We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. What to Buy Kitchen Tools The 8 Best Wooden Spoons, According to Our Tests Our favorite spoons make it easy to stir, scrape, and serve. By Christa Glennie Christa Glennie Christa Glennie is a former restaurant professional who has logged nearly two decades as a writer and editor covering people and trends in food, drink, dining, and agriculture. She's the food editor of Buffalo Spree magazine and has published work in Food & Wine, USA Today, Feast and Field, and more. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on October 31, 2024 In This Article View All In This Article Our Top Picks Reviews Our Favorite Wooden Spoon How We Tested Wooden Spoons Factors to Consider FAQ Other Wooden Spoons We Tested Our Expertise Photo: Food & Wine / Amazon The wooden spoon is one of the most basic kitchen tools, but it's also probably the most important. Humans have been making this essential for cooking and eating since the Paleolithic: Archaeologists have found spoons carved from bone that date back well over 10,000 years. We have records of wooden spoons at least back to the Ancient Egyptians, and the same tool is just as useful in the modern kitchen. Wooden utensils are gentle enough to use on nonstick cookware, cast iron skillets, and other materials that can't always handle metal or even hard plastic. They can deal with hot liquids and high temperatures in any situation. The best wooden spoons are usually pretty inexpensive, too. You probably have at least one in your kitchen right now. You can always get a great spoon as part of a larger kitchen utensil set, but we wanted to put individual models to the test. We tested 13 wooden spoons in our kitchens, evaluating design, durability, and overall performance. Here's what we discovered we liked the most. Our Top Picks Best Overall: Sabatier All-Purpose Spoon at Amazon $18 Jump to Review Best Value: FAAY Teak Cooking Spoon at Amazon $12 Jump to Review Best Splurge: Le Creuset Revolution Scraping Spoon at Amazon $36 Jump to Review Best Multipurpose: Jonathan’s Spoons Spootle at Woodspoon.com Jump to Review Best for Serving: Made In The Wooden Spoon at Amazon $19 Jump to Review Best Set: SALE Tovolo 6 Piece Olivewood Utensil Set at Amazon $50 $39 Jump to Review Best Bamboo: SALE KitchenAid Universal Bamboo Basting Spoon at Amazon $6 $3 Jump to Review Best Dishwasher-Safe: Epicurean Chef Series Large Spoon at Amazon $19 Jump to Review Best Overall Sabatier All-Purpose Spoon PHOTO: Amazon $18 at Amazon $25 at Wayfair Pros This spoon completed nearly every one of our tests with perfect ease, and looked great doing so. Cons Its olive material is less durable than other types of wood. The Sabatier All-Purpose Spoon lives up to its name. It performed well in all our tests, showcasing a wide range of versatility. It was especially effective with the oatmeal test, where the rounded shape and bowl depth made stirring and serving effortless. The long handle lends flexibility if you use pots of various depths, and it’s proportional to the spoon head in a way that feels sturdy and capable when stirring and scraping. This spoon is made from olive wood, known for its beautiful irregular grain. That makes it look nice but is less water-resistant, more susceptible to dings and damage, and not dishwasher-safe. The handle remained smooth following all of our tests, but the bowl started to roughen after multiple rounds of hand-washing. You might need to rub the spoon down with food-safe mineral oil every few washes to keep it in tip-top shape. Material: Olive | Dimensions: 13.75 x 2.72 inches | Weight: 2.8 ounces Best Value FAAY Teak Cooking Spoon PHOTO: Amazon $12 at Amazon Pros Teak wood makes this inexpensive spoon durable and water-resistant. Cons While the oval-shaped design works well for stirring and serving, it’s not the best for scraping up fond. Teak is a popular wood for patio furniture because it's strong and resistant to rain and snow. Those characteristics also make it perfect for a wooden spoon, and FAAY's held up well under all our tests. We were impressed by how well it broke up ground sausage during testing, especially considering the oval shape. Its deep bowl is good for scooping and serving food. It's not dishwasher-safe, but it was super easy to clean: Dried-on oatmeal slid right off with the lightest of scrubs. For anyone looking to buy a high-value wooden spoon at a low cost, The FAAY is it. Our only complaint is that the round spoon head isn't as good as one with a corner or flat side at getting into pan edges and scraping up cooked-on bits into a sauce. Material: Teak | Dimensions: 14 x 2.75 inches | Weight: 2.4 ounces Best Splurge Le Creuset Revolution Scraping Spoon PHOTO: Amazon $36 at Amazon $36 at Wayfair $36 at Le Creuset Pros This spoon's unique shape really gives it an edge in the kitchen. Cons It's awfully expensive for a wooden spoon. Le Creuset is probably most famous for its iconic enameled cast iron skillets and Dutch ovens, but the brand makes all sorts of luxury kitchenware we love. This spoon's revolutionary characteristic is its flat scraping head. The shape is perfect for releasing burnt bits from the bottom of the pan, but it can also act like a spatula for moving and turning items, or it scoop up and serve food with its sizable bowl. The Le Creuset Revolution Scraping Spoon is a comfortable fit for a stovetop or table, coming in around the mid-range of all the spoons we tested in weight, length, and handle thickness. It survived our durability tests relatively unscathed, and while it wasn’t our very favorite spoon, it did well in most of our cooking tests. The unique design style is a standout and would make this spoon fit for a luxurious housewarming or host gift. If you're feeling especially generous, you could throw in the matching oval spoon and a slotted spoon to make it a complete set. Material: Beech | Dimensions: 13 x 2.5 inches | Weight: 2.1 ounces Best Multipurpose Jonathan’s Spoons Spootle PHOTO: Jonathan's Spoons View on Woodspoon.com Pros This spoon/spatula is great at stirring, comfortable to hold, and cleans easily. Cons The small, shallow bowl makes serving rather inefficient. What, exactly, is a spootle? It's an all-purpose combination spatula and spoon, with a flat edge for flipping and a hollowed-out bowl for stirring and serving. The quirky design of this tool, along with its distinctive cherry-wood color, will shine in any utensil holder. The material is durable but slightly flexible, and the Jonathan's Spoons Spootle held up well in all our tests. The spatula edge gives the spootle a smaller capacity, however. The small, circular bowl can't hold as much oatmeal per scoop as more traditional designs. Left-handers should also make sure to buy the lefty version, which is angled the opposite way. Material: Cherry | Dimensions: 12.75 x 2.5 inches | Weight: 1.7 ounces Best for Serving Made In The Wooden Spoon PHOTO: Made In $19 at Amazon $19 at Madeincookware.com Pros The broad spoon head is perfect for stirring and serving, and it’s pretty enough to sit at the table. Cons The surface started to roughen after just a few washes. A serving spoon is good for stirring and scraping on the stovetop, but it should also be an eye-catching tabletop item that can dish out meatballs, chili, stews, and other dishes. Made In's version has a large bowl, and its close-grained beech material is a lovely blonde color. This spoon's unique shape makes it more useful, too: The slight corners help work into the edges of pans better than a perfectly round bowl. We didn't love the triangular profile of the handle, though, which we found less comfortable to hold than circular ones. The wood also started to develop a rough texture after a few washes, which can be a sign of low durability. Material: Beech | Dimensions: 13 x 3.25 inches | Weight: 2.1 ounces Best Set Tovolo 6 Piece Olivewood Utensil Set PHOTO: Amazon $50 $39 at Amazon $100 at Macy's Pros This lovely rustic set gives you a full assortment of matching stirring, spreading, flipping, and serving tools. Cons If you only need one new spoon, you probably don't want to pay for six items. Another rustic olive wood pick, this Tovolo package is a great way to get a full matching set of stovetop and tableside tools. The angled turner is thin enough to slide under delicate fried eggs or omelets, while the standard and slotted spoons can stir and toss anything you like, and strain pieces of meat or veggies out of oil or cooking liquid. On top of that, there are two sizes of "spoonula," a tool that combines a scraper edge and scooping bowl, and a spreader perfect for applying cream cheese to a bagel or jam to a slice of toast. It's the priciest item on our list, but this set is a good value when considering it works out to less than $10 per piece. But that's assuming you need all six pieces and aren't looking to replace only a single spoon. The wood's surface was also rougher than some of the top finishers. Material: Olive | Includes: Angled turner, slotted spoon, mixing spoon, spreader, spoonula, mini spoonula Best Bamboo KitchenAid Universal Bamboo Basting Spoon PHOTO: Amazon $6 $3 at Amazon $3 at Target $15 at Wayfair Pros This versatile tool is inexpensive, versatile, and made from a sustainable wood. Cons The surface feels rough, and the material may not last as long as other types. Bamboo is popular as a sustainable material because the plant (technically a grass, not a tree) is strong, flexible, lightweight, and quick-growing. KitchenAid's bamboo spoon maintains a classic look, with a thin lip ideal for scraping pan bottoms and scooping beneath foods. It's got a nice-sized bowl and is extremely cheap — the least pricey of all the spoons in our testing. The downside with bamboo is that it tends to dry out easily, causing cracks and roughening. The surface of this spoon wasn't smooth to start with, and it'll deteriorate under long-term heavy use. But when it does break, you can buy a replacement for a few bucks and still have spent less than you would on one of the fancier spoons on this list. Material: Bamboo | Dimensions: 13 x 2.75 inches | Weight: 2.1 ounces Best Dishwasher-Safe Epicurean Chef Series Large Spoon PHOTO: Amazon $19 at Amazon View on Epicureanusa.com Pros This spoon's unique composite material is nearly indestructible and easy to clean. Cons The handle is rather uncomfortable, and the bowl doesn't scoop well. Wooden spoons aren't usually dishwasher-safe; porous wood fibers absorb hot water and expand, and then can crack or warp when they cool and contract. But Epicurean Chef's spoon is an exception, thanks to its unique material. Richlite is a paper-based composite that's completely non-porous but has the same texture and softness as natural wood. Although this spoon is lightweight, it proved practically indestructible in testing. What we didn't love about the Epicurean Chef spoon is its shape. The handle has square corners that aren't comfortable to hold in the hand, and the oval head has a shallow bowl that's not great for scooping or scraping. But if you're a dishwasher owner who despises sink scrubbing, it could be the right choice. Material: Richlite | Dimensions: 13.5 x 2.75 inches | Weight: 0.8 ounces Our Favorite Wooden Spoon In every test we ran, the Sabatier All-Purpose Spoon proved its all-purpose-ness. This spoon does it all with finesse and efficiency, it's comfortable to hold, and it boasts the distinctive look of olive wood. It's earned a spot in the hands of any level cook. For a budget alternative, the FAAY Teak Cooking Spoon gets you impressive durability at an inexpensive price. How We Tested Wooden Spoons Food & Wine / Elizabeth Theriot We tested 13 wooden spoons in our kitchens by putting each one through an identical set of exercises to measure their usability and durability. Sausage Test: We cooked sausage in a skillet, using each spoon to break up the links (like you would when making sausage pasta). We rated how easily the spoons mashed the meat into pieces and scraped all the bits off the bottom and corners of the pan. We spooned the finished sausage into a bowl to evaluate scooping prowess and then hand-washed the spoons and noted whether they held on to any grease or smells. Oatmeal Test: We prepared a batch of basic oatmeal, letting the ingredients cook undisturbed for 10 minutes so some stuck to the bottom and sides of the pan. We then used the spoons to scrape up the stuck oatmeal and stir it back into the mixture, evaluating how well they reached the crevices of the pan. After cooking, we let the oatmeal residue dry on the spoons and tested how easy it was to remove while washing. Durability Tests: We simulated wear and tear and tested the spoons' strength in several ways. First, we placed the ends of the spoons against the counter and pressed on different parts of the handle to see if the spoons flexed or had any weak points. We smacked the spoon head against the counter 20 times to look for dents or other damage. Next, we submerged the spoons in hot water for 10 minutes and looked for damage and wear. (Do not do this! It's bad for wooden tools of any kind.) Finally, we looked for any roughening of texture and other signs of deterioration after each time washing the spoons. After completing all of our performance tests, we revealed the retail prices of the spoons to consider value. At the time of testing, the spoons ranged in price from $6 to $42, with an average of $21. Food & Wine / Danielle St. Pierre Factors to Consider Material Yes, every wooden spoon is made of wood. But there are hundreds of different types of wood, some of which make better spoons than others. The ideal spoon wood is durable but slightly flexible, and at least somewhat water-resistant. Neither soft wood like pine nor extra-hard wood like oak is common in spoons; they mostly use types in the middle. Beyond that, it's a matter of looks: Different woods have different colors and grain patterns. Shape The head of the spoon is its business end, and its shape determines how well the tool functions. Generally, the more rounded the head is, the better it is for stirring. However, a spoon with an angled or flat edge is better able to get into corners and scrape the bottom of a pan to fully incorporate ingredients. A thinner, flatter spoon can also work as a spatula, sliding beneath foods to loosen and flip them. A spoon with a deep bowl works well for serving, but it can be more awkward for stirring and scraping. The shape of the handle is important, too. It should fit in your palm and fingers comfortably, with no awkward twisting motion needed. In testing, we found round handles much nicer to hold than ones with corners. If you're a lefty, you should pay special attention to spoon shape: A tool with an angled head and a bowl designed for a righty will be upside-down in the left hand. Some brands do sell special southpaw versions of their spoons, which are simply angled the opposite way. Cleaning Very few wooden spoons are dishwasher-safe. Wood will absorb the high-pressure steam inside the machine, which weakens it and causes it to warp and roughen over time. You'll have to hand-wash your wooden spoons, and a smoother surface is easier to scrub. Rough texture will hold on to food bits, and can also be an indication that your spoon has started to deteriorate. The ideal wooden spoon will stay smooth through multiple rounds of washing. (The Epicurean Chef spoon above is dishwasher-safe because its composite of wood fibers and resin is completely non-porous, unlike solid wood.) Frequently Asked Questions What kind of tasks are wooden spoons best for? “I prefer to use wooden and bamboo spoons for dishes that need a good deal of stirring: thicker sauces, risotto, caramelizing onions, etc.,” says seafood-focused chef Michael Andrzejewski, a former contestant on Food Network's Chopped. “They are more friendly to non-stick and Teflon pans; I always have a nice result when using one to make a French omelet.” Which material is better for a spoon: wood or bamboo? “I think it’s a matter of preference," Andrzejewski says. "Bamboo comes in a wider variety of shapes and sizes and is certainly more affordable than a good wooden utensil. I feel that wood has the benefit of a better feel in your hand; if you cook a lot, that’s very important. Regarding the environmental differences, there are arguments to be made for or against either type of spoon. Sustainability is an issue, but the transportation and processing of bamboo are also environmentally demanding.” How do you care for wooden spoons? The key to maintaining wooden kitchen tools of any kind is to keep them away from excessive moisture. If wood sits in a simmering pot, soaks in a sink, or goes in the dishwasher, it will absorb water and swell up. When it dries again, the wood shrinks, causing warping, cracks, or weak spots. You should always hand-wash unfinished wood implements, and it's a good idea to dry them thoroughly before you put them away. To make a wooden spoon last absolutely as long as possible, you can periodically rub it with food-safe mineral oil, just like you would oil a wooden cutting board. Other Wooden Spoons We Tested Strong Contenders OXO Good Grips Corner Spoon ($16 at Amazon) While the flat-headed design of this spoon made it ideal for breaking up ingredients like sausage and scraping fond off the bottom of a pan, its 3.4-ounce weight made it clunky and awkward to use. Earlywood Long Server ($44 at Earlywood) We love how large the head of this spoon is, which made both stirring and serving a breeze. However, the wood wasn’t as durable as we would’ve liked, especially given how high the price is. OXO Good Grips Large Wooden Spoon ($7 at Amazon) As with the OXO Good Grips Corner Spoon, we liked the shape of this spoon. But it's even heavier, just too weighty to use efficiently. What Didn't Make the List The spoons that were out bottom performers prioritize looks over functionality. The Earlywood Large Flat Saute is a striking minimalist tool that can theoretically work as spoon, spatula, or half of a pair of tongs, and we love the look. The odd shape was just too difficult to use for most of the spoon tasks we tested. Material's The Wood Spoon has a more traditional angled-spoon design to reach into corners, and the brand says it'll work equally well for left- and right-handed people. But the bowl was so shallow as to be pretty useless, and this is a quite expensive tool. Our Expertise This article was written by Christa Glennie. Based in Buffalo, New York, Glennie has been a writer and food editor for nearly 20 years. She is also the author of two cookbooks and specializes in food and drink trends, agriculture, the regional foodways of Western New York, and the restaurant business. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit