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Tongs: They’re like an extra set of invincible hands, for when you can’t put your own into a vat of oil, onto a grill grate, or into a pot of pinching lobsters. You can use them to flip meat on the grill, serve salads, stir pasta, open wine bottles, and even reach those hard-to-get spots in your pantry. Kitchen tongs need to be able to handle abuse, like high temperatures or lobster claws.
Consider them your daredevil, do-it-all kitchen appendage.
But open your drawer, and you may see an armory’s worth of kitchen tongs. Some may look like hair accessories or hardware pieces or even wimpy toys. If you’re in the market for a new set, we’ve broken down the common varieties and picked our favorite tool.
Walk into any restaurant, and you'll see a row of these hanging up. The kitchen brigade will be using them to grab hot pans, to stir pasta, and to lift and lower food into and out of hot pots. You can do the exact same thing at home.
Locking tongs operate on a pivot in the very back of the tool, and have a mechanism that locks them and holds them shut. The pincers can either come scalloped or in the shape of spatulas for turning food.
Pros: Sturdy, lots of uses, and generally inexpensive—if you're paying more than $14 for a set of these, you're paying too much.
Cons: If you want to scrape your non-stick pan, you'll have to grab a spoon or rubber spatula—these steel ends don't treat non-stick cookware nicely. The locking mechanism can be a little finicky, depending on which version you buy.
BUY IT: Update International Spring Tongs w/ Locking Ring, $7 on Amazon
You know how we said the stainless tongs are bad for scraping? With a different material (usually silicone or nylon) covering the pincers, these have all of the benefits of stainless steel tongs, plus you can use them on any surface.
Pros: The tips provide the best grip of the bunch—provided their scalloped shape is pronounced. However, if the scallops are too jagged, you run the risk of tearing or shredding food as you move it. If they're on the smoother side, you might not be able to get as much of a grip.
Cons: They are a slight bit clunky (not ideal if you need to move something small and delicate) and take up more space than the other varieties.
BUY IT: OXO Good Grips 12-Inch Nylon Locking Tongs, $13 on Amazon
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Usually one piece of metal, pasta tongs are great for grabbing large clumps of noodles from boiling water or for serving pasta without obliterating it.
Pros: There’s no question about what you’re supposed to use these for. By having tines on the tongs, it’s easy to pick up and swirl stringy foods without them slipping out.
Cons: Pasta is about all these are good for. Don't try these on the grill—short handles makes them bad to use for high-heat cooking.
BUY IT: Piazza 9-Inch Long Spaghetti Tongs, $13 on Amazon
These tongs seem handy, but...they also can’t hold anything. Picture using these tongs to grab a ramekin of bubbling custard from the oven. Looks great, right? Now picture that ramekin shattering across the floor, spilling hot goop and ceramic shards everywhere. Not a good time.
Pros: Good for removing hot dogs from hot water. Not great for much else.
Cons: These are very difficult to manipulate and control with any kind of dexterity—too awkward for little things like asparagus spears or fine pasta, and too flimsy for holding hot dishes and large meats. If you already have these, by all means use them, but anything these can do, other tongs can do and then some.
BUY IT: ECKO Angled Serving Tongs, $5 on Amazon
These single-use tongs are all about the teeth. Ice cubes are especially slippery, so you'll need a set that's outfitted with a nice set of chompers.
Pros: Have you tried lifting ice with scissor tongs before? In a home bar, ice tongs are indispensable.
Cons: Ice tongs are tiny and sharp, two characteristics that are great for ice and awful for anything else. For the love of all things edible, don't use these to actually cook and turn food.
BUY IT: Adcraft Stainless Steel Claw-Style Ice Tongs, $13 on Amazon
With an extended reach (many models come in 18-inch-and-over lengths), these are the surefire safe way to move food on a hot grill grate.
Pros: No need to worry about catching sleeves on a grill or singeing your hand—these tongs offer the furthest distance from your cooking surfaces.
__Cons:__They're bulky and a general pain to store (unless you have a fancy hooked one you can hang on the side of the grill). Plus, you can grill just fine with standard locking tongs.
BUY IT: GrillPro 20-Inch Professional Extra Long Tongs, $16 on Amazon
These oversize tweezers are what chefs use for finicky jobs like moving microgreens, detailing swooshes, and crushing up mini powders of sumac.
Pros: If you’re really that particular about presentation, no other tongs will offer the small and steady grip that these have.
Cons: You’re using something called “plating tongs.” Can you imagine flipping fried chicken with these? Neither can we. Generally speaking, we don’t like one-use tools because they take up too much precious kitchen space. You’re not tweezing your eyebrows, you’re turning food, so skip the frou-frou tools and go for the real deal.
BUY IT: J.B. Prince Offset Fine Tip Tweezer, $17 on Amazom
If you had to buy just one, we all swear by a 12-inch locking tongs, like the OXO Good Grips ones above. The pincers should be scalloped (and not too jagged). Get ones that have silicone or nylon pincers—with a high enough heat resistance, you can use these on pretty much anything, whether that’s for scraping and deglazing a pan or turning over sauteeing sausages (hello, multitasking!).
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