The Best Barbecue Basting Brushes

We love our favorite pastry brushes and silicone brushes for everyday tasks such as brushing oil, sauces, or glazes onto food. But when we’re cooking on the grill, we need a brush that’s a little bigger and longer in order to keep our hands from getting too close to the heat of the coals or flames as we apply sauces to food. That’s where barbecue basting brushes are useful. These brushes typically measure 8 to 16 inches long, giving you a little more distance from the heat. Most have heads with silicone bristles, which can be used at high temperatures without melting or shedding. They’re also easy to clean, as they can be thrown in the dishwasher—a big plus when you’re brushing sauce on raw meat or poultry and want to be sure that you get rid of any bacteria on the brush afterward. The one thing to keep in mind when using these tools? While the bristles are heat-resistant, the handles—often made from plastic—are not. So don’t leave them resting on the grill, or they might melt.

• Broad Heads with Lots of Fairly Long, Moderately Flexible Bristles: For the most part, the broader the brush’s head, the more bristles it had. And the more bristles a brush had, the better its capacity to retain and distribute sauce and oil. Our top choice has 106 bristles and picked up an average of 1.1 ounces of sauce—almost twice as much as the next-best model. We also liked bristles that were long, measuring at least 1.5 inches, and fairly flexible, as these covered more food more quickly and were a touch better at applying sauce to nooks and crannies than shorter, more rigid or floppy bristles.

• Moderately Long Handle: We preferred brushes that put our hands about 12 to 14 inches away from the food we were brushing with glaze or oil. These kept us out of the heat and still allowed us to control the brushes easily and precisely.

• Textured Handle: We also liked handles that were made from textured materials that made them easy to grip, especially when wet. Rubbery plastic or silicone were ideal, though we had to take care not to put them on any hot surfaces to prevent them from melting. Wood handles were acceptable too.

• Light Weight: We preferred brushes that were fairly lightweight, weighing between 2 and 6 ounces, as these were easier to wield for longer basting stints.

• Sparse, Overly Short, or Floppy Bristles: Generally, the fewer bristles a brush had, the less sauce it picked up, requiring more passes to completely cover a batch of chicken or a rack of ribs. Short bristles applied sauce to nooks and crannies less precisely, and floppy bristles were hard to control.

• Short Handles: The shorter the handle was, the closer it put our hands to the hot coals or flames—and the smaller the advantage the brush gave us over an everyday silicone brush.

• Metal Handles: Handles made from metal were durable and didn’t melt when accidentally left on the grill. But their metal usually made the brushes heavier; this and their slickness made them harder to hold. Metal handles also conducted heat from the grill, making them uncomfortable to use and even putting our hands at risk of burns.

• Heavy Weight: Brushes weighing over 6 ounces were heavy and more of a burden to lift and maneuver, especially for longer periods.