The 7 Best Stainless Steel Skillets, Tested and Reviewed
Many chefs and home cooks consider stainless steel skillets a superstar in the kitchen, thanks to their compatibility with all types of foods and ability to retain heat.
When shopping for a stainless steel skillet, Janice Carte, founder and chef at Tiny Spoon Chef, suggests looking for a stainless steel skillet with a grade of 18/10 or 18/8. This balance of nickel and chromium in the pan’s alloy will help prevent corrosion, add rust resistance, and keep it looking its best for longer. If you plan to put your skillet in the oven, pay attention to the handle material. “A nicely made stainless steel pan will have an all-metal handle that can be put right into the oven, too,” Carte says.
To find the best stainless steel skillets, we tested 19 pans in our lab, thoroughly evaluating aspects such as design, heating ability, ease of cleaning, durability, and overall value. We spent hours in the kitchen, making recipes such as beurre blanc (French white butter sauce), chicken piccata, and seared salmon. In addition to Carte, we also spoke to Alison Cayne, founder and CEO at Haven’s Kitchen, to learn everything there is to know about choosing a stainless steel skillet for your needs and budget.
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It’s oven safe, provides excellent heat retention, and has a curved lip all around the pan for mess-free pouring.
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The flat handle might not be as comfortable to hold for some.
The Made In Stainless Clad Frying Pan earned the top spot on our list—and a place in our Very Best Products of 2024—thanks to its balanced and ergonomic design, versatility, and lightweight build. In our testing, we were able to easily flip food in this skillet. Plus, the pan’s sides are slightly sloped upwards with a nicely flared lip that helps with mess-free pouring.
It cooked food quickly and evenly, searing our salmon and chicken filets nicely brown across their entire flat surface and providing delicious crispiness. Our beurre blanc sauce came out with the perfect consistency, too. The skillet brought water to a boil quickly, and it retained heat impeccably. It generally didn’t stick, but any small flecks that remained after cooking easily came off during cleaning.
The skillet performed well across all of our tests, and it even held up impressively during the durability portion. After dropping the skillet (for testing purposes), there was no serious damage or warping, proving that this is a durable product that is sure to last a long time.
Even though it’s not the cheapest of stainless steel skillets, it’s still worth noting that this pan performed better than some much more expensive options. The handle is slightly rounded and sits at the same level as the rest of the pan—two factors that make it easier and more comfortable to hold, lift, and generally use this skillet. We also like that the handle has quite a large hole for hanging it up (a space-saving design aspect that allows this kitchen must-have to always be within reach). That said, the handle is a little thin, which might not be preferred by some people.
Size: 8, 10, and 12 inches | Material: Stainless clad | Compatible Cooktops: All | Oven Safe: Yes (up to 800°F) | Dishwasher Safe: Yes
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It heats up quickly and cooks evenly despite its affordable price.
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It feels a little bulky and isn’t suitable for professional use.
Even though it’s so reasonably priced, the Goldilocks 10-Inch Skillet still gave an impressive performance in our tests. The skillet swiftly brought water to a boil, and it retained heat well, too. Food was deliciously browned, with no unevenly cooked patches. There was just a touch of food left over on the bottom of the pan, but after a little scrubbing with a damp sponge, everything came off cleanly.
Similar to our best overall pick above, the sides of this skillet are angled out and away from the center of the pan. Its edges are also beveled away from the sides, which make pouring easy and mess-free. The stainless steel skillet has a good bit of weight to it, though we wish it was more evenly distributed through the handle. This doesn't make the pan uncomfortable to maneuver, though. While the skillet does feel slightly bulky, we were still able to turn it and move it around with ease, even with our non-dominant hand.
The handle is rounded on the bottom with a very deep groove on the top for thumb placement—but when the pan was full, we felt that this groove was a little too deep and caused the sides of the handle to somewhat dig into the hand. There is also a hole at the end of the handle for quick and easy hanging.
The pan didn’t hold up as well as other options in our thermal shock (suddenly and extremely changing the pan’s temperature from hot to cold) and drop tests, but that’s understandable given its low price. While it warped significantly during the thermal shock test, most of the damage from the drop test was cosmetic and didn’t alter the skillet’s performance. Overall, we found this to be a great, inexpensive skillet for home use—though it couldn’t live up to being used in a professional kitchen.
Size: 10 and 12 inches |Material: Tri-ply stainless steel | Compatible Cooktops: All | Oven Safe: Yes (up to 550°F) | Dishwasher Safe: Yes
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