Steel, Silicone or Nylon? A Guide to the Best Kitchen Tongs

Watch a Mexican restaurant line during a rush and the tool in every cook’s hand is a pair of tongs. They turn carne asada on the grill, flip tortillas on the comal, pull peppers and onions from a fajita skillet, lift chiles out of a pot and toss shredded lettuce for a plate of tacos. A good pair works like a longer, heat-proof set of fingers. A bad pair pinches, slips, springs open in the drawer or scratches the pan.

This guide explains what separates good kitchen tongs from bad ones: length, tip material, the lock and the spring. It names nine pairs worth buying from Edlund, OXO, Winco, Hotec, Vollrath and Rösle, in 9-, 12- and 16-inch lengths and with steel, silicone and nylon tips.

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Quick verdict: which kitchen tongs to buy

Five pairs of tongs at a glance

Our five standout tongs, one for each kind of cook. All nine are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Heat limits are the figures each maker or listing states, usually for the tips; all-steel tongs often carry no stated limit.

Our picks for the best kitchen tongs

The nine pairs below cover the three tip materials (bare steel, silicone and nylon), the three lengths that matter (9, 12 and 16 inches), and both locking and one-piece designs. Each review gives the maker’s or listing’s specifications, what the tongs suit at the stove or grill, and one honest reason to skip them. Grilling is a separate job with its own tools; our guide to the best grill tools covers long tongs in grilling sets.

Steel, silicone or nylon tips?

Bare stainless steel

America’s Test Kitchen calls uncoated tongs with bare metal heads its go-to for everyday use, and scalloped edges beat flat heads in its tests “hands down”. Steel grips firmly, takes any heat a stove or grill can produce, and is what you see on most restaurant lines. Its one weakness is nonstick: steel can scratch the coating.

Silicone

Silicone tips protect nonstick and enameled pans and are rated by most makers to 400°F to 600°F. ATK notes that coated heads grip some foods less firmly than steel. Silicone is the right choice if most of your pans are coated.

Nylon

Nylon is firmer than silicone and gives a crisper edge, but it is less heat tolerant. Do not leave nylon-tipped tongs resting in a hot pan or on a grill grate.

How to choose kitchen tongs

Length. ATK found 12 inches the most useful and versatile length for home cooks. Add a 9-inch pair for serving and tossing and a 16-inch pair if you grill or fry. Tongs much longer than you need are harder to control.

Scalloped tips. Scalloped edges grip a tortilla, a strip of steak or a single shrimp; flat heads slip. This was one of ATK’s clearest findings.

A lock you can use with one hand. A lock keeps tongs closed in the drawer. ATK’s testers preferred locks that open with one hand, because your other hand is usually busy.

Spring tension. A stiff spring tires your hand over a long cook; a weak one will not hold food. Restaurant tongs such as Edlund’s have replaceable springs, and one-piece tongs such as Vollrath’s have none at all.

Heat limit. All-steel tongs rarely carry a stated limit because steel will not melt on a stove. For silicone and nylon tips, check the figure, and for coated handles, remember they are not meant to rest over a fire.

Cleaning. Look for tongs the maker lists as dishwasher safe, and rinse grease out of the hinge. A spring that collects grease weakens faster.

Tongs at the comal, the grill and the stove

On a comal, short 9-inch tongs flip tortillas and turn dried chiles while they toast, and keep your fingers off the hot iron. Once the tortillas come off, they go straight into a warmer; our best tortilla warmer guide covers which ones hold heat longest. At the grill, 12- to 16-inch steel tongs turn carne asada, chicken and green onions, and an instant-read thermometer tells you when the meat is done: see our best meat thermometer guide.

At the stove, tongs lift chicken from simmering broth for tinga, pull poblano peppers off the burner after charring, and toss lettuce, onion and cilantro for tacos. Once the chicken is cooked, a sharp pair of kitchen shears is the quickest way to cut it up.

How we picked these nine pairs

We looked at locking, one-piece, steel, silicone and nylon tongs from Edlund, OXO, Winco, Hotec, Vollrath, Rösle, KitchenAid, All-Clad, Cuisinart and others, and kept only pairs showing as in stock on Amazon when we checked. We chose a mix of lengths, tip materials and budgets rather than nine versions of the same 12-inch steel pair. Specifications come from the Amazon listings, the makers’ information and restaurant-supply retailers where the Amazon listing was thin.

We read America’s Test Kitchen’s kitchen tongs review and cite it where it covers a model or a general finding, and we cite Milk Street’s tongs test for two specific observations. We left out All-Clad’s locking tongs, which ATK did not recommend. We did not read or rely on Serious Eats, Wirecutter or the New York Times for this guide. We have not used these tongs for this guide.

Kitchen tong questions, answered

Which kitchen tongs does America’s Test Kitchen recommend?

Its long-time favorite is OXO’s 12-inch Good Grips tongs with uncoated, scalloped heads, and its best smaller pair is OXO’s 9-inch. It also recommends Edlund’s 12-inch heavy-duty locking tongs and OXO’s 12- and 9-inch silicone-headed tongs. The uncoated OXO 12-inch pair was not in stock on Amazon when we checked, which is why the Edlund pair leads this list.

What are the best quality kitchen tongs?

Heavy stainless steel, scalloped tips, a reliable one-handed lock and a spring that is either replaceable or not needed. Edlund’s heavy-duty tongs and Vollrath’s one-piece tongs are both built for restaurant use.

Are silicone or metal tongs better?

Metal grips better and handles more heat; silicone protects nonstick pans. Most kitchens are best served by one pair of each.

What length of kitchen tongs is best?

Twelve inches for an all-round pair, 9 inches for serving and tossing, and 16 inches for a grill or deep fryer.

How do I stop tongs from springing open in the drawer?

Buy locking tongs and close the lock before you put them away, or choose a one-piece pair, which has no spring to open.

The tongs to start with

Start with the Edlund 9- and 12-inch pair for everyday cooking, add OXO’s silicone-headed 9-inch tongs if you cook in nonstick, and pick up the Edlund 16-inch pair when you light the grill. For mashing the beans and potatoes that go alongside, see our guide to the best potato masher.

Need more precision than tongs? See our guide to the best kitchen tweezers.

Tongs sit with the rest of the basics in our guide to Mexican cooking tools. And if you would rather leave the grill to our kitchen tonight, see the menu or call to order.