Reviews you can trust.
See why.The Best Syrup/Honey Dispensers
What’s the best tool to control a sticky situation?
Published May 1, 2017. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 19: Better Breakfast
Top Picks
See Everything We TestedWhat You Need To Know
Maple syrup and honey can make for sticky fingers, tables, and counters—and if you add kids to the mix, that list can easily grow to include furniture, pets, and houseguests. Maple syrup dispensers promise to neaten up the task of pouring the sticky stuff. Typically designed as a small pitcher with a covered spout operated by a lever, a syrup dispenser should be easy to fill and clean and should pour a controlled amount without undue dripping. We bought five dispensers, priced from roughly $8.00 to roughly $40.00, with capacities of 6 to 19 ounces and made from glass or plastic. Four were pitcher-style; the fifth dispensed from the bottom of the container. We put each one through its paces with warm, cold, and room-temperature syrup, pouring it over both real pancakes and pancake-size circles drawn on paper to assess how easy it would be to control the output and hit a precise target. We enlisted both right- and left-handed testers of varying strengths and sizes to find the dispenser that worked best for the most people.
Testing was an eye-opener. A few dispensers gushed and splashed beyond our paper patterns, and one drowned our pancakes under a tsunami of syrup. “If I had children and this was our syrup dispenser, we would not be having pancakes,” one tester declared. A few models had closures that were too loose—they never fully cut off the flow—or designs that forced the flow of syrup back over the lid, making a mess. The best models had comfortable handles, closed fully after dispensing, and had just the right amount of tension in the trigger to let us pour as much or as little as we wanted without hand strain. But two models gave us perfect control, whether we wanted a trickle or a hefty pour, with almost no dripping.
Of the two models that topped our performance tests, one—the bottom-flowing dispenser—may have been a dream to operate, but it was a nightmare to fill: When you remove the top of this hollow glass ball-shaped vessel, it also removes an attached stem that plugs the bottom hole, leaving it open at both ends. So you must balance the vessel upright while pressing the bottom hole flat to a surface as you pour in order to keep syrup in. Once it’s full, you keep the dispenser in that position while screwing on a springy lid that tries to pop up and whose large, curved handle bumps into your other hand each time you twist. Not fun. Another strike: This model can’t go in the dishwasher, unlike the rest of the lineup.
That led us to our winner, whose simple design, pouring control, and overall ease of use won the day. The American Metalcraft Beehive Syrup Dispenser holds 6 ounces of syrup or honey and deploys a fl...
Everything We Tested
Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup/Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
This dispenser’s spring-loaded spout cover worked like a charm. Pushing the lever let us open it any amount from a sliver to fully open, so we could pour neatly and precisely while controlling the flow. Releasing the lever let it slide smoothly and shut completely for no-drip handling. It was easy to fill and clean, too. One quibble: The glass jar isn’t microwave-safe, so we had to heat syrup in a separate vessel and then transfer it. On the plus side, the ridged glass jar stayed comfortable to hold as we replaced the lid, even when the syrup was fairly hot.
Recommended with reservations
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup/Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
This pricey dispenser has a spring-loaded spout cover that opens smoothly. Too bad it doesn’t actually work to control the flow of syrup: It was either fully open or closed, and the rate of the flow was up to your pouring arm, not the dispenser. The results? Initially messy pouring and a steep and sticky learning curve. And if the cover wasn’t fully open, the syrup would flow back onto the lid, causing drips and mess. Attractive and solidly built, with a wide opening for filling and cleaning, this is basically a covered pitcher.
Not Recommended
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup/Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
Unlike the other models, this attractive vessel dispenses syrup from the bottom of the container, which sits in a glass base that can be filled with warm water to help keep honey or syrup soft and flowing. It works beautifully, dispensing neatly and precisely—until it’s time to refill, an awkward, messy process that one disappointed tester called “a real deal breaker.” The chrome-painted plastic lid and dispensing plug felt flimsy and cheap, and the dispenser can’t go in the microwave or dishwasher.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup/Durability: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This dispenser has no metal parts, so you can pop the whole thing into the microwave, and its thick plastic walls held heat for a long time. We liked its large capacity, too. But the flimsy plastic spout cover never closed properly, and testers were surprised by how much syrup unexpectedly gushed out, drenching pancakes and splashing outside our paper circles with abandon. Unless you are a big fan of Jackson Pollock, pass this one by.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cleanup/Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
With a too-tight spring-loaded lever and a sharp-edged handle, this dispenser was uncomfortable for most testers and offered no help with control, since its spout cover had only two positions—fully open or closed. When we did try to use it to limit flow, some syrup flowed back onto the lid, making a sticky, drippy mess. The small spout opening meant that thicker honey emerged at a maddening trickle. You can put the glass portion in the microwave, but the thinness of the glass made the jar too hot to handle, and potholders slipped off its tapered shape as we tried to screw on the lid. The lid itself felt lightweight, and threading it onto the jar usually took a few tries.
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.
Lisa McManus
Lisa is an executive editor for ATK Reviews, cohost of Gear Heads on YouTube, and gadget expert on TV's America's Test Kitchen.