Free Guide for Thermomix · Looking After Your Bowl
Four materials, one right answer, and the ten second job almost nobody does.
No, you should never use metal in a Thermomix. Metal utensils scratch the stainless steel bowl, and once it is scratched it stays scratched. Silicone is the safest thing to put in there: it will not scratch, it handles heat, and it goes in the dishwasher. Wood is fine in the bowl but cannot be washed in the dishwasher, and plastic will not scratch it but is worth avoiding around hot food.
I have been cooking with a Thermomix since 2003, so I have had a long time to work out what belongs inside that bowl and what does not. It is one of the first questions new owners ask me, and the answer matters more than it sounds, because a scratched bowl is not something you can undo.
You have invested in a beautiful machine, and the last thing you want to do is mark it. So here are the four options, honestly weighed up, and then the second half of bowl care that almost nobody thinks about until something tastes strange.
Metal: never, not even once
Metal should never go anywhere near the bowl. Not a fork, not a teaspoon, not a butter knife to lever out the last of something. I never want to hear metal on metal in my kitchen, and I would rather you did not hear it in yours either.
Yes, the bowl is stainless steel and it is tough. That is not the point. Scratches are cumulative, they are permanent, and they collect in exactly the spot you cannot see, which is down around the blades where a fork naturally goes hunting. Nobody notices it happening. Everybody notices it eventually.
Plastic: it will not scratch, but I still say no
Plastic will not scratch the bowl, so on that count it passes. My hesitation is a different one. We do not want plastic near our food if we can help it, and in this case we very much can help it, so there is no reason to compromise. If a better material is available for the same job, take the better material.
Wood: genuinely fine, with one catch
Wooden utensils are perfectly safe in the bowl. They will not scratch, they are lovely to use, and plenty of people are happy with one. The catch is that they cannot go in the dishwasher, and I am such a lazy cook that was never going to fly with me. If you do not mind washing by hand, wood is a real option and I am not going to talk you out of it.
Silicone: where I landed, and why
So that is how I ended up on silicone. It will not scratch, it is not plastic, and it goes straight in the dishwasher. It is the only one of the four that gives you all three. The Thermo Spoon Spatula is made from 100% food-grade silicone, with no plastics and no BPA.
The shape is the part people notice first. A flat bottom and a spoon curve mean it gets every last morsel out of the bowl, including right in around the blades where a normal spatula gives up. It is heat resistant to 260 degrees, so mine also lives on the stovetop, mixes my sourdough without anything sticking to it, goes in the slow cooker, and scrapes the last of the tomato paste out of the jar. You buy it for one machine and then use it everywhere.
Meet the tool
The one utensil that is safe in the bowl and safe in the dishwasher
Thermo Spoon Spatula
Food-grade silicone, heat resistant to 260 degrees, dishwasher safe.
Shop now →Garlic custard, anyone? The bit under the blades
That is only half a joke. Looking after the bowl of your Thermomix is not only about what you put in it, it is also about what stays in it. Food gets caught underneath the blades, it sits there through the rinse, and it turns up in whatever you cook next. A custard that tastes faintly of last night's dinner is not a mystery, it is a cleaning problem.
Rinsing does not reach it, and neither does the self-clean. The only thing that reliably gets it out is something shaped for the job. Our TM Blade Brush has a handle length and a bristle size designed specifically for getting in and around the blades, and it takes about ten seconds. Whip the blades out of the bowl, a couple of quick swipes, done.
It is also the thing I use on the lid locking inserts on the TM31 and the lid locking handles on the TM5 and TM6, which are the other two spots that quietly collect food. It is dishwasher safe, so it goes straight in the cutlery basket afterwards.
Notes and tips
Use your spatula clockwise, against the blunt side of the blades, so you are not shaving tiny cuts into it.
Never push a utensil through the lid while the machine is running.
Clear under the blades at the end of a cook, not at the start of the next one. It is a ten second job while everything is still soft, and a much longer one once it has dried on.
Watch
A look at the tools I actually reach for
A few short clips from our kitchen, showing the accessories for Thermomix that get used here every day.
Questions I get asked about this
Can you use metal utensils in a Thermomix?
No. Metal scratches the stainless steel bowl, and the damage is permanent. That includes forks, teaspoons and anything you might be tempted to use to lever out the last of a mixture.
Will a plastic spatula scratch the bowl?
No, plastic will not scratch it. I still avoid plastic around food where there is a good alternative, and here there is.
Can I use a wooden spoon in the bowl?
Yes. Wood is safe in the bowl and will not scratch it. The only downside is that wooden utensils cannot go in the dishwasher.
Why does my food taste like the last thing I cooked?
Almost always because food is caught underneath the blades. A rinse does not reach it. Lift the blades out and clear underneath them with a brush shaped for the job, and the problem disappears.
Is the Thermo Spoon Spatula dishwasher safe?
Yes. It is food-grade silicone, dishwasher safe, and heat resistant to 260 degrees, so it is just as happy on the stovetop as it is in the bowl.
Which machines do these fit?
The Thermo Spoon Spatula suits the TM7, TM6, TM5 and TM31. The TM Blade Brush is listed for the TM6, TM5 and TM31.
Look after the bowl and it will last you decades
Mine is over twenty years into this and still going. Two small things do most of the work: something soft enough to be safe in the bowl, and something shaped to get under the blades.
