OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner Review: The Pump That's Been Drying Greens for 25 Years
The OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner has been a kitchen drawer mainstay since the late 1990s, and for once the staying power makes sense. The one-handed pump is the trick — you press down, the basket spins, water flies into the outer bowl, and dry greens come out the other side without you doing anything athletic. At about $35 and a 6.22-quart capacity, it is the rare unitasker that earns its real estate.
What you're actually buying
This is the large white OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner: a clear outer bowl, an inner colander-style basket, a clear lid with the famous soft-touch pump knob in the middle, and a brake button to stop the spin on demand. Capacity is 6.22 quarts, which is enough for a head of romaine, a clamshell of spring mix, or a small mountain of parsley with room to spare. The bowl is BPA-free plastic, the non-slip base keeps it locked to the counter while you pump, and the whole thing comes apart for storage and cleaning.
The pump is the key piece of engineering. Unlike crank-style spinners that require two hands and a stable grip, the OXO works with the heel of one palm and the bowl stays planted on the counter. The brake stops the basket on demand so you can pop the lid without waiting for it to coast down.
Performance and real-world use
For drying salad greens this is honestly close to a solved problem. Three or four firm pumps and the basket is spinning fast enough to slough water off every leaf surface; a five-second cycle leaves greens dry enough to actually grip salad dressing instead of sliding around in a watery slick. Wet herbs — parsley, cilantro, basil — come out in usable condition for chiffonade or storage in a paper towel.
The capacity also lets the spinner do double duty as a colander and as a serving bowl in a pinch. Rinse berries in the basket, pump twice to dry, leave them in the outer bowl for the table. Frozen produce thawing? Same drill. Big-batch coleslaw? You can salt and drain the cabbage in here and spin the excess water out.
The honest weak points: the pump knob is a moving part that sees real force, and over years of daily use the locking mechanism can loosen up. It is also not small — the bowl is a serious footprint in a cabinet, and the lid does not stack flat with the bowl, so storage takes some planning. It is dishwasher safe (top rack), but the smartest move is rinsing the basket and bowl by hand because food can wedge into the basket holes if you let it sit.
- One-handed pump genuinely works — no two-hand crank, no chasing the bowl around the counter
- Brake button stops the spin instantly so you are not waiting on the lid
- 6.22-quart capacity handles a full head of greens, a clamshell of spring mix, or a big herb wash
- Non-slip base keeps the bowl planted during vigorous pumping
- Doubles as a colander, a rinse bowl, and a serving bowl in one piece of gear
- BPA-free, dishwasher safe (top rack), and comes apart fully for cleaning
- Big footprint — this is not living in a small cabinet without effort
- Pump assembly is the wear point; reports of loosening or sticking after a few years of heavy daily use are common enough to take seriously
- Lid does not stack flat with the bowl, so storage is awkward
- Plastic basket can trap small herb stems if you let things sit; rinse it right after
- About $35 is a real ask for a unitasker if you only make a salad twice a month
Anyone who eats salad more than once a week, cooks with fresh herbs, or has given up on shaking a colander over the sink. It is also a strong pick for families with picky eaters — dry greens hold dressing, and dressed greens get eaten.
Tiny kitchens with no spare cabinet space, people who almost never eat raw greens, and anyone who already owns a fine-mesh strainer and a clean dish towel and is happy with that workflow. The dish-towel method works; it just takes longer and uses a towel.
