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Jun 06, 2025

5 Best Stainless-Steel Skillets 2025 | The Strategist

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Using a stainless-steel skillet might present a bit of a challenge — especially if you’re accustomed to using nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron — but once you master cooking with it, it’s one of the most versatile pieces of cookware you can own. The basic instructions are: Heat it first; add fat (olive oil, neutral oil, butter, ghee); let the fat heat up, too; and finally place your food on the fat in the pan. If you follow this order of operations (and practice a bit), I guarantee you’ll find the material to be fantastic. It won’t cause sticking (I personally wouldn’t make scrambled eggs in it or delicate fish without the skin, but those are rare exceptions). It has great heat distribution and retention but is still a bit more sensitive to changes than cast iron, which can be tough to cool down once you get it going. Stainless steel is solid and durable, quite easy to clean, and possible to restore if there is ever any noticeable discoloration.

To find the very best models, I talked to expert cooks, consulted my colleagues, and tested several leading brands over months (and in some cases years).

Stainless-steel pans are generally made in two different constructions — one with three layers of material (three-ply, tri-ply, or triple-ply are all commonly used terms to describe it) and one with five layers (five-ply).

All the pans below fall into one of these categories, and all have aluminum cores (great for conducting and distributing heat) sandwiched between stainless steel (not as good at conducting and distributing heat, but good at retaining it and also super durable). It’s just that the five-ply ones have additional layers of material. Supposedly, five-ply heats even more evenly than three — though in my personal experience, I haven’t found that this makes any practical difference, and I’ve found that most pros say the same. (And five-ply is usually more expensive.) Still, I’m noting it here in case this spec matters to you.

All of the pans below perform well. Beyond cost, the differences mostly come down to small details, like the overall look, the shape of the handles, the slope of the sides, and — perhaps most imperatively when comparing, the weight. For each, I’ve linked to and listed the weight for the 10-inch skillet (or the closest option available). That’s because this is a versatile size, good for cooking for anywhere between one and four people. Just note: You can find eight-inch versions for each, and 12-inch versions for most.

Construction: 3-ply | Weight: 3.5 pounds

All-Clad — as I’ve declared in all our various stories on pots and pans, cookware sets, and saucepans — is the industry-standard of stainless steel. By this I mean: If you walk into most professional restaurant kitchens, you’re likely to see their pieces being used on the line. Or, as food writer and editor Matt Rodbard once pointed out to me, they make such iconic pieces of culinary gear that “if you look through most cookbooks of the last 20 years, you’ll spot the handle.” I grew up with All-Clad in my mom’s kitchen, have some of my own now, and it’s the brand several of my Strategist colleagues (senior editors Winnie Yang and Jen Trolio, and senior writers Michael Zhao and Lauren Ro) use when it comes to stainless steel, too.

Now onto this skillet specifically: It will, as evidenced by the decades it has maintained its status, last a very long time. (Just as some evidence to this, Zhao has owned his for 13 years and it’s still going strong.) The surface heats incredibly evenly thanks to its aluminum core sandwiched between stainless steel. Whether I’m trying to char wedges of cabbage, wilt a mound of kale, get shatteringly crisp skin on chicken thighs, or shallow-fry potatoes, I’m able to achieve the temperature I want, and find consistent results across the entire surface with only a small amount of moving the pan around a burner.

The skillet is well-built. The handle is securely hinged to the outside, and has a length and angle that makes it comfortable to maneuver around the stove. It’s heavy enough to feel sturdy, so I never worry if I’m aggressively stirring pasta, for example. Still, it’s not so heavy that it’s cumbersome if I ever need to move it from stove to oven, or to the counter. The sides are elegantly sloped so that it feels natural to mix and baste, and the edge is rolled, so if you need to pour out pan sauce, you can do so neatly.

One final note: All-Clad also has a D5 stainless steel line that people often wonder if they should invest in instead. The pieces are five-ply, so they have two extra layers of metal, which means a heavier and more expensive pan. To my mind, it’s not worth it.

Construction: 5-ply | Weight: 2.25 pounds

I’ve also been using Made In’s slightly less expensive stainless steel skillet for a few years now. It works just as well as All-Clad’s. The surface heats evenly and retains that heat throughout cooking, turning out crisp-skinned fish and chicken, and cuts of steak with a perfectly golden-brown sear on the outside. The pan deglazes nicely, too. It sits sturdily on the stovetop and has a nice curve to the inside that allows me to easily stir and even flip ingredients. It weighs the same as the All-Clad, and for what it’s worth, over the last several years, I’ve seen and heard about it being used in restaurants across the country, too — which means it holds up to heavy use in a similar way. Honestly, the biggest difference beyond price is the handle. Made In’s is rounder, which I find a bit more comfortable to grip (though if you prefer one that’s even rounder, you might go with the Caraway skillet, below). In the end, All-Clad got the top spot because it’s been around longer and is so tried-and-true — but if the name etched in the side of the pan makes no difference to you, the Made In is equally good.

Construction: 3-ply | Weight: 3.7 pounds

Cuisinart’s MultiClad Pro line first came on my radar from Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang, who has had the saucepan since 2017, uses it most days of the week, puts it through the dishwasher — and says it’s still in fantastic shape. Though I’ve been using the skillet for less time than I have All-Clad’s and Made In’s, I’d enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want to spend upwards of $100 on one. I’ve used this pan to sear meat, toss pasta, brown butter, and more, all with great success.

Compared to both the All-Clad and Made-In skillets, the sides of the Cuisinart are slightly taller, with a less elegant slope. The lip isn’t as flared, and it’s about a half-pound heavier — which you can feel. While this isn’t a problem when it’s sitting on the stove, I’d be more hesitant to wrist-flip ingredients in it, and it can be slightly more cumbersome to pull off the shelf. (Though I will say the handle does have a nice curve to it.) Still, these slightly-lesser qualities are minimal, and none are deal-breakers, especially considering the fantastic price.

[Editor’s note: Cuisinart’s MultiClad Pro line is currently undergoing a model number change, which means it’s not available to buy right now. But the same exact skillet will be released again this July, and we’ll update the link as soon as it’s available.]

Construction: 3-ply | Weight: 2.3 pounds

Tramontina’s skillet is even cheaper than Cuisinart’s — and yet again, I’ve been impressed by its performance. I ordered it explicitly because I wanted to see how cheap I could go in this category (granted, from an all-around trusted brand) while still maintaining quality. At the end of the day, it works well. The food I made in it turned out evenly browned, whether quick-cooking falafel, or skin-on chicken thighs I crisped up low and slow. This also has a more rounded handle akin to the Made In’s — and like I said about that one, rivaled only by the even more rounded Caraway handle below. It’s very comfortable to grip.

The biggest downside of this skillet is that the surface seems to develop and hold onto polymerized oil more than any of the others. That’s just a fancy term for the somewhat sticky residue that can build up when fat reaches a high temperature (it looks almost yellow-ish). In my testing, this happened after the first use. I was able to scrub it off with a textured sponge and some Barkeeper’s Friend, so in the end, it really wasn’t a big deal. I usually don’t have to do this until many months into using a stainless steel skillet, after which some discoloration is inevitable.

Construction: 5-ply | Weight: 2.6 pounds

Two years ago, Caraway sent Strategist writer Katherine Gillespie a full set of their stainless steel products. Since then, she’s gotten rid of her nonstick cookware and has been using these skillets (mostly the 10.5-inch one shown here, but sometimes the 8-inch version, too) exclusively and nearly every day. She fries eggs, sautés vegetables, crisps up salmon skin, and even bakes with them in the oven, like when making a tarte tatin. “I think their stainless stuff looks way more elevated than the millennial-core nonstick cookware,” she says. As for performance, she says despite a few superficial surface scratches (something I think is inevitable with any stainless steel you use for a long time), “it still heats as evenly as it did the day I got it.”

Her favorite feature is the handle, which is thicker and more noticeably rounded than that of any others on this list — even Made In’s. She thinks it looks quite nice and is especially comfortable to hold, maneuver around, transfer from counter to stove, and stove to oven. “I do think the chunky handle gives me a bit more confidence, especially when I’m gripping with an oven glove,” she says.

• Katherine Gillespie, Strategist writer• Lauren Ro, Strategist senior writer• Matt Rodbard, food writer and editor• Jen Trolio, Strategist senior editor• Winnie Yang, Strategist senior editor• Michael Zhao, Strategist senior writer

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