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Equipment

You Deserve Better Grill Tongs

The perfect grill tongs are precise, nimble, and dependable—and they definitely don’t come in a set. 
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Published Aug. 1, 2022.

You Deserve Better Grill Tongs

Hot take: grill tool sets are often overrated, overpriced, and frustrating to use. Everything is comically large and usually wood-handled, like it's all trying just a little too hard to be rugged.

But the worst of the bunch? Grill tongs.

Tongs are one of the most useful utensils you can have in your cooking (and grilling!) toolkit. But most grill tongs on the market, especially those sold in sets, suffer from a variety of design problems. They're frustrating and awkward to use, never delivering on their promises.

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What makes so many of these tongs just so bad? First off, they’re usually way too heavy. Agility and nimbleness are important when grilling because you want to limit the time with your hands over the fire or coals. Heavy tongs slow you down.

Second, many tongs miss the mark when it comes to tension (or, how much force is required to close the arms together). If there's too much tension in the tongs they can be incredibly difficult to close, and using them with one hand is next to impossible. Not enough tension and the tongs snap shut with the slightest amount of pressure, which limits dexterity and makes for a frustrating grilling session. 

Equipment Review

The Best Grill Tongs

What qualities separate the best grill tongs from the pretenders?
See Our Winner

Do yourself a favor; switch to our winning grill tongs, the OXO Good Grips Grilling Tongs. We love them for so many reasons. Here are just a few:

  • They’re lightweight enough for agile maneuvering, yet durable enough to hold up to years of use. 
  • They have the perfect just-right level of tension, with pincers that align perfectly, so grabbing onto just about anything is a cinch. 
  • They have an intuitive locking mechanism, and a practical extended length (16 inches). 
  • At only about $16, they won’t break the bank.

And if you’re worried that buying your grill tongs à la carte leaves out other essential grilling tools, fear not! Our winning grill brush and grill spatula are also top performers, and purchasing all three will only set you back about $44—that’s less than almost every quality grilling set that’s worth using.

So skip the set and treat yourself to some tools that actually work. You deserve a frustration-free grilling season.

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