You don’t have to be a Food Network chef to create delicious meals at home. With the right food inspo, ingredients and high-quality cookware, your next home-cooked creation can wow even the harshest of critics. I prefer kitchenware that makes cooking more efficient, and one such kitchen appliance I can’t live without is my trusty nonstick pan. I know nonstick pans have a bad reputation (they inevitably wear down, thanks to the nonstick coating), but I use one daily to make things like fried eggs, omelets and pancakes in a pinch. I can’t resist how quickly they heat up and, more importantly, how easy they are to clean.
But as a newbie home cook, I’ve gone through my fair share of nonstick pans and learned that even if a pan is marketed as nonstick, you can still find yourself scraping fried bits from it, adding nicks and scrapes to your cookware set in the process.
To find nonstick pans worth the investment, I tested everything from budget-friendly picks to fancy, Instagram-beloved cookware. Each pan went through the same tests — I fried an egg, melted butter and cheese, and made hash browns in each one. Along the way, I learned that even though a nonstick pan makes cooking a lot easier, they’re not perfect. Here’s what you need to know.
