Why Everyone Is Obsessed With The Always Pan

Shopping for kitchen items like pots and pans may not be your idea of fun. But when you're looking to update your kitchen gear, these tools are a must. Having a versatile frying pan, also called a skillet or sauté pan, is something every cook should have in their kitchen. But even for the most experienced cooks, it can be tough to know where to begin and what's worth the price tag. These are our picks for the best frying pans for various stove tops, family sizes, and budgets.

Our top picks

How we chose these products

Picking out a frying pan—which you can use to shallow fry, sauté, pan fry, steam, and so much more—is personal. You have to consider how you'll be using it, storing it, and cleaning it. So we reached out to chefs, restauranteurs, and other culinary professionals about their favorite frying pans to use at home. We also included some of the internet's most well-loved and raved-about pans. This list consists of a wide variety of responses with pan recommendations of different materials, sizes, and uses. They cover different budgets so at-home cooks of all levels can find one on this list.

Want more kitchen help? Check out our recommendations for air fryers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, blenders, and electric kettles. Or check out our cookware and gadgets page for all of our recs on appliances, tools, and products you should have in your kitchen.

Misen

Amazon

$65.00

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All the frying pans on this list are great, but the Misen Nonstick Frying Pan takes the top spot. At 10-inches, it's a big size, but not so massive it's hard to store. The nonstick coating makes it easy for all cooks to use. "It is attractive looking and sooo easy to clean," cookbook author and culinary television personality Jason Goldstein said. "Food always cooks evenly and slides right onto the plate."

Our Place

Our Place

$115.00

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The super-viral Always Pan is a nonstick frying pan but that's just the start of it. This one item can replace up to eight traditional pieces of cookware and can be used to fry, braise, sear, steam, strain, and boil.

Caraway

Amazon

$95.00

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Another brand with a cult following, Caraway makes a fry pan that comes in six bright colors and uses a ceramic non-stick design. Caraway also offers the ability to choose your own cookware set depending on your needs so you don't have to splurge on a set full of items you won't necessarily use.

JB Prince

$26.00

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If you want something the professionals use, try the De Buyer French Steel Frying Pan. "They are heavy duty and work great for searing skin on fish and meat, as well as getting a great char on vegetables," Andy Long, culinary director of Georgia-based Maven Restaurant Group, said. He uses them in all their restaurants. "They’ll last a lifetime if you take care of it."

staub

Food52

$79.99

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This small, but mighty Staub Mini Cast Iron Fry Pan has durability from its cast-iron construction with wxtra strength and fun with an enamel base (it comes in several fun colors!). "[It] goes from stovetop to oven seamlessly," nutritionist and cookbook author Mia Rigden said. "Eggs are my absolute favorite way to use my Staub frying pan."

Made In Cookware

$69.00

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The Blue Carbon Steel Frying Pan is Ji Hye Kim's go-to pan for everything from a delicate gyeran mari (Korean egg omelets) to tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). She owns Miss Kim, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Korean restaurant. "It can take high heat and be seasoned into nonstick fairly easily and fast," she said. "The pan has good weight to it, but the handle is well-designed for the chef-y flip."

Calphalon

Amazon

$37.96

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The aluminum construction of this Calphalon pan guarantees even heating across the surface which in turn leads to even cooking. The shape of the handle is also made to keep cool even when on the stove.

Lodge

Amazon

$71.99

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Cast-iron pans may seem intimidating to cook with or take care of (check out our guide here), but once you get the hang of it, they have a lot of advantages. "These heavyweight pans don’t cool down, even when you add more food," Gocha Hawkins, owner and head chef at Gocha’s Breakfast Bar in Atlanta, said. "They are also oven and broiler safe.”

"This skillet is my go-to when cooking up some favorites from my southern and coastal Virginia heritage like crab cakes and fried chicken," Patrick Evans-Hylton, culinary educator and historian and writer for Virginia Eats And Drinks, said. "The tempered glass lid is a bonus my grandmother never had, allowing for some serious frying without all the splatter."

Le Creuset

Amazon

$124.95

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The surface on this pan is reinforced three times, making it four times stronger than typical pans. This durability also makes it safe to use with metal utensils without the worry of scratches. "Having slopped sides helps with rolling omelets and flipping fried eggs in a stylish one-handed flip," Martha Wilcox, chef de cuisine at Indianola in Houston, said. "A slick nonstick surface will certainly help with clean up, but even more importantly, help move the egg around the pan when you need to flip or fold.”

All-Clad

Amazon

$99.95

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All-Clad's frying pan is compatible with induction stoves and is a foot in diameter, making it a large surface for one-pan meals and bigger cuts of meat. The nonstick surface makes it easier to cook with less fat, and the pan itself is oven-safe. "They clean up easily and hold the heat evenly," Ryan Schmidtberger, executive chef and partner of New York City-based restaurant Hancock St. "I still have them after 20 plus years."

Cuisinart

Amazon

$39.95

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Easy-to-grip handles and a wear-resistant cooking surface make this Cuisinart piece durable and great starter pan for those who may not be experienced in the kitchen. It also holds a lot of food. "In my experience, if you’re making at least a pound of pasta, you really need a big friggin pan," Rossella Rago, author of Cooking With Nonna, said." I love this 14-inch skillet because there’s enough surface area for the sauces to coat the pasta evenly without any spillover.”

T-fal

Amazon

$43.05

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Perhaps one of the best basic frying pans out there, T-Fal makes dishwasher-safe pieces that won't break the bank. The red spot in the center of the cooking surface turns a solid red color when the pan is preheated and ready for ingredients to be added in—no guesswork involved!

Ailwyn

Amazon

$49.99

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The deep walls of this pan make it ideal for one-pan meals or recipes requiring more ingredients at once. The lid and handle is heat-resistant and compatible with a stove types.

Mueller Austria

Amazon

$37.99

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Stainless steel kitchen items look so sleek and Mueller pairs function with aesthetics. It is oven safe to 500°F without lid, or 350°F with lid, so you can go from cooking eggs in the morning to searing steaks for dinner.