Reviews you can trust.
See why.The Best Barbecue Basting Brushes
When you're standing over a hot grill, you want to work quickly and efficiently. Which barbecue basting brush is precise, comfortable, and easy to use?
By Updated Apr. 27, 2021
The design of our favorite barbecue basting brush, the OXO Good Grips Grilling Basting Brush, has changed slightly, but we like the new brush just as much as the original. For more details, see below.
Top Picks
See Everything We Tested
What You Need To Know
Long-handled barbecue basting brushes allow you to safely apply oil or sauce to food on the grill without burning your fingers. The winning brush from our last testing, the Elizabeth Karmel Super Silicone Angled BBQ Brush ($9.16), has silicone bristles, which we found work better and are more durable than nylon or boar’s hair. Manufacturers seem to agree, as there are now many more models featuring silicone bristles on the market. So we went back to take another look, testing our old winner against five new silicone brushes priced between $8.49 and $14.95.
To get a sense of how much barbecue sauce the brushes could hold, we weighed them dry, plunged them into a bowl of barbecue sauce, and then weighed them again; we did this three times with each brush and averaged the results. We gauged the brushes’ dexterity by painting both lines and circles of barbecue sauce on parchment paper. We evaluated the heat resistance of both the bristles and the handles and tested how durable and how prone to staining and odor retention the brushes were. Then we put them to work painting barbecue sauce onto chicken legs for grilling.
All of the brushes got the job done eventually, but some were easier than others to use. Handle length was important; we found that 12 inches was just about perfect. Any shorter and our hands got too close to the heat; any longer and we sacrificed control. Handle material also mattered. The silicone bristles were heat-resistant between 480 and 600 degrees (even the low end was sufficient), but the handles were not; we subtracted points for plastic handles that melted after more than a minute of contact with the grill and metal handles that got uncomfortably hot.
In general, the more bristles a brush had, the better its capacity to retain and distribute sauce and oil. Brushes that had fewer than 50 bristles were usually narrower, too, and thus less capable of covering foods quickly. That said, the brush with the most bristles was, if anything, a bit too wide, forfeiting the ability to detail corners or irregular surfaces as a result. And the bristles themselves had to be at least an inch and a half long—shorter bristles limited coverage and were less dexterous, making it more difficult to negotiate curves and corners.
In the end, we still preferred our old winner, the Elizabeth Karmel Super Silicone Angled BBQ Brush, which offered the perfect balance of control and fast coverage. It was light, agile, and precise, and the slight angle of the brush head made for safe, effortless maneuvering over the hot fire, allowing us to paint all the nooks and crannies of the chicken legs without decorating the grill as well.
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Control: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 3 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
With 106 bristles, this basting brush picked up an impressive volume of sauce. It’s a little heavier than we’d prefer, but it’s still easy to maneuver. Its wide head is great for providing quick and even coverage on larger items, though it’s a touch less precise when applying sauce to the nooks and crannies of chicken pieces. As with many of the other brushes we tested, its bristles are heat resistant to a high temperature, but its handle is not—it melted when we rested it against the side of the grill.
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Control: 3 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
With plenty of long bristles and a head fixed at a slight angle to the 12-inch handle, this brush quickly coated chicken with sauce and bread with oil. While its head was slightly narrower than the runner-up’s and thus offered slightly less coverage on a single stroke, this brush was nimbler and more precise as a result; it excelled at basting areas of chicken that were hard to reach without dripping too much sauce all over the grill. Our only gripe? The handle melted a little when left touching the side of the grill.
Recommended with reservations
- Comfort: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Control: 2 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 2 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
The wood handle on this brush was the only one to remain intact and relatively comfortable to use after it was left in contact with the heated grill for 2 minutes. The brush picked up a good volume of sauce with its 87 bristles, but those bristles were the shortest in our lineup, making it harder to round corners and cover larger territory quickly.
Not Recommended
- Comfort: 2 stars out of 3.
- Control: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
This brush’s bristles were plenty long, allowing for fluid sweeping motions, but they were floppy, and there weren’t quite enough of them; as a result, brushstrokes felt less controlled and splashed the sauce and oil a little more. It was also hard to cover larger areas quickly. And while the plastic handle was also a good length, it melted right into the bristles when the brush was left in a skillet of barbecue sauce on the grill.
- Comfort: 1 stars out of 3.
- Control: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
This brush had just 45 long bristles—not enough to provide precise control or quick coverage. Worse, its metal handle was short and heavy and became very hot to the touch when left next to the grill.
- Comfort: 2 stars out of 3.
- Control: 1 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 1 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
The 22 measly short, flat bristles of this brush made it a very blunt instrument indeed, offering little in the way of agility, precision, or coverage. With the longest, heaviest handle in the lineup, it kept our fingers away from the flames but was unwieldy and awkward to maneuver.
Recommended
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Control: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Coverage: 3 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This brush boasted the highest number of bristles, including four with special reservoirs for retaining liquids; accordingly, it held the largest volume of sauce. It was a bit heavier and broader than our favorite, basting large, uniform areas quickly but with a little less precision and neatness. While its handle also melted when left touching the side of the grill, if you baste a lot of ribs or other foods that have long, flat surfaces, this tool is still a great option.
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.
0 Comments
