8 Best Kitchen Tongs perfect for all Cooking and Serving

Tongs are designed to grab food easily and keep hands away from heat sources. Whether turning a steak on a grill, boiling pasta, or serving food, a pair of tongs are a useful kitchen tool. 

Besides moving food around, a good pair of tongs needs to be sturdy with a good grip. The design is pretty much universal but before investing in a new set of tongs, it is wise to decide what you will use them for. Should they be longer for grilling, or sturdier for larger pieces of meat? Or will you be using them just to toss pasta, or serve a salad?

There are a wide variety of tongs on the market, and this overview below identifies different brands for the kitchen.

List of best kitchen tongs

• Best overall – OXO Good Grips 9-Inch Tongs with Silicone Heads
• Most popular – Allwin-houseware 2 Pack Kitchen Tongs, Premium Silicone BPA Free Non-Stick 
• Best for grilling – Allwin-houseware Stainless Steel Kitchen Cooking Tongs, set of 2
• Best for serving – Buffet Tongs, KEBE 2-PACK Stainless
• Best scissors – HINMAY Stainless Steel Scissor Tongs, Set of 2
• Best mini – HINMAY Small Silicone Tongs 7-Inch Mini Serving Tongs, Set of 3 
• Best for kids – Shindel Silicone Mini Tongs, 8PCS Kids Tongs Cooking Tongs
• Best budget – Hot Target Set of 3: 7, 9, 12 inches, Heavy Duty, Non-Stick, Stainless Steel Silicone BBQ and Kitchen Tongs. 

Things to consider before buying the best kitchen tongs

Material

Tongs are made of metal, silicone, or wood or a combination of those materials. Metal is great for use with high temperatures, but they are usually less flexible, and are not ideal when using non-stick cookware.

Silicone or nylon is often used in combination with metal and are perfect for use with non-stick equipment, but they are not always optimal for use with high heat. Silicone tongs are often available in a rainbow of bright, funky colours. Wooden tongs are less popular for cooking but great for serving.

Ease of use

The main purpose of a pair of tongs is to grill or to serve and you might consider having more than one pair.  Most tongs have a universal design and are quite basic for easy use.  Being lightweight with a good grip are the two most important features for us.  Additional features are available such as locks or hanging rings for easy storage.  

Price

You will never run out of budget when buying a set of tongs. Sturdy tongs are usually inexpensive to buy.

Overview of the best kitchen tongs

1. Best overall – OXO Good Grips 9-Inch Tongs with Silicone Heads

OXO is a quality household brand for kitchen utensils. Their silicone angled head kitchen tongs with scalloped edges are safe to use with non-stick cookware and sturdy enough to enable easy flipping or grabbing of food, including heavier pieces. The lock mechanism makes easy closing of the tongs for convenient storage, and they are dishwasher safe.

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2. Most popular – Allwin-houseware 2 Pack Kitchen Tongs, Premium Silicone BPA Free Non-Stick 

With over 20,000 positive reviews on Amazon this is without a doubt the most popular and budget-friendly set of tongs. Made of premium materials with a heat resistance up to 500°F (260°C) these two pairs of 9-inch and 12-inch tongs both with soft silicone grips and silicone edges offer good control when gripping food. The tongs are corrosion and odour resistant and have a locking clip for easy storage. The multiple bright colours will light up any kitchen! 

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3. Best for grilling – Allwin-houseware Stainless Steel Kitchen Cooking Tongs, set of 2

These tongs offer all the same features as the popular choice, but the silicone edges are replaced with stainless steel and a brushed steel finish, which makes them suitable for all your grilling needs. The tongs are dishwasher safe and there is a large hanging loop with a locking clip to hold the tongs in a closed position. These grilling tongs are available in 7 funky colours.

4. Best for serving – Buffet Tongs, KEBE 2-PACK Stainless

These buffet tongs are crafted from eco-friendly, non-toxic, heat resistant stainless steel that will not tarnish or corrode and are perfect to serve any salad or other foods. They look elegant but are still affordable and easy to store or hang by their handles.

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5. Best scissors – HINMAY Stainless Steel Scissor Tongs, Set of 2

Scissor style kitchen tongs work well to turn and lift any kind of food. Austenitic steels are non-magnetic stainless steels. The Hinmay scissor tongs have a comfortable silicone grip and are durable with an extreme high heat resistance up to 1112°F (600°C). Finally, these are also dishwasher safe for quick and easy clean-up. 

6. Best mini – HINMAY Small Silicone Tongs 7-Inch Mini Serving Tongs, Set of 3 

Also from Hinmay, this set consists of three mini silicone tongs made from a thick stainless steel for unbeatable strength. They feature a ring-pull locking system which is made to last. Perfect to use with non-stick cookware, these tongs are also great to serve small portions of food. The mini tongs are heat safe up to 480°F (249°C) and they are dishwasher safe.

7. Best for kids – Shindel Silicone Mini Tongs, 8PCS Kids Tongs Cooking Tongs

Kids like to help in the kitchen and these mini tongs, made of stainless steel with colourful, silicone ‘hands’, are ideal! The tongs resist high heat, but are also suitable for grabbing party candy bars, salads, melon cubes, or cubes of cheese, and olives. 

Related: How to make cooking with kids fun and safe

8. Best budget – Hot Target Set of 3 Heavy Duty, Non-Stick, Stainless Steel Silicone BBQ and Kitchen Tongs. 

Having multiple tongs is a good choice. This set of three with different lengths looks sleek and are available at a very attractive price. The silicone heads are non-stick and won’t scratch your cookware. They have a ring-pull lock to keep from opening or closing accidentally and offer better control during use. As with most other models in this overview, they are heat resistant and dishwasher safe. 

Best silicone tongs for cooking

Although silicone tongs are not really something that is interesting to talk about, we do, however, wonder why buyers choose the best silicone tongs instead of plastic or metal.

The biggest advantage of this material is the fact that silicone does not damage non-stick pots and pans. If you want your frying pans to last longer, silicone utensils are ideal.

Another advantage of silicone is its ability to withstand heat. The good quality tongs are able to stir boiling water without melting. They might even be used to flip meat on a grill or barbecue.

Silicone tends to be easier to clean than plastic or metal. It’s easy for residue to get stuck on metal and then you have to scrub it off. Plastic isn’t the greatest for cleaning either. Some also say that the best silicone tongs are more hygienic since they repel bacteria from their non-porous structure.

Further, most well-known companies make their silicone utensils with food grade materials, so that harmful chemicals are not present. Ideally, they should be BPA-free.

Finally, silicone tongs can last a really long time. They are durable and considered to be environmentally friendly.

Now, when you choose cooking utensils for your kitchen, remember to take a look at the best silicone tongs before you grab the cheapest plastic or metal pair.

Highlights of the best cooking tongs

Today, there are so many more choices for tongs for cooking. You can match your other utensils and gadgets, while at the same time, find something that really works well.

And, if you are using them for serving at a dinner, you can find the perfect ones that look great on your table setting.

Plus, it used to be that tongs were long and hard to manage. Now they come in all lengths, depending on the purpose or use.