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See why.The Best Pie Plates
Ingredients are important, but the real secret to a perfect pie may be the dish you bake it in.
Top Picks
See Everything We Tested
What You Need To Know
It’s difficult to make a great pie without a great pie plate. Pie plates come in a variety of styles, and the differences aren’t just aesthetic—a pie plate’s material, thickness, and color all affect the final product.
The Pyrex Basics 9” Pie Plate won our last testing of pie plates; we liked its overall solid performance, its see-through bottom (for monitoring the bottom crust), and the good (if not great) browning of crusts baked in it. Since then, new and different pie plates have become available, including one made of gold-colored aluminized steel, a material that’s won several of our recent bakeware testings (13 by 9-inch baking pans, springform pans, loaf pans, square cake pans, and muffin tins) with its optimal browning capability and easy release.
It was time to retest. We selected seven widely available pie plates priced from $7.59 to $39.95: two metal, two ceramic, and three glass models, including our former winner. All were close to the standard 9 inches in diameter. To make sure they were truly versatile, we baked three pies per plate, each with a different type of crust: chocolate pudding pie with a graham cracker crust, blueberry pie with a homemade double pastry crust, and a single-crust quiche using a store-bought pastry crust.
Several days and many pies later, we concluded that while all the pie plates produced nicely cooked fillings, the quality of the crusts varied wildly. We encountered two big problems: poor crust release and pale bottom crusts.
All three glass pie plates struggled with the chocolate pudding pie’s graham cracker crust. This crust stuck to the glass, requiring extra muscle to slice and remove pie pieces. Our previous winner was especially egregious here. We had to pry the blueberry pie’s pastry crust from its glass surface, too. None of the metal or ceramic plates had release issues—all crusts released effortlessly.
Crust color was an important factor. All the double-crust pies had golden-brown top crusts, but the real challenge was getting the bottom crusts similarly browned and crisp. While the metal and ceramic plates produced nicely browned bottom crusts, the glass plates again disappointed, as their pies had softer, paler bottom crusts. And we learned that the see-through bottom wasn’t a huge advantage, as monitoring the top crust and adhering to a recipe’s stated baking times was enough to ensure success in an opaque plate.
Why did metal and ceramic plates brown better than glass plates? First, metal (both metal plates we tested were steel) is generally a better conductor of heat than ceramic or especially glass, which heats slowly. Second, since steel is so strong, the metal plates...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Release: 3 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
This golden-hued metal plate baked crusts beautifully without overbrowning; even bottom crusts emerged crisp and flaky. Additionally, we liked this plate’s nonfluted lip, which allowed for maximum crust-crimping flexibility. One minor drawback: The metal surface is susceptible to cuts and nicks, but we found that this didn’t affect its performance.
Recommended
- Release: 3 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1.5 stars out of 3.
Our runner-up produced impressive pies with gorgeous, golden exteriors and lightly tanned bottom crusts. Its pie slices were also easy to cut and remove. However, while the fluted lip gave us pretty pies and made this plate easy to grab and maneuver into and out of the oven, we ultimately found that it hindered versatility. Its built-in crust guide may be helpful for some bakers, but we preferred products with nonfluted lips to allow for more crimping options.
- Release: 3 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1.5 stars out of 3.
This ceramic pie plate delivered pies with delightfully crisp crusts on both top and bottom. Slices were also easy to cut and remove from the plate, with no crust sticking whatsoever. However, the fluted lip wasn’t as versatile as we’d have liked; we preferred a straight edge to give us more flexibility in forming pie crusts.
- Release: 3 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
Despite its lack of a nonstick coating, this mirrored stainless-steel pie plate—which was lighter in color than our winning gold-colored nonstick-coated metal plate—released all pie crusts with ease and produced nicely colored bottom crusts that were slightly less browned than those produced by our winner. Additionally, this plate was prone to light scratches, but we found that they did not hinder performance. This was also the only model that wasn’t dishwasher-safe, but we found it easy to wash by hand.
- Release: 2 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 2 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
We encountered crust-release issues for two of the three pies baked in this plate. Moreover, we found that bottom crusts were less browned and less crisp than was ideal. In general, this glass plate produced satisfactory pies; they were simply paler in color and harder to remove.
Recommended with reservations
- Release: 2 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 2 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This plate was the deepest in the lineup, with sides that sloped further outward than those of other models—which made it a little awkward to work with. The graham cracker crust was difficult to release from the pie plate after baking. Bottom crusts generally skewed paler, and this glass pie plate also felt slippery and more difficult to securely grip.
Not Recommended
- Release: 2 stars out of 3.
- Browning: 2 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1 stars out of 3.
This plate was the widest model we tested, and its blueberry pie was misshapen because the crust was stretched more than in a standard pie plate. In fact, most pies baked in this plate sat lower and seemed flatter. The chocolate pudding pie’s graham cracker crust stuck fast to the plate’s surface, making it hard to neatly cut and remove slices. Moreover, we found the extended “easy grab” glass handles slippery to grip. Finally, this plate’s bottom crusts were slightly pale and soft.
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The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing.
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