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Today in “Is the hype worth it?,” I’m reviewing Caraway cookware and bakeware. If your social media feed is like mine, then these stylish pans, which come in an array of colors, keep popping up. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, the other main draw of this direct-to-consumer brand is the claim that its nonstick cookware is non-toxic. While Caraway has branched out into stainless steel and enameled cast iron, it started out with — and is best known for — ceramic-coated nonstick cookware.

Sounds great! I’m all for healthier choices. But is Caraway really non-toxic? How do these popular pans perform and hold up? And are they worth the price?

I tried the square grill pan, stir fry pan, and the baking sheet duo. Before we dive in, please note that I’ve used these items for about two months. That’s not really enough time to answer some of the questions above. So, I’ll be updating this post over time.

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Caraway gave these products to me and this post contains affiliate links. As always, I decide what to write about and all opinions are my own.

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First Impressions

Not going to lie, I’m taken by the look of Caraway. The pans are pretty and at this writing, come in eight colors. I chose marigold because I love yellow for the kitchen and thought it’d look nice with my vintage Dansk Købenstyle enamel pot.

When my order arrived, I was surprised by how big the boxes were. Each item was packed in a sturdy box with cardboard holding the item in place. I appreciate the well-thought-out packaging, especially the lack of styrofoam or plastic bags. My first impressions: This cookware feels substantial and high-quality. The pans are well-balanced and the construction seems solid.

 

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Rules for Using Ceramic-Coated Cookware

Caraway’s nonstick cookware works with gas, electric, and induction stovetops. They’re not for the broiler, but they’re oven-safe up to 550°F. (I’ve never needed to cook anything at such a high temperature, though.)

Ceramic-coated cookware requires a bit of babying compared to other cookware. Here are some rules to prolong its longevity:

• Don’t use metal utensils, which could scratch the coating. Opt for silicone or wooden utensils. (Nylon’s also an option, but I’ve personally phased out plastic utensils.)
• Don’t cook on high heat, which can cause the coating to degrade and crack. This is a low to medium heat situation.
• Let the pan heat up for about 90 seconds before adding oil. Because the surface is nonstick, you only need a bit of oil to lightly coat the pan. Caraway says 1 to 2 tablespoons, but I use even less than that.
• Wait for your pan to cool before putting it in water or washing it to avoid thermal shock
• Don’t put these pans in the dishwasher. Hand wash.

Alright, now that we know the rules, let’s take a look at each product.

Square Grill Pan

If you want to get that grilled look but don’t have a grill, then the square grill pan will add lines to your food. Does it work? Yes. Behold, my fish burgers, now with lines.

Also, wow, that surface is legit nonstick, so much so that when I was attempting to flip these burgers, I ended up chasing them around the pan with my silicone spatula because they were gliding all over the place.

What I appreciated most about this pan is its ample surface area. (I don’t actually care either way if my food has grill lines.) At 11 by 11 inches it can fit four tortillas on it at once. Making quesadillas has never been more efficient.

If you want the surface area but don’t care for the grill lines, Caraway’s square griddle pan is another option and more versatile as you can also make pancakes on it.

Stir Fry Pan

With its wok-like shape the stir fry pan is marketed as an all-purpose pan whose “high-sloped walls allow you to spread food and concentrate heat onto different ingredients.” Some things I’ve cooked in this pan: a spiced tofu dish, pasta puttanesca, fried rice.

But none of those benefit from a nonstick surface. In fact, the more I think about it, I’m not sure what the use case for this pan is. I don’t think it’s well-suited for proper stir frying. Traditionally, stir frying happens in a wok over high heat. The shape as well as material (usually a thin metal like carbon steel) “enables rapid, dynamic movement of food through different zones of heat,” according to this overview at Serious Eats co-written by Tim Chin and J. Kenji López-Alt.

But as we learned, high heat is a no-no with ceramic-coated cookware. Plus this pan is too thick and heavy for stir frying action. At 3.2 pounds, it’s hard for me to move it with one hand when it’s full of food.

What do I find myself mostly using this pan for? Frying or scrambling eggs. But I could do that in a fry pan, which weighs less and takes up less room.

Baking Sheet Duo

Caraway also offers nonstick bakeware, including baking sheets that come in three sizes: small (13″ x 9″), medium (15″ x 10″), and large (19″ x 13). The large is quite large, bigger than any other baking sheet I’ve ever tried. Six chicken thighs easily fit with room to spare when I made my fake fried chicken.

These chicken thighs slid right off the baking sheet. Same with the potatoes I roasted on the medium baking sheet. Cleanup was also easy and took hardly any time.

Pros and Cons of Caraway Nonstick Cookware and Bakeware

After using these products for a couple months, here’s a summary of my pros and cons when it comes to performance:

Pros

• Very non-stick. Food slides right off.
• Uses less oil.
• Pans heat up evenly and cooks food evenly.
• Easy to clean. No scrubbing necessary. Even though they’re not dishwasher safe, I don’t mind handwashing because of how easy and quick it is to wash them.

Cons

• Heavy. If you have arthritis or prefer lightweight cookware, these are not for you.
• The stainless steel handles get hot closer to the pan body. (There’s a helpful bump at the bottom of the handle to indicate where it might start getting hot.)
• While cleaning the pan itself is quick, you have to wait for the pan to cool down before washing, which takes a while. I like to clean up right after eating, but in the time it takes me to eat, the Caraway pan is still not completely cool. This is not as much of an issue with the baking sheets.
• The exterior scratches, chips, and stains easily. (Caraway provides a magic eraser to clean the latter.)

After one use, I noticed the large baking sheet already had a chip! But looking back at my photo with the chicken above, maybe it was like that from the start? Or maybe it chipped when I stored it?

But I know for sure the stir fry pan did not have any scratches initially. And now, it does.

How Long Does Caraway Last?

This begs the question: how long will these products last? All nonstick cookware will eventually wear out, usually in a few years. Unfortunately, it’s kind of a disposable product in that way. A few years ago, I bought a GreenPan (from one of its cheaper lines, similar to this). It only lasted about a year or so before losing its nonstickiness.

On Reddit, people report a wide range of lifespans with their Caraway, from four months to four years, so it’s hard to draw a conclusion, especially without knowing how people handle their cookware or how often they use it. If these wear out in a year, as many people report, then it’s a pricey proposition to replace them. As I continue to use these, I’ll report back.

Is Ceramic-Coated Cookware Really Non-Toxic?

I thought this was going to be a quick review, but when I looked into the question of toxicity and ceramic-coated cookware, well, it got complicated — and this post got much longer. Caraway’s nonstick pans are made of aluminum with stainless steel bottoms and handles and a ceramic coating — not Teflon — to achieve a nonstick surface. Up until 2014, Teflon was made with perfluorooctonoic acid (PFOA), which has been linked to cancer. These days Teflon is made with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is touted as safer, but its safety is questionable. (If your Teflon cookware is scratched, throw them out.)

Enter ceramic-coated cookware, which is marketed as a non-toxic alternative. It’s essentially made of silicon dioxide (that’s the fancy term for sand) and other metal oxides, not PTFE or any other PFAS (a.k.a. “forever chemicals). The coating is applied as a liquid and cured in a process called sol-gel. From what I’ve read, ceramic-coated cookware is inert — meaning it won’t leach chemicals.

Caraway doesn’t disclose what exactly is in its coating, but advertises its cookware as free of any toxic materials, such as PTFE, PFOA, PFAS, and heavy metals. However terms like “toxic-free,” “non-toxic,” and “eco-friendly” aren’t regulated by government agencies, so claims are hard to substantiate. Consumer Reports tested several non-stick pans and found that one product that claimed to be PFOA-free was not. And in 2021, Tamara Rubin of Lead Safe Mama tested a Caraway pan and found evidence of 20 metals including trace lead and cadmium.

Testing of Caraway Products For Safety

Using XRF testing, Rubin reported that the level of lead she found seemed to indicate that it was in the aluminum, which is “not unusual to find, especially with recycled aluminum products.”

Are these trace metals harmful? Caraway uses a third-party lab to conduct tests, but I couldn’t find the tests on its website. I eventually found this 2019 leaching report and this 2020 report via My Chemical Free House and LeafScore, respectively. The tests don’t look at whether there are traces of heavy metals, but does evaluate whether the products pass FDA and EU regulations for leachable heavy metals and forever chemicals, which they do. So, even if there are trace metals in the inner layers of the pan, they don’t transfer to food.

Still, Rubin has concerns about ceramic-coated cookware in general as they haven’t been studied for long-term health impacts. “That is not to say they are definitely harming you, but for me, the science is not yet settled as to whether or not they are definitely safe as a long-term cookware piece for your family.” She personally avoids any nonstick cookware (among many other types of cookware and brands, which she lists here.)

After reading the LeafScore article, which looks into testing, ethical production, and greenwashing (which LeafScore says Caraway is at risk of), I agree with their conclusion that “As things stand, there’s no evidence that Caraway cookware will leach toxic heavy metals into food. In fact, there’s robust evidence that the ceramic coating doesn’t leach heavy metals and doesn’t contain lead or cadmium. For us, certified laboratory testing carries greater weight than handheld XRF testing of used cookware by one (albeit well-intentioned and well-regarded!) researcher.”

Personally, I feel fairly comfortable using these Caraway products, though I don’t use them as my everyday cookware (more on that below). I’m glad that Caraway sent these items to me for review, because it got me questioning the safety of other items in my kitchen.

I threw out some old bakeware from Ikea. In trying not to be wasteful, I had been using them even though they were beat up and scratched. What I did not realize (and was horrified to learn on Reddit) was that those baking sheets had a nonstick coating, most likely Teflon. Have I been poisoning myself?! Now I’m trying to learn what’s in this marble coated Korean nonstick pan, which I use on occasion.

Final Thoughts (for now) on Caraway Cookware

For me, the Caraway products are a nice addition, but not core to my cooking life. I don’t consider them general purpose cookware. For most of my cooking, I use cast iron, stainless steel, or carbon steel. If you like browning or searing your food (which I do), these will give you better results than nonstick.

If you feel comfortable using nonstick, Caraway is a decent choice. Even though the company’s marketing might be overstating how eco-friendly it is, it does seem like the founder cares about non-toxic cooking. (Unlike Caraway, many brands don’t share their testing results.) The most useful item, I think, is the fry pan. I’m also impressed by the ease of using the baking sheets.

However, there are probably other less pricey decent choices out there. Whether Caraway is worth it to me depends on how long it lasts. Time will tell.

But the safest, most environmentally-friendly option is to ditch nonstick all together. With the right technique and use, stainless, cast iron, and carbon steel can be nearly nonstick. They’re not coated with anything. And they’ll last a lot longer.