We Tested 7 Squeeze Bottles to Find the Three Best for Cooking, Sauces, and More

Squeeze bottles are indispensable in restaurant kitchens—and they should be in your home, too. Rather than unscrewing a cap on, say, oil and glugging it into your pan, a squeeze bottle offers more precision in terms of quantity and directing that stream of oil, allowing you to coat the surface and/or sides with ease (a squeeze bottle is one of our must-have wok accessories for this reason). It’s also good for storing and serving homemade sauces and, heck, you can even use it to hold dish soap. 

Given their versatility and overall utility, it’s not surprising that chefs we spoke to have squeeze bottles of all volumes, from nearly dropper-sized to 32-ounce behemoths. To find the best squeeze bottles, we tested seven popular, 12-ounce models (a reasonable size for most home cooks).

The Tests

• Water Test: To test the squeeze bottles’ ability to direct and squirt a thin liquid, we filled a squeeze bottle with water and squirted two ounces into a measuring cup, noting if the stream was fast and furious, dribbly and slow, or just right. 
• Leakage Test: We shook the bottle filled with water up and down and noted if there was any leaking. 
• Oil Test: To test how the bottle handles a more viscous liquid, we filled each with 1.25 cups of oil mixed with 1.5 teaspoons of turmeric. We squirted two ounces into a measuring cup, noting if it produced an even stream, if it dribbled, etc. 
• Staining Test: We left the remainder of the oil in the bottles for four hours, then emptied and hand-washed them with soap and water and noted any staining or leftover odors. 
• Mayonnaise Test: To test each squeeze bottle’s ability to squirt a thick sauce, we filled each with mayonnaise and squirted a squiggle on bread.
• Cleanup Tests: After nearly every test, we emptied and hand-washed each bottle and noted any residue, staining, or smells.

What We Learned

What Can You Use Squeeze Bottles For?

“Squeeze bottles serve so many different functions,” says Annie O’Hare, chef and founder of Manhattan’s O Cuisine catering. “Mostly they’re for precision. When you’re putting a little dab of sauce or a drop of flavored oil on hundreds of hors d'oeuvres, you can‘t use a spoon, so a squeeze bottle is indispensable. And, obviously, for dessert plating, their tapered nozzles allow you to apply fine details.” 

But that’s not all. O'Hare says they’re also suitable for “cold sauces, as well as for salad dressings, where a quick shake of the bottle emulsifies the vinaigrette before you put it on the salad."

Shaun Hergatt, owner and executive chef at Manhattan’s Vestry and executive chef at REN in Brooklyn, agrees. “We use squeeze bottles for sauce and purées, oils and liquids to make sure everything is portioned perfectly,” he says. And while chefs might use squeeze bottles for pristine plating, they are also great for at-home cooks, too: you can fill them with salad dressing, oil, simple syrups for drinks, condiments, homemade fermented hot sauce—you name it, you can squeeze it.

The Size and Trueness of the Nozzle Was Key to Performance

Not all nozzles are made the same. “You can get a fine point, a wider one, and sometimes you wind up cutting it to your own size,” notes O’Hare. Finer nozzles, like the one on the HIC squeeze bottle and, to a lesser extent, the Tablecraft, are a bonus if you’re doing delicate decorating work with a thicker icing or sauce. 

Those on the opposite side of the spectrum, she says, can be a pain. Wide nozzles might be good for utility jobs, like adding a big squirt of vinaigrette to a salad. But they can undermine portion control, and for more precision work, their stream is harder to control and tends to burp and blurp. This was an issue with the OXO and JapanBargain squeeze bottles. 

The Choice bottle, on the other hand, sported a nozzle that was just wide enough, but not too wide, for a controllable, thick line. But the Vollrath was our favorite for thicker sauces because its line wasn’t too thin or thick.

Three of the bottles—Tablecraft, HIC, and OXO—did not shoot true; their streams flowed slightly to the left. Though that was annoying, as soon as we got used to it, we actually preferred Tablecraft because it was easy to control the flow speed with thinner liquids. It failed entirely, though, with thicker sauces because the nozzle had been imperfectly cut, causing a ragged flow; mayonnaise squirted all over the place! The solution to this, we found, was to push a skewer down through the top of the nozzle to true the opening.

Plastic Thickness Was Also a Factor

“Some bottles are too rigid to work a precise stream. Others are cheap and flimsy,” warns O’Hare. Though we found thinner-walled bottles like the HIC, Vollrath, and Kegworks, easy to squeeze, they were more difficult to clean up when filled with a staining ingredient like turmeric-infused oil. The ochre color tended to stick to the plastic, and we had to scrub harder during cleanup. Moreover, with thinner liquids, they offered little resistance, so the stream was more difficult to control.

On the other hand, thick-walled models like the Choice squeeze bottle took far too much muscle to achieve an accurate stream. We worried that, over time, we’d tax our wrists. Its other problem was its opacity. You want a bottle that is clear plastic so you can check the contents for consistency or deterioration.

Screw Tops and Nozzle Caps Were Problem Areas

A bottle that leaks is a problem—you don't want oil gushing out all over your countertop or mayonnaise exploding everywhere.

Indeed, when we ran our water test, we found that three of the seven bottles—the HIC, Vollrath, and JapanBargain—leaked from their screwtops. That’s why Samuel Kim, senior director of culinary operations for Baekjeong Korean Barbecue, says, by definition, “good squeeze bottles have very tight-fitting tops.” But Kim isn’t hedging his bets. With squeeze bottles, he says, it’s Murphy’s law, so he’s got an industry tip for you: “We usually line the screw top with plastic wrap to ensure a tight seal.”

Another potential issue is the added feature of the cap that covers the nozzle tip, which gets in the way. The JapanBargain bottle presented this problem, because its cap, attached by a flexible plastic arm that is part of the screw top, flopped over into the stream of liquid. 

The other bottle we tested with an attached cap, the OXO, solved the issue with a hinged mechanism that locked the attached cap in place out of the way of the liquid. But the OXO had a different screw top problem: its top comes in two parts, with a separate nozzle held in place by a screw lid. That simply means more parts to misplace or forget to attach, with the potential for major spills.

Important Squeeze Bottle Safety Tips

Because of the possibility of chemicals leaching from plastic into food, you don't want to put hot liquids into a squeeze bottle (or any plastic in general). Let any liquids cool down before you fill the squeeze bottle. Make sure that the squeeze bottle you're buying is food-grade. These containers are highly regulated by the FDA and are all BPA-free and can be used as storage containers. To avoid spills or air exposure, wrap some foil or plastic wrap around the nozzle if it doesn't have its own cap. 

No matter what you store in them, you don’t want to keep foods in your squeeze bottles for too long, particularly if a sauce is dairy-, egg-, or meat-based. If you have any questions as to how long the food can remain in the container in the fridge, check the USDA’s Foodkeeper app.

The Michigan State University Extension has some more safety tips for squeeze bottles and any other plastic serving and storage containers: do not microwave them; don’t freeze them unless they specifically are made to be freezer-safe; and unless the manufacturer says they are dishwasher-safe, wash your squeeze bottles with warm, soapy water.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Squeeze Bottle

Our favorite squeeze bottles had lids that didn’t leak, lacked lid caps, had walls that were just the right thickness to handle different viscosities, and extruded liquids straight. Some nozzles were better for thicker liquids and some for thinner ones, but we preferred ones that were on the narrower side, as they were more versatile. 

Our Favorite Squeeze Bottles

The Best Squeeze Bottle for Thin Liquids

Tablecraft Clear Heavy Duty Squeeze Bottle - 12 oz

$7 at Amazon $11 at Walmart View on Webstaurant Store

What we liked: After we got used to its quirky left-leaning stream, we loved the steady, braided stream of thinner liquids that flowed from the Tablecraft. It was quite easy to squeeze, but not too easy that the flow was uncontrollable.

What we didn’t like: The nozzle on this one was imperfectly cut, so the flow, though pretty, hung to the left on thinner liquids, and with thicker liquids, it spurted. The latter problem was easy to fix by truing the nozzle opening with the tip of a skewer. But this just goes to show that a squeeze bottle might need a bit of extra care before you can truly make it your own.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 2.375 inches x 8.625 inches
• Capacity: 12 ounces
• Materials: BPA-free plastic
• Care instructions: Dishwasher-safe
• Certifications: None

The Best Squeeze Bottle for Thicker Sauces

Vollrath 2812-1344 Traex® Color-Mate™ 12 oz. Clear Single Tip Standard Squeeze Bottle

View on Webstaurant Store View on Culinarydepotinc.com

What we liked: We were so pleased with the squiggles and decorative lines we could make with a thicker substance in this squeeze bottle! Liquids came out at just the right speed, with minimum effort, and there were no burps or blurps at all. We’re baking cupcakes just to ice them with this one. 

What we didn’t like: We were not as impressed with this bottle when we tried it with a thinner substance. The liquid leaked out the seam between the nozzle and the bottle, and since the bottle was so thin-walled, we weren’t able to control the flow easily. It did stream well with the turmeric oil, but again, the thin walls posed a problem with cleanup; we found we really needed to scrub them to get them clean of grease and color.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 7.25 inches x 2.38 inches
• Capacity: 12 ounces
• Materials: BPA-free plastic
• Care instructions: Dishwasher-safe
• Certifications: None

Another Good Squeeze Bottle for Thicker Sauces

HIC Kitchen Refillable Squeeze Bottle

$9 at Amazon $13 at Walmart

What we liked: This bottle excelled with thicker sauces; it was easy to squeeze mayonnaise into delicate, controlled ribbons. It was also easy to clean after we emptied it of its mayo.

What we didn't like: Thinner liquids leaked from the nozzle, which directed the stream rather severely to the left.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 8.75 x 3 inches
• Capacity: 12 ounces
• Materials: Plastic
• Care instructions: Hand wash
• Certifications: None

The Competition

• OXO Chef's Squeeze Bottles 12 oz: The nozzle of this squeeze bottle was problematic. It was too wide, so the flow was difficult to control. Heavier liquids, like oil, come out in an arc rather than a stream unless you squeezed very hard—and then the oil gushed out, over-saucing foods. Moreover, the stream is not straight; it hangs to the left. Finally, the nozzle is separate from the cap, so there are more opportunities for improper assembly.
• Choice 12 oz. Clear Squeeze Bottle: This bottle’s opacity made it difficult to see what was in it—a drawback when you’re pressed for time and just need to squeeze. Its thickness means squeezing was a workout, and its broad shoulders and thick-lipped, small opening complicated its cleanup. Worst of all, the nozzle can be over-screwed so that it slips from its secure position, a serious hazard when working with it.
• JapanBargain, Japanese Squeeze Bottle Squirt Condiment Bottles: Boy, is this one cute with its round, red cap! Unfortunately, nice looks don’t always mean good functioning. The wide nozzle and broad shoulders meant thicker sauces fell to the sides, leaving space for air to enter the flow, so the bottle did a lot of burping, leading to messy lines. Turmeric-infused oil stuck to the shoulders, and unless we squeezed very, very hard, thinner liquids came out in an arc rather than a stream, making the flow difficult to control.
• KegWorks Plastic Clear Squeeze Bottle: This was a winner, but it's no longer available.

FAQs

What do chefs put in squeeze bottles?

Ask Tony Inn, chef at Manhattan’s Taru, and you’ll find that all sorts of things can be applied with a squeeze bottle. “Oil, salad dressings, fluid gels, thicker sauces that need to hold their shapes while plating,” he lists. Indeed, says Hergatt, “We use them for every dish we make.”

Are squeeze bottles safe?

Food-grade squeeze bottles are BPA-free and safe to use when applying liquid ingredients and sauces, and when storing them for a day or two in the fridge. Like all plastic, they are not safe to microwave or heat, and you should not add hot liquids to them. Also, as with any plastic that is not specifically freezer-safe as per manufacturer information, you should not store food in a squeeze bottle in the freezer.

How long can I keep something in a squeeze bottle?

Generally, you can store foods in a food-grade squeeze bottle for as long as you would in other plastic containers, but if the nozzle does not have a cap, you will want to wrap it in foil or plastic to avoid air getting in. The University of Minnesota Extension has a good chart for storage times. It's better to store light- and oxygen-sensitive cooking oils in a dark vessel tightly fitted with an olive oil pourer instead of a squeeze bottle.

What is the best way to clean a squeeze bottle? 

Though some sources cite baking soda as a good cleanser, we found that blasting out any stuck sauces with the spray nozzle on our kitchen sink, then shaking soapy water inside the bottle, rinsing it, and again blasting it with the spray nozzle did the trick, even for staining ingredients. Make sure not to neglect the nozzle; add a touch of soap to it on the inside, and run or spray warm water through it.

What is the best size squeeze bottle?

All of the squeeze bottles we tested came in 12-ounce sizes, which was useful for holding larger quantities of liquids. That said, smaller bottles are great if you want to dispense a smaller amount of liquid, like if you made a little vinaigrette or a small portion of fermented hot sauce.

Are there any good condiment squeeze bottle sets?

You can build your own squeeze bottle sets! For condiments-friendly squeeze bottles, get bottles that can handle thicker sauces, like the Vollrath and HC Kitchen bottles.

Why We're the Experts

• Betsy Andrews is a freelance contributor to Serious Eats. Her work has appeared in several food publications and has also been nominated for a James Beard and IACP award.
• Betsy's also reviewed coupe glasses and cocktail muddlers for Serious Eats.
• For this review, we tested seven squeeze bottles, checking for leaking, squirt velocity, staining, and more.