Tessa Arias, Chef and Cookbook Author
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Baking equipment is just as important as the ingredients you use. But since most of us stocked our kitchens forever ago, we might not realize just how big an impact our pans have on our baking.
That’s why I decided to put a bunch of baking pans to the test. For this post, I focused on sheet pans and cookie sheets, to keep things simple. There are SO many types of baking pans but I find that your standard sheet pan/cookie sheet is the most used in the kitchen.
Note: if you’re curious about my full list of recommendations for all my favorite baking equipment (including a wider variety of baking pans such as cake pans, loaf pans, and cookware), or you are interested in more Baking Science, then you’ll love my Magic of Baking online course + community. I hope you’ll check it out!
Let’s get to testing and see which are the best baking pans, and which are the worst!
The Best (and the Worst) Baking Pans I’ve Meticulously Tested
Side-by-Side Testing
Take a look at the below cookies. I made a few batches of my Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies. The control parameters:
- Each batch was baked in a 350°F oven for exactly 12 minutes.
- One pan was baked at a time, all on the middle rack.
- The dough was kept refrigerated between batches, for temperature consistency.
- Each pan was lined with parchment paper only. No added grease, butter, or nonstick spray.
- The only difference between each batch was the pan the cookies were baked on.
- You can already see what a difference the various baking pans made:
Exact Baking Pans Used:
- T-fal Air Bake Natural Aluminum Pan
- Wilton Baker’s Best Heavy Duty Nonstick Cookie Pan
- Walmart’s Mainstays Uncoated Tin-Free Steel Cookie Sheet (this was about $5)
- Viking Ceramic Nonstick Bakeware (no longer available)
- Nordicware Natural Aluminum Half Sheet Pan
- Oxo Good Grips Nonstick Pro Half Sheet Pan (this is “micro-textured”)
I knew that baking on different pans was going to result in a slightly different outcome, but the results were even more dramatic than I was expecting. They did fall in line with something I’ve known to be true: that nonstick pans and dark-colored pans brown much more quickly and aggressively, compared to light-colored pans. So let’s get onto what you really want to know…
Which is the Best Baking Pan?
These have become my go-to unlined aluminum sheet pans. I’m a big fan of the Nordic Ware brand. To me, it yielded the perfect Goldilocks batch of cookies, which were perfectly golden brown.
- The heat conductivity of the Nordic Ware pans is perfect; it heats evenly without being too aggressive, allowing your baked goods time to spread a little without burning on the bottom, yet still caramelizing slightly.
- This is what you’ll find in most professional kitchens, and is the basic type of pan we used in culinary school.
- I use these pans daily, for both sweet and savory preparations. I now have five of these durable pans in my kitchen!
- This is the pan I use when I’m testing new recipes. I always use the most straightforward and basic equipment possible because I don’t want to skew or warp my baking results because I’m using different or high-end equipment that many readers won’t have.
- You can get a 2-pack of the pan used in this experiment here.
I also have two more recommendations, depending on your baking preferences.
If you Like Golden Crusts
If a golden crust is your preference, you may want to choose a nonstick option – but not all non-stick cookie sheets were created equal. I’d recommend the OXO Good Grips Pro Half Sheet Pan.
- This pan is ceramic-reinforced with a two-layer coating for easy food release while protecting against scratching, staining, and corrosion.
- This pan is micro-textured with a non-stick pattern, to minimize surface contact and increase airflow, for even baking.
- This coating makes the pan bake more quickly, so that’s another reason why these cookies browned more than the unlined aluminum pan above.
- The next time I bake with this pan, I’ll probably shave a few minutes off the baking time.
If You Like Pale Crusts and a Soft Texture
If pale, soft cookies are your thing, you may want to choose the T-Fal Air Pan option.
- The layer of air in the center of this pan reduces the heat of the pan, reducing browning and burning.
- I personally don’t prefer this result, but I know many do, so I wanted to mention it.
- I don’t love that this pan doesn’t have a rim. Move too fast and your cookies will slide right off!
The Worst Baking Pan?
I definitely do not recommend:
- Walmart Mainstays pan. This pan was super flimsy. It warped AND rusted after first use and cleaning.
- I also wasn’t a big fan of the Viking pan either, which basically burnt my cookies on the bottom. This pan doesn’t seem to be available anymore, but if you stumble across it somewhere in the future, I recommend skipping this one.
- Wilton Non-Stick baking sheet was also not a favorite. The non-stick coating on this pan caused the cookies to bake far too quickly, darkening the bottoms of the cookies more than I prefer.
Read Next: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Final Thoughts & Baking Pan Tips
- I like my cookie sheets unlined, meaning that the pan does not have a nonstick coating.
- Always use parchment paper to line your pans, but do not grease them. This causes burned bottoms.
- You can use silicone mats instead if you prefer. Check out my Silpat vs Parchment article here!
- Even if your pans say they’re dishwasher-safe, I always recommend hand washing. This will prolong the pan’s lifespan and prevent rust.
Which is Your Favorite?
Let me know in the comments below which baking pan is your favorite, and if you learned anything through my experimenting! I hope you found this helpful.
Sadly it seems that nordic ware has been cheaping out on their products in recent years– their new aluminum pans (at least the ones sold online?) weigh about half as much as the old ones! Cutting the mass by half has got to have a big effect on heat transmission. Unclear that this really matters for baking *cookies* specifically, but worth knowing.
What kind cookies would you get from a stainless steel air pan? Would it be the best product to use besides aluminum?
Hi Tessa, this is great info, thank you so much for your detailed explanation! Just out of curiosity, have you ever done test on baking tins/ muffin tins and compared metal ones with silicone ones? Or in general what are your thoughts on silicone baking forms? Thanks!!
I’ve been using the first air bake cookie sheets for years – and I love them! And yes I love the softer, paler cookie😊. Fortunately, I’ve only had the disaster once where I rolled the cookies off the sheet by not holding it level. And it was after making hundreds of batches of cookies over the years😂.
What about aluminized steel? I want the best baking results possible while using something that won’t get ruined in the dishwasher because I live with animals that will never wash by hand. Thanks!
Baking sheets, FatDaddios, Amozo, or… Did I miss this handy, reusable item on your list?
I can’t find the metal pan without curved corners. What brand should I be ordering?
Hi Cynthia! Are you looking for a 8×8-inch square pan, or a 9×13-inch pan, or a cookie baking sheet? If it’s the 8×8-inch or the 9×13-inch pans, we love to use USA Pans – here’s a link for the 8×8-inch pan, and here’s a link for the 9×13-inch. Both of those pans have perfectly squared-off edges, for sharp corners and beautiful bakes 🙂 I honestly can’t think of any baking sheets that have sharp corners, but here’s a link to our favorite sheet pans. I hope that helps, but feel free to reach back out if you had a different pan type/size in mind! Happy baking 🙂
I like Doughmaker’s textured flat cookie sheets. My cookies turn out very similar to the Nordicware. I seem to have better results on cookies with a pan that doesn’t have sides.
I’m curious if you’ve tested stoneware baking sheets. I’ve been using stoneware for a very long time and find it does a beautiful job of baking cookies, etc.
Hi Eileen! Tessa has tried using stoneware in the past, but finds it bulky, heavy, difficult to store, and difficult to clean, compared to her favorite baking pans. Additionally, when Tessa bakes cookies, she’s usually baking multiple trays of cookies, and it takes a long time for stoneware to cool between batches compared to aluminum trays. That being said, if you’re happy with the results your stoneware yields, by all means, keep using it! I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
I agree I wish that stoneware was compared. I exclusively use it and would have loved to see the comparison, even if Tessa doesn’t use them for her use, most people are doing smaller batches and would love to see the best option for them 🙂 But I love the information on the site.
Agreed. I love stoneware for its natural non toxic-ness. I keep three on hand so by the time I’m ready to reuse one it is cool. For me I also pine with parchment which means I don’t have to wash at all, a little grease is great for the pans. And I usually add 2-4min per sheet of cookies because it takes extra time to heat up the stone. You get used to the weight.
Great article! Thank you for all the useful tips. I would love to hear your opinon on baking stones. They are the only thing I have ever used to bake cookies on and I love them. However, I have never tried Nordic Ware. Thank you!
Thank you for all of this information! It is well organized and understandable. I will share with my grandchildren.
I love your comparisons! I do this a lot as well, mostly comparing recipes on paper, choosing 3-4 and having a comparison bake. I choose my fav from those, and put it in my recipe file. I totally agree with you, stay away from dark pans. As for pans, I don’t like Fat Dadio because they are not precise square pans. My favorite baking pans, round/square/rectangle, are Magic line with removable bottoms. I make all my cakes in these, including cheesecakes. No more springforms here! My favorite baking sheets for cookies are Volrath, not cheap, but very heavy unrimmed aluminum, and I can bake up to 42 cookies at once, depending on the size. Thank you for all your very helpful information! I buy parchment by the 1000 sheet box. My husband is a commercial print broker, so he takes the entire box to our of his printers. They have huge commercial cutters, and he has the entire box of 1000 cut to size to fit my Volraths, with smaller sheets left over which are great to cut and line smaller baking pans, or the few cookies usually left at the end of a batch.