The wok is arguably the most important piece of cooking equipment in Thai cuisine. Aside from buying a good wok, you also need a variety of wok accessories to get the most out of this way of cooking. This page recommends some of the best utensils to boost your wok cooking game.
5 Wonderful Wok Accessories
I’ve picked out five must-have utensils that you should consider buying for your wok. These items will vastly improve the utility of this quintessential Asian cooking vessel.
1. Spider Strainer
The spider strainer basket with bamboo handle is one of the most underrated wok accessories out there. All around Thailand, you’ll see street vendors using these tools when cooking up a storm in the tropical climate.
The particular model I recommend is this Helen Chen one because of its high-quality construction. It also comes in a variety of sizes (7-inch one is best I think). What it does is enable you to scoop food out of hot oil while simultaneously draining the oil. You can even use it when cooking noodles to drain your noodles. The bamboo handle stays cool regardless of how fiery it is in your kitchen; and it will be hot if you are cooking with a wok.
2. Wok Spatula
The stainless steel wok spatula is another crucial utensil that you need when cooking in a wok. Some websites advocate not using stainless steel because it scratches the surface, but this doesn’t happen when I use a carbon steel wok.
The goal of the spatula is to enable you to easily toss food around inside your wok. This is imperative when stir-frying, which is a rapid form of cooking at high temperatures. Many of the tastiest Thai dishes need to be stir-fried. Not using a good spatula means you won’t be as efficient when tossing food around in the pan.
My personal recommendation is to get a Chinese style stainless steel wok spatula with a wooden handle. The wooden handle provides excellent heat resistance and the stainless steel shovel effortlessly tosses food around in the wok to coat it in delicious Thai flavors.
3. Ladle
The next essential wok accessory you need in your kitchen is a ladle. The wok ladle is essentially a giant spoon. Quite often, you’ll use your wok as a cooking vessel for soups or curries, such as Panang Curry. The easiest and best way to get the coconut-milk-rich sauce from wok to plate is to transfer it with a ladle.
The best ladle I’ve used is this iron ladle from a company specializing in Chinese cooking equipment named ZhenSanHuan. This particular ladle is lengthy at 14 inches, durable, and very well-made.
4. Wok Brush
These bamboo wok brushes are a really traditional yet efficient and safe way to clean up your wok. The main use case is for rapidly cleaning a wok that is still hot. When residual for or oil is allowed to dry in the wok, it becomes much tougher to clean. So, to use the proverbial saying, if you strike while the iron (or carbon steel) is hot, this bamboo cleaning brush will safely make your wok spotless clean.
At 12 inches long, it’s the ideal length. I actually bought my own brush in Thailand after I saw a vendor in the Yaowarat (Chinatown) area of Bangkok cleaning his wok this way.
5. Wooden Lid
In the unlikely event that you bought a wok that came with a lid, you can disregard this last wok accessory. For everyone else, I can’t recommend enough buying a wooden lid for your wok.
But why would you need a lid for a wok, I hear you ask? Well, quite often the food in a wok finishes cooking before your rice or whatever else you’re serving. Or maybe your loved one is coming home late and you want to wait for them. The wok lid’s primary function is that it keeps your food warm. Make sure you match the size of the lid with the diameter of your wok.
Concluding Thoughts
That just about wraps up my post on essential wok accessories for your kitchen. I hope this page proves a valuable resource for you. You’re welcome to check out my main Thai cookware essentials page for more recommendations. I also recently reviewed a Mauviel wok, which is a steel wok made by a French company.
It’s funny how life turns out; if you had of told me when I was 20 that 10 years later I’d be passionately writing over 700 words about utensils to use for a wok, I’d have called you crackers. It just goes to show there’s an undiscovered passion out there for everyone, and mine happens to be Thai food.
Happy cooking!