• steve
• December 7, 2022
• 6 Comments

Recap of our cookware reviews

In a separate article I wrote about the state of the cookware industry. A dizzying number of once-iconic American brands have breathlessly thrown all of their manufacturing to China, but a handful of brands like All-Clad and Le Creuset maintained just a little pride by keeping their manufacturing (and their intellectual property) local. The next time you’re in the market for pots and pans, make sure to reward them, even if it costs you a little more out of pocket–you’ll find that your investment pays itself off many times over in years to come.

How about bakeware?

As you can guess, a search for “baking pan not made in China” on Amazon will bring up a bunch of garbage. Many once-iconic American brands have gone all in on China, including Wilton, Oneida, and Nutrichef. And don’t get me started on Rachael Ray, Cuisinart, and Amazon Basics, who have single-handedly built up China’s growing dominance in bakeware, paving the way for the dumpster fire of nonsense China brands like NARCE, PERLLI, ELBEE, S-KITCHN, and so on.

But happily, certain brands are staying strong. Here are my favorites. In some cases I’ll highlight an all-in-one-set and in others individual pieces. But of course once you find a brand you love you can purchase different kinds of individual pieces from them as well–pie plates, cookie sheets, cake pans, muffin trays, springform pans, etc. Of course you will never find these in an Amazon search–Amazon does a nice job in hiding anything that’s not made in China.

Best Bakeware Not Made in China – Quick Ranking

1. USA Pan 6-Piece Set

USA Pan is the hands-down favorite of Wirecutter. In their most recent rundown of the best cake pans, they identified this 9 inch cake pan, this 9×13 rectangular cake pan, and this 1.25 lb loaf pan as their all-around best picks.

I personally became a fan of USA Pan when I purchased this Hot Dog Pan from King Arthur Flour. The rolls I bake with this thing are so amazingly delicious that every time I bake them, they disappear before I can even unwrap the hot dogs.

USA Pans are solidly built with heavy gauge aluminized steel. The pans are uniquely made with textured surfaces that promotes air circulation, helping your baked goods cook evenly and making them a snap to take out of the pan.

I lost count of how many cookie sheets and baking pans I had to throw away because of rust and corrosion. These will last you forever. If you can afford it, get a set of multiple pans like the one pictured with cookie sheets, loaf pans, muffin pans, and cake pans.

USA Pan was founded in 1959 by John Bundy Sr. and Russell T. Bundy, and continues to be family-owned and operated today and made in the USA. They’re the largest industrial bakeware producer in the world, which explains why they were able to keep out of China–professionals will pay higher prices for higher quality, and those margins are what keep USA Pan going. As with other brands, they could probably make money hand over fist by trading in their name and their intellectual property for a quick cash out. But they’re not, and that means there should be only one cake pan company on your list.

You can buy USA Pan products from Amazon or from USA Pan directly. They also manufacture products for the Sur La Table brand.

2. Nordic Ware Bakeware

Nordic Ware’s Naturals Aluminum Baker’s Half Sheet was named the best baking sheet by Wirecutter in 2013 and it’s remained on the top of their list ever since. Like USA Pan, Nordic Ware has been around since 1946. It’s the most popular set of bakeware across most serious cooks I know. Most recently, I sighted one in this lobster tail recipe (which is a pretty great one).

They haven’t escaped the China trap–for example, most of their “non-iconic” products like their cooling racks, springform pans, and kitchenware accessories appear to be all made in China. But to their credit, they are fully transparent about this on their Web site. Their cookware appears to be a hybrid where the handles are made in China while the cooking surface itself is made in America.

But I’m happy to say that all of the bakeware I researched was indeed made in the USA, out of their manufacturing plant in Minneapolis. This includes the cookie sheet / baker’s sheet that Wirecutter loves so much, as well as their iconic Bundt pans.

3. 360 Cookware Stainless Steel Sets

We’ve talked about 360 Cookware, but this excellent company also sells bakeware, including cookie sheets, loaf pans, cake pans, pie pans, and baking and roasting pans, all made in the USA out of their factory in West Bend, WIsconsin. They also sell smaller kitchen accessories you wouldn’t expect to find made in the USA such as measuring spoons and cookie cutters. You can also find sets like the 5-piece bakeware set pictured.

360 Cookware is impressive in the level of transparency not just about where they’re made, but where their raw materials are sourced from. As you can see on this page, one seemingly simple product like this quart pan may require raw materials from multiple sources. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that some materials have to come from China, but you can see how carefully 360 Cookware tries to source from the United States and free countries like South Korea before going to materials from China (such as handles).

4. Emile Henry Bakeware

Do you aspire to be a French pastry chef? Then why not go with Emile Henry, which has been making cookware and bakeware products out of Marcigny, a small town in the province of Burgundry, France, since 1850?

When most of us in the US think of French cookware, we probably think of Le Creuset first. But while Le Creuset has kept its famous Dutch Oven made in France for years, it has gone to China for all of its Bakeware, both nonstick metal bakeware and stoneware.

Emile Henry, on the other hand, continues to make all of its ceramic products in France, using the same Burgundy clay they’ve used for over a century. I would probably steer clear of products that aren’t made of ceramic that don’t disclose country of origin on their site. But anything that’s made of ceramic will be from France, from this beautiful pie dish to this bread loaf baker to baking dishes that you can find rectangular, square, or oval. You can shop Emile Henry products directly on their site or at retailers like Amazon or Sur La Table.

5. Made In Bakeware

I highlighted Made in in the article on best cookware not made in China. I was happy to find that they carry bakeware too.

Made In has an interesting history. It started less than 10 years ago and has since become the favorite of professional kitchens and top chefs everywhere. In many ways, I think the race of other cookware and bakeware brands to China is what made them so successful. While lowest-bidder China contractors were churning out products destined for landfills after a few users, Made In was providing restaurant-quality products to home cooks.

What I love about Made In’s Web site is that in MOST cases they talk about the product’s country of origin in their product copy. For example, this 3-Piece Bakeware Set is made in France, as is this pie dish. This rolling pin and this wooden spoon are made in Hungary.

There are some product listings that fail to tell you where they’re made (somewhat ironic given their name). But in many cases you can search their reviews for the word “China” and customers will tell you, as in the case of this roasting pan.

Then again, there are cases where neither the product page nor the reviews mention the country of origin. As you can guess, those are most likely made in China and are to be avoided.

I’d strongly suggest buying on Made In’s site directly, but if you prefer you can find them at Amazon as well.

6. Anchor Hocking Glass Bakeware

If you prefer glass bakeware, Anchor Hocking has been making its glassware in the USA since 1905. There are really two names in glass bakeware: Anchor Hocking and Pyrex. Both are excellent and storied US brands, both produce excellent quality products, and both as far as I can tell are still made in the USA.

But if I had to choose between the two, I’d choose Anchor Hocking first. Why? Because on Anchor Hocking’s Web site they unabashedly talk about how proud they are to be American Owned and Made (they have factories in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and New York).

As has become the norm, they do produce a relatively small number of products out of China, but I also appreciate on their Amazon listings how they clearly put MADE IN THE USA on every product listing with a USA-made product so you can find them quickly.

Their highest rated products include this 11-inch by 9-inch 3-quart baking dish, this 8-inch square baking dish, and this value pack of 2 baking dishes, a 2-quart and a 3-quart one. All of them are made of tempered glass which is safe in the microwave, oven, refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher. They come with 5-year warranty. My personal favorite is that 15 piece set pictured above.

7. Pyrex Bakeware

I’m including Pyrex only because of its storied history. The Pyrex consumer brand used to be part of Corning Glass in the early 1900s and invented glass bakeware, starting with borosilicate glass, and later expanding to soda-lime glass and other materials

Sadly, on Pyrex’s site, it seems next to impossible to find any information about the Pyrex brand, much less see anything about where Pyrex is made. I had to dig on other sites to even find this information, and it does appear that Pyrex glass is still made in Charleroi, PA.

Corning sold this business to Borden in 1998. They changed their name to World Kitchen in 2000, went bankrupt, and were under private ownership for a while. In 2018 they rebranded as “Corelle Brands”, and then in 2019 they merged with the company that made Instant Pot to form “Instant Brands”. Sadly, most of their brands, including Instant Pot, CorningWare, and Chicago Cutlery, are made in China. Let’s hope that the new parent company continues to support its employees in Charleroi.

It’s a little less straightforward to find the country of origin on Amazon compared to Anchor Hocking’s pages, but you can generally scroll down on any product you like to the Product Information table, where hopefully you’ll see “Country of Origin: USA”

Among their most highly rated products are this 2-quart Casserole Dish with Lid, this 9×13 inch Baking Dish, this 3-quart Baking Dish, this value pack of two baking dishes, and another 3-quart baking dish.

Do you know of other bakeware not made in China worthy of mention here? Let us know in the comments!