Equipment Review: Best Silicone (“Rubber”) Spatulas & Our Testing Winners
Buy our Winning All-Purpose Spatula:
Buy our Winning Large Spatula:
Behind the Testing:
Full testing details and ranking chart:
We tested 10 spatulas to find the best one:
Di Oro living Seamless Silicone Spatula—Large
Rubbermaid 13.5″ High-Heat Scraper
Tovolo Flex-Core Silicone Spatula
StarPack Premium Silicone Spatula (11.5″)
OXO Good Grips Medium Silicone Spatula
GIR Ultimate Spatula
Vollrath NSF Certified, High-Temperature Spatula
Le Creuset Revolution Medium Spatula
Cuisinart Barrel Handle Silicone Spatula
KitchenAid Gourmet Series Silicone Scraper Spatula
A spatula should feel like an extension of your arm, nimbly stirring, scraping, and folding any food you put in its path. Why is a good one so hard to find?
We review the best (and worst) slow cookers (“crock pots”):
Need to buy a new food processor? Watch our review:
WINNING TRAITS OF A GOOD SPATULA
– Blade with wide, nearly flat top edge and straight side edges with a single corner curve
– Blade is fairly thin
– Blade offers good balance between flexibility and rigidity
– Flat sides of blade are smooth, without ridges
– Nimble enough to fit inside tight edges and corners
– Wide, grippy handle
– Handle allows multiple comfortable grips
– Seamless transition from blade to handle
– Made entirely of heat-resistant, dishwasher-safe silicone
WHAT WE EXAMINED
We tested 10 silicone spatulas, rating them on their ability to stir, scrape, and fold a wide variety of foods. We also evaluated their compatibility with our favorite pots and pans, mixing bowls, food processor, and stand mixers. A panel of testers evaluated them on general comfort and ease of use. We also rated them on heat resistance and ease of cleanup.
We put each spatula through a gauntlet of tests in a wide range of kitchen equipment and using a diverse group of testers (short and tall, lefty and righty).
FOLDING
1. Fold whipped egg whites into cake batter in large mixing bowl.
2. Fold fruit puree into whipped cream in stand mixer bowl.
STIRRING
3. Stir mix-ins into thick cookie dough in stand mixer bowl.
4. Stir scrambled eggs in 10-inch nonstick skillet.
5. Stir onions in 4-quart saucepan.
6. Stir risotto in 4-quart saucepan.
7. Stir chopped carrots in Dutch oven.
SCRAPING
8. Scrape scrambled eggs from pan without breaking up curds.
9. Scrape fond from 12-inch traditional skillet.
VERSATILITY
10. Scrape honey from measuring cup and small mixing bowl.
DURABILITY
11. Rest in 450-degree cast-iron skillet for 10 minutes.
12. Scrape processor bowl with blade in place; check for cuts.
CLEANUP
13. Submerge in warm tomato sauce, minced garlic, and curry powder for 2 hours; wash.*
14. Wash 35 times in dishwasher or 35 times by hand if not dishwasher-safe.
*washed an additional 12 times by hand throughout testing
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
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Silicone absorbs particles and smell like fried onion.
Is the DI ORO spatula too hard to press?
AMAZING.
I miss the very flexible rubber spatulas of the past. Best things for scraping out bowls, measuring cups, jars, etc.. I also miss the thin metal spatulas we had for cooking. In general a tool designed to do the task is better than one that is designed to try to do too many things. I use a heavy wooden spoon to mix in the nuts or chocolate chips into thick cookie doughs. Works great.
Does anyone know if the di oro spatulas or the spoonula is suitable for flipping fish?
For deglazing wood is a far superior material.. you can really dig in and scrape.. silicon isn’t that way.. it’s a good squeege not a scraper..
There are some spatulas that look like the exact same design from U Taste and GIR (Get It Right). Were these among the reviewed ones here?
The Food Network brand spatulas at Kohl’s are great. I don’t recommend all Food Network brand items, but the spatulas and curved spatulas are really great.
Wait…. So…. I shouldn’t buy le creuset x harrypotter spatula??? Oh my………..
Wow, that is the most thorough review I've seen. Thank you.
love these spatulas
literal gold
Hello ,
Good cooking tool with silicone rubber material,good news that we are good at this kind of product,we have made the child spoon
First off. Thank You. This has to be one of the best review/recommend videos I seen. No blah blah blah. B.S Just straight to the point. Test Parameter-Goal-Performance-Outcome. No matter the product, this Should be textbook 101 Anybody out there making review videos could learn a lot from this one. Great Job…
i could shtare at these spatulas for hours ..
I really appreciate all of the testing . Thank you very much.
Any comments on the winning Large Spatula you chose? I see it listed but not discussed. Buying the All-Purpose one right now. You can never have enough of these on hand.
how do I keep sticky cake batter from sticking to my non stick spatula?
Told my friend about this vdo and she bought one even before me. 🤣🤣
👍
I don't cook, but I love watching these videos, for some reason! 😛😝
I purchased this spatula, based on the recommendation in this review—and almost never use it. It's too stiff to easily conform to the sides of the cup/bowl I'm trying to clean. I consistently reach for the silicon spatula with a stainless steel handle that we purchased at… Costco(?). It's much softer and is way more effective for my needs. I love ATK equipment reviews but this product recommendation didn't pan out for me.
I bought the di oro set after watching this. I have never had any kitchen tool or implement that was so clearly superior to others. It is significantly better in every way to all other spatulars I have ever used.
If anyone reading this is using a spatula to mix cookie dough, get yourself a dough whisk. It does the job easier and faster. I got mine at King Arthur Flour Co.
JA henckels spatula is one of the best at scraping up cream.
Yes she’s the best!
It's Saturday night and I'm here, lead by my sub par spatula malaise.
Thanks, ATK…
I've FINALLY gotten around to purchasing a new spatula!
Does this video include GIR
Can do one on muffins silicone
I am still sticking with my red and white Rubbermaid. I don't like dark colored plastic kitchen tools because it's hard to see if it's clean. Oils cling to silicon and transfer off flavors to your next dish.
This is another ATK item that's spot on. Amazon still sells this item and I highly recommend getting the 4-piece set. All of mine are still in great shape after using them for a couple years now.
Maybe all of you got your questions answered, whereas I'm SO frustrated. It took quite awhile to view this video (i'm pressed for time) yet my questions remain: What's the BEST set which can (1) get mayo out of a mayo jar or narrower (2) fry patties etc. and flip them over (3) scrape a batter bowl.
Love this Chanel, I got a 26 piece set and it’s all silicone. They talk about all the things I think, and a lot that I don’t!! Different make but the characteristics are the what’s makes it a winner.
It's hard to tell which spatula was the winning one because they don't even say what the length of it was. This brand sells two identical spatulas, one large, one smaller. The link is leading to the large one, but it doesn't appear to be the large one in the video.
I have the Di Oro living Seamless Silicone Spatula—Large several years now. It's the best out of dozens of spatulas I have used. Here is the correct link is https://www.amazon.com/Oro-Seamless-Pro-Grade-Silicone-Spatula/dp/B00LBFWJB6/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=Di+Oro+living+Seamless+Silicone+Spatula%E2%80%94Large&qid=1612396329&s=home-garden&sr=1-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExWk80QlpWMFJONUdUJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDU5Mjg1MTYwRUhGTFlIVVo2VCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjk0OTE3M1VHUFk0TUg2OTJZRyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
This spatula is over $40 on Amazon.ca (Canada) 😞
The lady said the price was $11, why is it when I click on the link @t the price shows as $40 CAD on Amazon, can anyone advise. I live in Canada
where it made from?
Lisa reminds me of Sara Gilbert.
My spoon started to crack/ chip break after some time