Heavy Duty Aluminum Pie Pans

Best Budget: Lindy’s Stainless Steel 9

• Conducts heat well for bottom crust cooking

• Great price

• Cutting slices may scratch polished surface

• Not microwave safe

The price is right, and the pan is practically indestructible. Made from stainless steel with a mirror finish, this wont rust, crack, bend, shatter, or wear out. It can handle the heat of the oven and the chill of the freezerand it can go directly from freezer to oven with no fear of thermal breakage. The mirror finish looks attractive for serving, and it helps the crust release easily from the pan for perfect slices every time. Not just for pie, this can also be used to roast a few vegetables or a small roast, and since its unbreakable, its great for transporting goodies to potlucks and parties. When the food is gone, this can go into the dishwasher for easy cleaning.

Dimensions: 9.75 x 9.75 x 1.5 inches | Weight: Unspecified | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

• Easy to see crust cooking

• Ruffled edge for easy crimping and decoration

• Great price

• May break if dropped

The biggest perk of a glass pie plate is being able to see whats going on with your crust while its baking. Even when the top crust seems nicely golden brown, the bottom crust may need a few more minutes to fully cook, especially with liquidy fruit filling in an insulated dish. A glass plate like the Pyrex Easy Grab Pie Plate takes the guesswork out of knowing if your crust is fully cooked.

Dimensions: 9.75 x 9.75 x 1.5 inches | Weight: 2.9 pounds | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

Best Disposable: Montopack Heavy

• Great for large-scale pie production

• Recyclable

• Not attractive for serving

When youre baking for a bake sale or a potluck, you sure dont want to give away your favorite pie plate with your pie. Sure, a stack of 50 pie pans seems like a lot, but they’ll never go bad, so you can keep them in your kitchen and skip the last-minute panic before Thanksgiving when you can’t find disposable pie plates anywhere.

If you bake a lot, these pans can also be used for freezing stacks of unbaked pie crusts so youll have them on hand when you need them. They are made from aluminum in the standard 9-inch pie pan size, so theyre great for all your regular pie recipes. Re-use isnt recommended, but theyre recyclable when you’re finished with them.

Dimensions: 9 x 9 x 1.5 inches | Weight: 0.46 ounces each | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

• Heavier than other pans

For beginners, this pie pan does a lot of the work for you when it comes to decoratively shaping your pie crust. This beautiful, fluted pie plate is part of cookbook author Rose Levy Beranbaum’s line of baking gear. The ruffled edge gives your pie an artistic flair, even if youre not good at crimping the crust or finishing it with a fancy edge. The flutes also let you lift the pan easily from below, so you wont mess up the crust as you retrieve the pie from the oven. This pie plate can even be used under the broiler if your crumb crust is a bit too pale.

Dimensions: 9 x 9 x 1.9 inches | Weight: 1 pound | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

Best With Removable Bottom: Homow Nonstick Heavy

• Great for graham and chocolate cookie crusts

• Easy to remove pie safely

• Dishwasher safe

• Cleaning fluted cavities can be tedious

• Not microwave safe

While pies are normally served directly from the pan, tarts are often removed from their pans before they’re plated. Flipping a pie or tart out of a traditional pie pan would be nearly impossible, but tart pans are made of two parts to make the process go more smoothly. Just a push up from the bottom pops the tart out of the pan’s ring, so you can slide it onto a plate to be admired from all angles. This pick is made from steel with a nonstick coating so your pastries slide out easily, and its dishwasher-safe so you don’t have to think about cleanup when there’s tart to be eaten.

Dimensions: 11 x 11 x 1 inches | Weight: 15.3 ounces | Dishwasher Safe: Hand Washing

Also Check: Supreme Bean Pie Recipe

Best Ceramic: Great Jones Sweetie Pie

• 30-day trial with free returns

• Slightly larger than standard pie plates

• Heavy

• More expensive option

Who knew that a pie plate could be a super-effective baking tool and ultra-trendy at the same time? Designer kitchen tools are no longer relegated to popular chef series pieces or classic French collectionsbut now include up-and-comers like Great Jones, that strive to design kitchen and bakeware for serious home cooks with equally serious style.

The Great Jones Sweetie Pie pie plate is a 10-inch round and 2-inch deep ceramic pie plate that can be used in the oven or broiler. It is also safe to refrigerate, freeze, microwave, and even run through the dishwasher. The heavy-duty ceramic pan evenly distributes heat across the base of your pie to avoid soggy bottoms. At the same time, the smooth and glossy finish on the inside of the pan will keep your crust from sticking.

Available in 4 colors with coordinating food-themed names. These pie plates are decorated with a retro design that plays up the nostalgic feeling of a fresh-baked pie straight out of your grandmas ovenwhich is really half the point of a comforting homemade pie in the first place.

Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 2 inches | Weight: 2 pounds | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

• Great for pastry and savory baking

• Ruffled edge for easy crimping

• Hand washing recommended

Dimensions: 10.24 x 10.24 x 2.17 inches | Weight: 2.94 pounds | Dishwasher Safe: Hand washing recommended

Buying Guide For Best Pie Pans

There’s nothing quite like cutting through a golden, flaky pastry crust to reveal a delicious filling inside, whether you’re baking a classic fruit pie or something more unusual, like a curried chickpea pie. Of course, to bake the perfect pie, you need the perfect pie pan.

Before you buy, you should carefully consider which pie pan is right for you. Material is more important than many people realize, with different materials giving a range of results. You also need to choose a pie dish of the correct size and shape to meet your needs, as well as consider other features, such as fluted edges and whether your pie pan is dishwasher safe.

It might seem like too much to think about, but we have you covered. This buying guide contains all the information you need to choose the right pie pan, or you can check out our top five pie pans, plus our selection of close runners-up.

Recommended Reading: Key West Key Lime Pie Company The Profit Update

Why Trust The Spruce Eats

Donna Currie has written for The Spruce Eats since 2016. A seasoned recipe writer and gadget tester, she also wrote the cookbook Make Ahead Bread.

This article was updated by Jenny Kellerhals, a professional pastry chef in New York City and a freelance food writer. At home, pies are her go-to dessert and always a crowd favorite.

Best Overall: Emile Henry Ruffled Pie Dish

• More expensive option

Theres no doubt about itthe ruffle makes a statement. It also makes decoration a little easier for you since your pie crust can be formed right on the ruffles. That’s not what makes this pick the best pie pan, though. Its also designed to do hard work. The ceramic provides great heat retention for a perfectly browned pie crust thats evenly baked from center to edge. Its also resistant to temperature changes and can be used in the oven up to 520 degrees and under the broiler if your crumb topping didnt brown as much as you like. It can even go directly from your refrigerator to the oven and is dishwasher and microwave safe. And, of course, its just downright pretty and looks great on the buffet table.

Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 2 inches | Weight: 2.4 pounds | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

You May Like: Entenmann’s Coconut Custard Pie

Avoid Soggy Or Burnt Crusts With The Right Pan

Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the bestproducts youcan learn more about ourreview process here.We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links.

Pies may seem simple when compared to their taller, sweeter, more colorful cousincakebut anyone who’s perfected one knows it’s all about the details. And that includes finding the right pie pan. That’s why we searched high and low to find the best dishes in which to bake pies, both savory and sweet.

From glass to stainless steel to ceramic, here are the best pie pans.

Why Trust Simply Recipes

Karen Resta is a New York-based writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. A former executive chef who started out as a pastry chef, she now travels the globe writing about and photographing the best authentic food and pastries. She admittedly likes cake better than pie, but believes pie is more challenging to make perfectly. Karen is passionate about finding quality kitchen tools within your given budget, and that knowing how to use them makes all the difference. She curated this list with that in mind.

Also Check: Docs Pot Pies

Best Mini Pie Plates: Sweese 521003 Porcelain Mini Pie Pan Set Of 6

• More expensive option

These mini pie plates are ideal for making various pies to suit everyone’s tastes or baking smaller pies to hand out as individual treats. They’re appropriate for classic sweet pies and fitting for savory pies like quiche and chicken pot pie. You can store these pie plates in both the refrigerator and the freezer to extend the life of your baked goods directly in the pie dish they’re baked in.

The dishes are made of pro-grade porcelain and are safe for use in the oven, as well as the microwave, dishwasher, and broiler. Glazed in six different cool tones and finished with attractive fluted edges, the pie plates retain heat for even baking.

Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches | Weight: 15 ounces each | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

A Smart Reader Tip For Better Baking In Flimsy Aluminum Pie Pans

Disposable aluminum pie pans are flimsy and dont bake crusts as evenly as glass or ceramic pie plates, but they sure are convenient for giving pies away to lucky friends and family. One of our readers shared an ingenious tip for a simple way to hack an aluminum pie plate so it is sturdier and bakes better crusts.

Reader Sarahj shared this smart method: she places the aluminum pie pan inside a Pyrex pie plate before baking. The thick glass bakes the pie more evenly, resulting in a better crust, and the stronger material also makes it easier to transfer piping-hot pies in and out of the oven.

After cooling, she lifts the disposable pie pan out and gives the pie to a friend without worry.

I imagine this would work just as well with a ceramic or heavy-duty metal pie plate as well. What a smart, simple tip!

Do you have any tips or tricks for baking pies you plan on giving away?

Recommended Reading: Campbells Soup Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

How Do I Use A Fluted Pie Pan

Prepare the pastry as you would with a regular pie pan, but be sure youve allowed an inch extra larger than the diameter of the pie pan when you cut the round. Fold the extra dough over, all around, and then pinch the dough along the edges between your fingertips to follow the pattern of the fluted surface. If the dough becomes difficult to work with, refrigerate the pie until the dough is well-chilled.

Can You Use A Pie Pan To Bake A Cake

Yes, you can use a pie pan to bake a cake, but you should be aware that pie pans typically have angled sides where cake pans have straight sides. Because of this difference, if you’re making a layered cake, the edges of the cake will be harder to frost. The cakes can be trimmed to get rid of the angled edges, but may still be difficult to frost. Generally, cake pans should be used for baking cakes, but in a pinch, a pie pan will do if you aren’t interested in how good the final product looks.

Recommended Reading: Key Lime Pie Company The Profit

Make Baking As Easy As Pie

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Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the bestproducts youcan learn more about ourreview process here.We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links.

Do you remember the first pie you ever made? The type of pan you used or maybe even the recipe? I dont remember any of that, but there’s one thing I do think of every time I make pie dough its a line from an old cookbook on making pastry: Be swift and deft.

Its great advice to keep in mind when baking pies, but what most cookbooks dont tell you is that your pie pan can make or break your pie. It doesnt matter whether its made from glass, metal, or ceramicthats mainly a personal preference that bakers will learn from experience. What does matter is that the pie pan must be well-made because the devil is in the details.

That’s why I did the research to help you find the right one for you. Do you still have the recipe for the first pie you ever made? Try it in one of these great pans. Or, if youre looking for new recipes, check out these easy pie recipes or this perfect pie crust recipe.

Here, my list of the best pie pans.

Best With Lid: Oxo Good Grips Glass Pie Plate With Lid

• Lid for storage and transport

• Easy to see crust while cooking

• Microwave and dishwasher safe

• Stand-alone pie plate not super attractive

Pie is a wonderful thing, but storing the leftovers can be a bit of a challenge, particularly if youve made a pie with a tall and fluffy meringue top. This pie plate solves the storage problem neatly with a plastic snap-on lid that will keep the pie safe until the last crumb is gone. The lid has vent holes to release heat in case you have to cover your pie while it’s still warmthey’ll reduce moisture that could make the crust soggy.

The pie plate itself is made from borosilicate glass thats resistant to thermal shock and lets you monitor the crusts browning as it bakes. Its microwave safe if you want to reheat leftovers, and its dishwasher safe when the last bite of pie has been eaten.

Dimensions: 9 x 9 x 2.1 inches | Weight: 2.5 pounds | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

Also Check: The Key Lime Pie Company