The Best Cooking Dredge

Buying Guide

Working with dough can be tricky. You’ll want to knead it to break down the gluten into long, interwoven strands, but it can still continue to be sticky even after that. Working with sticky dough makes it difficult to knead, which can have you reaching for a little more flour.

That’s where a cooking dredge can help. A cooking dredge is a tool, not to be confused with the process of dredging ingredients like meat through flour before frying them. A dredge is a small cylindrical tool with a lid that has holes in it. The entire design has the purpose of allowing you to sprinkle dry ingredients while you’re cooking.

One of those ingredients is flour. Without a cooking dredge, you’ll need to keep some flour nearby that you can grab and sprinkle as needed. But your hands won’t be clean, so each reach will have you adding contaminants to the flour, making it less malleable. With a cooking dredge, you can reach for the handle with one hand and sprinkle, then go right back to working with both hands.

Cooking dredges aren’t just for flour, though. You might even think of the large shaker on tables at pizzerias, used to sprinkle red pepper flakes onto your food. What differentiates them from salt and pepper shakers is that they’re much larger, and the holes are typically broader to allow larger dry ingredients through.

You can use a cooking dredge in place of dredging your ingredients before frying. By sprinkling the flour onto your chicken, fish or beef, for instance, you skip having to handle raw meat. It’s also great for less generous breading, if that’s what you prefer. However, keep in mind that you won’t get the generous dredging using a sprinkling tool that you’d get if you drag the meat over dry ingredients.

While you can substitute a large shaker for a cooking dredge, a tool dedicated to the purpose is likely best. You’ll want to make sure the holes are big enough to provide the generous coating you won’t get with other types of shakers, though, especially if you’re using a tool to replace traditional dredging.

• Cooking dredges aren’t just for cooking and baking. You can use them for larger items that don’t fit in standard seasoning shakers, including popcorn salt and powdered sugar.
• Some cooking dredges have handles, which makes them easier to grip. This also takes up a little extra space in your cabinet, though, so consider that before you buy.
• Stainless steel is a popular material for cooking dredges. This is ideal because it resists corrosion and rust. Some are even dishwasher safe, for easy cleanup as needed.
• Some cooking dredges come with lids that cover the holes while in storage. This can keep contaminants from entering while also helping keep your ingredients dry.
• Not all cooking dredges are sold singly. Some are sold in sets of two or more to help you stock up.
• Dry ingredients like flour and powdered sugar need to be sealed against moisture. If your cooking dredge doesn’t come with a lid, consider storing it in an airtight container or plastic bag.
• If you’re looking for a tool for dispensing popcorn salt and powdered sugar, a pizza shaker is another consideration. The big difference is that the body of a pizza shaker is typically glass, letting you see the ingredients inside.
• Some cooking dredges feature a seamless construction. This helps ingredients from getting caught between the lid and the body, reducing the mess.
• The holes in the top of a cooking dredge can get clogged, particularly if those ingredients are exposed to moisture. You might need to remove the lid and dislodge those clogs before you can use it.