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These sets can stand up to the heat! Alumina Dimple Tiles
Ceramic cookware is a type of nonstick cookware that's made with a different set of water- and grease-repelling materials than traditional nonstick cookware. It can typically handle higher temperatures than cookware made with PTFE (a.k.a. Teflon), but the downside is it wears faster, so it won't be as nonstick for as long. When compared to stainless steel cookware, it offers the benefits of higher-heat searing and more even heating, often without the heft and the burdensome cleanup. Some types of ceramic cookware are made from clay, baked in a kiln and glazed, but the majority are made of metal that's been glazed with ceramic.
In the Good Housekeeping Institute, we've been testing ceramic cookware sets for years, in addition to traditional nonstick cookware and nonstick pans, stainless steel cookware, Dutch ovens and more. We test them the same way we test traditional nonstick cookware: we see how evenly they heat and how well they can cook eggs with no grease, brown a steak, simmer sauce, boil water and clean up. The ceramic pots and pans that stand out have good nonstick properties, are easy to clean and handle and can stand up to our rigorous tests. Here are the best ceramic cookware sets you can buy in 2023, according to our tests.
After our recommendations, you can read more below about how we test, what to look for when shopping and whether ceramic is healthy to use.
Our best overall ceramic cookware set replaces a discontinued set from the same brand. The pieces feature many of the same great qualities like a dark interior and exterior that hide stains, a sturdy design and glass lids. They can stand up to high heat — they're oven-safe up to 600ºF. Even their tempered glass lids are oven-safe up to 425ºF. The pots and pans are strong but easy to move around with thick, stay-cool handles.
In our sear test, steak browned quickly and evenly in the skillet and formed a nice, flavorful crust. Eggs fried up well with no oil and were easy to release with just a tiny nudge from our spatula. The pans have a textured surface that makes them more durable than smooth ones. One might think that would make them harder to clean, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that the pans only needed to be rinsed with water after scrambling eggs. We also really liked the pans' wide surface area that offered more cooking space.
Heft is often used as a marker of good cookware, but these lightweight and well-priced pots and pans performed great in our tests. They have large, comfy handles that were easy to grasp and stayed cool during cooking. The 10-inch skillet heated quickly and evenly in our heat distribution test, and it also produced a nicely browned and tender steak. It had good nonstick properties. Our eggs didn't stick, and the pan cleaned up beautifully. The saucepans heated quickly as well, and they feature pour spouts that came in handy when we poured out our sauce.
The pots and pans are made from recycled aluminum. They stack relatively neatly and come with four plastic cooking tools as a nice bonus, especially for the price. The set costs less than other ceramic cookware sets on our list but doesn't skimp on how well they cook.
This seven-piece set from Caraway offers the basics you need to get started outfitting your kitchen. It comes in an array of colors that make them pretty enough to leave out on your stovetop when they're not in use. In our tests, the skillet offered good nonstick properties that made cleanup easier. They did, however, become less nonstick over time, which is common, so don't be afraid to use grease as needed.
The pots have beautiful flat lids that match the color of their base. While they're not transparent, they each have a small steam vent that serves as a good indicator of what's happening inside (high steam = rolling boil; low steam = about to boil). The lid handles can get hot and condensation can build up on the inside, so beware when opening hot pans.
The set comes with a canvas storage sleeve for the lids, as well as magnetic pan racks that proved useful but could be bulky for some homes. The set is oven-safe up to 650ºF.
This ceramic cookware set stands out for being lightweight but sturdy with a nice variety of pots and pans that you'll find yourself using all the time. Plus, the pans are comfortable to hold with their signature handle contours to rest comfortably in your palm. The light-colored interior is pleasant to look at and resists stains, while the dark exterior hides them completely. During testing, we also noticed that the light interior made it harder to see any scratches on the rim that often occur with coated cookware.
In our tests, our eggs released easily with the help of a spatula and the sauce we simmered barely stuck to the bottom in our scorch test, and it cleaned right up. We particularly like the size and shape of the casserole pot, which has a 5-quart capacity — large enough to boil pasta and soup, but not overwhelmingly heavy. Most of the pieces nest inside of each other with the exception of a few lids, and the included pot protectors help guard against scratching.
Stanley Tucci just collaborated with GreenPan to create this gorgeous, ceramic-coated pot and pan set. Each piece is sturdy with wide handles that are comfortable to hold. They come in three colors: the cream color pictured here, teal and a stainless steel option with black accents. We've started testing the cream set in our Lab and are pleased with the results so far. They're heavy but balanced, and the 10-inch skillet has a wide surface area; it produced a nicely browned steak, and eggs were easy to flip with a spatula without the use of any oil.
The stock pot boiled water relatively quickly compared to other stockpots we tested. It comes with a pasta insert that made it easy to drain our ziti. The lids are flat and chic with oversized handles and are made of transparent glass. The lids are oven-safe up to 425ºF and the cookware is oven-safe up to 600ºF.
In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we've tested more than 150 cookware sets over the years. We test each set to see how well the pots and pans distribute heat, if they can evenly sear a steak, how quickly they can bring water to a boil and how good they are at simmering sauce without burning it. We also assess ease of use by evaluating their handles and how much effort is needed to clean them.
For nonstick and ceramic pans, we also test their nonstick ability by cooking eggs and pancakes with no grease. The best ceramic cookware can handle all tests.
✔️ Material: Ceramic cookware can be made of a variety of materials: Ceramic that's glazed to make it nonstick can be quite heavy and slow to heat. Coated aluminized steel is lighter and quicker to heat, and coated stainless steel is heavier and more sturdy. The heavier the pan, the better it will likely sear and retain heat without overheating, but lighter pans are appealingly quick to heat and offer easy maneuverability. In our tests, we found that ceramic cookware generally heats very quickly, especially compared to stainless steel cookware, so whether your pan is on the heavier or lighter side, you'll want to use lower temps and keep a close eye on it.
The type of coating determines how nonstick it is and how long it will last, though most will only last a couple of years. Those with reinforced coatings and multiple coatings, which are often marketed on the packaging, are designed to last longer.
✔️ Cookware set size: Most of the sets on our list come with about 10 pieces, including an assortment of fry pans, saucepans and small stock pots. Opt for a set that has the most useable pieces for you. Ten-inch fry pans are great go-to's for all-day use, while 12-inch fry pans come in handy for cooking larger meals. A small 2- to 3-quart saucepan is helpful for boiling eggs and heating up soups, while larger ones are good for boiling pasta.
✔️ Cleanability: Most cookware is touted as dishwasher-safe, even ceramic cookware, but we recommend hand-washing to extend your cookware's lifespan. High temperatures and abrasive cleaning detergents can cause them to wear quickly and become less nonstick.
✔️ Induction compatibility: If you have an induction cooktop, make sure your ceramic cookware can be used with it by checking the packaging. As a tip, look for sturdier cookware with wider bases that can make better contact with the heating elements for the best results.
Brands often tout ceramic cookware as being "healthy" because it's supposedly PFOA- and PTFE-free. Here's a breakdown of what that means: PFOA is a type of PFAS that was used to make the nonstick material PTFE a.k.a. Teflon. It has been linked to some health concerns and there's growing concern for its prevalence in nature. It's important to know that the use of PFOA has been phased out of the United States cookware manufacturing process, but keep in mind that "[its replacements] haven’t been around long enough for researchers to fully understand if they might have the same (or even different) health effects," according to Cancer.org.
Stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel, copper and aluminum are all cookware materials that don't contain PFOA or PTFE, so according to the definition above, they're also considered "healthy." If you're looking for nonstick cookware you can feel good about, consider cast iron or carbon steel; while they both require more care and maintenance than your typical cookware materials, they can naturally build up nonstick properties the more you use them.
Nicole Papantoniou is the Kitchen Appliances Lab Director and has been testing cookware for Good Housekeeping for nearly five years. She meets with cookware brands regularly to learn about new items and innovations and continues to put them to the test in both her home and at the Lab daily.
Nicole (she/her) is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, where she has overseen content and testing related to kitchen and cooking appliances, tools and gear since 2019. She’s an experienced product tester and recipe creator, trained in classic culinary arts and culinary nutrition. She has worked in test kitchens for small kitchen appliance brands and national magazines, including Family Circle and Ladies’ Home Journal.
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