30 Ingenious Ways To Use Your Kitchen Shears

A quality set of knives, a great chopping board, a comprehensive set of pots and pans......all essentials when equipping a kitchen. But kitchen shears? It’s one of those culinary utensils that are a real afterthought for many. When was the last time you saw kitchen shears on a wedding gift list?

And yet, despite most people thinking of kitchen shears as an optional extra, when you know all the clever ways of using one, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without a good pair! In fact, they can be as essential as a solid chef’s knife, or a chopping board.

We all know the most obvious reasons for owning a pair; snipping up herbs, chopping up and dicing poultry, and opening food packaging. But how many other uses do you have?

Read our 30 ingenious ways to use your kitchen shears– we bet you’ll be surprised at all the different uses, and you’ll even start thinking of your shears as your kitchen Swiss Army knife!

30 Ingenious Ways To Use Your Kitchen Shears

1) Spatchcock chicken or turkey – spatchcocking is basically preparing a bird so it sits flat in one piece. Removing the backbone is almost impossible with a knife, but it’s easy work with shears, and it’s safer than a knife on slippery chicken.

2) Chopping up chicken breast pieces – yes, this one is obvious, but have you cut the breast directly into a pan? No cutting board necessary!

3) Screw cap bottle opener – use those grips on the inside of the handles to easily open bottles.

4) Nut cracker / shell cracker – those grips are also great for cracking nuts and shells.

5) Excess pastry on pies – your shears can do the job faster and more accurately than a knife.

6) Asparagus – trim the ends quickly.

7) Cut up whole tomatoes in a can (or whole roasted peppers)     – just poke the shears into the can and snip away. No mess, no fuss.

8) Pizza slicer – shears cut through the melted cheese and crispy crust cleanly, unlike pizza slicers that need running back and forth.

9) Create party appetisers – how about making fajitas, spring rolls or cheesy pittas, cutting them into bite size pieces with your shears, and serving as appetisers?

10) Make lardons – your shears will easily cut up bacon (cooked or raw) into small pieces.

11) Sausage bites – easily cut up a large kielbasa or sausage into small bite-size pieces.

12) Trim the ends of beans – instead of snapping them, take a bunch and trim in one go, much faster.

13) Faster composting – cut up scraps of food before you compost.

14) Cut up dried fruit – create small dried fruit pieces for salads.

15) Trimming fat – unless you’re a real knife-smith, trimming fat with shears is easier and more accurate.

16) BBQ meat shredder- use your shears to quickly shred cooked meats.

17) Create parsley shavings – shave fresh parsley right over a dish and serve.

18) Trim pasta – if your noodles or pasta are too long, cut them to fit your pan or bowl.

19) Tortilla pieces – use your shears to cut up tortillas.

20) Mincing herbs – snipping herbs with shears is something everyone knows about, but how about throwing herbs in a jar and snipping away till chopped? Also, all your freshly cut herbs are now already in a jar, ready to be stored!

21) Sliced celery – wash a celery stalk and then cut them into little slices over a pan so they fall in directly, no cutting board needed.

22) Make mini marshmallows – when you have large marshmallow pieces, use your shears to make mini marshmallows for garnish.

23) Cut grape clusters – use your shears to cut a big bunch of grapes into single serving clusters. Great for parties.

24) Create circular parchment paper – when you need parchment paper (or cheese cloth) to fit a particular shape, use your shears.

25) Trim crusts – for those who don’t like the edges of bread, easily snip of crusts.

26) Trim artichokes – cut off the pointed ends before steaming.

27) Peel shrimp – shrimp can be fiddly to peel, but with shears, all you have to do is cut through the shell along the length.

28) Flower arranging – easily trim flower stems to fit a vase.

29) Shaping dough / pastry sheets – knives can ruin individual pastry sheets as they’re so delicate. Use your shears to create shapes or patterns, or for just trimming.

30) Clip recipes on the go – food packaging can have recipes or coupons for future purchases. Cut these out as you get rid of packaging.

Do you have an ingenious use for your kitchen shears that’s not on the list? Tell us! How do YOU use your Chef Remi Kitchen Shears??