Best Sheet Pans: See What Pro Cooks Thought After Trying 19 Pans

By Lisa Kaminski and Shannon Norris

Taste of Home's Editorial Process

Updated on Sep. 30, 2024

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TASTE OF HOME

Sheet pans—even the best sheet pans—don’t get the hype they deserve. No, they’re not as flashy as a candy-colored stand mixer and they don’t have the same cache as an espresso machine, but odds are you reach for these pans just as often.

From easy sheet pan dinners to chewy batches of cookies, a good sheet pan is key to getting crispy veggies and golden-brown baked goods. The best sheet pans should help your recipes bake evenly, clean up easily, retain their shape and—most importantly—hold up to repeated use.

Many folks don’t put a lot of thought into the pans they buy (after all, they look a lot alike), but our Test Kitchen team is here to tell you to be choosy when picking your pans!

Shop on Oxo

Shop on Oxo

This brand is a perennial favorite in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen. OXO products perform consistently and at an affordable price (you can see that in our mandoline slicer and frying pan tests, just to name a few). And the brand does it again with its OXO Non-Stick Pro Sheet Pans.

Recipe after recipe, these OXO sheet pans delivered even browning. Everything from roasted veggies to buttermilk biscuits to sheet pan suppers came out of the oven golden and crisp. The textured surface of the pan has something to do with that success. It allows air to flow under the food so it can brown on all sides.

This pan did particularly well with our roasted chicken test. The bird came out of the oven crispy and there were plenty of deep amber drippings to use in a sauce to top it all off.

Now, while the texture of these pans does help food to crisp up and cook evenly, it also means that you may need to be a bit more diligent while washing. These pans are nonstick, but this pattern means they’ll need more than a quick wipe down.

Overall, though, Shannon Norris in the Test Kitchen says, “These are a really solid option and perform just as well, if not better than similar more expensive pans.”

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Shop on Sur la Table

Shop on Sur la Table

While nonstick finishes are popular (and helpful), Nordic Ware Naturals Pans prove that you don’t need those extras to be called one of the best sheet pans by our Test Kitchen.

These pans are advertised as being commercial grade, and our team found that they perform that way. After months of use in the Test Kitchen, these pans work as well as day one.

That means batch after batch of roasted Brussels sprouts and oven fries came out crisp and evenly browned; pork tenderloin was cooked to perfection with lovely caramelization.

What our team didn’t expect, though, was how well this pan works with cookies. Even without a layer of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, cookies came away from the baking sheet easily, according to Shannon.

Of course, after heavy use—particularly with messier recipes—these pans do need a good cleaning. Scrubbing away grease or burnt-on bits is trickier without a nonstick coating. The good news, though, is that these pans can go in the dishwasher. It’s worth noting that the pans may discolor after going in the dishwasher, but this is purely cosmetic. The pans are still reliable and safe to use. In fact, you may find yourself using the same Nordic Ware Naturals pans for years to come—our team has some in rotation in the Test Kitchen from five years ago!

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Shop on Caraway Home

Shop on Caraway Home

You may know the name Caraway from the brand’s wildly popular line of ceramic-coated cookware. It’s now expanded into the world of bakeware, and the Caraway Baking Sheet is one of our Test Kitchen’s favorites.

Caraway is well known for its color selection. These baking sheets are available in nine different colorways including a sunny marigold, warm cream and soothing sage. Who doesn’t want their go-to pieces of kitchen gear to also be pretty?

But these baking sheets are about more than just looks; they also perform exceptionally well. In the Test Kitchen’s cookie test, cutout cookies came out of the oven evenly baked with golden brown edges. Shannon says there’s a lot to love here. “I like that I could also fit in a few extra cookies,” Shannon says. Caraway’s pans are a bit bigger than the standard half- of quarter-sheet which is great when you’re making big batches of everyone’s favorite treats.

Additionally, our Test Kitchen’s savory recipes also worked on this pan. Shannon explains that chicken roasted up exceptionally well with plenty of caramelized drippings to make homemade gravy. Yes, the pan may buckle at these higher temps needed for roasting , but they do flex back into shape quickly after cooling, according to Shannon.

Another bonus: Caraway bakeware is oven safe to 550ºF, so you can really work on getting tonight’s sheet pan chicken dinner crispy and caramelized.

According to Shannon, “These pans are stylish without sacrificing performance.”

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Shop on Le Creuset

Shop on Le Creuset

It’s not often you see sheet pans made of carbon steel; aluminum is de rigueur. However, the Le Creuset Sheet Pan proves that buying outside the box has its merits.

At first blush, you can tell this pan from reader-favorite brand Le Creuset is different. Unlike others, it’s a dark gray—almost black. Often times dark-colored pans require modifications in temperature or time, but Shannon says not so fast!

“I didn’t make any modifications to our tests,” explains Shannon. Despite some worries, recipe after recipe came out as expected—if not better.

“The cookies came out way better than I expected,” she says. “I made perfectly golden brown and crisp cookies at the suggested temperature and suggested time; no sticking, easy clean up.” Shannon explains that even without parchment, the cookies slid right off the pan and even the burnt-on sugar from decorating was wiped away with a sponge.

As for roasting savory dishes, this pan cooked everything evenly and caramelized everything from veggies to chicken with ease. After making lunch for our Test Kitchen team, Shannon says, “There was no scorching or burning and this pan produced some of the best caramelized flavors.” She goes on: “It had the easiest cleanup—like it wasn’t even used once I wiped it off with a little soapy water.”

Of course, this performance does come at a price. Le Creuset’s sheet pans are on the more expensive end of the spectrum and do need a little care: handwashing and no metal utensils. Overall, though, Shannon says that this is the one she’d like to have in her kitchen at home.

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Shop on Amazon

Shop on Amazon

For many, one pan can do it all, but if you want variety in the sizes of sheets you pop in your oven, you cannot beat USA Pan Baking Pans. This American-made cookware company offers sheet pans in five different sizes ranging from an XL sheet that takes up an entire oven rack down to mini sheets—just 9×6 inches!

With plenty of sizes to choose from, it’s easy to make sheet cakes to serve a crowd or just bake up a cookie or two from your stash of dough in the freezer.

Of course, USA Pan isn’t just about an amazing assortment. These ridged pans help promote even baking by allowing some hot air to flow under foods. That means cookies come out crisp and roasted veggies crisp up easily.

And despite the ridges on this pan, it’s very easy to clean. The nonstick silicone-based coating means that soapy water and a sponge are all you need to wipe away remnants of tonight’s dinner or melted chocolate from that batch of chocolate chip cookies.

This being said, the brand does recommend using a sheet of foil or parchment paper for particularly messy foods. Not only will it make cleaning simple but it will help to preserve that coating’s integrity and appearance. Shannon explains that using even too much oil to coat vegetables will cause the coating to discolor. That’s cosmetic, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious and pull out that roll of parchment paper.

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Sheet pans are typically made from aluminum, aluminized steel and stainless steel, each offering different cooking and baking results.

However, steel sheet pans are less effective at conducting and distributing heat evenly than aluminum.

The ideal sheet pan thickness ranges from 10 to 19 gauge. A 10-gauge pan is the thickest and most durable, perfect for roasts and meats. Thinner 19-gauge pans are best suited for lighter baking tasks like cookies or scones.

Non-stick coatings, such as PTFE or PFOA-free, prevent food from sticking, making cleanup easier. These coatings make sheet pans waterproof, noncorrosive and non-stick. However, some users may avoid these coatings due to the chemicals they can emit when heated.

Sheet pans come in five sizes: one-eighth, quarter, half, two-thirds and full sheet. The most practical sizes for home use are quarter, half and full sheets. A half sheet, for instance, holds 10 to 20 cookies and fits in most ovens, while full-size pans may be too large for standard home ovens or cabinets.

Rimmed pans are ideal for dishes with liquid, such as roasts, as they prevent drippings from spilling. Rimless pans, however, are better for recipes like cookies or biscotti that benefit from consistent air circulation.

High heat can cause sheet pans to warp, leading to uneven cooking. High-gauge pans made of aluminized steel are less prone to warping. Ensure food is evenly distributed on the pan to avoid distortion during cooking.

Many sheet pans are easy to clean, especially with a non-stick coating. Dishwasher-safe options are convenient, though some brands recommend hand washing to prevent damage. When hand-washing, soak the pan in hot water and soap, scrub with a sponge, rinse and dry thoroughly to avoid water spots.

To enhance your sheet pan’s performance, consider using parchment paper to catch crumbs and spills. Cooling racks and silicone baking mats can help protect countertops and provide an additional layer of heat resistance for your cooking space.

With over six years of experience in food writing with Taste of Home, Lisa Kaminski is a top baker with over 20,000 bakers following her Bakeable program, a digital community and baking club. She is also a well-seasoned product tester and commerce writer with experience in shopping, lifestyle and household products. With this in mind, she is well-equipped to recommend the best sheet pans.

Shannon Norris is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York City and has been compiling lists on kitchen gadgets and household products at Taste of Home since 2007. Given her experience, she is a trusted choice when selecting the best kitchenware for cooking and baking.

Alexandra Mantella, a content update editor at Taste of Home, also contributed valuable information and research when putting together our list of top picks. Previously, she assisted Bob Vila as a commerce content update editor.

We take product testing seriously here at Taste of Home. Over the course of months, our team used 18 different sheet pans to prep recipes submitted by our readers. This helped our team get a feel for the pans and how they wore over time. Then our pros put each pan through a series of standard tests to see how they compared.

Here are the trials we put the pans through:

A baking sheet is typically used for baking cookies, scones, croissants and other baked goods, and it has a shorter rim around the edges. In contrast, a sheet pan features a higher rim to prevent fluids or juices from spilling over, making it ideal for roasting or cooking items that release liquids. Both are effective for baking, but the key difference lies in the rim height and intended use.

Sheet pans are incredibly versatile tools in the kitchen. They can be used for making french fries, chocolate chip cookies, pizza, garlic bread, meats and many more tasty recipes.

Sheet pans are incredibly versatile kitchen tools. They can be used for a wide range of recipes, including french fries, chocolate chip cookies, pizza, garlic bread, meats and more.

Yes, half sheet pans are designed to fit in standard ovens. Typically, any pan smaller than 18 by 13 inches can fit comfortably inside a standard oven and can also be stored in an oven drawer or kitchen cabinet.