TL;DR
Tongs get washed closed, which is why they never get clean. The hinge and the locking sleeve are two enclosed spaces that fill with fat and food, and neither gets touched while the tongs are latched. Wash them open in hot soapy water, brush the pivot from both sides, and dry them open before storing.
Why the hinge is the dirtiest part
Kitchen tongs are two arms joined at a pivot, usually with a spring, and often with a sliding lock sleeve. Every one of those parts has a gap.
Tongs are used for hot, fatty food -- turning bacon, lifting roast chicken, tossing pasta with oil. Fat runs down the arms toward the pivot by gravity and capillary action, and once it cools it sets there. Meat juice and starch go along with it.
Then the tongs get locked closed and put in a drawer, sealing that residue in a warm, enclosed space. The result is the film you find when you finally open a pair over a sink.
Enclosed joints are a recurring problem across the drawer, and our guide to cleaning kitchen tools without damaging them covers why they defeat a normal wash.
What is the right way to clean kitchen tongs?
Unlock them so they spring fully open, then wash in hot soapy water while working the arms open and closed so the pivot flushes. Brush both faces of the hinge and the inside of the lock sleeve. Rinse hot, then dry them open rather than latched.
Work the hinge while you wash
A static soak does not clean a pivot. The residue is inside a joint that only opens when the tongs move.
Hold the tongs under hot running water with dish soap and squeeze them open and closed twenty or thirty times. You will often see cloudy water running off the pivot -- that is the fat leaving.
Then brush. An old toothbrush fits the gap on either side of the pivot, and a dish brush handles the arms. Pay attention to the spring, which has coils or a leaf shape that holds residue between turns.
If your tongs have a sliding lock ring, slide it up and down under the hot water so the sleeve flushes too. That ring is a hollow tube riding on two arms and it collects a surprising amount.
Silicone tips and the gap underneath them
Silicone-tipped tongs have a hidden trap: the seam where the silicone tip meets the metal arm. Fat and juice work into that gap and stay.
Some tips pull off. If yours do, remove them, wash both parts separately, dry them fully, and reassemble only when dry. If they do not come off, brush hard along the seam under hot water from both sides.
Silicone itself holds an oil film that feels slightly tacky even after washing. Hot water plus plenty of detergent is the fix, and a baking soda paste scrubbed with a brush handles what remains. That is the same behavior described in how to clean silicone and metal spatulas.
Never scrub silicone with an abrasive pad. It cuts the surface, which then holds more oil and can shed small pieces.
Dry them open, store them open if you can
Water in a pivot rusts it, and rusted tongs get stiff and eventually stop springing properly.
After rinsing, shake the tongs out, work them a few times to expel water from the joint, and stand them open in a rack for fifteen to twenty minutes. Only latch them once the pivot is dry.
If your drawer has room, storing tongs unlatched keeps air moving through the hinge. If not, at least make sure they are fully dry before locking.
Light rust in a pivot can be scrubbed with a baking soda paste on an old toothbrush, rinsed hot, and dried. Avoid chlorine bleach, which pits stainless steel permanently, and avoid steel wool, which leaves iron particles behind. A drop of food-grade mineral oil in a clean, dry pivot restores smooth action; cooking oil goes rancid.
Dishwasher rules
Most all-stainless and silicone-tipped tongs are dishwasher safe. The machine cleans the arms well and the hinge poorly, for the same reason it fails on any enclosed joint -- spray cannot reach inside.
Load them open if the rack allows, or clip them open. Latched tongs come out of a dishwasher no cleaner than they went in.
Tongs with wooden handles should be hand washed, since dishwasher heat and moisture crack wood and loosen the handle at the ferrule. Tongs with nonstick or painted coatings do better by hand too, since repeated dishwasher cycles degrade those finishes.
Cross-contamination is the real reason this matters
Tongs move between raw and cooked food more than almost any other utensil. A pair used to place raw chicken on a grill and then to lift it off carries whatever was on the raw side.
Use separate tongs for raw and cooked, or wash them thoroughly in between with hot soapy water. This is standard food-safety guidance, not an abundance of caution. Source: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Cleaning removes soil and reduces germs. It is not the same as disinfecting, which requires a cleaned surface plus a product used at its stated wet dwell time. For everyday kitchen tongs, hot water and detergent plus proper drying is the practical standard.
Serving utensils share the same problem in a different shape -- see how to clean a ladle -- and our house cleaning services page covers where utensil care fits into a full kitchen clean.
FAQ
How do you clean grease out of a tongs hinge?
Unlock the tongs so they spring open, then wash under hot running water with dish soap while squeezing them open and closed twenty or thirty times so the pivot flushes. Brush both sides of the hinge and the spring with an old toothbrush, then rinse hot and dry them open.
Can kitchen tongs go in the dishwasher?
Most all-stainless and silicone-tipped tongs can. Load them open or clipped open, since latched tongs come out no cleaner than they went in and dishwasher spray cannot reach inside a closed hinge. Wooden-handled and coated tongs should be hand washed instead.
Why do my silicone tongs feel greasy after washing?
Silicone holds a thin oil film that lukewarm water will not remove, and fat also works into the seam where the tip meets the metal arm. Wash with very hot water and plenty of detergent, brush the seam from both sides, and scrub a baking soda paste over the tips if needed.
Can you use the same tongs for raw and cooked meat?
Not without washing them thoroughly in between with hot soapy water. Tongs that place raw meat on a grill carry residue back onto the cooked food. Using two separate pairs is simpler and is the standard food-safety recommendation for handling raw protein.
How do you fix stiff or rusty tongs?
Scrub the pivot with a baking soda paste on an old toothbrush, rinse under hot water while working the arms, and dry the joint completely. Add one drop of food-grade mineral oil once dry. Avoid chlorine bleach and steel wool, both of which make corrosion on stainless steel worse.
Utensils are quick individually and slow in bulk. If you would rather hand the whole kitchen off, every home is different, so the real number depends on size, condition, and what you want covered. Get a quote and we will walk you through it.