The 7 Best Stainless Steel Frying Pans of 2024, Tested with Salmon, Veggies, Rice, and More
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The Le Creuset Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Fry Pan is our top pick
People / Russell Kilgore
Whether you're a longtime foodie or just getting started making meals at home, a stainless steel skillet is going to be a staple in your kitchen arsenal.
"When it comes to cooking, everything has its purpose," Hell's Kitchen chef Abe Sanchez tells PEOPLE. "I use stainless steel for a beautiful golden-brown sear and also to make sauces from the stuff left at the bottom of the pan after searing meats called 'fond.' You can’t get this same finish with a nonstick [pan]."
To see which stainless steel skillets are the most worth your money, we brought 19 popular pans into our test kitchen and put them through their paces by preparing rice, salmon, and mushrooms, as well as bringing water to a rolling boil and timing how long it took to do so. Several skillets emerged victorious, outperforming the rest. Read on for the best stainless steel frying pans from Le Creuset, Tramontina, Misen, and more.
Best Overall: Le Creuset Tri-Ply Stainless Steel 10 Inch Fry Pan
Star Qualities
High, slanted edges
Easy to maneuver
Well-balanced
Red Flags
We couldn't find any
Le Creuset is a brand that's typically synonymous with good quality, and their stainless steel fry pan is no exception. Throw whatever vegetables or meats you have in this skillet — it can handle it. It passed all our tests with flying colors. It's very well-balanced in terms of weight, not bulky, and easy to maneuver for just about anyone.
We found the rice very easy to flip, thanks to the flared sides of the cookware. In our salmon test, the fish released evenly from the pan without much coaxing and seared very well; the skillet produced a very even crisp with a nice golden brown finish. This skillet was easy to use while sautéing mushrooms as well. It took just over six minutes to cook the water out of them, and those angled sides came in handy again for flipping.
According to the manufacturer, this skillet is dishwasher-safe. However, to prolong the life of your skillet, hand washing with hot soapy water and cleaning with a damp sponge are always recommended. We let the skillet soak in hot water and dish soap for a few minutes, and cleanup was a breeze. There was a slight discoloration to the cooking surface, but nothing that detracts from the cleaning.
Dimensions: 18.6 x 11.3 x 4.5 inches | Weight: 3.7 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes | Oven-Safe: Yes | Material: Tri-ply stainless steel
People / Russell Kilgore
Best Budget: Tramontina 80116/005DS Gourmet Stainless Steel Induction-Ready Tri-Ply Fry Pan 10 Inches
Star Qualities
Performed well searing protein
Comfortable handle makes it easy to lift and hold
Flared edges make it easy to flip food
Red Flags
Heavier than some of the other skillets we tested
While this model was the most wallet-friendly of the bunch, it still performed impressively well. The handle is rounded, comfortable, and easy to lift and hold. The skillet is fairly balanced, but the pan's weight makes it a bit more challenging to use. Home cooks with limited mobility may want to opt for a lighter model.
We liked that the sides of this skillet slope very slightly outwards and have flared edges, which made it very easy to flip the test food. In our salmon test, the fish got a great sear on both sides. The skin was golden-brown and crispy on the top and bottom but not burnt. The fish released easily when flipping. This skillet was also easy to use for sautéing mushrooms, and the handle felt especially secure.
This model is dishwasher-safe, though handwashing and drying are recommended to preserve the finish. We found it fairly easy to clean with detergent, Bar Keeper's Friend, and steel wool.
Dimensions: 18.25 x 1.88 x 10.5 inches | Weight: 2.25 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes | Oven-Safe: Yes, up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit | Material: Tri-ply clad stainless steel
Best Design: Misen Stainless Skillet
Star Qualities
Excellent for searing and sautéing
Cleanup was a breeze
Handle stays cool while cooking
Red Flags
Slight discoloration on cooking surface
The actual pan is very heavy on this skillet. The handle itself is comfortable, and the length helps to keep your hand away from the heat — and it remains cool throughout cooking.
If the heft of this skillet doesn't bother you, this model is a workhorse for searing. The salmon released very easily in our tests on both the initial flip and at the end without much effort. The skin came out extremely crispy — 95 percent crisp and even across the board and very evenly cooked as a whole. The mushrooms took just under five minutes to cook, and the angled sides of the skillet helped make the sautéing process a breeze.
Cleanup was a cinch after letting this model soak in warm water and dish soap once the pan was fully cooled. There was a slight discoloration to the cooking surface, but, as we've noted, this is fairly common.
On sale, this is close to the bottom-tier price range for the products we tested, and so far, it stands against the more expensive products. The construction is solid and should hold up against anything you'd like to use it for in the kitchen.
Dimensions: 19.1 x 11.2 x 1.9 inches | Weight: 3.02 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes | Oven-Safe: Yes, up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit | Material: Five-ply stainless steel
Best Lightweight: All-Clad 10-Inch D3 Stainless 3-Ply Bonded Cookware
Star Qualities
Notched handle
Good, even heating
Salmon skin crisped perfectly
Red Flags
Not easy to pour from
This skillet feels exceptionally light in the hand, has a well-balanced weight, and is easy to move and maneuver. The handle has a notch underneath near the front of the handle to create distance between the index and middle fingers, and the ergonomic design strongly suggests where to hold the handle. With the skillet's light weight, more home cooks can succeed with the technique of flipping while sautéing. However, it's not easy to pour from this pan, and we had some spillage while aiming for a container.
The salmon skin beautifully crisped up along the edges and browned to a light golden hue around and into the middle. The surfaces were crispy — we'd be happy to eat any protein seared in this skillet. The full carton of mushrooms did not fit in an even layer, as the interior of the pan was smaller than 10 inches. This resulted in some uneven browning. We also found the handle got a bit hot while cooking the mushrooms.
The skillet was easy to clean by hand, and browned bits came off with the coarse side of a sponge. None of the oil burned in the cooking tests. We found it to be on the high end of price points, but would still buy it if it were on sale.
Dimensions: 17.9 x 10.5 x 4.8 inches | Weight: 2.13 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: No | Oven-Safe: Yes, oven and broiler safe to 600 degrees Fahrenheit | Material: Tri-ply stainless steel
People / Russell Kilgore
Easiest to Clean: Martha Stewart 10-Inch Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Fry Pan
Star Qualities
Great for sautéed foods
Did not stain
Spacious cooking surface
Red Flags
Did not sear salmon well
Martha Stewart's 10-inch stainless steel pan has a good bit of heft in both the skillet and the handle, making it pretty well-balanced. The sides have about a 140-degree angle to them, which gave way to one of the most natural flips of all pans that we tested, meaning you can push the food away and flip it back with ease. The edges are flared away from the cooking surface, but not so much as to spill when flipping.
The pan as a whole is very easy to use and sauté with, though we did not get ideal results with searing the salmon skin. On the plus side, the pan has plenty of space to move food around.
This was one of the easiest skillets to clean without much scrubbing. After letting hot water and dish soap sit in the pan for a few minutes after cooking, most things came off easily. A slight scrub was needed where a tiny bit of oil residue baked in, but overall this was really easy to clean.
Dimensions: 10 x 19 x 4 inches | Weight: 2.48 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes | Oven-Safe: Yes, up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit | Material: Tri-ply stainless steel
People / Russell Kilgore
Best for High Heat: Made in Cookware 10-Inch Stainless Clad Frying Pan
Star Qualities
Well-balanced
Easy to maneuver
Comfortable to hold
Red Flags
Not the easiest to clean
This skillet feels very well balanced, and the handle is very comfortable to hold. The sides are angled up and away from the skillet, and the edges are flared and rolled down. This makes for easy pouring and also a good flip without a utensil.
During our salmon test, the fish had a nice sear to the skin and was perfectly crispy. Using a fish spatula, the salmon released very easily from the pan on the first flip, and there was no sticking when it was time to remove it from the pan. The mushrooms took us just under nine minutes to sauté completely, and it was easy to flip them around without a spatula.
While this skillet is technically dishwasher-safe, like all stainless steel skillets, it's better to wash by hand to extend the life of the finish. We needed to use steel wool to adequately clean the surface of this pan. We also found that there was just a slight bit of staining after use.
Dimensions: 3.5 x 18 x 10.5 inches | Weight: 2.25 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes | Oven-Safe: Yes, up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit | Material: Five-ply clad stainless steel
People / Russell Kilgore
Best for Small Portions: Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless Skillet
Star Qualities
Smart design
Great price point for a well-performing tool
Ergonomic handle
Red Flags
Fish did not cook as well in this skillet compared to others we tested
This skillet is fairly light and easy to maneuver, and the handle feels well-balanced and ergonomic. The shape of the handle is slender, concave, and easy to hold, and it has a hole for convenient hanging. The sides are flared and gently slope outwards, which makes flipping straightforward, especially since the pan is fairly light.
In our salmon test, the skin came out crispy yet dark. It did not release as well as the fish did from other skillets in our testing, though cooking temperature adjustments could fix this issue. We cooked the mushrooms in just over five minutes.
This skillet is dishwasher-safe, but the manual mentions that soil from other dishes could be abrasive to the skillet. To remove stains, the manufacturer recommends cleaning with a little warm vinegar.
Dimensions: 17.1 x 10.8 x 3.3 inches | Weight: 1.85 lbs. | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes | Oven-Safe: Yes, up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit | Material: Two-ply stainless steel with an aluminum encapsulated base
People / Russell Kilgore
What to Know About Stainless Steel Frying Pans
Construction
Sanchez notes that the first sign of a good-quality stainless steel pan is its design as one whole piece. "They also use high-quality pins to lock the handle down and really seal it to the pan to give you that nice, sturdy feel," he says. "Stainless steel pans are naturally light, so it makes it easy to feel the quality of the material the pan is made out of just by touch and sound. A little knock on the side and bottom of the pan, and you can feel and hear the quality. The difference is night and day."
Weight and Materials
"Look for a stainless steel skillet that sits heavy in your hand compared to a nonstick skillet," Tanta's executive chef Roberto Rocha tells PEOPLE. "If it is too light, you may be purchasing a low-quality stainless steel skillet." Of course, if you are looking for a pan that will suit your mobility needs, a lighter option is key (and we have noted several high-performing lightweight pans above).
In addition, he says that the handle should not be made of any materials besides stainless steel. "A stainless steel handle allows the skillet to be placed in an oven if desired. Without this use, the pan loses half of its capabilities."
Ply
Ply refers to the layers of material bonded together to make a stainless steel frying pan. Cookware with a higher ply (such as three-ply or five-ply) contains more layers and generally provides more even heat distribution and better performance compared to pans with a lower ply. Our pick for the skillet with the best design, the Misen Stainless Skillet, is a five-ply frying pan.
Price Range
"I’ve worked with high-quality pans, and some not-so-high-in-quality pans," says Sanchez. "Don’t short-change yourself when it comes to purchasing your pans — you’ll save in the long run." However, as noted in our testing, we did find some excellent budget picks, like the Misen skillet and the Tramontina Tri-Ply, that still performed impressively.
People / Russell Kilgore
Behind the Scenes
Our testers evaluated 19 stainless steel skillets and put them to work in our test kitchen with several cooking tests to determine the best of the best.
Measurements: The skillets were weighed and measured from edge to edge as well as the diameter of the internal base and the sides of the pan to make sure they matched the manufacturer's description.
Cooking Tests: We boiled water to assess responsiveness and heat retention, cooked rice to assess maneuverability, cooked salmon to assess the skillet’s searing ability, and cooked mushrooms to test the skillets’ ease of use, heating speed, and evenness of cooking.
Performance: During cooking, the skillets were rated on a scale of one to five for how long it took to cook each and how well they cooked (a.k.a. was the skin on the salmon golden brown and did it release easily from the pan?).
Ease of Cleaning: After the cooking was complete, the pans were washed by hand and rated based on how easily the food lifted from the surface and if any stains were left behind.
Overall Value: Finally, each tester looked at the price of the pan at the very end of the test to determine the value of the skillet (we didn't want them to know the price before testing to avoid bias).
All scores were then combined with the testers' insights on each product to determine the final score for each, and subsequently, the winners of this test.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should you use a stainless steel skillet versus a nonstick skillet?
This is a case of different tools for different jobs. "I’ve used stainless steel pans about 80 percent of my career. I love how they heat up extremely fast and evenly distribute heat throughout the entire pan, which allows you to get the same execution from any surface of the pan," says Sanchez. "Nonstick pans are not made to withhold at high temperatures without damaging the pan. Therefore, I use them solely for eggs or sautéing vegetables."
Adds Rocha, "When considering the difference between the two skillets, nonstick skillets have a protective film covering their surface which does not conduct heat as well as stainless steel." Some cookware made for use at high temperatures, like woks, is typically made from steel components rather than nonstick materials.
What utensils should I use with a stainless steel skillet?
In short, anything goes! "One great thing about using stainless steel pans is that you can use metal, wood, and rubber utensils without the worry about damaging the surface of the pan," says Sanchez. "Just keep in mind, the cheaper, the easier the damage. Metal utensils tend to scratch the surface in the cheaper pans, causing food to stick." Adds Rocha: "With such a high heat output, anything made of plastic will melt as it comes in contact with the stainless steel."
Why Trust PEOPLE?
Rennie Dyball is an award-winning author who began her career at PEOPLE in 2002 as a reporter and remained on staff until 2017. She now regularly freelances for the brand. She covers a wide range of topics, from beauty to pets to housewares. For this story, she consulted our in-depth testing insights from our Birmingham test kitchen and interviewed two chefs for their insights on how to cook and care for this type of cookware.
Our Expert Panel
Abe Sanchez is a chef who has appeared on Hell's Kitchen.
Roberto Rocha is the executive chef at Tanta in Chicago.
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