Types of Spatula Tongs for Cooking

There are five different types of spatula tongs. We’ll discuss some of the most popular choices, including the Grillhogs, OXO Good Grips, Hot Target, and Rosle Locking Tongs. These tongs will make cooking easier and are dishwasher safe. They come in two different lengths, too, so you can choose the one that suits your cooking style the best.

Tongs are used to move food around. Well, so you know, many different kinds of tongs can be used for many different things. No matter what kind of tongs you’re talking about—blacksmithing tongs, driller’s tongs, crucible tongs, or cooking tongs—the idea is the same: it’s a tool that can be used to hold and lift things, like a hand.

Types of Spatula Tongs For Cooking

What does Tongs Mean?

Tongs are a tool that can be used instead of your hands to pick up and move things. Many different kinds of tongs are made for different tasks. Tongs are high-torque pipe wrenches that lock. They are used to put together and break apart sections of drill string pipe.

To tighten or loosen the pipe, you need two sets of tongs. They are used the same way that two pipe wrenches turned in opposite directions are used by a plumber to tighten or loosen pipes in a house.

Types of Spatula Tongs for Cooking

1. Grillhogs

The stainless steel construction of the GrillHogs spatula tongs makes them an excellent choice for grilling. The handles are made of thick oak wood to inspire confidence and resist heat, and the tongs are made with a lock-and-hook mechanism to prevent them from slipping out of your hands. Moreover, you can use them for serving grilled favorites, such as steaks and fish.

Grillhogs

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These tongs are 16 inches long and feature scalloped clamp ends. They are designed with a solid, damage-resistant oak wood handle that keeps your hands cool and safe while you work on your barbecue. Besides, the tongs feature a locking mechanism that prevents them from sticking closed during heavy work. If you plan to use them repeatedly, you can buy them in two packs if you want to have several pairs.

2. OXO Good Grips

The OXO Good Grips spatula and tongs are ergonomically shaped to fit comfortably in your hand. Its polished stainless steel wires will never slide out even when wet. The long, teardrop-shaped handle is comfortable to grip even when wet, making it the perfect accessory for any kitchen. A set of these spatulas and tongs will make your next cooking project a breeze.

OXO Good Grips

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The OXO Good Grips tongs are dishwasher-safe, have soft silicone handles, and are double-bent for added leverage. Silicone tongs are safe to use with nonstick cookware and bakeware. They also resist heat up to 500 degrees and are dishwasher-safe. The tongs are dishwasher safe and come in two lengths. They also have a large pull-tab lock that doubles as a hanging hole.

3. Hot Target

Tongs are a versatile tool for cooking. They can be used for flipping over foods, removing cooked foods from boiling water, and handling hot foods in the oven. Most tongs are made of metal, plastic, or stainless steel, and they often have scalloped tips for better grip and lock into place for easy storage. You can find them in both black and silver. This set of tongs is dishwasher safe.

Hot Target Tongs

 

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A great value for the price, Hot Target tongs come in three different sizes and have non-slip silicone grips. They are heat-proof up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit and have a convenient pull-type locking mechanism at the hinge. They are dishwasher safe so that they won’t scratch nonstick cookware. Hot Target tongs also come in a variety of colors. And they don’t cost nearly as much as OXO tongs.

4. Rosle Locking Tongs

The Rosle Locking Tongs are the most versatile all-purpose kitchen tools you can own. These tongs are stainless steel and feature a German design, silicone tips, and a one-hand locking mechanism. They’re made with a unique design that minimizes the risk of food slipping while you’re cooking. You’ll never have to worry about accidentally dropping food again, as you can lock the tongs when applying light pressure.

Rosle Locking Tongs

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The lockable tongs feature a bend in the handle to keep them from slipping on hot food. They’re dishwasher-safe and come in two lengths. These tongs also have a click-lock mechanism that locks them in place while you’re cooking. They’re designed for nonstick cookware and are safe for cooking up to 500 degrees. These tongs are dishwasher-safe and come in two colors: black and stainless steel.

5. Grill Pro

The stainless steel handles on these tongs will make grabbing food a breeze. They are comfortable to hold and are made of heavy-gauge stainless steel. The tongs are long (18 inches), so they will prevent your hands from getting too hot. They also have a flat side that serves as a flipper. These tongs are an excellent choice if you plan to cook brisket or ribs.

Grill Pro tongs

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You’ll likely be storing these tongs away when not in use. Be sure to consider where you plan to keep them. If you intend to store them on a hook, look for one with a loop for hanging. Otherwise, look for a locking mechanism that fits into a drawer. A good tip when storing your tongs is to place them in a utensil holder.

What are Tongs Used for?

Tongs are the tool you use to grab and lift something. Usually, they have a joint near the handle and two grippers at the other end so you can hold things with just one hand. Tongs can be used to move hot things, like food or logs on the fire, or serve things like salad, sugar cubes, or noodles.

Professional chefs use tongs as a second pair of hands in almost every commercial kitchen. Tongs are helpful because they protect you from heat. A good set of tongs could help you grab anything that would burn your hands if you tried to grab it with your hands.

Grab Pasta out of a Pot of Boiling Water

Set your colander aside. You can pull noodles right out of the water with tongs. Reach in, gently grab them, and move them to a sauce-filled bowl or pan. This method only works with long noodles like spaghetti or fettuccine.

Flip foods

Tongs are the best way to pick up and move pieces of food that are cooking, whether you are roasting vegetables or grilling chicken. Just grab it gently and keep turning it until it’s brown on all sides. Tongs should be able to grab, move, lift, flip, and jostle most foods, whether vegetables, noodles from a pot of boiling water, or a thick cut of beef right off the grill. The tongs might break it apart if you’re handling a delicate piece of meat, like fish.

Grab ice

Don’t like it when ice sticks to your fingers? You’re not alone. Grab ice for your favorite cocktails from your freezer drawers with tongs.

Toss salads

Don’t let all the tasty salad toppings sit at the bottom of the bowl. Mix the ingredients for a salad together in a large bowl, add the dressing, and mix it up well with tongs.

Serve everything

Grab some salad, chicken legs, or asparagus spears with your tongs. Using tongs is a simple way to serve food; please put them in a bowl and let everyone take what they want. In the end, tongs are meant to make cooking easier (by giving you a quick way to handle hot food), safer (by keeping your hands from getting too hot), and more fun (by keeping your hands away from hot food). You can use them to move hot food around in a pan or control cookware (such as snagging the lid off a hot pot). They can also be used to serve food.

What are the Different Types of Tongs?

Even though most tongs look and work pretty much the same, some small differences might make some of them better for certain tasks. This means you should consider what you want to use them for before buying them.

For example, if you want to pick up big pieces of meat, you’ll need something that’s built well. Pasta tongs are shaped a little differently so they can hold noodles. And if you’re cooking on a grill, you should look for a long handle that won’t slip.

1. Stainless steel locking tongs

These are the most common kinds of tongs you’ll find. If you go into the kitchen of a restaurant, you’ll probably see a long row of these tongs hanging up. You can grab hot pans, stir pasta with them, and lift and lower food into and out of pots and pans. People like these because they can be used for many different things, making them a useful kitchen tool.

Most of the time, these stainless steel tongs have a way to lock and keep them closed. Most of the time, the pincers have scalloped edges, but sometimes they look like spatulas to make it easier to turn the food.

Pros: Most of the time, these tongs are cheap and very strong and simple to use. Because they can be used in so many ways, they are a good investment.

Cons: Because they are made of stainless steel, they can easily scratch the nonstick coating on your pans and other cookware.

2. Covered locking tongs

Stainless steel locking tongs can scratch the nonstick coating on your cookware. Covered locking tongs solve this problem by covering the pincers. Most of the time, they are covered with something soft, like nylon or silicone. This type of tong has all the good things about the ones made of stainless steel, plus extra safety.

Pros: The rubber grip on the tips of these tongs is great, and they are safe for nonstick pans and cookware, making them very easy to use.

Cons: Most of the time, these tongs are bigger and bulkier than others on this list.

3. Barbecue tongs

The same thing as grill tongs. As was already said, barbecue tongs are great for grilling pieces of meat when you want to keep a little distance from the heat. You can move any food on a hot grill grate with barbecue tongs, and you can still use them for other kinds of food.

Pros:  These tongs are the farthest away from the cooking surface, so you don’t have to worry about catching your sleeves on fire when barbecuing.

Cons: Because of their length, they tend to be a bit of a hassle to store.

4. Scissor tongs

Okay, we’re putting these on the list because they’re technically tongs, and the list wouldn’t be complete without them, but these strange-looking tools won’t be very useful. They are big, hard to use, and don’t do much good.

Pros: You can use them to get food out of hot water? But they don’t do a good job of holding on.

Cons: Super difficult to manipulate and control. Too hard to use for small foods and too weak for big ones. We aren’t sure why these things exist, but someone must like them.

Pasta tongs

Now, these tiny things are very helpful. Pasta tongs, sometimes called salad tongs, are usually made of just one piece of metal, making them look a little different from most other kinds of tongs. They can be used to pick up big clumps of noodles or serve pasta without tearing it to pieces.

Pros: They make it easy to pick up pasta without getting a lot of it on your hands, and you can even use them to pick up a salad. Good grip on wet foods.

Cons: They have short handles, making them hard to use on a grill or in other situations where you need to keep some distance from a heat source.

What is the Difference Between Stainless Steel and  Plastic Tongs?

Not only are there different kinds of tongs, as we’ve seen, but there’s also a big difference between them: are they made of plastic or stainless steel?

Plastic Tongs

This is the cheaper choice, but not by much (tongs generally tend to be pretty inexpensive). If you don’t want to spend money on a good pair of stainless steel tongs, go with plastic. They will work perfectly well. But you can’t let them sit in the pan for too long, or they will melt! And if that melted plastic gets into your food, it could be bad for your health.

Some big-box stores sell plastic tongs that will melt even when the heat is low. The best thing to do is ensure they are safe to use in cooking if it doesn’t say so on the package.

Stainless Steel Tongs

Tongs made of stainless steel are the best choice for cooking in the kitchen. Even though they cost more than plastic tongs, they are of much better quality. A stainless steel tong won’t melt; for example, they are stronger and will last much longer.

The nonstick coating on your cookware could get scratched by stainless steel, but this rarely happens. You can also buy kitchen tongs with silicone coatings to keep this from happening. This way, you can pick up food from your cooking surfaces without worrying about damaging the nonstick surface.

How to Clean and Store Tongs?

  • You can often clean a kitchen tong with the same mild soap you use for most other kitchen and cooking tools. But when we talk about different materials and how they react to chemicals and water, there are always things that could go wrong.
  • But oxidation is always possible if your kitchen tongs are made of aluminum. If this happens, you can fix the problem by giving your tongs a special soak.
  • First, get a cup of water and a half cup of white vinegar, which is a ratio of 2:1. Then, mix them over medium heat. Bring everything to a boil. Depending on the size of your kitchen tongs, you can always change the mix while keeping the 2:1 ratio.
  • Soak your kitchen tongs in the cleaning solution you made yourself. So, once the mixture starts to boil, add your tongs and let it boil for about 15 minutes. When you’re done, rinse the tongs in clean, cold water and wipe them clean with a cloth.
  • Putting away your kitchen tongs can be hard because they are usually big and hard to handle. Some people do it like a restaurant and hang them on a wall rack. But if you’re like me, you’re quickly running out of wall space in your kitchen. The best/only way to store them might be in a drawer.
  • Use the cardboard tube from a roll of plastic wrap or paper towels to keep your tongs closed when not in use. This will save space and keep them from getting in the way of your other tools. Just put both ends of your tongs in a neat way (most regular-sized tongs should fit into most regular-sized paper towel tubes).

Conclusion

Tongs make it easier to flip and turn over noodles on the stove when you boil them or cook them with other things. Tongs aren’t just for noodles. You can use them to take a dim sum out of the steamer, turn spaghetti and meats as they cook, or take a dim sum out of it. Tongs can also take food out of boiling water, like potatoes. To use them, you slide one finger through a hole in one of the handles, as you do with scissors. If the “holding ends” of the tongs have scalloped parts that grip food, it can be easier to lift heavy things.