America's Test Kitchen LogoCook's Country LogoCook's Illustrated Logo
Equipment

The Best Induction Cookware

Induction cooktops are known for their incredible precision and easy cleanup. But in order to use one, you need the right cookware.
By

Published Mar. 2, 2024.

The Best Induction Cookware

Have you been hearing a lot about induction cooking lately? So have we. 

Actually, Americans are a little late to catch on. Induction cooking has been popular in other countries for a long time—and for good reason. Induction cooking has some compelling practical advantages over gas and electric stovetops. 

The best induction burners and cooktops are responsive. They heat up pans quickly and cool them down quickly. Their flat surfaces are a breeze to clean. They don’t have exposed flames or electric coils, which means that there’s no risk of catching an oven mitt or shirtsleeve on fire. 

There’s one catch: Not all cookware is compatible with induction cooktops. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to run out and purchase all new pots and pans. Here’s what you need to know.

Jump to a Section

Sign up for the Well-Equipped Cook newsletter

Shop smarter with our ATK Reviews team's expert guides and recommendations.

Induction Cookware FAQs

130+ FUSS-FREE MEALS

One-Pan Wonders

Cooking on busy weeknights is a heavy lift. Enjoy a collection of inspired, family-friendly recipes for even the busiest home cooks.

The Best Nonstick, Stainless-Steel, Cast-Iron, and Copper Skillets for Induction Cooking

Nonstick Skillets

There’s nothing like a good nonstick skillet. You can crack an egg into it and count on a perfect fried egg sliding out a few minutes later, even if you get distracted for a minute or are a little clumsy with your spatula. We've tested nonstick skillets with Teflon-style coatings and ceramic nonstick skillets in a variety of sizes.

Best 12-Inch Nonstick Skillet

All-Clad D3 Nonstick Fry Pan, 12 Inch

We appreciate the wide cooking surface and low, flaring sides that encourage excellent browning and evaporation. Its overall weight and balance that hit the sweet spot between sturdiness and maneuverable lightness.
Best Buy 12-Inch Nonstick Skillet

T-Fal Non-Stick Fry Pan, 12 Inch

This pan has a spacious and slippery surface. It's also very light and the squishy handle is comfortable to hold. The cooking surface is slightly domed, so oil runs to the edges.
Best 10-Inch Nonstick Skillet

All-Clad D3 Nonstick Fry Pan, 10 inch

A steady performer throughout our recipe tests, this induction-compatible pan has a slick and impressively nonstick cooking surface. The handle felt secure in our hands, making it easy to carry the pan.
Best Buy 10-Inch Nonstick Skillet

T-Fal Non-Stick Fry Pan, 10.5 In

This lightweight model heats up quickly. The squishy handle is very comfortable to hold. Its cooking surface is spacious and there’s plenty of room to stir and toss ingredients around in the pan. It's only ovensafe to 400 degrees.
Best 8-Inch Nonstick Skillet

All-Clad D3 Nonstick Fry Pan, 8 Inch

This pricey pan had a great nonstick surface and was also notably well constructed and durable. Testers called the pan nicely “balanced,” but a few took issue with the handle, which felt “stable” but “uncomfortable."
Best Buy 8-Inch Nonstick Skillet

T-Fal Non-Stick Fry Pan, 8 Inch

This pan released eggs perfectly and performed well throughout testing. The handle was “comfortable and grippy." It's a little smaller than other 8-inch skillets but sized just right for cooking one or two eggs.
Best 12-Inch Ceramic Skillet

GreenPan Valencia Frypan, 12-Inch

One of only three pans to pass our test of nonstick coating durability, this pan arrived slick and remained so throughout cooking and abuse tests. It also has a broad cooking surface, gently sloped walls, and a comfortable handle.
Best Buy 12-Inch Ceramic Skillet

Kyocera Ceramic 12" Nonstick Frypan

This pan’s surface remained slick throughout testing and was one of only three pans to do so. However, its shape resembles a sauté pan more than it does a skillet.
Best 10-Inch Ceramic Skillet

GreenPan Valencia Frypan, 10-Inch

With a slick nonstick coating and gently sloped walls, this skillet is a pleasure to use. We also liked its wide, comfortable handle.
Best Buy 10-Inch Ceramic Skillet

Kyocera Ceramic 10" Nonstick Frypan

This pan has an impressively slick surface. As long as we followed visual cues and made minor adjustments to the heat levels or cooking times of our recipes, food turned out well and did not stick. Don't use it in ovens hotter than 400 degrees.
Best 8-Inch Ceramic Skillet

GreenPan Valencia Frypan, 8-Inch

Our favorite 8-inch ceramic nonstick pan has a spacious and slick surface that was ideal for cooking small batches of sticky or delicate foods.
Best Buy 8-Inch Ceramic Skillet

Kyocera Ceramic 8" Nonstick Frypan

This pan was just as slick as our favorite; even fried eggs and scrambled eggs didn’t stick. The walls are considerably straighter than those on our favorite model, which makes it harder to stir and scrape around the pan’s perimeter and transfer food to a plate.

Stainless-Steel Skillets

If you want perfect searing, deeply flavorful sauces, and cook-anything, stove-to-oven versatility for a lifetime, you need a stainless-steel skillet. The best ones are sturdy and won't wear out.

Best 12-Inch Skillet

All-Clad D3 Stainless Fry Pan, 12 Inch

Our longtime favorite skillet still beats all newcomers, with a clean design that includes no unnecessary frills. It resisted warping and withstood thermal shock and outright abuse with nary a scratch or dent.
Best 10-Inch Skillet

All-Clad D3 Stainless Fry Pan, 10 Inch

The smaller version of our longtime favorite skillet performed well in every application. It cleaned up well, didn’t warp, and passed abuse testing with flying colors.
Best 8-Inch Skillet

All-Clad D3 Stainless Fry Pan, 8 Inch

Throughout testing, the small version of our winning 10- and 12-inch stainless-steel skillets proved itself to be an excellent little pan.

Cast-Iron Skillets

We love cooking in cast-iron skillets. Traditional cast-iron skillets become increasingly nonstick with use and can be handed down for generations. Enameled cast-iron skillets offers the heat retention of traditional cast-iron pans, but the glossy enamel coating prevents the iron from rusting or reacting with acidic foods. We've tested both styles in several sizes.

Best 12-Inch Cast-Iron Skillet

Smithey Ironware No. 12 Skillet

Silky-smooth from the get-go, this roomy pan didn’t let food stick and stayed impressively slick throughout testing. Its heavy weight helped it retain heat, so it seared food evenly and deeply.
Best Buy 12-Inch Cast-Iron Skillet

Lodge 12-Inch Cast Iron Skillet

This skillet's classic shape provided "plenty of room" in steak and chicken tests, but small handle made pan feel heavy when lifted. Eggs stuck the first time around but barely stuck and cleaned up easily the second time. Corn bread was crusty, with perfect release.
Best 10-Inch Cast-Iron Skillet

Smithey Ironware No. 10 Skillet

Like its full-size counterpart, the 10-inch aced all the tasks we threw at it. The sides are tall enough to prevent runny eggs from spilling and sloped enough for spatulas to get inside to scoop up pies. 
Best Buy 10-Inch Cast-Iron Skillet

Lodge 10.25-Inch Cast Iron Skillet

We loved how deeply this pan browned foods. It’s a great pan at an excellent price, and it will last a lifetime.
Best 8-Inch Cast-Iron Skillet

Lodge 8-Inch Cast Iron Skillet

Our favorite 8-inch cast-iron skillet packs all the stalwart reliability of its larger counterparts into a smaller package, perfect when cooking for one or two people.
Best 12-Inch Enameled Skillet

Le Creuset Signature 11¾" Skillet

With flaring sides, an oversize helper handle, wide pour spouts, a satiny interior, and balanced weight, this expensive but beautifully made pan is a pleasure to cook in.
Best 10-Inch Enameled Skillet

Le Creuset Signature 10 ¼ Inch Skillet

With flaring sides, an oversize helper handle, wide pour spouts, and a satiny interior, this beautiful (albeit expensive) pan was a pleasure to cook in.
Best 8-Inch Enameled Skillet

Le Creuset Signature 9-Inch Skillet

With flaring sides, an oversize helper handle, wide pour spouts, and a satiny interior, this is a reliable pan.

Carbon-Steel Skillets

A good carbon-steel skillet can literally do it all: You can bake, broil, sear, and stir-fry in it; plus, you can cook delicate foods such as fish and eggs in it with no fear of sticking. Restaurant chefs use these pans for all kinds of tasks and they're hugely popular in European kitchens.

Best 12-Inch Carbon-Steel Skillet

Matfer Bourgeat Frying Pan, 11⅞"

This affordable pan had it all: thick, solid construction; a smooth interior with no handle rivets to bump the spatula or trap food; an ergonomically angled handle; and sides flared just right for easy access but high enough to contain splashes.
Best 10-Inch Carbon-Steel Skillet

Matfer Bourgeat Frying Pan, 10 ¼"

We loved this pan’s solid construction and slick nonstick surface. Our scaled-down recipes for two people fit well in this pan, and we loved its long, sturdy handle.
Best 8-Inch Carbon-Steel Skillet

Matfer Bourgeat Frying Pan, 8 ⅝"

We loved this pan’s thick, solid construction. Once we’d seasoned it, the slick surface worked like nonstick.

Copper Skillets

When placed on a burner, a copper skillet heats up very quickly, and when the flame is turned down, it cools fast, too. This responsiveness to the stove’s heat settings gives the cook excellent control and is what makes copper cookware a pleasure to use.

Best 12-Inch Copper Skillet

All-Clad Copper Core Fry Pan, 12 inch

Spacious, comparatively lightweight, and responsive, this pan heats remarkably evenly and produces excellent browning. It is five-ply, with a 1-millimeter core of copper, sandwiched first by layers of aluminum and then layers of stainless steel.

The Best Paella Pans, Stovetop Griddles, and Grill Pans for Induction Cooking

Sauté Pans

A sauté pan is a handy alternative to a skillet. Mid-height and mid-weight with a lid, it's ideal for cooking down heaps of greens, and the straight sides—high enough to corral splatters but low enough to easily reach into with tongs—make it great for shallow frying.

Best Sauté Pan

Made In Stainless Clad Saute Pan

This pan wowed our cooks from the start. It has a broad cooking surface and browned food evenly. Its walls were high enough that we didn’t lose any food when stirring but low enough that it was easy to reach inside with tongs to flip food.

Paella Pans

In Spain, paella is traditionally cooked on the grill in a carbon-steel paellera. This pan’s shallow, wide shape maximizes the surface area of the paella, allowing for rapid evaporation of the cooking liquid and optimal socarrat (golden rice crust) development. We also love a paella pan as a roasting pan or griddle. We stock several sizes in the test kitchen.

Best Large Paella Pan

Matfer Bourgeat Paella Pan 15 ¾ In

Heavy and thick, with easy-grip vertical handles, this sturdy, handsome carbon-steel pan made it easy to produce evenly cooked paella and perfectly browned socarrat. The pan required initial seasoning, but the resulting patina was practically nonstick.
Best Small Paella Pan

Matfer Bourgeat Paella Pan 14 ⅛ In

This paella pan can do triple duty as a griddle, wok, or roaster, thanks to its ample surface area and great heat retention and transfer. It made perfect grilled cheese, fried rice, and roast chicken and can also make beautiful paella, of course.

Stovetop Griddles

Stovetop griddles are more compact and easy to store and still give you the extra cooking surface you need to make lots of pancakes, eggs, bacon, grilled cheese, and even steaks or burgers on top of your range in relatively few batches. 

Best Griddle

Cuisinart Chef's Classic Griddle

This griddle heated quickly and evenly, its 1-inch-tall sides kept grease safely contained, and its large cooking surface easily fit eight pancakes at a time. We also liked its upright, sturdy handles. The nonstick coating didn't scratch and rinsed clean with minimal scrubbing.
Best Cast-Iron Griddle

Lodge Pro Grid Iron Reversible Griddle

Thick, solidly made, and incredibly durable, it can be used on a stovetop or on a grill or open fire. It's reversible, with a flat griddle side and a ridged grill-pan side. With very short walls, fat sometimes spattered over the griddle’s edges when we made burgers.

Grill Pans

Grill pans are skillets customized with ridges across the cooking surface to mimic the cooking grates of a grill. We use grill pans to make pressed sandwiches and to grill meats and vegetables. The pan’s hot ridges sear grill marks onto the surfaces of food while radiant heat cooks the food.

Best Grill Pan (Co-Winner)

Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan

This tray-shaped pan was handsome and easy to use. It arrived with a well-seasoned surface that released food and cleaned up easily and tall, well-defined ridges that produced excellent grill marks. At the end of extensive testing, it still looked new.
Best Grill Pan (Co-Winner)

Borough Furnace Grill Pan/Braising Lid

Handmade by a small producer, this pan is a work of art. Its excellent preseasoned patina released food and cleaned up beautifully. The pan’s ridges were tall enough to create crisp, defined grill marks, and its low, flared sides let us slide a spatula under food.

The Best Dutch Ovens, Braisers, and Pots for Induction Cooking

Dutch Ovens

Is there anything you can’t do with a Dutch oven? We use these large, heavy-duty pots for boiling, searing, frying, braising, and baking food and for sous vide cooking. We use large, medium, and small sizes. We also think lightweight Dutch ovens deserve a place in many home kitchens.

Best Dutch Oven, 6.5-7.5 Quarts

Le Creuset 7.25 Quart Round Dutch Oven

This perfect, pricey pot held and distributed heat evenly without being unbearably heavy. The light-colored interior combined with low, straight sides made it easy to monitor browning. The broad cooking surface allowed us to cook more food at once.
Best Buy Dutch Oven, 6.5-7.5 Quarts

Cuisinart Chef’s Cast Iron Casserole

With an exceptionally broad cooking surface and low, straight sides, this pot had an advantageous shape. The looped handles were comfortable to hold, though smaller than ideal. The rim and lid chipped when we repeatedly slammed the lid onto the pot.
Best Dutch Oven, 5-6 Quarts

Le Creuset 5.5 Quart Round Dutch Oven

Like our favorite highly recommended full-size Dutch oven, this smaller pot’s light-colored interior and low, straight sides allowed us to easily monitor browning, and its large looped handles made it easy to move. It had excellent heat retention.
Best Buy Dutch Oven, 5-6 Quarts

Cuisinart Chef’s 5 Quart Casserole

This budget-friendly pot aced nearly every test. Its light interior allowed us to monitor browning. Though its helper handles were a bit smaller and the pot was nearly a pound heavier than the Le Creuset, it was still fairly easy to lift.
Best Dutch Oven, 3-4 Quarts

Le Creuset 3.5 Quart Round Dutch Oven

This pricey pot didn’t just look beautiful (it comes in 20-plus colors)—it cooked beautifully, too. We liked its relatively wide cooking surface and its large handles.
Best Buy Dutch Oven, 3-4 Quarts

Cuisinart Chef's 3 Quart Casserole

The pot had a smaller cooking surface and taller sides than the Le Creuset model. However, we still think that this is a great pot at an even better price.
Best Light Dutch Oven

All-Clad D3 Stainless Stockpot 6 Quart

Its fully clad construction ensured stellar heat retention and distribution, helping it sear meat. It was large enough to fry in. It baked bread adequately, though its loaf was not as browned and crusty as those from cast-iron pots.
Best Buy Light Dutch Oven

Tramontina 6 Qt Stainless Steel Pot

It's constructed from three layers of durable stainless steel and aluminum, which radiated and distributed heat efficiently and evenly. We also liked its large, secure handles and tight-fitting lid.

Braisers

Like a Dutch oven, a braiser has two handles for easy transport and a lid to retain moisture and is usually made from enameled cast iron, which is great for heat retention. A bonus: Most braisers are attractive enough to go from the stovetop to the table as serving dishes. And they're good for much more than braising!

Best Large Braiser

Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 5-Quart Braiser

This 5-quart braiser easily accommodated recipes that served six, had excellent heat retention and browning capabilities, and was easy to use. Its large, looped handles made it easy to safely move the pan even when wearing bulky oven mitts.
Best Braiser

Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 3.5-Quart Braiser

This braiser performed well in test after test. It had a light interior that made it easy to monitor browning; a moderately thick bottom for good heat retention and even browning; a generous cooking surface; and large, comfortable handles.
Best Buy Braiser

Tramontina Enameled Cast Iron Covered Braiser

This braiser had the largest cooking surface area, which ensured proper liquid reduction and a rich, flavorful ragu. Overall, it delivered excellent results at a bargain price.
Best Small Braiser

Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 2.25-Quart Braiser

This braiser easily accommodated recipes that yield two servings, had excellent heat retention and browning capabilities, and was easy to use. It’s a very pretty dish that comes in a range of attractive colors.

Stockpot

You can do a lot with a big Dutch oven but sometimes you need an even larger pot. A 12-quart stockpot is useful for making large batches of soup or stew, boiling a large amount of pasta, steaming lobsters, or making broth.

Best Stockpot

Cook N Home 12 Quart Stockpot

Our winner excelled in comfort; it was light and maneuverable, with rubbery grips on both the pot and the lid. It heated fairly quickl. Its minimal heft and comfortable U-shaped handles made it easy to carry and pour from.

Canning Pot

A canning pot is an essential tool for large-batch home canning. These pots are typically around 20 quarts—almost twice the size of standard 12-quart stockpots. 

Best Canning Pot

Roots and Branches Stainless Steel Multi-Use Canner

This large stainless-steel pot had comfortable, grippy handles and a clear lid that allowed users to effortlessly monitor the pot’s contents. Both the pot and the rack are made from stainless steel and emerged from our testing looking almost brand-new.

The Best Saucepans and Sauciers for Induction Cooking

Saucepans

A good saucepan is incredibly versatile, ideal for soups, pasta, grains, and so much more. When it comes to performance, we’ve found that the differences between models can be surprisingly significant. We've tested both large (roughly 4-quart) and small (roughly 2-quart) models.

Best Large Saucepan

All-Clad Stainless 4-Qt Sauce Pan

Our winner excelled, with uniform, steady heating and good visibility inside the saucepan to monitor browning. Its stay-cool handle was easy to grip. It emerged from durability tests with only tiny dents and still sat flat on the counter.
Best Buy Large Sauce Pan

Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad 4 Qt. Sauce Pan

This saucepan has the same tri-ply fully-clad construction as our top-rated pan, with two layers of stainless steel sandwiched around a layer of aluminum. It performed almost as well, but ran a little fast and hot. It suffered more damage in our abuse testing.
Best Small Saucepan

All-Clad Stainless 2-Qt Saucepan

This small saucepan cooked evenly and steadily and survived our durability tests virtually unscathed. Its handle felt secure and comfortable in our hands and stayed cool throughout testing. The pan also cleaned up easily.
Best Buy Small Saucepan

Tramontina Tri-Ply 2 Qt. Sauce Pan

This pan performed quite well. The rounded handle felt a touch less secure in our palm (particularly when we were holding the pan aloft to scrape out food). This model dented in our concrete ledge abuse tests but overall is a quality pan at a great price.

Saucier

As their name and wide-mouth design imply, sauciers are built for reducing sauces. We love them for making risotto, custards, and other foods that are prone to getting stuck in the corners of a saucepan and burning.

Best Saucier

Le Creuset 3½ Quart Saucier

With gently sloping sides and a generous opening, this pan made whisking and stirring a pleasure. It was also the most efficient at the evaporation test. Its lightweight frame and straight-angled handle make it very easy to lift.

The Best Woks for Induction Cooking

You can buy woks in a huge range of materials, shapes, and sizes. After consulting with experts and testing an assortment ourselves, we prefer those that measure 14 inches from rim to rim. We also like ones with flat bottoms because they sit securely on the burner and work on a wide variety of cooktops, from gas to induction to electric.

Co-Winner

Taylor and Ng Natural Nonstick Wok Set

This wok was the easiest and most comfortable to use. Its stay-cool wooden handles and light, balanced weight helped us maneuver and lift it. It offers the biggest flat cooking surface.
Co-Winner

Joyce Chen 14-Inch Carbon Steel Wok with Birch Handles

We appreciated the light weight and broad cooking surface of this carbon-steel wok. It became nonstick within a few uses. Its main handle stayed cool on the hot stove and was just slim enough for even testers with small hands to get a secure grip. 
Co-Winner

IMUSA 14″ Non-Coated Wok with Wood Handle, Silver

We enjoyed cooking in this lightweight but sturdily constructed carbon-steel wok. The interior quickly became nonstick. The chunky main handle was a bit hard for testers with smaller hands to hold unless they choked up on it slightly. 

The Best Stovetop Kettles for Induction Cooking

Stovetop Kettles

Stovetop kettles are simple vessels for heating water. But anyone who’s had a bad one knows how irritating they can be. We put a dozen models through a gamut of tests, evaluating how easy each they were to fill and lift, as well as how long they took to reach a boil and whether they were easy and tidy to pour from.

Best Stovetop Kettle

Chantal Teakettle (2 QT.)

Lightweight and easy to lift, this nicely designed kettle held plenty of water for its size. The kettle whistles loudly, and the spout pours neatly. The raised, open handle leaves plenty of space below for opening the lid and keeps hands out of harm’s way.

Moka Pots

The best moka pots are easy to use and can brew a batch of strong and concentrated coffee quickly. A mainstay in Italian coffee culture, they're popular in kitchens around the world. They brew coffee that is roasty, bold, and well-balanced with notes of dark chocolate, slightly burnt caramel, and even maple syrup. 

Best Moka Pot

London Sip Stovetop Coffee Maker

This stainless-steel model brewed three servings of coffee in less than 6 minutes, which is a bit longer than ideal, but the yield was consistent throughout our tests. The long, narrow upper chamber is a little hard to reach into to clean.

The Best Stovetop Pressure Cookers for Induction Cooking

Stovetop pressure cookers are surprisingly simple to use and in less than an hour can produce food that tastes as if you spent all day over the stove. Recipes once saved for weekends, or the slow cooker, can be started when you get home from work.

Best Pressure Cooker

Fissler Vitaquick 8½-Qt Pressure Cooker

Solidly constructed, with a low, wide profile that made browning food easy, this well-engineered cooker has an automatic lock and an easy-to-monitor pressure valve. It cooked food to perfection in the time range suggested by the recipes.
Best Buy Pressure Cooker

Zavor Duo 8.4 Quart Pressure Cooker

This pressure cooker has a fairly broad cooking surface, and its pressure indicator was easy to monitor. It cooked quietly and held pressure steadily. Its simple design made it easy to use and clean.

This is a members' feature.