The 3 Best Nonstick Pans of 2024 Reviews by Wirecutter
The company even branches out from cookware, creating trash bins, containers, and even flatware. If it’s good enough for the pros, it should be good enough for home cooks right? That’s the question I’m asking of the Tramontina Professional Nonstick Fry Pan, which is designed to withstand the rigours of a professional kitchen. Let your pan cool before washing it, and if you’re stacking pans, layer them with a paper towel or dishcloth to protect the pan’s surface.
No, not unless it has an added nonstick coating on top of the stainless steel construction. You can reduce the “stick” of stainless steel by using oil while cooking, but a shiny stainless steel surface will not release as easily as a dedicated nonstick pan. These are oven- and broiler-safe to 600 degrees and can be used on any cooking surface, including induction. Once you own this set, the one thing you might want to add is a nonstick skillet for cooking your morning eggs, but there isn’t much else that you’ll need for most of your cooking. Don’t confuse this cookware set with the Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad cookware set.
After testing this Tramontina set three times, it’s really proven to be an incredible set of cookware at a great price. Each piece is made of 18/10 stainless steel wrapped around an aluminum core, which means that it’ll heat evenly, each and every time. If you prefer your pots and pans non-stick, this selection may be better for you than the stainless steel set. tramontina cookware This is an 8-piece set, coming with two pots with lids, two fry pans and a Dutch oven and lid. It’s a common opinion, among professional chefs, that stainless steel is one of the best materials for cookware, making all of the lids and Tramontina stainless steel pans oven safe. And you can use metal utensils on it because stainless steel is so hard to scratch.
The first couple of things you cook in the pan should ideally be something fatty (i.e. pan-frying, searing steaks). Every time you cook with fat, you’ll add seasoning (this is true for cast iron, too). While the ideal thickness of a good pan is subjective to a cook’s preference, a quality stainless steel pot will have a certain heft in your hand. Stainless steel is great for all-purpose cooking—it can be used for braising and browning as well as creating sauces and soups. The non-reactive properties of stainless steel make it ideal for cooking sauces with acidic ingredients (think tomato sauce or meats stewed in wine).
Pale-yellow omelets and fried eggs effortlessly slid out of the pan. Since 2016, we’ve cooked fried eggs and French omelets in every pan we’ve tested. Over the years, we switched from cooking crepes in each pan to cooking pancakes, which seemed tramontina cookware like a more real-world use for home cooks. We’ve also browned flour in the induction skillets to check for even heat distribution. Skillets with weight balanced between the handle and the body are the most stable and sit flat on the burner.
For the most part, with sautee pans, you want this to be relatively slow. Turn the knob a tiny bit to the right and before you know it, your onions are burnt. The Scanpan Classic Fry Pan has a big cooking surface that’s too large for three-egg omelets.
The chef just shook his head and told me it was my job to figure out how I was going to make decent omelets with trashed pans. Even though I actively avoided brunch shifts in restaurants throughout my career, I will never forget the lesson I learned that day. Whether in restaurants or in test kitchens, I make sure to treat nonstick pans with the same care and attention as I do my personal knives.
I placed both pans in a 350°F (177°C) oven for a full hour until they maintained a completely steady temperature of 335°F (168.3°C) as read by my laser thermometer. Traditionally, the next step would be to dump the pans into a well-insulated body of water and note the change in temperature of that water to gauge how much energy was stored in the metal. However, that would give me the capacity of the entire pan, and honestly, I don’t care how well the handle or lips retain heat.
Our former upgrade pick, the stainless tri-ply All-Clad 10-Inch Non-Stick Fry Pan, is still a stellar performer across all cooktops, but there are now much less expensive pans that cook on induction. Since nonstick pans have a relatively short lifespan, we think its current price of $190 is way too much to spend for one. When we tested trendy Instafamous cookware in 2020, we found that the ceramic coating on the Caraway and Equal Parts pans started to degrade after three to six months of regular use. As described above, the decline was gradual—the pans didn’t stop working entirely. There are a couple of great alternatives you might be happy with instead. But nonstick pans are typically lighter, cheaper, and easier to clean than those alternatives, so they might be the only cookware that fits your needs.
During three rounds of testing, these pans repeatedly heated quickly and maintained their heat well enough to provide a nice sear. They also performed well when making an omelet without sticking at all. If anyone open to Teflon is looking for a pair of smallish, 8-inch (20 cm) frying pans, this is a nice pack to consider. So I end up buying new fry pans more than my other cookware—and this two-pack of Tramontina A new fry pan really hits the spot. So if long-lasting quality is what you’re after, this 4 quart (3.8 liter) braiser may be an excellent match for you. It’s available in the large 12-piece cookware set, which has almost everything you need in a cookware set.