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The Best Spatulas (Turners) for Nonstick Pans



Nonstick pans have their flaws—namely, they quickly and inevitably wear out—but they're still useful to have in the kitchen. No matter how good the seasoning on your cast iron skillet is, it's still easier to cook eggs (and other sticky or delicate things) on a Teflon-coated pan. Nonstick is simply the most reliable way to make a perfectly smooth omelette, keep your over-easy eggs unbroken, and make light and fluffy pancakes with minimal mess.Get more news about Silicone Spatulas,you can vist our website!

The downside is that if you want a nonstick pan that actually works, you'll need to replace it fairly regularly, and that can get expensive (thus our recommendation to stick with the cheap ones). To save yourself from that task as long as possible, it pays to take proper care of your nonstick skillet, which means you also need a nonstick spatula. A good, gentle nonstick spatula is essential for keeping that Teflon coating in working condition for longer.

Unfortunately, the materials that make a spatula safe for nonstick pans also tend to make it a bad spatula. Many nonstick spatulas are made of nylon, with thick, inflexible flippers that are difficult to maneuver under delicate items. Plus, nylon spatulas aren't always as heat-resistant as manufacturers promise, and can start to melt or fray around the edges in a searing-hot pan. Eggs can sometimes stick to nylon like glue.

A better alternative to plastic, silicone spatulas have become increasingly common in recent years. Silicone is heat-resistant at much higher temperatures—around 600°F (315°C), depending on whom you ask, as opposed to a ceiling under 400°F (200°C) for most nylon spatulas—flexible, and as nonstick as Teflon itself, but it has its own issues. If not reinforced properly, silicone spatulas can be too floppy to scrape the bottom of a pan or pick up a burger. Silicone can also crack, and it may retain odors to a greater degree than nylon.

Still, there are some great nonstick spatulas out there. To find out which are the best—thin and flexible enough to slide under a fried egg, but strong enough to lift a half-pound burger—I read reviews from Cook's Illustrated and The Sweethome, sorted through Amazon ratings, and ended up testing six different nonstick spatulas.

One point of clarification: This review covers only the type of spatula, often called a "turner," that ends in a flat flipper sticking out from the handle, meant for sliding under and turning foods. It serves a purpose similar to that of a metal fish spatula, though it's less flexible. I did not test the "scraper" style of spatula, which generally has a flattish, oblong head made of rubber or silicone and is used for scraping down mixing bowls and the like—it's a very different tool, with a different set of uses.

The misleadingly named Silicone Cookie Spatula from OXO is actually a great all-around tool. Its flipper is silicone-coated steel, so it's strong, but still sharp-edged and flexible. The spatula is on the small side, but I found that its size actually made it easier to manipulate in a crowded pan. Plus, if you're like me and keep a nonstick spatula around only for limited purposes—cooking eggs and the like—you may never feel the need for anything larger. If you do want a larger size for, say, flipping pancakes, the "small" version of OXO's Silicone Flexible Turner is plenty big, and its construction is identical to that of the cookie spatula.

The GIR Mini Flipper is another great silicone spatula, with a flipper that's sturdy but still has a relatively thin edge. The handle is longer than the one on the OXO, which makes it a better choice for cooking in larger, deeper nonstick pans. It's a bit thicker than the OXO, and, unlike that spatula, it's made of one solid piece of silicone with a fiberglass core, so there are no seams or crevices for food to get lodged in. Those details make it a sturdier tool for stirring stews or scraping the bottom of a pan, and potentially a better choice for someone who plans to use their nonstick spatula frequently for a wide variety of tasks.