Silicone sponges, potholders, spatulas, baking pan liners, muffin pan liners,
food storage bags, cooking utensil rests, chocolate chip molds, ice pop molds
and other silicone molds have become some of my favorite and most-often-used
items in my kitchen.
Although I love cooking and baking, I don’t enjoy washing dishes, so I
appreciate being able to toss my silicone kitchen tools into the dishwasher.
It’s often just as easy to hand wash them with just a soapy sponge, since even
sticky foods wash off easily.
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Read on for my reviews of the best silicone kitchen tools and
accessories!
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Silicone Potholders
My hands are very sensitive to hot and cold temperatures, so I've gone
through a lot of potholders over the years. The first silicone potholders I
tried were the OrkaPlus cotton-lined silicone mitts by Mastrad. These long
mitts were like barbecue mitts, providing great coverage that protected my
fingers, hands, wrists and the lower half of my forearms. This appealed to
me a lot, since I'm prone to burning myself in the kitchen! They also came
highly recommended by a respected cooking magazine and had great reviews.
Unfortunately, I found them very clumsy and had a hard time getting a good
grip on the edges of cookie sheets without smooshing the big silicone thumb
part into the cookies (or whatever else was in the pan I was trying to
remove from the oven). Next, I tried a pair of small, ribbed silicone pinch
mitts, also called mini oven mitts, that just covered my fingers, thumbs and
palms. But I found them very awkward to use.
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These ribbed silicone potholders protect your hands without
getting in the way
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Finally, I bought two
Architec Silicone HotGrip ribbed silicone potholders
that turned out to be the perfect solution. I use them every day, throw
them into the dishwasher every evening and they still look like new.
They're thick, large enough to protect my hands and grip well, thanks to
the ribbed texture. Mine are red, since at the time the pretty teal blue
color wasn't available. I can't imagine them wearing out, but if they ever
do, I'll definitely be buying the blue ones!
Silicone Spatulas
I frequently use nonstick cookware and bakeware and silicone spatulas help
protect the nonstick coating. I’ve added to my silicone spatula collection
over time because I use them for so many things.
The first ones I bought (many years ago) had silicone heads attached to
handles of a different material (wood, metal or plastic). I soon realized
I’d be better off with a seamless, one-piece design. This eliminates the
possibility of the business end of the spatula becoming detached from the
handle (something that happened to me several times with two-piece
designs) and eliminates seams and crevices that can trap food and breed
bacteria.
Two years ago, I purchased
4-piece silicone spatula set
made by UpGood. I was unfamiliar with the brand but bought it because I
liked the shapes and sizes in the set, the reviews were great and the
price made them an excellent value. The set includes a long, slim spatula
for scraping out jars, a curved spoon spatula and both long and short
traditional scraper spatulas with one curved edge and one straight edge,
These are very nice quality and they're still going strong in my kitchen a
couple of years later, And the charcoal gray color is a neutral that won't
clash with your kitchen's color scheme. Here's a photo of the
spoon/spatula (AKA "spoonula") from the set.
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One of the spoonulas in my growing collection!
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I find myself using the spoon/spatula shape the most for cooking and
baking. Since I rarely have only one pot or pan going on the stove when
I cook, I decided to get a couple more in that shape. I was delighted to
find one in a pretty aqua/teal, my favorite color, so I ordered the
GIR (Get It Right) 11-inch Premium Silicone Ultimate Spoonula in
Teal. This high quality, seamless spoon spatula is made of pharmaceutical
grade platinum-cured silicone that's heat resistant up to 550 °F. It
also has a sturdy fiberglass core that doesn't heat up like the more
common iron or stainless steel spatula cores. It's still one of my
favorite cooking utensils - I just love the color and using it makes me
happy. (It's the little things, right?) It also comes in Red, Orange or
Gray.
I use an
iSi Slim Silicone Spatula
to scrape out my very tall Vitamix blender. It works extremely well for
this purpose and I am very pleased with it.
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This iSi slim silicone spatula is perfect for scraping the
bottom of my Vitamix blender
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Note: Any silicone spatula that is used to scrape out the contents of
a blender will eventually get cuts or nicks from the sharp blades, at
which point it should be replaced for sanitary reasons.
Silicone Baking Pan Liners
I've been baking for decades and, as any experienced baker will likely
tell you, silicone baking mats are a baking staple. When I was
younger, I used baking parchment much more often than I do now. But
the older I get, the more concerned I become about the pervasiveness
of wasteful habits that wreak havoc on the environment. So,
increasingly, I've been trying to switch from disposable to reusable
items.
For many years, I've used Silpat baking mats to line my cookie sheets.
This French brand is so closely associated with this type of silicone
bakeware liner that it's most often used as a generic term for them.
But when I lost the use of my full-size double oven, I needed to get
some smaller ones that would fit the smaller rimmed baking sheets for
my tabletop oven.
I had been planning to buy the iconic Silpat brand again, but the name
commands a premium and my income is not what it was when I worked in
the corporate world. So, when I looked at a pair of silicone baking
mats from an unfamiliar brand that had both great reviews and a great
price, I took a chance.
Both my husband and I have been using these
Quarter Sheet Silicone Baking Mats by WildCow
several times a week. They're great for baking, of course, but we also
use them to line our tabletop toaster oven rimmed baking sheets before
inserting a rack to oven-bake regular or turkey bacon. We much prefer
this method to pan frying, since there's no splatter, no turning and
no watchful eye needed. These 11 3/4” x 8 1/4" nonstick cooking and
baking mats fit inside the 12" x 10" rimmed baking sheets we use in
our tabletop toaster oven (although I may trim the tips of the corners
on a diagonal at some point). Despite the excellent price, they're
thick and sturdy and have held up great. I can hand wash them quickly
in hot, soapy water or just toss
them into the dishwasher. (I can't figure out why the mat looks
stained in this photo, since it isn't in real life!)
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This inexpensive silicone baking mat works as well as my
expensive Silpat mats
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Be aware that these are heat resistant up to 400 °F, so don't use
them for something that requires higher heat, such as browning the
top of something under the broiler.
If you're using regular 18" x 13" pans — known in professional
kitchens as half size pans — I recommend getting the
AmazonBasics Silicone Baking Mat Sheet, Set of 2 in the Standard
size. AmazonBasics is one of Amazon's popular private-label "house
brands".These silicone baking mats measure 11.6" x 16.5" and can
also be used with 11" x 17" baking sheets (although they'll overhang
two of the sides slightly). These mats currently have an average
customer rating of 4.7 stars based on more than 4,300 customer
ratings, are heat-resistant up to 480 °F and are also very well
priced.
Silicone Mini Prep Bowls / Pinch Bowls
I've had a set of medium-sized stainless steel prep bowls for years
that I still use. But when I set out and prepare all the ingredients
before starting to cook or bake (an activity known in the chef /
foodie / Food Network world as mise-en-place), it's also nice
to be able to prep and measure out small amounts of ingredients,
such as seasonings or garnishes.
My
Norpro set of 4 silicone mini pinch bowls
are perfect for that purpose. The four colorful bowls in the set are
bright red, blue, yellow and green, respectively. These cuties are
just 2.5" in diameter and 1.5" tall, so they take up practically no
counter space, which is a big advantage if you're prepping a lot of
ingredients. In the photo, you can see how tiny they are next to a
1-cup measuring cup.
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These tiny, colorful silicone pinch bowls are perfect for
small amounts of ingredients
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The nonstick silicone means I can measure and set out even sticky
ingredients, like a couple of tablespoons of molasses or honey,
and easily scrape them into a pot, pan or mixing bowl. These bowls
are also microwave safe and heat resistant to 500 °F, so I can
melt small amounts of butter or coconut oil in them. And because
they're flexible, it's easy to pinch the sides of these flexible
prep bowls (hence the name "pinch bowls") to control and direct
the ingredients as I'm pouring them into my pot or bowl or
drizzling melted butter or chocolate or a sauce over a dish.
When I'm through with whatever ingredients I used them for, I just
toss these brightly colored mini pinch bowls into the
dishwasher.
Reusable Silicone Baking Liners / Baking Cups
I often bake in cupcake or muffin tins, and even more so now that
I’ve switched to eating low carb. I love baking batches of low
carb, high-protein, sugar-free chocolate muffins made with almond
flour or low carb mini cheesecakes that I can keep in the freezer.
Baking a recipe in muffin tins rather than full size cake pans
helps me with portion control, since I can just grab one serving
and defrost it.
While I could just grease the wells of my muffin tins for my
protein muffins, that won’t work for recipes like the mini
cheesecakes, since they're too soft to turn out onto a rack after
they come out of the oven (and since if I chilled them first to
firm them up, they wouldn't release easily from the greased muffin
tin).
I stopped buying disposable, single-use paper cupcake liners a few
years ago, so I decided to look for some reusable silicone baking
cups. Also, since our wall oven died a year or two ago*, we’re
using a tabletop oven that isn’t wide enough to fit a full-size,
12-cup cupcake or muffin pan. So, I wanted silicone baking cups
that were sturdy enough to be used on a baking sheet, without the
support of a muffin pan so I could bake a dozen muffins (or mini
cheesecakes) at a time in my small tabletop oven. And, of course,
they could also be used as cupcake liners for my 6-cup muffin
pans, which do fit my tabletop oven.
After considerable research, I chose
Pantry Elements Silicone Cupcake Baking Cups & Liners. They’re made from high-quality, 100% food-grade silicone with
no fillers, as demonstrated by the fact that they pass the “pinch
test” perfectly. (According to numerous sources, if you pinch or
bend and twist a flat area on a colored silicone food preparation
product and the color appears white in that stretched area, it can
indicate the presence of fillers vs. 100% silicone.)
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These reusable baking cups work so much better than
paper cupcake liners!
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They are also thick and sturdy enough to hold their shape after
being filled with thick muffin batter. However, if you use them
as stand-alone baking cups rather than as cupcake liners inside
a muffin tin, place them on the baking sheet before you fill
them with batter. Because they are flexible, moving them to the
baking sheet after filling them with batter can be messy. (Ask
me how I know, lol!)
Cleanup is easy. Sometimes I let them soak in warm, soapy water
for a bit and wash them by hand with my silicone sponge, but
they’re also dishwasher-safe. And they come in a rainbow of
bright, pretty colors, which adds a nice, cheery pop of color to
my kitchen.
Best of all, unlike paper cupcake liners, they release cleanly,
so I don't end up losing the outer layer of crumbs to the trash.
Just look at those sharp, crisp ridges on that muffin!
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See how few crumbs stick to these cupcake liners?
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I bake with these silicone cups every week and they still look
and act brand new. You get 24 liners for around 50 cents each in
a convenient, see-through, lidded storage tube. I can’t imagine
ever having to replace them.
*In case you're wondering, our defunct double wall oven, which
is original to this 1950s house, is too old to be repaired,
according to several appliance technicians who have looked at
it. Unfortunately, we also can't replace it because it’s
surrounded by built-in cabinetry that runs the entire length of
the wall and contemporary ovens don’t fit the opening. Believe
me, we've tried!
Reusable Silicone Food Storage Bags
Since I switched to a low-carb diet, I’ve been baking
grain-free, sugar-free rolls, bread, muffins and brownies to
make it easier for this former carbohydrate lover to stay on
track. To make this process less time-consuming, I’ve started
measuring the dry ingredients for multiple batches and storing
them in freezer bags. Now, I can just pull out a bag of my
“baking mix” for that recipe, let it come to room temperature,
add the wet ingredients and put the batter in the oven. Easy
peasy!
Since I am trying to reduce my use of plastic wrap and food
storage bags that end up in landfills. So, rather than using
disposable plastic freezer bags for this purpose, I decided to
get some
reusable food grade silicone food storage bags. The ones I chose originally had bottoms that let them stand up on the
counter, which makes them easier to fill. The sliding closure is
a bit stiff at first, by design, but loosens up just enough
after the first few uses so they’re easier to slide but still
airtight. They can also be used in the microwave and for
sous-vide cooking and they’re dishwasher-safe for easy clean-up.
The one in the photo holds the remaining 1/4 of a psyllium bun
from my last batch — time to get baking!
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These reusable silicone food storage bags keep
disposable plastic bags out of landfills
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I have since upgraded to Stasher reusable silicone food storage bags. They're more costly, but they're definitely a worthwhile investment. The seal is airtight so you can even use these for sous-vide cooking, and the best part is that they seal and unseal so easily, they practically do it by themselves. I love them!
Silicone Cooking Utensil Rest
For many years, we’ve kept a marble spoon rest next to the
stove. I bought it because I thought it was pretty. However,
pretty is as pretty does, and this kitchen gadget has been a
thorn in my side for a long time! Marble is absorbent, so the
surface frequently stained when I was cooking a tomato-based
sauce or dish. Also, I rarely use just one utensil when cooking.
So, even though the marble spoon rest was fairly wide, it wasn’t
big enough to accommodate multiple cooking utensils.
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This easy-to-clean utensil rest holds up to 4 cooking
utensils
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I finally got rid of it and replaced it with a
multi-slot silicone utensil rest. It’s certainly not the prettiest thing in our kitchen and the
only color choices are a medium grey or a bright yellow-green,
but both my husband and I love it. The four slots are wide
enough to accommodate the handles of any of our cooking
utensils, but also narrow enough so that the business ends of
the utensils are held at an angle, so four utensils can fit
without resting on top of each other. That also allows the base
to be narrower than it would need to be if the “heads” of the
cooking utensils were lying flat. In addition, there’s a small
lip or rim around the edge of the base, so if there’s a bit of
liquid that drips off a utensil, it doesn’t spill over onto the
stove or countertop. The only cooking utensil we have that it
isn’t large enough for is our enormous slotted spatula, which is
nearly 5” wide!
Best of all, because it’s made of silicone, it’s
stain-resistant, non-stick, heat-resistant up to 450 °F and
dishwasher safe.
Silicone Chocolate Chip Molds
Most commercially available chocolate chips aren’t as high
quality as those same brands offer in bars or chunks. In fact,
many of the best quality chocolate manufacturers don’t make
chocolate chips at all. So, if you’re a true chocolate lover
like I am, whenever you use chocolate chips in a recipe, you’re
usually settling for second (or third) best.
In addition, as I’ve matured, my taste buds have evolved. Now I
prefer really dark chocolate, which has the added benefit of
being heart-healthy in modest amounts. Unfortunately, it’s hard
to find high-quality, very dark chocolate chips. The so-called
dark chocolate chips in the grocery store are 60% cacao; but
for heart health benefits, dark chocolate should be labeled
70% cacao or higher according to the world-renowned Cleveland
Clinic.
If you want sugar-free chocolate chips, it’s even more of a
challenge. The darkest I’ve found are Lily’s stevia sweetened
chocolate chips which, while delicious, contain only 55% cacao –
much too low to improve heart health.
Whether you prefer traditional or sugar-free chocolate, the
lower the percentage of cacao, the higher percentage of other
ingredients, which increases the number of net carbs per
serving.
Sure, you can chop up a sugar-free dark chocolate bar instead,
if you’re using them in a recipe. But sometimes you really want
real chocolate chips!
So, I was delighted to find these
silicone chocolate chip molds, which allow me to make my own healthy, sugar-free, dark
chocolate chips that look as though they came right out of a bag
from the store.
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These adorable chocolate chip molds let you make
better quality chips for less!
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If I’m feeling lazy, I can just melt a sugar-free dark chocolate
bar, smooth it into the molds, let the chocolate harden (or
chill the molds for a bit during the hot summer months), then
invert and twist the molds to release the chips. I store them in
one of my silicone food storage bags until I’m ready to use them
in recipes (or eat them just the way they are). The molds come
in a set of three. I've shown two facing up and one facing down
so you can see the shape of the chocolate chips it makes.
If I have a bit more time, however, I make my own sugar-free,
melted dark chocolate from scratch and use that in the molds.
Homemade chocolate chips are also less expensive for the quality
you get. Either way, I can get sugar-free dark chocolate chips
with a much higher percentage of cacao than I can buy
commercially.
Silicone Ice Pop Molds
Who doesn't love to cool off with a sweet, refreshing ice pop
during the dog days of summer? Many years ago I stopped buying
them and started making my own at home. My homemade ice pops are
healthier, more nutritious and much cheaper than what I can buy
at the store. More importantly (to me), I have complete control
over the choice and quality of the ingredients. I use organic
produce, dairy, coconut milk and other ingredients as much as
possible. No food coloring in my food, thank you! Now that I'm
eating low carb, I've also cut out not only processed sugars but
also organic honey, maple syrup, date syrup and other natural
sweeteners. So, pretty much the only way to ensure that the ice
pops I eat meet my strict criteria for food quality and
nutrition is to make them myself.
One of the low carb ice pop recipes I've really been enjoying is
called Creamy Keto Fudgesicles. Personally, I think they taste
much richer and creamier than their namesake, more like a
chocolate pudding pop. They're made by blending ripe avocado,
unsweetened cocoa powder, full fat coconut milk, erythritol,
vanilla and a little sea salt, pouring them into frozen treat
molds and freezing them. The first time I made the recipe, I
discovered that the pudding-like mixture was too thick to go
through the silicone funnel that came with my Lebice Popsicle
Molds (which are very nice unless you're trying to make a frozen
treat such as pudding pops or cheesecake pops that involve a
very thick mixture). When I tried spooning the mixture into the
molds with a teaspoon, even though I was extremely slow and
careful I was unable to prevent some of the mixture from getting
on the lip and exterior of the ice pop molds.
Since I knew I'd be making this recipe often, especially during
the summer, I decided to look for a set of molds with wider
openings. I wanted these new molds to have not only wider
openings but also reusable lids and sticks. Ideally, they would
be dishwasher safe. They would need to be made of BPA-free,
FDA-approved food-grade materials and release the frozen ice
pops without a struggle.
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These brightly colored ice pop molds make nice, big
popsicles
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The pudding pop recipe makes 6-8 pops, depending on the size of
the molds, so I decided to buy a
Silicone Popsicle Molds Set with two molds that can make up to 8 ice pops. One of the
molds is a deep, bright pink (which the manufacturer calls "rose
red" for some reason) and the other is a bright lime green. The
set comes with integrated one-piece lids/sticks, two each in
pink, lime green, orange and aqua-turquoise. (Kids probably
would love getting to choose their favorite color.) And each
well holds a generous 3.38 ounces.
Believe it or not, I've got even more silicone kitchen tools,
and I'm sure there will be more in my future! If you have some
favorites, I'd love to hear about them.
Silicone Kitchen Tools and Accessories for Cooking and
Baking Enthusiasts reviewed by
Margaret Schindel
For more product reviews, visit ReviewThisProducts.com.
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