The best frying pans, according to Consumer Reports

A frying pan with hot spots can leave a pancake burnt on one side and raw on the other, and a wobbly or overheating handle turns cooking into a hazard. Nonstick, cast iron, stainless steel and carbon steel all cook differently, and each comes with its own tradeoffs in weight, upkeep and heat tolerance.

Consumer Reports tested frying pans across five material types for cooking evenness, searing, durability and cleanup, so home cooks can find a pan suited to how they cook.

Credit: Caraway

The Caraway Ceramic-Coated Non-Stick sits at the premium end of this lineup and earned Consumer Reports' top pick among nonstick frying pans. CR found fried eggs slid easily out of this 10.5-inch pan one after another, crediting even heating with no hot spots, and rated the handle sturdy and cool enough to hold without a potholder. The ceramic coating held up well in CR's durability test, which involved abrading the surface with steel wool to mimic years of wear before frying eggs on the scratched pan to check how much they stuck. CR cautioned that nonstick pans generally shouldn't be used over high heat, since that kind of exposure can damage the coating over time.

Credit: Walmart

The Calphalon Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron sits at the budget end of this lineup and earned Consumer Reports' top pick among uncoated cast-iron frying pans. CR found its price hard to beat, and just one other pan scored higher overall in testing, a pricier model from Butter Pat that has since been discontinued. This 12-inch pan earned excellent marks for searing a New York strip steak, along with very good scores for cooking evenness, cornbread baking and cleanup. At 6.5 pounds it's somewhat lighter than other pans CR tested, and it comes backed by a 10-year warranty.

Credit: Amazon

The Tramontina Enameled Cast-Iron Series 1000 sits in the mid-range price tier for this lineup and earned Consumer Reports' top pick among coated cast-iron frying pans. CR found this 12-inch pan produced an excellent sear on a strip steak and turned in very good results baking cornbread, though cooking evenness came back merely mediocre, meaning doneness can vary depending on where food sits in the pan. CR did find it very easy to clean, even with eggs, cornbread and steak residue all left behind after cooking. That easy cleanup helps offset the inconsistent heating for cooks willing to work around it.

Credit: Oxo

The Oxo Stainless Steel Mira Series sits in the mid-range price tier for this lineup and earned Consumer Reports' top pick among stainless steel frying pans. CR rated cooking evenness superb on this 10-inch pan, meaning a pancake won't end up cooked through in one spot and underdone in another, and found the handle comfortable, sturdy and slow to heat up during cooking. CR also rated it fairly easy to clean, and noted it's oven-safe up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. The pan comes with a limited lifetime warranty, backing up its strong across-the-board test results.

Credit: Matfer Bourgeat U.S.A.

The Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel sits in the mid-range price tier for this lineup and earned Consumer Reports' top pick among carbon steel frying pans. CR noted that carbon steel pans handle high heat well, similar to cast iron, which makes this 10-inch pan well suited to searing, and found it considerably lighter than cast-iron pans, making it easier to move from stovetop to oven despite needing seasoning like cast iron does. CR rated its baking, cooking evenness and cleanup all very good, though the handle didn't feel as sturdy as CR would like. That lighter weight paired with strong high-heat performance makes it a solid pick for cooks who move pans between stovetop and oven often.