The Best Grill Gloves in 2023 — Heat-Resistant, Safe and Ideal for BBQ

I can’t stand the idea of honing my craft over a hot grill without being able to maneuver with grace. Ok, maybe my grilling technique isn’t that delicate, but I need to be able to move quickly and press the buttons on thermometer as easily as I move the skewers around.

This pair of BBQ gloves fit me better than any others. They are thicker than my golf glove, that’s for sure. However, they still feel like regular gloves.

You can move your fingers well, grasp even the smallest objects and maintain the dexterity that you have when you’re bare-handed.

Made of soft cotton, the lining of the glove is comfortable against your skin. The more you use them, the better they seem to fit.

These are knitted from a combination of Kevlar and Nomex. It feels like fabric but has superior heat resistance.

The silicone strips that cross the gloves help provide a non-slip surface when you’re picking things up off the grill. They have the added benefit of helping you grip things like hard-to-open jar lids too.

These are great for removing cast iron pans or Dutch ovens from hot ovens or grills. They can handle the heat from hot metal for a good period of time. They’re also great for moving things around the grill without fiddling with tongs.

I also use them to shift the coals around, and to maneuver burning logs in my fire pit. They’re flame resistant but not fireproof, but they are very good for their intended use.

Downsides are that with a tight grip on a 650-degree baking stone, you’d feel the heat within less than 20 seconds.

And being made of fabric, if these gloves become wet from handling food, they won’t maintain as much of their heat resistance as the hot liquid soaks in and gets close to your skin.

So I wouldn’t recommend these for touching hot meat directly. You have to be careful when dealing with liquids.

But having said that, I don’t want gloves touching my meat that have been used to move around charcoal and burning wood anyway!

The Grill Aid gloves are a useful tool if you’re dealing with regular grills, smokers or ovens. I won these gloves, they are the ones I use all the time and I love them.

However, if you’re working with steam or hot and wet items regularly, you might need a more protective glove.

When it comes to my choice of the best smoker accessories, I like to have flexibility. If I’m working with a smoker or hot oil, I need something more protective than fabric.

Plus, it’s nice to keep a pair of gloves inside near the oven as well as outside by the grill. Having grilling gloves made out of different materials can be useful.

The problem with many waterproof BBQ gloves is that they’re too rigid. It’s hard to handle grilling tools when your hand is encased in what feels like thick plastic.

This pair from Artisan Griller are made of neoprene on the outside. The neoprene outer layer is more flexible than silicone gloves or rubber. It allows you to move and flex your fingers freely.

Don’t you hate it when your hand sweats inside your grilling gloves? The heat from the fire combined with the glove material can make you feel uncomfortable. The inside this glove is made from soft, breathable cotton. The liner helps prevent your hand from sweating and sliding around inside the glove.

It also slides on and off easily. That’s important when you’re cooking several items on the grill. If there’s a flare-up, or you realize the steak was supposed to come off a few minutes ago, you need quick accessibility. These gloves make that happen.

Even if the outside of the gloves are greasy, they slide off of your hand easily. The textured palm gives them good grip on foods, pots and pans.

Would I use these to move flaming charcoal or a cast-iron grill grate? The manufacturer claims that these can withstand 500 degrees before melting or burning. I wouldn’t use them to move wood or charcoal that’s on fire. I might try to move a grill grate only if I knew that I would be handling the hot item for a mere second.

One of the downsides to this product is that they aren’t machine washable. However, you can get any grease and charcoal stains off of the exterior by washing them with water and dish soap.

It would be difficult to wash the inside without creating a moisture problem inside the glove. Therefore, you should probably handle the gloves only with clean hands.

The Artisan Griller gloves protect your hands from dry heat, oil and steam to a temperature of between 400 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Even though grilling isn’t a fashion show, it’s a bonus if I can look good while doing it. Steven Raichlen suede grilling gloves are a little more stylish than the other options. The two-toned suede is mostly black with brown on the palms and insides of the fingers.

Suede feels more like the kind of gloves that you would wear for everyday use. It hugs your fingers and allows you to grasp things easily. You have better control when you’re working with your grill tools if you can feel them through the material. (Note: Click here to check out our guide to the best grill tools.)

Of course, you don’t want to feel the heat. These provide heat resistance up to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. They are designed for working over a hot surface.

The cuffs of these even extend almost to the elbow. They’re wide, so air can get in and circulate around your arms. That helps keep you cool while you’re working over a grill.

They’re not recommended for prolonged contact with hot metal. Therefore, I’d be careful when using them to move grill grates and handle cast iron. I would not suggest using them to move flaming logs or coals.

If you’re touching a hot surface, the heat starts to come through fairly quickly. Therefore, you don’t have much time before you have to drop the scorching item.

One of my biggest gripes about these gloves is that they can’t be washed in a machine. Because leather is porous, it can easily absorb grease from foods. There’s not much you can do to remove oil other than wiping them with a damp cloth.

For that reason, I would probably avoid handling food with these. It’s a good thing that it’s easy to grab my tongs and spatula with them.

These gloves work well for protecting you against radiant heat and looking good while doing it, but you’ll need extra protection if you’re using them as oven mitts.

I prefer feeling like I don’t have robot arms when I’m grilling. The Weber heat-resistant BBQ gloves feel like a pair that you’d wear in the winter. They’re a little thick, but you can move all of your fingers and maintain your dexterity.

The snug wrist cuff keeps these from falling off, but you can easily tug them off if you need to. One drawback is that the tight cuff feels a little bulky if you’re already wearing a jacket or thick sweater. It also retains heat, which can give you a sweaty wrist.

Still, the elastic snaps over the sleeve of your clothing. The cuffs reach several inches up your forearms, giving you added protection there. They don’t extend all the way to your elbows, though.

These are so pliable that they’ll even stuff into your pocket in a pinch. This is an added benefit when you’re timing hot foods and don’t want to deal with finding a place to set the gloves down.

The palm side of the gloves contains a silicone pattern for added grip. This can help you hold onto slick handles or metal grill utensils.

Because the pattern is only on one side, you can’t just pick up whichever glove is available and slip it onto either hand. Looking for the correct glove can delay your grilling by a few seconds.

If these become even a little damp, they won’t protect your hands as well from the heat. That makes them better for use around dry heat. Moving a full pot of hot soup might pose a burn risk if the liquid splashes onto the glove.

If you run into an emergency situation like this, you can pull the stretch gloves off easily as long as they don’t snag on your watch.

The Weber grill gloves feel like something you might wear on a regular basis. They’re comfortable for grilling, but they can’t handle too much heat.

I like to have my gloves accessible. I always keep a pair with my camping gear, and it’s great to have a backup in case my favorite pair gets wet or ruined. These lined leather welding gloves are inexpensive and designed to handle high heat.

If it’s important to be able to touch hot metal directly, you might find these especially valuable. They’re made to handle molten metal. This means they will protect your hands while you lift a cast-iron grate off the grill.

They also double as pot holders to be used for moving your hot pans, vegetable or fish grill basket around.

Even though these are so affordable, it’s nice to know that they’re durable. They are reinforced in the areas that experience the most friction, so they’re not likely to pop a hole anytime soon.

These might be the only gloves that I would use to touch burning logs. You can rearrange wood on a campfire or in a stove without risking burns. However, leather is still a natural material, and it can catch fire. I would suggest being extremely careful when exposing these to open flame.

The leather will absorb liquids and grease from foods. However, you can toss the gloves in the washing machine after each use. This is another area where the price is attractive. If you find that the heat resistance is reduced over years of washing and drying, it won’t hurt your wallet too much to buy a new pair.

These budget-friendly welding gloves may be the pair that I trust the most for handling hot logs and grill grates.