How To Use Kitchen Tongs

Most of us will have kitchen tongs, but many don’t know how versatile these tools can be.

Take a look at my top 7 list of uses for kitchen tongs – which ones do you know, and which ones are completely new to you? Plus, I’d love to hear from you if you’ve got a use that’s not on my list – us mother’s need to help each other out!

1) Serve foods

This is the most obvious use. I use my kitchen tongs to serve salads, croutons, cheese cubes, pieces of fruit etc. But one I did not think of, before I visited a café, was to use them to serve delicate cakes, muffins and pastries.

Now I always leave a pair of tongs out when I serve desserts. Everyone agrees that there is a lot less crumb and flaky pastry to deal with, and fingers don’t get smothered in melted chocolate or icing.

2) Turn and lift foods whilst cooking

I love using my kitchen tongs to turn foods that are difficult with a spatula, such as sausages.

They’re also invaluable for picking out fried foods, such as potato croquettes, stir fried veggies, or steam veggies.

Remember, as you are using tongs near a heat source, you need to make sure you have tongs that are heat resistant. The last thing you want is melted ends!

You can opt for metal tongs, but I find silicone tipped tongs are the best as metal tongs can scrape off nonstick or Teflon coatings on skillets if you’re not careful.

3) Remove food items from hot water

I’m not sure why I only figured this out a few months back, by kitchen tongs are invaluable for picking food out of hot water, such as boiled eggs, corn, ramekins etc.

The number of times I’ve tried to fish out boiled eggs using a spoon or spatula……I just needed my trusty kitchen tongs! Remember to make sure your kitchen tongs can handle the high temperature of boiling water.

4) Lift hot skillet covers and other items on stovetop

This is another use that only came to me whilst watching a friend cook. She couldn’t find her oven mitts, so she used her kitchen tongs to lift the cover on skillet. Genius!

Again, do make sure your kitchen tongs are heat resistant for this tip.

5) Reach cans and packets of food that are hard to reach in a cupboard

My kitchen cupboards are quite high and deep. I’m forever struggling to reach items that have be shunted to the back.

One day, I saw my kitchen tongs on the counter and just picked them up. Suddenly, that jar of marjoram, that hadn’t seen the light of day for months, was so easy to reach!

6) Reach items that have fallen between cabinets, furniture etc

This idea came to me soon after using my tongs to reach for foods in the back of a cupboard.

I realized that I no longer needed to struggle with pushing my fingers into thin and awkward areas just to fish out something I’d lost.

7) Pick fruits, herbs and flowers that are just out of reach

This is an idea that, again, I got from observing a friend. She loves growing herbs and fruit in her garden.

Whenever something is too high for her to reach, out come her kitchen tongs, and she just bends the stems until she can reach whatever she needs to pick – what a great idea!

Do you use your kitchen tongs for all of the above? Do you have another ingenious use that I’ve never thought about it? Please share!

Why not grab yourself the Chef Remi 2 Piece Kitchen Tong Set right now?