12 Creative Uses For Chopsticks

Long after you’ve devoured the takeout food (in what by the way is called an “oyster pail”) and eaten the last fortune cookie, you still have chopsticks left. They’re typically made from bamboo, birch, spruce, or cottonwood and there are lots of great ways to upcycle these natural utensils.

Here’s some avant-garde uses for disposable wooden chopsticks:

1. Toaster Tongs - Save your fingers from getting burned by grabbing your toast or bagels with these wood instruments, as long as they are dry, it won’t conduct electricity.
2. Whisk Eggs - Use these nifty thin sticks to whip up your eggs before pouring into the pan.
3. Impromptu Updo - Great as hairsticks for holding up a bun and getting your hair out of the way.
4. Shoe Tread Cleaner - A perfect tool for cleaning the dried mud out of the tread of your sneakers.
5. Kitchen Stirrers - Whether you’re cooking in a non-stick pan or making French press coffee, a clean wooden chopstick does the trick when it’s time to stir.
6. Trivet - Too many hot dishes and not enough potholders? Lay three or four chopsticks out to stand-in as a trivet.
7. Kindling - When the fireplace is in need of some kindle, these pure wood pieces are viable firestarters.
8. Caramel Apples - Making a sweet batch of homemade caramel apples? Chopsticks are just what this project needs.
9. Paint Stirrers - Keep chopsticks handy for your next DIY project as they’re perfect stirrers for small cans of paint.
10. Dish Drying - If you’re handwashing dishes and need more space to set things as they air dry, a clean set or two of chopsticks will work for raising the plates off the counter to drip dry.
11. Cooking Kabobs - Soak those chopsticks in some water for a few minutes and then skewer the meat and veggies you’re going to grill.
12. Cherry Pitter - Mmm, fresh cherries! Some people use a bottle and a chopstick as a simple method for pitting cherries. (There’s YouTube videos if you’re looking for a visual how-to.)

So they do far more than just pick up noodles. Do you have any more creative uses for chopsticks that we missed? Let us know. We love recommendations that contribute to the reuse and recycling of everyday items!