In this article
The spatula category is a broad one and includes a wide range of tools suited to different tasks. You’ve got your scrapers or stirrers for, say, sautéing onions or loosening the brown bits from the bottom of a pan. There are flippers or turners, which you use to get under a steak or a fried egg. And there are spreaders, which allow you to smooth out cake batter or frosting, or make sure the surface of a quiche is even. Sure, any spatula you pick up will probably do the job of transferring pancakes to a plate or spreading brownie batter, but a bad spatula isn’t just frustrating — it can make your cooking worse. It’s time to let go of the half-melted nylon and plastic spatulas that are cluttering up your drawer, and reach for a better option.
I’m a huge spatula nerd. In my collection I have about a dozen, made out of every material available — silicone, stainless steel, wood, and combinations of these. To write this article, I tested about a dozen more. As a food writer, cookbook author, recipe developer, and general cooking enthusiast, I know that having the right spatula for your dish — whether it’s a delicate fried egg, a buttercream-frosted cake, or a perfectly crispy piece of salmon — is crucial. To help you find the best spatula for you (and your culinary needs), I also reached out to some fellow spatula enthusiasts, including cooks and food writers, and included some of their favorites as well as those that performed the best in my testing.
What we’re looking for
Construction
A good spatula should feel like a natural extension of your hand. It should be easy to grip, not heat up to uncomfortable temperatures when you’re using it, and neither too clunky nor too flimsy. It should have an edge that allows you to scrape a pan or side of the bowl cleanly, and not peel or bend. The material a spatula is made from affects how it performs and feels, and I’ve noted below what each pick is made of.
Dishwasher safe
Like any kitchen tool, a spatula is only useful if you can thoroughly and easily clean it, either by hand or in a dishwasher. For that reason, all our experts warned against spatulas that have detachable heads, where gunk and soap can get caught, making it a breeding ground for bacteria.
Heat resistance
You should be able to use your spatula to cook, of course, which means that it needs to sustain high temperatures without warping, melting, staining, or burning. It should last you a long time without needing to replace it.
Best overall spatula
Construction: 100% silicone | Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe | Heat resistance: To 550 degrees
If you could pick only one tool for flipping, spreading, or scraping, every expert I talked to would choose a one-piece silicone spatula. And this GIR spatula performs all of these functions, so it’s my best overall pick. In fact, I like this GIR spatula so much that I have given it away as a Christmas present multiple times. It aligns with my favorite principle of gifting: The very best version of a utilitarian item. In the seven years I’ve owned mine, I’ve used it to make sheet pans’ worth of birthday cake, to caramelize onions, and for searing a steak on cast iron. Because it’s all silicone, I don’t worry about using it on nonstick or enameled surfaces, and it hasn’t peeled, warped, bent, or picked up weird smells.The GIR is made of 100 percent silicone and is heat-resistant to 550 degrees, meaning that it can easily tackle anything you have on the stovetop. It has a fine edge but a sturdy core, cleans easily, and comes in 21 different colors. Emma Laperruque, author of Big Little Recipes, is also a fan. “I grab it for scraping cake batter, shuffling scrambled eggs, and much, much more,” she says.
Best spatula for flipping
Construction: 100% silicone | Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe | Heat resistance: To 550 degrees
While the GIR Ultimate Spatula is incredibly useful for most activities, there comes a time when I need a dedicated flipper. And in that case, there’s this handy version made by GIR. Strategist kitchen and dining writer Emma Wartzman also loves the Flip. She uses it when “I need a flat, wide, and soft utensil: flipping anything in a pan I don’t want to scratch,” Wartzman says. “With a tapered edge and a sturdy-but-flexible silicone body, it easily slips underneath pancakes, smashed potatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches, and more — without the risk of digging into the surfaces of nonstick and even well-seasoned cast-iron skillets. And while a metal spatula works just fine for transferring a sturdy cookie from sheet pan to cooling rack, I like this one for more delicate, crumbly kinds, like shortbread.”
Best spatula for nonstick cookware
Construction: Bamboo | Cleaning: Hand-wash | Heat resistance: To 400 degrees
Silicone spatulas are useful for most activities, but when I’m cooking something that I know will also need scraping the bottom of the pan, I reach for a good wooden spatula, like this excellent bamboo number from Helen’s Asian Kitchen. The edge of a wooden spatula is usually firmer than a silicone-tipped utensil, but it still won’t scratch the nonstick lining of a pan. That makes it particularly great for scraping up the precious browned bits you need for a gravy, or for breaking up ground beef so it browns. Bamboo is easier to deal with than some woods — it’s durable, but it doesn’t require frequent oiling or maintenance. The only drawback is that it’s better to hand-wash it than put it in the dishwasher, where the bamboo might split and crack.
Best slotted spatula
Construction: Stainless steel and wood | Cleaning: Hand-wash | Heat resistance: To 1,700 degrees
I have given this to so many friends. Don’t let the name dissuade you — it’s useful for so much more than fish. If you love making eggs, or if you’ve ever had trouble with pancakes sticking to the griddle, you need a fish spatula. With its flexible metal edge, you can use it to flip crêpes, turn burgers, and crisp up hash browns. The slits of the spatula allow you to look through them, so you can tell how quickly fish skin — or potatoes — are browning, and it also means you can scoop things out of sizzling oil and drain them at the same time. The only real downside is that the handle is wooden, which means that you should handwash the spatula to avoid it cracking or splitting over time.
Best less-expensive slotted spatula
Construction: Stainless steel with a plastic handle | Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe | Heat resistance: To 480 degrees
If the Victorinox feels a little pricey, I also really enjoyed using this simple, inexpensive Ateco Slotted Spatula. It’s one that Ari Miller, executive chef at Wolfgang Puck’s CUT in D.C., swears by. The wooden handle means that the tool won’t heat up in your hand even when handling it for long periods of time, and the slats of the Ateco are well-spaced, allowing you to drain a steak or burger of grease. “I use it for halloumi. I can brown the cheese, then strain oil from it, all with one tool,” says Miller.
Best offset spatula
Construction: Stainless steel with wood handle | Cleaning: Hand-wash | Heat resistance: To 480 degrees
This offset spatula is useful for loosening slices of lasagna or quiche from pans, and its handle won’t melt or bend. The one downside of the wooden handle, however, is that it needs to be hand-washed. But if that’s a deal-breaker, there’s a version with a plastic handle — just make sure not to get too near a heat source, or it will melt.
I reach for my offset spatula for so many uses. So does Baldwin, who stands by it “for everything,” including frosting, lifting and moving, and spreading cake batter. For the home cook, one small offset should be enough, and Baldwin and Miller both like this Ateco one. “In my desert-island scenario, the Ateco offset would have to be there,” Miller says. Baldwin, meanwhile, praises the Ateco’s comfortable handle and the thin metal blade that can “get under anything I’m working with.”
Best mini spatula set
Construction: Silicone | Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe | Heat resistance: To 500 degrees
Though the GIR is my gold standard, a smaller silicone spatula is the one I reach for whenever I need to scoop things out of small jars, like peanut butter or the dregs of jam. Both Miller and Baldwin recommend getting an all-silicone spatula with a smaller head to scrape out jars and containers. (They’re great not just for the kitchen — I have one for beauty products, too.) Miller says he “lives and dies” by them, as they’re especially valuable when consolidating containers. “If you just use a spoon, you could be left with a whole portion’s worth of product in a quart container,” he says. “But mini-spatulas get into every corner, which means they save us money.” Miller recommends Cuisinart’s mini-spatulas, which come in a set of three and have three slightly different angles to allow him to get into “literally any crevice in the kitchen.”
Best grilling spatula
Construction: Stainless-steel and silicone handle | Cleaning: Dishwasher-safe | Heat resistance: To 1,700 degrees
Of the spatulas I tried, there’s only one that my husband is always stealing from me, and it’s the Mercer’s Hell’s Handle Heavy Duty Turner. When Miller’s former restaurant Musi turned into a cheesesteak pop-up called Frizwit during the pandemic, he discovered this stellar spatula. “For years, I was using this basic grill spatula with a wooden handle,” Miller says. “I hired a cook who asked to bring in his own, and it was a revelation. It has a heatproof handle and is contoured. If you’re using it as a short-order cook, it’s much more comfortable and you can cook better with it.” Even if you’re not dealing with a lunch rush, the Heavy Duty Turner is practical for scooping up larger pieces of food a fish spatula couldn’t handle, like steaks or vegetables on a grill or griddle, but it’s also useful on a stainless-steel pan with more surface area. “Not to be dramatic about it, but this thing is the Ferrari of spatulas,” Miller says. On Miller’s recommendation, I picked up one of these and have been using it religiously, even after the plastic handle melted slightly when I left it too close to a hot griddle.
Best griddle spatula
Construction: Wooden handle, stainless steel blade | Cleaning: Hand wash | Heat resistance: Not specified
Though I love how light and nimble the GIR spatula is, when it comes to working on a cast iron pan or a griddle, my favorite tool for approaching pretty much any food is the Smithey Mighty Spatula. It’s a hefty piece of metal, offset from the handle and slightly curved on the right side, with a wide paddle and a thin edge. It’s wildly useful thanks to its large surface area — 4.25 inches by 5 inches — and the thin edge, which allows for easily flipping fried eggs, pancakes, filets of fish, or steak. I also love using it for sheet pan meals — you can get underneath all the charred vegetables and bits of feta with ease, making the clean-up work of scrubbing a sheet pan even easier. It’s more expensive than any spatula I’ve previously owned, but if I somehow lost or broke it, I would repurchase it immediately. It’s become essential to my cooking life. Like the other wooden handled spatulas on this list, it requires hand-washing, but I’ve never found it particularly onerous to give it a quick scrub before putting it away.
Our experts
• Kierin Baldwin, chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education
• Emma Laperruque, food editor and cookbook author
• Ari Miller, executive chef at Wolfgang Puck’s CUT in D.C., former chef-owner of Musi and Frizwit
• Helen Rosner, food writer for The New Yorker
• Emma Wartzman, kitchen and dining writer, The Strategist
Some other spatulas we’ve written about
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
