fresh in the fridge. (Excess moisture on leafy vegetables is an express ticket to a slimy mess.) Salad spinners come in handy if you plan to sauté vegetables like spinach or kale, as they help prevent the dreaded “crackle and pop” of moisture hitting the hot oil in your pan.

How do you use a salad spinner?

Most salad spinners have three main components: a lid, a colander and an outer bowl. To use a salad spinner, you’ll start by rinsing the produce and placing it in the colander before fitting it into the outer bowl. For greens that need a quick rinse, you can simply run water over them in the colander. For sandy or dirty greens (looking at you, spinach), put the greens in the colander inside the outer bowl, fill with water, agitate the greens with your hand and let the dirt sink to the bottom. Empty and repeat as necessary until the water runs clean. 

From there, you’ll attach the lid and spin the greens with whatever motion is required for the specific model (e.g., pump, crank, etc.). Most salad spinners also include a “brake” of some sort, which is usually a button that you can press to stop the machine’s movement. Once your greens are spun, check for any lingering water. If your greens are still damp, you may need to fluff them and spin them again to shake off the excess moisture.

What are the different types of salad spinners?

Before you give your greens a whirl, it’s important to understand the differences in the available models. While they all achieve the same end result (dry greens), there are multiple modes of operation. The three main types of spinners are a pump-based spinner, a crank-based spinner and a pull-cord-based spinner. 

A pump-based spinner operates like a plunger, where the downward movement causes the machine to spin. A crank-based spinner typically includes a handle that needs to be constantly turned to create the spinning motion. Finally, a pull-cord-based spinner works similarly to a lawn mower—you’ll pull a retractable cord out to create torque and start the machine.

What’s the best way to clean a salad spinner?

How you clean your salad spinner will largely depend on the specific model you choose and what the manufacturer’s instructions recommend. In many cases, you can wash the bowl and basket in the dishwasher (often on the top rack), while you’ll likely need to wash the lid by hand. Some models recommend hand-washing the entire thing, though, so it’s important to read the manual before subjecting your spinner to the high heat and harsh chemicals of a dishwasher.

What else can you use a salad spinner for?

While a salad spinner might seem like a single-use kitchen gadget, it can perform multiple tasks in the kitchen (depending on the model, of course). For instance, the basket of the OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner (our top overall choice) can double as a colander or strainer for draining pasta or rinsing produce. Meanwhile, the bowl can serve as a mixing bowl, a serving bowl or a dough-proofing bowl—the possibilities are endless!

Our Trusted Expertise

Kayleigh Drake is a former EatingWell commerce editor and contributor to publications including Food & Wine, The Spruce Eats and Verywell Fit. She personally tested all six of the salad spinners in this article, using them to spin everything from romaine to spinach to frisée (and enjoying quite a few delicious salads along the way). She is also the proud owner of an OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner, aka our Best Overall pick in this roundup, and she uses it more than almost any other specialty gadget in her kitchen.

An earlier version of this article was written by EatingWell’s associate food editor Alex Loh, and this updated version still contains some of her original reporting. 

This article was edited by Katie Tuttle, a commerce editor and contributor to publications such as Food & Wine and The Spruce Eats.