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See why.Bowl Scrapers
Bowl scrapers conform to bowls’ curved sides, scraping up every last bit of dough for breads, cookies, and pastries. Which factors set the best models apart?
By Published Nov. 13, 2020. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 22: Starring: Tomatoes
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What You Need To Know
When we handle dough in the test kitchen, we often work with bowl scrapers. These small paddles are made of plastic, nylon, or silicone and have curved edges that help us manipulate dough. Unlike silicone spatulas, scrapers have no handles, which makes it easier to reach into bowls and create the leverage necessary to scrape up or gently fold dough. Bowl scrapers come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, textures, and materials, so we put together a diverse group to test. The prices of the eight scrapers in our lineup ranged from about $2 to about $13 per scraper. One model comes in a set with a pot scraper for handling stubborn cooked-on messes; we set the pot scraper aside until the end of testing and used only the bowl scraper in our initial tests. Another came in an affordable set of six identical scrapers; we tested only one. Multiple testers with various hand sizes used the scrapers to manipulate sticky, delicate Fougasse dough as well as dense speculoos cookie dough in both wide and narrow bowls. We also compared the scrapers with our winning silicone spatula throughout testing to see if they truly offered an advantage, and we washed each of them 10 times and bent them in our hands to test their durability. We were looking for a scraper with a versatile shape that could fit into all sorts of bowls, that was sturdy yet flexible, and that could hold up to long-term use.
Size and Shape Are Important
As we worked with the scrapers, we examined each model’s size and shape, and some patterns in our preferences emerged. The scrapers varied in size from 3½ to 7 inches long and from 3¼ to 8 inches wide. One scraper was simply too large to fit comfortably in our hands. It was unwieldy to use in bowls of all sizes, especially in narrower ones such as that of our favorite high-end stand mixer. We found ourselves having to twist our hands awkwardly to wedge the scraper into the bowl. Conversely, we found a few scrapers to be too petite: Their curved scraping edges were shorter, so we caught less dough with each pass. Working with these models was inefficient. The remaining four scrapers were large enough to efficiently scrape large swaths of dough yet small enough to fit comfortably in our hands. One medium-size scraper that measured 5½ inches long by 4¼ inches wide stood out: It was comfortable to maneuver and worked efficiently.
The shapes of the scrapers also varied. Three models were shaped roughly like a capital D, with one flat edge and another curved edge. These scrapers weren't versatile. They worked well when their broad, curved edges exactly matched the curve of a bowl, but when we used them in narrower bowls, the...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
Our winning scraper’s versatile teardrop shape allowed us to choose between a more narrowly curved edge for smaller bowls and a broader edge for wider bowls. Its metal core kept it sufficiently rigid in our hands while handling dense cookie dough, and its flexible silicone edges left more delicate doughs intact as we handled them. This scraper was both easy to clean and durable. One tester found this scraper the slightest bit small, but it fit comfortably in most of our hands, and we liked how nimble it felt.
Recommended
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
We liked that the dough scraper in this set was large enough to make short work of scraping dough out of bowls, but not so large that it was awkward or unwieldy. Its grippy silicone was comfortable in our hands, and its long, narrow length and sturdy build created good leverage as we scraped. It held up to washings and didn’t warp when we tried to bend it. But it wasn’t quite as versatile as our winner: Its shape didn’t offer as many options for adapting to different bowls’ curvatures, meaning that scraping some bowls required more strokes than others. This scraper set comes with a rigid nylon pot scraper; we tested it and found that it cleaned cookware effectively.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
We liked this model’s combination of a sturdy stainless-steel core, which kept it from buckling even under the weight of dense dough, and its flexible silicone edges, which handled delicate dough with care. Its asymmetrical shape offered differently curved edges that fit into both wide and narrow bowls, and it didn’t warp or bend when we tested its durability. It has a small indentation designed for cleaning the rims of bowls on one side that left small swaths of dough unscraped, which was slightly frustrating.
Recommended with reservations
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
This scraper is made of sturdy yet flexible silicone that handled all doughs fairly well, but its long, pointy shape perplexed us and fit strangely in our hands. There was no comfortable place to grip it as we scraped, and we found it to be too large to maneuver efficiently in narrower bowls. Since it’s the only silicone model we tested that doesn’t have a rigid core, it was slightly more bendy and springy in our kitchen and durability tests, making for a bit less stability overall. We preferred the more stable, metal-cored silicone models.
- Durability: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
This scraper was comfortable to hold and maneuver, and its flexible construction made short work out of scraping delicate bread dough. It was bendy enough to fit into narrower bowls, but it was just too thin and flimsy to hold up to denser dough, and we felt like we had to use added force with it. It passed our durability tests, but we preferred sturdier, more versatile models.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
This traditional plastic bowl scraper was durable and flexible, allowing us to manipulate sticky bread dough easily, but it bent slightly under the weight of dense cookie dough. It was among the smallest scrapers in our lineup, making it inefficient when it came to moving bread dough, and it offered only one curved edge that had trouble scraping narrower bowls. Its hard plastic wasn’t as grippy or comfortable to hold as its silicone counterparts.
Not Recommended
- Durability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
This thin nylon scraper had sharp edges and corners that cut through and deflated delicate dough and poked into our hands as we scraped. It was also too flimsy to scrape denser dough efficiently, and its curved edge wasn’t as versatile as those of its peers.
- Durability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 0.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1 stars out of 3.
This scraper was entirely too large and awkward for any bowl we tried to use it in, making it too difficult to control and maneuver. It also warped in our durability tests, remaining so unless we bent it back into place.
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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.
Chase Brightwell
Chase is an associate editor for ATK Reviews. He's an epidemiologist-turned-equipment tester and biscuit enthusiast.
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