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See why.The Best Slotted Spoons
We rounded up eight dishwasher-safe nylon, silicone, and stainless-steel spoons, and used them to fish out green peas, poached eggs, meatballs, and jumbo shrimp from liquids in different kinds of cookware.
By Published Sept. 1, 2016. Appears in Cook's Illustrated September/October 2007, America's Test Kitchen TV Season 8: Bistro Steak Dinner
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See Everything We Tested
What You Need To Know
We rely on slotted spoons to remove and drain small or delicate foods from boiling water, hot oil, or sauce. To find the best model, we rounded up eight dishwasher-safe nylon, silicone, and stainless-steel spoons, all priced under about $35.00, and used them to fish out green peas, poached eggs, meatballs, and jumbo shrimp from liquids in different kinds of cookware.
The first things we noticed were the differences between handles. Long handles were better because they kept our fingers away from the heat. Additionally, we preferred rounded handles over flat ones, and we preferred handles without dedicated grips, which limited our holding options. Drainage was not an issue; despite different perforation areas, sizes, and configurations, all the spoons filtered out water, oil, and sauce equally well. While we generally preferred spoons that held more food, the depth and shape of their bowls mattered more than capacity. Shallow bowls slid under food more easily than spoons with deep bowls, and broad bowls held large, irregular foods like jumbo shrimp more securely.
The material of the spoon gave us mixed benefits. Nylon and silicone slotted spoons were lighter than stainless-steel models and thus easier to use for extended periods. Silicone spoons were easy to hold, but their tacky exterior meant that their bowls tended to catch and drag on the bottom of pans. More problematic, nylon and silicone bowls tended to be thicker, making it harder to get them up and under food in skillets and saucepans; these spoons tended to push slippery shrimp and meatballs around instead. By contrast, stainless-steel spoons were heavier but typically had much thinner bowl edges, making it easier to slide them underneath food. The metal spoons were also more durable.
Our new favorite, the Cuisinart Stainless Steel Slotted Spoon, provided the best of both worlds. It had a wide, shallow, very thin bowl that slid under food easily, and because its comfortable, rounded handle was hollow, it was almost as light as a nonmetal spoon.
Everything We Tested
Recommended
- Bowl Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 2.5 stars out of 3.
The lightest of the stainless-steel models, this nearly perfect spoon had a long, hollow handle that felt like it was molded to fit our palms; its wide, shallow, thin bowl made it a breeze to scoop up food. Quibbles were minor: The bowl got a few scratches in the dishwasher, and a few testers thought the steep, ladle-like angle between the handle and the bowl upset the balance of the spoon.
- Bowl Design: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 2 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
Light and slightly flexible, this perforated spoon nimbly navigated under food and around pan edges. Its wide, shallow bowl was just a touch smaller and thicker than our winner’s. While most testers didn’t mind that the grippy silicone handle was on the short side, its built-in pot rest bumped into the taller sides of saucepans and stockpots and made for a short grip, cramping larger hands.
- Bowl Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 2 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
Although a little bigger and heavier than our winner, this solid, stainless-steel slotted spoon had the thinnest bowl and easily slid under meatballs and shrimp. It had a long handle, and testers liked the ridged, rubbery material on the grip—but the grip itself was just 5 inches long, making it a little small for large-handed testers.
- Bowl Design: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
The lightest spoon in the lineup, this model felt like a natural extension of our arms. But its bowl was small, making it harder to securely contain larger shrimp and meatballs, and its thick edges prevented it from getting under food in shallow pans quite as easily as the top three models did. In addition, a few peas got stuck in its circular holes.
Recommended with reservations
- Bowl Design: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
This expensive spoon was sturdy and well-built but the heaviest in our lineup, tiring our arms when used for extended periods. Deep and thick, the bowl held lots of food but had a hard time getting under slippery shrimp. Finally, its handle was uncomfortable to hold and set at such a steep angle that the spoon felt even heavier than it already was.
- Bowl Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 0.5 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
This stainless-steel spoon had a great bowl—broad, shallow, and fairly thin-edged. But it was heavy, and the handle’s flat metal edges dug uncomfortably into our palms, leading one tester to compare using this spoon to “holding the wrong end of the butter knife.” After 10 cycles in the dishwasher, the silicone grip eroded slightly.
- Bowl Design: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 1 stars out of 3.
While relatively lightweight, this spoon’s thick, moderately deep bowl made it harder to get under food in shallow skillets. Grippy silicone made its handle cushiony and comfortable but also made the bowl drag across the bottom of skillets and saucepans. And the silicone retained both stains and odors that required a few extra dishwasher cycles to eradicate.
Not Recommended
- Bowl Design: 0 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Handle Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup and Durability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
We liked how light this spoon was and how comfortable it was to hold—but little else. With an unusually thick silicone bowl that dragged across the bottoms of skillets and saucepans, this spoon just pushed food around without getting up and under it. And because the bowl was so narrow, it couldn’t hold much food at a time. Finally, it retained odors that required more than one wash to eliminate.
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.
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