Best Grill Tongs of 2026

An inch shorter than our top pick, and the pair we leave by the stove rather than the grill. Sixteen inches is long enough to keep your forearm out of a flare-up and short enough to toss a salad or turn bacon in a skillet without feeling like you are working with fireplace tools.

The reason to pay more for the OXO is the grip. A soft, slightly tacky overlay runs the length of each handle with a thumb rest where your hand actually falls, so a greasy palm still gets a solid squeeze. The scalloped edges are shallow and even — they hold a rib rack or a bundle of asparagus without shredding it. This is the pair we hand someone who plans to own only one.

The locking ring slides and stays put, the brushed steel has no silicone panels or wood to maintain, and it is dishwasher safe with a hanging loop at the top. Nothing about it is fancy, and that is the appeal.

It is also the pair here we expect to outlast the rest, because there is nothing on it to come loose or dry out. It can live in a bucket by the grill or a drawer indoors and get treated badly either way.

If your tongs live in two places — one pair out by the grill, another in the kitchen or the camper — this is the most sensible way to do it: two identical 17-inch tongs at the bottom of the price range.

The details suit the job. The steel is brushed rather than polished, which hides the fingerprints and splatter a shiny finish collects, and the silicone strips sit under your thumb so a one-handed squeeze has something to push against. The pull ring locks the jaws shut for storage and the whole thing is dishwasher safe.

Both pairs are the same 17-inch length. That is fine in a kitchen drawer, though a shorter second tong would have been handier for salads and skillets; what you get instead is a spare, which is a fair trade at this price. Neither pair is precious, so the one that goes camping can stay in the truck.

At the top of the price range here sit tongs with walnut handles and a cloth pouch, which tells you who Boxiki is selling to. This is a gift as much as a tool, and for the right person that is not a knock.

The parts are right: 304 stainless, which resists rust better than the 430 most budget tongs use; serrated, slotted tips that let juice drain as you lift a wet steak while the teeth keep hold; a 17-inch length; and a pull ring with a hanging loop at the end. The walnut is shaped with a flat where your thumb sits.

That handle is what makes these worth the money to us. Wood does not conduct heat the way steel does, and it does not turn slick the moment your hand is greasy, so you get something to push against when you lift a rack of ribs. If the tongs hang next to a grill you are proud of, these look the part in a way plain steel never will.

Nothing about the design is fussy: the pouch, the loop and the lock all work as they should, and the steel is a sensible 1 mm, thick enough to hold a heavy cut without twisting. What the walnut buys you is a pair you leave out on a hook instead of hiding in a drawer.

19.5 inches is two and a half inches longer than the 17-inch picks here, and for the right setup that is not excess — it is the difference between reaching the back of a deep charcoal bed and backing away from it. Fire pits, big offset smokers and a turkey fryer outdoors are where these make sense.

We ended up liking the reach more than we expected to. Deep in a kettle, the extra length lets you turn a rack of ribs without your forearm over the coals, and the walnut handles stay comfortable while the steel near the fire does not. The jaws have real bite, enough that lifting a slab feels controlled rather than like a balancing act.

The ring doubles as a bottle opener, which is the kind of detail you use once and then look for every time. Storage is a hook rather than a drawer, because these are long, and they are the heaviest pair here — you will feel them in your forearm before a two-hour rib cook is over.

One jaw is scalloped and the other is a slotted spatula. That asymmetry is the whole idea, and it is a good one: pinch a sausage with the toothed side, then slide the flat side under a burger that is trying to drop through the grate.

The rest is sensible. 430 stainless with walnut handles, rivets reinforcing the joint, a pull-ring lock, and a little over 16 inches of reach — an inch short of the 17-inch picks here, which you will not notice at the grill.

We expected the spatula side to be a gimmick and found the opposite. On a flat-top or in a cast-iron skillet it does what a fish slice does, and it is the side we reach for with anything fragile; the tong side handles the rest. For the money, the only real question is whether you want a flat side at all. If you cook on a griddle, you do.

This is the tong for someone who wants a solid 16-inch pair, does not want to spend much, and is not going to baby it. Nothing about it is precious: a silicone-cushioned handle, stainless jaws, a pull ring, and a dishwasher to go back into.

The one-piece body is the detail we appreciate most — no rivets, no crevice for grease to sit in, which is usually what finishes off a cheap tong. It is rated to 600°F, the lock holds shut, and it is light enough to work one-handed through a whole cook.

Long-term durability is the open question at this price. The steel is thinner than the wood-handled pairs here and the whole tool weighs less, so if you want one pair to see you through several summers, this is not the one.

So buy it if you grill a few times a month and want something that works tonight. It goes in the dishwasher, it locks shut in a drawer, and nobody will mind if it gets left out in the rain.