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See why.The Best Small Roasting Pans with Racks
Our full-size roasting pan is perfect for big holiday meals. Could we find a scaled-down version that offers performance for everyday use?
By Updated Nov. 12, 2020
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What You Need To Know
We love our favorite roasting pan, the Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Roasting Pan with Rack ($99.99), for roasting turkeys and larger cuts of meat. But sometimes we want a more petite version for chickens, vegetables, and smaller cuts of meat. Curious to know which small roasting pan and rack were best, we purchased five sets priced from $17.99 to $159.95, each with a pan about 14 inches long. While the exact capacities of the pans differed, the pans we chose were, on average, about half the size of our winning full-size pan; all were dishwasher-safe. We used the pans and racks to roast potatoes and whole chickens and to make gravy on the stovetop with the chicken drippings.
What Materials Make the Best Roasting Pans?
Almost all the sets cooked the food well, but a few design factors made certain sets perform and handle better than others. We preferred pans that were made of tri-ply stainless steel (two layers of stainless steel sandwiching a core of aluminum) to those made of single-ply stainless or aluminized steel. As we’ve learned in other testings, the two materials in tri-ply models provide an ideal combination of heat conduction and temperature control, enabling them to cook food more evenly than single-material pans. The tri-ply models in this testing were also heavier—in one case, a bit too heavy to maneuver comfortably—and two to four times thicker than the single-material pans, making them a little slower to heat up. But that weight and thickness also contributed to those pans’ superior performance, helping them brown the food better and cook it more reliably. By contrast, the two thinnest pans in our lineup struggled with high heat. One scorched potatoes when we roasted them at 425 degrees—well within the pan’s permissible temperature range. The other warped slightly when we used it over a direct flame. (Neither model was recommended for stovetop cooking, but because many people use their roasting pans to make gravy over a burner, we tried it anyway.)
Pan color also mattered. In contrast to the four light-colored stainless-steel models, the one dark pan was particularly troublesome. Because dark pans absorb and radiate more heat than lighter-colored ones, they tend to cook and brown food more quickly. Indeed, we had to watch the dark model closely to prevent food from burning.
Differences in Design
We preferred pans that had flatter cooking surfaces to those that came with pronounced grease troughs around their perimeters. The grease troughs tended to draw oil away from the center of the pan, inhibiting browning there and forcing us to pry the potatoes off the pan when they were done. They also cut into the ove...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
Made of thick tri-ply stainless steel and with a flat cooking surface, this medium-weight pan made perfectly cooked, evenly browned food. And with the largest handles in the lineup, it was particularly easy to maneuver in and out of the oven. We also liked its U-shaped rack, though the rack was a bit small for the pan and slipped around inside it.
Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
Although made from single-ply stainless steel, this durable, sturdy small roasting pan turned out beautiful, well-browned food. Its handles were a little smaller than we prefer but still reasonably easy to grip. Its V-shaped nonstick rack did a good job of holding the chicken, though it slipped around in the pan a tiny bit more than we would have liked. Note that this model has a slight indentation around the perimeter that serves as a mini grease trough; this can make it a little trickier to make gravy, and you’ll have to move roasting vegetables around a touch to brown them evenly.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
This stainless-steel roasting pan turned out great, evenly browned chicken and potatoes; it’s not tri-ply, so it doesn’t conduct heat quite as quickly, but it’s so thick that it still retains and controls heat well. Its V-shaped rack, also made from stainless steel, cradled the chicken nicely, though it slipped around a touch in the pan. Just a few small quibbles: It’s on the heavy side, so it can be a little unwieldy to lift. And while its handles are big enough to grip comfortably, they rise surprisingly high above the pan; our wrists bumped into them and got burned when we took the pan out of the oven.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
This model’s thick aluminum-and-stainless-steel tri-ply helped ensure that it made beautifully cooked, evenly browned food. It had a great U-shaped rack that cradled the chicken and fit snugly in the pan. But weighing more than 8 pounds with the rack in place (about the same weight as our favorite full-size pan and rack), it was a bit unwieldy to maneuver, and its small handles made it harder to grip.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This small roaster made great, well-browned chicken. Though it’s made from single-ply steel, it’s thin enough to conduct heat nicely but thick enough to retain that heat and resist warping. Its large handles are easy to grip, and together the pan and rack are a good weight—solid but not too heavy to lift. Two small detractors: While its nonstick-coated rack did a good job of holding the chicken securely, it slipped around a bit in the pan. And the pan has a grease trough, drawing oil away from the potatoes when we roasted them and making it harder to make gravy on the stovetop.
Recommended with reservations
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This “lasagna pan” comes with a rack, so it can do double duty as a roaster. Made of moderately thick single-ply stainless steel, it did a good job of roasting potatoes and chicken, and we liked its big, easy-to-grip handles. But its flat rack was a little tricky to maneuver in and out of the pan, and chicken didn’t always stay put on it. Additionally, its grease trough drew oil away from the center of the pan, so the potatoes didn’t brown or release as easily.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
This single-ply stainless-steel pan did a decent job of roasting chicken and potatoes, though its sharply defined grease trough drew oil away from the center of the pan, inhibiting browning and making it harder for us to remove the potatoes when they were done. The thin pan is not recommended for stovetop cooking; indeed, it warped when we used it over a direct flame to make gravy. Its handles were also a bit small. Finally, we found its flat rack hard to maneuver in and out of the pan. Worse, the chicken rolled around on it.
Not Recommended
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
We had to be extra-vigilant when using this dark-colored, very thin nonstick roaster, which resembled a rectangular cake pan with a rack. Chicken drippings scorched and burned at 400 degrees. Potatoes browned much more deeply and were done about 10 minutes earlier than with other pans—not a deal breaker but a significant difference with the 40-minute recipe we’d followed. And while we appreciated the handles on its otherwise problematic flat rack, we wished they’d also been added to the pan itself; a hot handleless pan is mighty hard to maneuver in and out of the oven.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
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. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.
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