Small Wire Rack

A wire rack is certainly useful for letting cookies, loaves of bread, and cakes cool. But when set inside a rimmed baking sheet, a wire rack becomes the perfect surface for holding breaded foods before and after frying, for roasting or broiling meat, and for glazing and decorating showstopping confections such as Chocolate-Almond Coconut Cake. After recently naming the Nordic Ware Naturals Quarter Sheet our favorite small rimmed baking sheet, we knew it deserved a wire rack to match.

In our review of full-size wire rack, the Checkered Chef Cooling Rack received our highest recommendation for its stability and durable construction. Could we recommend the smaller version as well? To find out, we tested the Checkered Chef Quarter Sheet Cooling/Baking Rack, checking how well it fit inside our favorite small rimmed baking sheet and using it as a wire rack for cookies and to elevate sticky glazed spareribs to ensure good airflow as they roasted.

The small wire rack proved to be stable. It easily held more than a pound of pork spareribs, and testers felt comfortable maneuvering the full wire rack into and out of the oven. Neither plastic nor metal spatulas caught on the metal bars, making it easy to add just-baked cookies and remove cooled cookies (it was big enough to hold 12, a half-batch of many cookie recipes). Although there was a bit of wiggle room when it sat inside our favorite small rimmed baking sheet, this did not adversely affect its performance.

If you’re looking for a wire rack for your small rimmed baking sheet, we recommend the Checkered Chef Quarter Sheet Cooling/Baking Rack. It fits inside our favorite small rimmed baking sheet and is the perfect tool for scaled-down cooking and baking tasks.