5 Best Pie Dishes, Tested by Food Network Kitchen
No matter what your favorite pie is to make, we've found the right pie plate for you.
Our Top Pie Dish Picks
- Best Overall: Pyrex 9-Inch Glass Pie Plate
- Best Deep Dish: Emile Henry Modern Classics Pie Dish, 9"
- Most Transportable: OXO Good Grips Pie Plate with Lid
- Best Metal: Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Pro Nonstick Pie Plate
- Good for More Than Pie: Le Creuset Pie Dish
Tested by Jill Novatt and Sarah Zorn for Food Network Kitchen
When it comes to pie plates, the main choice you’ll need to make is between materials. Glass and ceramic both conduct heat slowly, meaning they tend to cook more evenly and consistently, and they are good for long bakes like custard pies. (Plus, they tend to look more attractive on your table.) Metal, on the other hand, is a superior heat conductor and excels at blind-baking shells.
You'll also want to consider measurements. While a 9-inch wide, 1.25-inch deep plate is standard for single crust pies like pecan and pumpkin (and make it easy to fish out a clean slice), you’ll want something more substantial — around 2 inches deep — if you regularly bake double crust pies. Fluted edges can assist you in forming a beautifully crimped pie, and raised lips can facilitate transferring pie dishes containing delicate crusts and liquid fillings into and out of a hot oven more easily.
Sarah Zorn
How We Tested
First, we checked to see if each dish had a manual advising on care, before washing the dishes with soap and water before first use. We noted the measurements of each dish (9 inches being the standard), as well as how high the sides were, and how comfortable and/or heavy the dishes were to hold and maneuver in and out of the oven. We took stock of the primary materials (whether the dish was made of metal, ceramic or glass), if the dish came with a warranty, and if the company made any special claims — such as “designed for impeccable release!” — to see if they bore out during testing.
When it came to cooking, we blind baked a crust in each dish, following the instructions on a commercial package of refrigerated pie dough. We noted how evenly the edges browned (or if they burned), before turning out the crusts to see how consistently the bottoms baked. We then baked pumpkin pie in each dish, following the instructions on a 15-ounce can of pumpkin pie filling. We registered whether the unbaked pies comfortably fit each dish without overflow, and whether they baked through completely in the time suggested by a classic recipe. We again noted how evenly the edges browned (or if they burned), and if the crusts cooked consistently and completely on the bottoms and sides. We determined how easily slices could be cut and removed from each dish, and how straightforward they were to clean by hand, before running them through the dishwasher.
This article has been updated since it's original publish date with three new pie plate picks. This article has been reviewed again since its original publish date for accuracy, pricing and availability. We stand by our list of top pie dish picks.
Products tend to become classics for a reason, and that’s definitely the case with Pyrex’s traditional glass pie plate. At 9 inches across, it’s perfectly sized for a single crust pie. And not only is the patented glass dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe, but it’s thermal shock-proof to resist extreme temperature fluctuations. Plus, it's tempered, meaning it’s very difficult to break. The plate is odor- and stain-resistant, making it super simple to clean, and the slow-conducting glass produces crusts that are universally golden brown and cooked through, from the exposed edges to the filling laden-bottoms (which often remain pale and soggy on other models and render the pie gummy and difficult to slice).
The biggest benefit of glass when it comes to pie-making, however, is that you can actually see the bottom and sides of the crust. This isn’t the case with metal and ceramic dishes, where it’s generally all guesswork — having to determine the pie is done from the suggested bake time on the recipe, the color of the edges and the consistency of filling, with no actual insight as to its structural integrity.
And at $6, the Pyrex is the cheapest pie crust we tested by a longshot! Looking to make a double-crust pie? The Pyrex Grip Rite 9.5-inch Glass Pie Plate offers extra depth for exactly the same price. Although it didn’t perform nearly as well on our slim pumpkin pie.
You can’t hold a candle to ceramic when it comes to aesthetics; most are pretty enough to travel straight from your oven to the center of your Thanksgiving table. But the Emile Henry isn’t only about looks. It also produces a picture-perfect bake, due to superior heat diffusion and retention. It’s resistant to temperature change (not shattering when we attempted to quick-cool a pie by placing it in the fridge), and can even be placed under a broiler (a plus if you want to singe the top of a pillowy lemon meringue pie). The extra depth (2.6 inches) allows you to use it for double-crust pies, yet unlike some of the deeper dishes we tried, it performed perfectly well for single crusts. We didn’t need to awkwardly dig around for a slice, and it browned thoroughly within the baking times prescribed by our recipe.
The Emile Henry is less expensive than comparable ceramics like Le Creuset, and it comes with a 10-year warranty, making it a veritable steal at $40 for a presentation-worthy pie dish.
This dish is made of borosilicate glass which means that it can go directly from fridge or freezer to hot oven, something a ceramic or regular glass pie plate can’t do. It is also came with a lid, so you can easily also go from oven to transport making this a great dish for potlucks, gatherings or just for easily storing leftovers. This pan is 9 inches wide and 2 inches deep so the pie is a nice thickness pie and slices were easy to remove. It also has a 3/4-inch lip which made handling the pan to and from the oven easy. The crust browned nicely and evenly in both tests. This pan has a straight rim (no ridges) which means you might have to work on your fluting game a bit, but it also makes it very easy to clean since there are no ridges to try to clean. Overall, if you like to prep ahead or entertain a lot, this is the pie pan for you.
This metal pie pan is a ceramic reinforced nonstick commercial grade aluminized steel. It says that it distributes heat evenly for perfect browning and that claim held up. The crust was very nicely and evenly browned in both the blind bake test and the pumpkin pie. The pan itself is 12/8 ounces and has a really nice weight without being heavy or, alternately, feeling flimsy. The pan claims to be 9 inches by 1 1/2 inches, but I measured the actual interior at 8 3/4 inches. The size was perfect for a pumpkin pie — not too deep or wide. It also has a 1/2-inch lip with a rolled metal edge so it was easy to grip for bringing in and out of the oven. Many metal pans can brown crusts faster than glass, but this pan did a great job of browning without getting too brown. As far as pie plates go, this one performs very well. It is also easy to clean because of the nonstick coating. It can go in the dishwasher, but cleaned quickly and easily by hand. One issue with this pan is that it says not to cut anything in the pan itself. We used a nylon pie server to cut and the pan had no damage, although the slice was not as perfect as the ones cut with a knife.
This pie plate was the heaviest of the bunch at almost 3 pounds, but also one of the prettiest. It is Le Creuset stoneware and is able to withstand temperatures of 500 degrees F and broiling — something none of the other pie plates could do. This pan has a fluted edge that also serves as a guide for fluting your pie. While this pan also claims to be 9-inches, the actual interior is 8 inches and it is 2 inches deep. This size makes for a smaller, thicker final product. The crust was beautifully and evenly browned in both tests. Because of the high sides, getting a clean slice out was a bit more challenging and the back crust wanted to separate from the pie once removed. What we like most about this pie dish is its versatility in temperature. If you only bake the occasional pie but need a baking dish to makes gratins, ratatouille, or small casseroles, this is the pie dish.
