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See why.Flat Whisks
We tested six flat whisks, using them to make a béchamel sauce and a pan sauce for skillet-roasted chicken breast alongside the tools we’d ordinarily use for these dishes—a wooden spoon and our favorite all-purpose whisk.
Published May 1, 2016. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 17: Summer Dinner Party
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See Everything We TestedWhat You Need To Know
A flat (or roux) whisk has a unique shoehorn-like shape that allows it to get into the corners and sides of pans for more efficient stirring when making sauces and gravies.
We tested six models priced from about $7.00 to $22.00, using them to make a béchamel sauce and a pan sauce for skillet-roasted chicken breast alongside the tools we’d ordinarily use for these dishes—a wooden spoon and our favorite all-purpose whisk, the OXO Good Grips 11” Balloon Whisk.
The best flat whisks excelled at their given tasks. All of the flat whisks took far less time than the wooden spoon to scrape the fond off the skillet for the pan sauce. And they really shone when making béchamel. While the fat balloon whisk struggled to reach and scrape the outer edges and sides of the saucepan, the flat whisk’s narrower, more two-dimensional profile made it easy to control, maneuver, and get into corners, thus keeping the béchamel from settling, scorching, or forming lumps.
But not all flat whisks are created equal, as rigidity, material, tine spacing, and comfort separated the best from the rest. We liked whisks that were stiff enough to scrape well but not so rigid that they made us press too hard against the cookware, tiring our hands. Tines coated with silicone (presumably designed for nonstick pans) were too flexible and slick, providing less resistance against fond or clumps of béchamel; plain metal tines were more efficient. We preferred whisks with regular, even spacing between tines; whisks with large gaps occasionally allowed big lumps of roux to slip through intact and offered poorer pan coverage overall. And while the handles on all the flat whisks were oddly short, taking us a little closer to the heat than we’d have liked, those on our favorite two whisks were wider, keeping our hands comfortable and cramp-free after a half-hour of continuous whisking.
Because its compact tine arrangement doesn’t incorporate air as efficiently as a balloon whisk, a flat whisk won’t replace your all-purpose whisk for, say, whipping egg whites for an omelet. But if you make a lot of sauces, we think a flat whisk deserves a place in your kitchen. Our winner, the OXO Good Grips Flat Whisk, has a small but cushiony handle and evenly spaced metal tines with just the right amount of give. It effortlessly produced pan sauces and béchamel. In addition, we found that it did a great job of scrambling eggs, and it could even be used to whip cream in a pinch, though it took a few minutes longer than our balloon whisk to do so. Best of all, it was the cheapest of the whisks we tested.
Everything We Tested
Recommended
- Comfort: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Rigidity: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Tine Spacing: 3 stars out of 3.
With a handle made from grippy TPE (a plastic-rubber hybrid material) and tines that had good rigidity and spacing, the OXO flat whisk aced our sauce tests and was relatively comfortable to use for longer periods. While this whisk had one of the longer handles in our testing, an additional inch would have made it even more enjoyable to use.
- Comfort: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Rigidity: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Tine Spacing: 3 stars out of 3.
This flat whisk had a more pronounced curve that made it easy to get into deeper saucepans and apply pressure, and the uniformly thick (if relatively short) handle was pretty comfortable to hold. But its tine loops were just a tiny bit bigger and stiffer than our winner’s, making this whisk less agile.
Recommended with reservations
- Comfort: 2 stars out of 3.
- Rigidity: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Tine Spacing: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This whisk had the flattest and narrowest wire loops in our testing. While some testers liked the sleeker profile because it allowed them to get into the outer edges of the saucepan more easily, others found that it didn’t cover enough area quickly. The tines themselves had a good amount of give, but there was a medium-size gap between the center tines that diminished control over lumps, and the handle was on the skinny side, making it a little more tiresome to use for the half-hour it took to make béchamel.
- Comfort: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Rigidity: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Tine Spacing: 2.5 stars out of 3.
With a slender handle and very stiff, scoop-shaped tines, this flat whisk required more effort to use and cramped our hands after a half-hour of stirring béchamel. But it still produced perfectly good pan sauce and béchamel.
- Comfort: 2 stars out of 3.
- Rigidity: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Tine Spacing: 3 stars out of 3.
While still mostly effective, the highly flexible silicone-coated tines on this model made it seem a bit too slick, slipping over patches of fond and making us work a little harder to scrape béchamel off the bottom of the saucepan.
Not Recommended
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Rigidity: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Tine Spacing: 1.5 stars out of 3.
Although this whisk had the longest and most comfortable handle in our testing, it sacrificed tine length as a result. With slippery silicone-coated loops that were less than 5 inches long and a large gap between the center tines, this whisk didn’t offer as much control as the other models.
Reviews you can trust
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. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.