5 Best Roasting Pans, Tested by Food Network Kitchen
We roasted our way through multiple pans to find which will guarantee you success Thanksgiving Day and beyond!
Our Top Roasting Pan Picks
- Best Overall: Anolon Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel Rectangular Roaster with Nonstick Rack
- Best Budget Buy: Cuisinart MultiClad Pro Stainless Roaster with Rack
- Best Nonstick: GreenPan Padova Reserve Ceramic Nonstick Roasting Pan
- Most Versatile: Five Two Essential Roasting Pan and Rack
- Best Splurge: All-Clad Stainless-Steel Flared Roasting Pan
With so many roasting pan designs out there, picking one with the right material, size, and height or sloped sides can be the difference between crispy turkey skin or a rubbery bird. And if this is a piece of cookware you only use once a year, price is also something to take into consideration. We tested 12 well-reviewed roasting pans to find the very best ones for roasting whole birds and beyond.
We updated this guide in May 2021 with two new top-performing roasting pans. We still love many picks from our original test. Read on for our list of current favorites.
Stevie Stewart
What Consider Before Buying a Roasting Pan
Material: Most of the best roasting pans we tested were made of three-ply construction (stainless steel with an aluminum interior core), which allows for even heat distribution. We did find one nonstick option that was up to our testing standards, if you swear by nonstick cookware.
Size: Overall, we found that our favorite roasters were on the larger side, so they could hold turkeys big enough to feed a crowd and fit over two burners for easy gravy-making and searing.
Rack Included: All of our favorite pans also came with a rack, which we found was essential to making a roasting pan truly versatile.
Weight: In addition to how the roasting pan cooks, we also considered how much the pans weigh. Roasting pans are most commonly used to cook large quantities of food, so we wanted a pan that was not too heavy to begin with, since it would become unwieldy with the added weight of food.
Handles: Size and height of the handles also came into play when choosing our favorites. We found handles that were taller in height made it easier to maneuver with a gloved or towel-covered hand.
Stevie Stewart
How We Tested
Part 1: Intake
First we considered the size and weight of each pan to ensure our top picks would fit a sizable turkey and wouldn't be too heavy to lift out of the oven when full. Next we looked for any user manual or guides with the pans that would give instructions on how to clean the pan and information on cooking temperature limits. We washed the pans and then got to cooking.
Part 2: Cooking
We roasted 5- to 6-pound chickens with root vegetables to see which pan produced crispy, evenly browned chicken along with succulent, caramelized vegetables. The nonstick pans we tested made the veggies too brown (verging on burnt), so we eliminated those from our choices. We then determined which pans were easiest to pull in and out from the oven using kitchen towels. Next, we boiled water in the pans over two burners to see how evenly pans heated and how evenly the heat was distributed. We poured the water from the pans to see how comfortable it felt to drain the pan, as well as how cleanly the liquid poured from the pan.
Part 3: Cleaning
Lastly, we cleaned each pan by hand to see how easy or difficult it was to remove cooked-on food. We do not recommend dishwashing any of these roasting pans.
This pan is as pretty as it is functional. Its exterior is a beautiful, shiny stainless steel, and it comes with a nonstick rack. The rack is what put this pan on the top of our list. You get the fantastic cooking capacity with triple-ply construction, and you benefit from a nonstick rack that makes it easy to cleanly remove roasted meats without tearing skin. Plus, it makes for easier cleanup. The inside of the pan contains a channel along the edge that helps to keep excess fat from pooling under the meat while cooking. The channel may require a bit more stirring if making a sauce on the stove, but we felt this was a small consolation since most of the cooking would take place in an oven. The handles were comfortable and the cleanup was a breeze. This pan is also dishwasher safe and comes with a lifetime limited warranty.
This pan was a very close runner-up to the Anolon. It's made with the triple-ply construction as well, and our chicken and vegetables were cooked evenly, and cleanup was a cinch. The surface of the pan is completely flat, so it would be ideal for making pan sauces, as it provides for an even cooking surface. Based on aesthetics, you wouldn't know this pan was among the lower-priced pans on our list. This was also one of the larger pans we had, making it ideal for those serving larger crowds.
GreenPan is known for its nonstick cookware performance, and this roasting pan is no exception. The pan is coated with a ceramic non-stick coating that is free of PFAs, PFOA, lead and cadmium, and won’t release toxic fumes, even if it’s accidentally overheated. The body of the pan is hard-anodized, which means that it’s built for durability and to resist scratching. Our roast chicken easily released from the pan, and came out extra-juicy, evenly browned and crisp. Ditto that for the vegetables, which were cooked through. We’re also fans of the design, which boasts a matte black finish with elegant gold handles. This pan has some heft — clocking in at almost 8 pounds — but it still feels comfortable to maneuver. It also comes with a V-shaped rack, which helps cradle roasts like turkey or chicken and promote even browning and crisping.
The pan and rack are oven and broiler safe up to 600 degrees. The pan is dishwasher safe, but it washes up like a dream in warm, soapy water by hand, too. There was no residue or stuck-on food to scrub away, so no soaking was required. The pan’s performance is also backed by a limited lifetime warranty, making it a worthy investment.
This durable roasting pan scores high marks for both performance and design. It’s made with three layers of stainless-steel and a highly conductive aluminum core that promotes even heating. We found that the pan lived up to its no hot-spots promise during the water test. After the cook test, we found that the chicken was cooked through and the vegetables evenly roasted. The low angled walls are designed to promote crisping, and our testing yielded a roasted chicken with skin so crisp that it crackled audibly when we inserted an instant-read thermometer. The 360-degree pouring rim means you can tilt the pan from any angle to easily save drippings or pour gravy.
We love the just-right-weight feel of the pan, which offers heft while still being comfortable to pick up, carry and maneuver in the sink during clean-up. The pan is fully clad which means that the vertical handles are welded on for security and stability. This pan also wins points for the accompanying flat, multi-purpose rack. It gives roasts, bacon or spatchcocked chicken a lift to ensure all-around crisping and browning, and doubles as a trivet or as a cooling rack for baked goods.
The pan and rack are broiler safe up to 600 degrees and the pan is suitable for a variety of cooktops, including induction. The pan is dishwasher safe, but as with most cookware, handwashing is recommended to extend the life of the pan. After we roasted the chicken and vegetables, we found that some pieces of food had stuck. To get rid of build-up, we had success following the manufacturer care recommendation: fill a pan with hot, soapy water, let it sit on a dry surface, and scrub the pan with the soft side of a sponge.
If you want to treat yourself to a little luxury, the All-Clad pan is for you. The pan was the priciest on our list, but it also produced the crispiest, most even chicken skin of all the pans we tested. The flared sides of the pan allow for more steam to escape and for a larger surface area of the food to be exposed to oven heat. The pan comes equipped with a rack and can hold up to a 20-pound turkey. It was also a lighter pan of the group, weighing only 5 pounds, 4 ounces. The pan can withstand heat up to 600 degrees and comes with a lifetime warranty.
