Sporks are one of the camping and backpacking industry’s greatest inventions. It’s a wonder that they’re not more widely used since having multifunction utensils would be a great way to reduce plastic utensils polluting our oceans and urban landscape. Perhaps more amazing is the amount of creativity and design ingenuity that manufacturers have applied to making different types and styles of sporks to fit different needs and preferences.
Here are the backpacking sporks we recommend.
Toaks Titanium Spork
The Toaks Titanium Spork features a polished bowl, which many backpackers feel is more pleasant to eat from, and a matte finish for improved grip. Cutouts in the spork’s body help reduce the weight of the 18 gram spork and provide a way for you to attach it to your gear with a cord or minibiner. The head’s tines are long enough to spear delicate morsels in addition to slurping down noodles or other soupy meals.
The Snow Peak Titanium Spork is an engineering and design marvel. It’s light and minimal with an artistic balance between the curvature of the bowl and the dual-purpose fork tines (the teeth of the fork). The longer middle tines can stab the toughest tofu, while the curved outer tines grip the glorified bean curd and prevent it from slipping away. While the silver color is classic, the Snow Peak Titanium Spork is available in multiple colors (purple, green, blue, and plain titanium), which are sure to be a hit with your kids, friends, and relatives.
The Toaks Titanium Folding Spork is easy to store inside many backpacking cook pots, which is a major selling point. The wire handle also stays cool when the spork’s head is hot, which is a good safety feature if you’re speaking with the spirits around the campfire. Weighing 18 grams, the bowl is polished smooth, giving it a pleasant mouth feel. It’s a good sturdy spork when open, although it can take a bit of practice to get used to the folding and locking mechanism.
A spork variant with a separate fork and spoon end, the GoBites Uno Spork is an economic alternative to titanium sporks. Weighing 14 grams, it’s very comfortable to hold and spin in your hand when you want to use the other end. The sides are shaped to make it easy to scrape food out of bowls, bottles (think peanut butter and Nutella), and bags so you don’t miss one calorie of your backpacking meals. Made of high-temp nylon that’s incredibly strong, BPA-, PC- and phthalate-free, it’s top rack dishwasher safe.
Light My Fire claims to have invented the spork in 2005. Whether that’s true or not is anybody’s guess. In any event, their Sporks have a handy serrated edge alongside the fork tines, which allows you to cut and spear your food in a single motion. It’s also made from biobased plastics and is 100% BPA-free and microwave and dishwasher-safe.
The UCO Utility Spork includes a spoon and fork with one serrated edge, which is good for spearing and rendering chunks of protein. It has two holes in the handle, so you can attach it to a lanyard (strung around your neck), which is handy in camp so you can’t misplace it. Inexpensive, it’s also available in titanium for about seven times as much.
The Toaks Long-Handled Titanium Spork, 8.6″ in length, is essential if you need to dig down deep into freezer bag dinners on the trail. Its polished head offers a more enjoyable dining experience and is easier to clean.
The Brautigam Expedition Works Long Titanium Spork, a full 9.65″ in length, may be the longest spork available today. It has a squarish head that makes it easy to get that last morsel of food at the bottom of freezer bag meals, with a carabiner/lanyard hole at the other end. It’s available in pure titanium or anodized colors, which make each spork unique.
Here are the most important properties of a spork and some guidance about how to select one that will work best for you.
Length: If you need to reach deep into a freeze-dried or rehydrated meal bag, or a deep cook pot like a Jetboil, a long length spoon can be quite desirable. Look for spoons that are 7 to 8 inches in length, as opposed to shorter ones that are 6 to 7 inches long.
Color: Get a brightly colored spork if you’re prone to lose them on backpacking trips. The titanium colored ones are easy to misplace on the ground because they look like sticks. Garish colors like purple or neon green stand out best.
Texture: Some manufacturers make titanium sporks with polished bowls, and some leave them with a rough finish that reminds users of fingernails being scratched on a chalkboard.
Folding: If you want to have a cook kit that folds completely into a mug or cook pot, getting a folding spork is the way to go. Metal folding sporks tend to be more durable than plastic ones. Don’t try to use them as tent stakes, though. They’re not stiff or strong enough.
Multi-purpose: There’s something to be said for having a multi-purpose spork that can open beer bottles or cans, even if they do weigh more than other options. It all depends on your most frequent needs and priorities.
Material: Wood, titanium, aluminum, nylon, or plastic? Metal sporks will be the most durable, as plastic can break. Wooden and bamboo sporks tend to break down with use, but they are usually biodegradable.
Single Head or Dual Head: While traditional backpacking sporks just have the one combined spoon and fork-tined head, there is something to be said for dual-head sporks, since you often get a more usable fork with longer tines for spearing food. Most backpackers eat mush, though, so having a true fork is often not a requirement.
SectionHiker never accepts payment for gear reviews or editorial coverage. When you buy through affiliate links on our site, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Help us continue to test and write unsponsored and independent gear reviews, hiking and backpacking FAQs, and free hiking guides.
Thankfully no serrated edges. The is idea back then was to use the spork to get the food to and inside your mouth without cutting yourself on the edge ?
“The titanium colored ones are easy to misplace on the ground because they look like sticks.” If someone has a few days on their hands and wants to save ten bucks, there’s a titanium spork somewhere in the trees off the right side of the AT about a mile NOBO from Shady Valley, TN.
“Don’t try to use them as tent stakes…” There must be a story behind that piece of advice!
By the way, the free spork for the taking near Shady Valley was not being used as a tent stake. It should be lying on the ground, not stuck in it!
If you find a homeless titanium utensil north of Shady Valley, and it turns out to be a long handled spoon, don’t throw it back. It’s the one I was referring to. It’s secure in its spoonhood and had never identified as a spork. Fake News called it such.
Unbelievable that since Optimus has stopped making their foldable long-handled titanium spoon, NOBODY else makes them. Long handled sporks or spoons are the choice for freeze-dried meals to avoid food slop on your hands. Foldable for better storage. Don’t get it
Gerber has a very good spork and it’s got a pry and can opener combine Tool piggy backed underside. Only drawback is the length is not long for deeper freeze dry packages and 8 inch spark would be ideal if gerber makes in same design.
A few years ago I was backpacking north of the border (Canada) and at every campsite I found a titanium spork in the fire pit (four total). Maybe Canadians don’t like sporks???
I have a couple of Morsel sporks. I love the rubber-like edge for scraping the sides of the whatever my meal is in. It’s started to fail in the spork I’ve been using for several years, but it’s still usable. (It also has a serrated section, but it’s only able to cut softer things like avocado or cheese,)
Once more for the kids in back: “Texture: Some manufacturers make titanium sporks with polished bowls, and some leave them with a rough finish that reminds users of fingernails being scratched on a chalkboard.”
My titanium spoon used to have the most AWFUL feel to it (I think it’s a Sea to Summit one). I was all set to replace it, but then I moved somewhere with a dishwasher and the DW managed to sand down the bowl of the spoon so that it was nice and smooth. Not as smooth as the nicely polished ones like #7 here, but smooth enough that it doesn’t make me want to scream in pain every time I use it. Should I ever need to replace it, I will 100% get one with a polished bowl. But honestly, who knew that a company would even MAKE a spoon with a rough bowl and that was something I would have to watch out for???
(Side note: I haaaaaate wooden spoons too, something about the rough texture on my hands and tongue give me the worst heebie jeebies.)
Anyway, learn from my mistake: do NOT buy a spoon with a rough bowl. You WILL regret it. But maybe you can sand it down yourself or your DW will do it for you.
That’s interesting. My titanium spoon came with a sheet telling me not to put it in the dishwasher. The one I use for backpacking is polished but the ones in our “go bags” are textured. I’ll run them thru the dishwasher a few times.
Oh, weird, I don’t recall any such warning on my spoon. Now I’m wondering if maybe it isn’t actually titanium after all, but I do think it is. Anyway, good luck with your spoon, Grandpa!
I purchased the UCO SWITCH SPORK. It is a two-piece fork and knife/spoon combo that locks together to create an extra-long utensil for freeze-dried meal bags and deep containers.
Light My Fire did not invent the spork. I was using little plastic sporks in my elementary school cafeteria in the 1970s.
Ah, but did you’re have a serrated edge?
Thankfully no serrated edges. The is idea back then was to use the spork to get the food to and inside your mouth without cutting yourself on the edge ?
“The titanium colored ones are easy to misplace on the ground because they look like sticks.”
If someone has a few days on their hands and wants to save ten bucks, there’s a titanium spork somewhere in the trees off the right side of the AT about a mile NOBO from Shady Valley, TN.
“Don’t try to use them as tent stakes…”
There must be a story behind that piece of advice!
By the way, the free spork for the taking near Shady Valley was not being used as a tent stake. It should be lying on the ground, not stuck in it!
If you find a homeless titanium utensil north of Shady Valley, and it turns out to be a long handled spoon, don’t throw it back. It’s the one I was referring to. It’s secure in its spoonhood and had never identified as a spork. Fake News called it such.
I never understood sporks and never had the need for one on trail. Spoons rule!
Agreed. That’s why I threw my spoon away somewhere north of Shady Valley. I thought it was a spork!
Unbelievable that since Optimus has stopped making their foldable long-handled titanium spoon, NOBODY else makes them. Long handled sporks or spoons are the choice for freeze-dried meals to avoid food slop on your hands. Foldable for better storage. Don’t get it
humangear makes a 9.1″ nylon nesting one I’ve been using for the better part of a decade. https://www.humangear.com/shop/p/duo
Gerber has a very good spork and it’s got a pry and can opener combine Tool piggy backed underside.
Only drawback is the length is not long for deeper freeze dry packages and 8 inch spark would be ideal if gerber makes in same design.
A few years ago I was backpacking north of the border (Canada) and at every campsite I found a titanium spork in the fire pit (four total). Maybe Canadians don’t like sporks???
I have a couple of Morsel sporks. I love the rubber-like edge for scraping the sides of the whatever my meal is in. It’s started to fail in the spork I’ve been using for several years, but it’s still usable. (It also has a serrated section, but it’s only able to cut softer things like avocado or cheese,)
Once more for the kids in back: “Texture: Some manufacturers make titanium sporks with polished bowls, and some leave them with a rough finish that reminds users of fingernails being scratched on a chalkboard.”
My titanium spoon used to have the most AWFUL feel to it (I think it’s a Sea to Summit one). I was all set to replace it, but then I moved somewhere with a dishwasher and the DW managed to sand down the bowl of the spoon so that it was nice and smooth. Not as smooth as the nicely polished ones like #7 here, but smooth enough that it doesn’t make me want to scream in pain every time I use it. Should I ever need to replace it, I will 100% get one with a polished bowl. But honestly, who knew that a company would even MAKE a spoon with a rough bowl and that was something I would have to watch out for???
(Side note: I haaaaaate wooden spoons too, something about the rough texture on my hands and tongue give me the worst heebie jeebies.)
Anyway, learn from my mistake: do NOT buy a spoon with a rough bowl. You WILL regret it. But maybe you can sand it down yourself or your DW will do it for you.
That’s interesting. My titanium spoon came with a sheet telling me not to put it in the dishwasher. The one I use for backpacking is polished but the ones in our “go bags” are textured. I’ll run them thru the dishwasher a few times.
Oh, weird, I don’t recall any such warning on my spoon. Now I’m wondering if maybe it isn’t actually titanium after all, but I do think it is. Anyway, good luck with your spoon, Grandpa!
I purchased the UCO SWITCH SPORK. It is a two-piece fork and knife/spoon combo that locks together to create an extra-long utensil for freeze-dried meal bags and deep containers.