The Best Nonstick Pans for Frying Eggs, Crisping Fish, and More

Look, nobody at Bon Appétit will tell you to invest in a full nonstick cookware set—but all home cooks could benefit from having one of the best nonstick pans. Generally, we think you build the best cookware set yourself, ideally with things like an All-Clad stainless steel sauté pan and saucepan, a Le Creuset enameled cast iron Dutch oven, a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, and an equally-well-seasoned carbon steel wok. Nonstick cookware should be a part of this set, but used sparingly—except for your nonstick pan, which you can use to make fried eggs and omelets, browning quesadillas, crisping fish skin, and even reheating leftovers. Here are their top picks.

• The best ceramic nonstick pan: GreenPan Paris Pro, $59 $90 on Amazon
• The best nonstick pan according to the BA test kitchen: Zwilling Madura Plus 8" nonstick skillet, $60 at Zwilling
• An upgraded pick: Made In Cookware’s 12" Nonstick Frying Pan, $129 at Made In
• If you're looking for a 3-piece set: Made In Cookware Set (12", 10", and 8" pans), $200 at Made In

• How we tested nonstick pans
• A note on nonstick cookware and safety
• Alternatives to nonstick cookware
• How long will nonstick cookware last?

After extensively testing more than twenty nonstick pans from popular brands including Caraway, OXO Good Grips, All-Clad, Scanpan, Tramontina, Hexclad, Calphalon, and even the instagram famous Our Place Always Pan, we recommend the GreenPan Paris Pro for its functionality, value, and importantly, its safer nonstick coating.

Paris Pro is a hard anodized nonstick pan that heats quickly and evenly, and the scratch-resistant PTFE- and PFOA-free ceramic coating is incredibly slick right out of the box. The hard anodized aluminum base is compatible with most stovetops, though it won’t work with induction cooktops (many of GreenPans other ceramic nonstick cookware lines will). And a V-shaped cutout at the base of the matte stainless steel handle helps it stay cool on the stovetop.

No piece of nonstick cookware, unlike, say, cast iron or carbon steel, is made to last forever. But ceramic nonstick cookware in particular starts to lose its nonstick properties more quickly than PTFE nonstick cookware, which, despite much lower heat tolerance is somewhat more durable (though also less safe when it does start to go).

Ceramic pans have much higher temperature ratings than their PTFE counterparts, and this Greenpan is oven safe up to 600℉. However, like we said above, ceramic coatings degrade with extended exposure to very high heat. We recommend saving your ceramic nonstick cookware for low-and slow cooking, like soft scrambled eggs and omelets. You can prolong the life of any nonstick surface by hand-washing your pan and using only wood or silicone utensils.

NOTE: We previously recommended the Zwilling Madura Plus, an incredibly slick, durable pan with a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) nonstick coating as our top pick for the best nonstick skillet. You can still find that pan below. However, we're making an effort to go for alternatives to PTFE whenever possible these days, because of uncertainty surrounding the the manufacturing of PFAS on our health and the environment.

Sizes available: 8 inches, 10 inches, 12 inches
10-inch pan weight: 1.9 pounds
Induction compatible: No
Dishwasher safe: Yes, but hand-wash recommended
Metal utensil safe: Yes, but wood or silicone recommended
Oven safe: Up to 600ºF
Warranty: 1 Year

After using it regularly for more than eighteen months, Bon Appetit associate food editor Kendra Vaculin enthusiastically recommends the Zwilling Madura Plus, a durable nonstick pan with a super-slick cooking surface and an accessible price tag. The nonstick coating is so slick you could get away with skipping the butter or cooking oil (though we don’t recommend that, because butter makes everything better) and thanks to a forged aluminum base it’s comparatively lightweight and heats and cools quickly. The heatproof plastic handle is screwed into the pan so you don’t have to worry about scrambled eggs getting stuck in rivets. And while nonstick pans all come with expiration dates, the superslick surface of the Madura Pro is made to last longer than its competition thanks to a four-layer Duraslide granite material that, according to Zwilling, is 40 times more durable than Teflon—though it is a PTFE coating.

This pan has the lowest oven temperature threshold (300ºF) of any pan recommended here, but stainless steel and cast iron pans are better suited for use in the oven anyway. Also, if you’re getting a pan with a plastic handle, your expectations about putting it in the oven should be tempered. And though this pan is listed as dishwasher safe, it’s best to wash all nonstick co

okware by hand. Though Zwilling says not to worry about it, we still say that with the Madura, as with any PTFE-coated pan you should avoid metal utensils at all costs, using wood or silicone instead. Finally, Zwilling’s website claims this pan is available in seven sizes, but it’s only readily available in three.

Sizes available: 8 inches, 10 inches, 11 inches
10-inch pan weight: 2.09 pounds
Induction compatible: Yes
Dishwasher safe: Yes
Metal utensil safe: Yes, according to manufacturer
Oven safe: Up to 300ºF
Warranty: Zwilling’s products all have a limited lifetime warranty but that excludes regular wear and tear. That means that if you use this pan for several years to the point that the nonstick coating wears out it is very unlikely to be covered.

If you’re looking for a nonstick pan with more heft, consider Made In. The base is a 5-ply stainless steel skillet with a “professional grade” PTFE nonstick cooking surface that has a higher heat tolerance than other nonstick coatings. It’s the go-to for Danny Espinoza, chef and owner of Chicago’s Santo Chorizo, who prefers Made In’s nonstick cookware over other brands for its weight, balance, heat distribution, and hollow-but-sturdy stay-cool handle. At work, he uses a Made In nonstick pan to sear his chorizo verde products over high heat, and at home he reaches for one to cook eggs, pancakes, and crepes. “It’s built to go through a brunch and dinner service in restaurant operations, and it’s a great piece of equipment to have at home without the sticky business,” he says.

Because they’re stainless steel pans, Made In’s nonstick skillets are compatible with all cooktops, including induction. They’re also oven safe up to 500ºF, available in three sizes, and the nonstick coating currently comes in four colors (though the brand often releases limited edition color options). Made In doesn't publicly disclose what materials are used in the durable nonstick coating so if you’re avoiding traditional nonstick cooking surfaces, you may want to consider the GreenPan recommended above.

Sizes available: 8-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch
10-inch pan weight: 2.5 pounds
Induction compatible: Yes
Dishwasher safe: No, hand-wash only
Metal utensil safe: No, wood or silicone only
Oven safe: Up to 500ºF
Warranty: 1 Year

Every recommendation we make is backed by extensive research and testing, or by expert opinions and insights. We selected GreenPan as our top tested pan after reviewing it for over five years against 19 other nonstick pans. With each pan, we assessed factors like the nonstick coating’s quality straight out of the box, how quickly it heated up and distributed heat, and the durability of the nonstick coating.

To measure all that, we cooked pancakes and fried eggs in each pan without any oil or butter to see how well they browned and to really assess just how “nonstick” the nonstick coating was. We also made scrambled eggs in a dry pan to see how much residue got left behind and to check for even heating again. Testers additionally took note of things like weight and how easy each pan was to clean.

We consulted industry experts for our other two picks, namely associate food editor and Test Kitchen member Kendra Vaculin and Danny Espinoza of Chicago’s Santo Chorizo. We wanted to consult cooking pros to hear what they’ve found works best for them in their day-to-day hectic cooking lives spent in professional kitchens.

Most nonstick cookware is made using polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, which is what gives the pan that nonstick quality. When PTFE gets too hot—usually above 500ºF—it can break down and releasing harmful gasses into the air. It’s also prone to scratching, which might just sound like a nuisance, but it's a bit more serious: When your cookware scratches, it means that bits of that PTFE could leech into your food while you're cooking. In recent years, ceramic nonstick cookware has flooded the market as a nontoxic alternative, but in our testing, we've found that the coating on ceramic nonstick pans doesn’t last as long as other options.

We still think there's a place for conventional nonstick cookware in your kitchen, but it should be used sparingly for very few tasks: omelets, soft scrambles, and other dishes that are cooked on low heat and very prone to sticking. Never use metal tools on your nonstick cookware, even if the instructions say it's okay. Never subject your pan to super high heat, and make sure to replace it around the five year mark—or sooner if it shows any sign of damage. If you're understandably wary of using nonstick cookware at all, find a few alternatives below.

A cast-iron skillet is never going to offer the kind of slide-out-of-the-pan stick resistance that Teflon does. But in our experience, a well-seasoned cast-iron pan works just as well as any ceramic nonstick skillet. And unlike ceramic nonstick cookware, the nonstick coating on cast-iron skillets will only get better with years of use and seasoning. You can literally own a cast-iron skillet for the rest of your life, and pass it on to your grandchildren, with proper care. The three listed below won our product test of the best cast-iron skillets, where you can read more about the pros and cons of this cookware.

According to Bon Appétit food director Chris Morocco, the right stainless steel pan is something that “you will never get bored of, cannot destroy, and will never let you down.” They’re more versatile than nonstick cookware because they're oven-safe, can stand up to high temps, and will carry you through decades of cooking. To make one nonstick, simply preheat oil in the pan until its surface shimmers, then add the food you'd like to cook. It won't stick. No coating needed, just fat. Find the winners from our review of the best nonstick skillets below.

No matter what the nonstick coating is made of, a nonstick pan won’t stay slick forever—not even if you always wash it by hand and never use metal utensils. If you have a high-quality nonstick pan like the ones recommended above, and you treat it with TLC, you can expect up to five years of regular use. Some home cooks have reported longer lifespans while others have had to replace their nonstick pans after just a year. The life of your pan will depend on a number of factors, including what the coating is made of, how often you use it, how often you use it with higher heat, and how you clean it. The good news is that it’s easy to know when it’s time to buy a new nonstick pan: Food will start to stick to the cooking surface.