Odds are you’ve encountered a HexClad pan before. Even before Gordan Ramsay’s 100 million dollar cash infusion in 2024, the company had successfully wheatpasted its products across the internet with targeted ads and promotional partnerships with food influencers (and most recently I learned, in the Love Island villa).
When people find out that I test cookware for a living, I get more questions about HexClad cookware than anything else I cover—by a lot. So I’m writing this standalone review.
To lay my biases out there: I’m not a fan of nonstick cookware. When I have to test it for my job, I provide several addendums outlining my issues with nonstick cookware—its relatively short lifespan, the way nonstick’s ubiquity prevents people from learning proper cooking technique—and the alternatives I think you should buy instead.
Still, as is true with HexClad or any other piece of nonstick cookware, I evaluate these products relative to each other to determine what the best nonstick pans out there are—if you absolutely insist on purchasing one.
Which brings me back to HexClad. I’ve cooked with the brand’s pans several times myself—initially several years ago with its original PTFE pans and more recently with the ceramic nonstick versions that replaced them. Here’s what I will say.
How Hexclad pans different from other types of nonstick cookware
HexClad belongs to an increasingly popular niche in the cookware ecosystem known as “hybrid cookware.” These pans differ from conventional, smooth nonstick by having a textured surface with raised stainless steel “peaks” and coated nonstick “valleys.” According to HexClad this pattern provides “a durable surface” that protects the ceramic nonstick coating in the pans depressions. If you’re using a metal spatula for example (one of the cardinal sins of cooking with nonstick pans), the raised peaks will keep the spatula from scraping the nonstick valleys.
The brand’s nonstick surfaces are similar to what you’ll find with other ceramic nonstick cookware lines. While companies like to boast about the proprietary ceramic nonstick formulas, almost all variations of the material are manufactured using the same sol-gel process.
On the about page of their website, HexClad claims that their cookware “brings together the performance of stainless steel, the durability of cast iron, and the convenience of nonstick.” They also offer a lifetime warranty (however it only covers factory defects). The brand also claims that “HexClad products are made to last a lifetime.” I will get into my issue with these claims below, but these statements run counter to fundamental realities about the science of ceramic nonstick cooking surfaces.
What it’s like cooking with HexClad
Nonstick pans are great at first impressions, so it didn’t surprise me that these pans deliver on their slippery promises fresh out of the box. I ran the skillet and a saucepan through our standard testing procedure and yes—they did okay.
The pans imparted a nice sear on chicken thighs, and released with ease.
Crepes and pancakes release from the surface without resistance, and despite the textured surface, left no weird pattern.
The performance faltered slightly with sunny-side-up and scrambled eggs. The first few eggs came off fine, with some batches leaving bits of egg residue on the pan.
The saucepan failed to charm me. The textured surface made whisking things like custard or bechamel irritating as the whisk repeatedly snagged on the textured surface. The texture was more nuisance than asset here. Overall, our whole testing team agrees that nonstick surfaces are superfluous when applied to pans other than skillets or sauté pans.
Design wise, the pans aren’t too heavy, and have nice handles. As to why they have nonstick coating on the bottom of the pan, where it is in direct contact with the heat source…beats me.
Bottom line, I’d say these pans when compared to other types of nonstick cookware, are fine. However, I do have some serious issues with HexClad specifically pertaining to how long they claim their pans last.
How does HexClad’s performance stand up over time?
Dissatisfied HexClad customers have filled internet forums with their complaints about the pans’ longevity and quality, lamenting how eggs and other foods started sticking after just months—sometimes weeks—of regular use. I experienced the same degree of sticking when I cooked with a year-ish old HexClad set.
This isn’t unique to HexClad: All ceramic nonstick coatings degrade over time because of the fundamental nature of the material itself.
I spoke with Rob Macfarlane, a professor of metallurgy and materials science at MIT about the limitations of ceramic nonstick. As he explained it, ceramic nonstick coatings are often silica-based sol-gels, a solution of tiny silica particles that fill the metal pan’s microscopically rough surface texture and create a smoother, slick surface. However, these coatings are quite brittle. Repeated heating and cooling will cause small fractures in this coating to develop due to thermal expansion and contraction. As fractures accumulate over time, surface friction increases, reducing the nonstick qualities of the pan. This is why consistently-used nonstick pans have a lifespan of 1-2 years. While you can still cook with them, the continued deterioration of their coatings will lead to chipping, and diminishing performance.
Translation: The act of cooking itself will cause any ceramic pan to deteriorate over time.
But now I need to shift focus to another claim HexClad makes, which is that In order to maintain their nonstick qualities, HexClad pans must be seasoned with neutral oil and left over medium heat.
Seasoning. A nonstick pan.
You know about seasoning. It’s the thing you have to do to prime your cast iron and carbon steel cookware. It’s the thing that people complain about. It’s the thing that pushes people to opt for nonstick coatings in the first place.
I find HexClad’s suggestion to oil their pans before use obnoxious for multiple reasons. First, it negates the whole low-maintenance value proposition that makes nonstick cookware attractive to so many people.
Second, You can’t truly season the surface of a Hexclad pan. Neither its stainless-steel peaks nor its ceramic-nonstick valleys will develop a seasoning in the same way a carbon steel or cast-iron pan would. When you oil a pan made from one of those materials and subject it to high heat, the oil breaks down and forms a layer of polymerized fat that bonds to the porous metal cooking surfaces. This seasoning repels moisture and prevents food from sticking at a molecular level. This process cannot take place on a ceramic nonstick surface, full stop.
While it is technically possible to develop a short-term layer of polymerized fat on a stainless-steel surface, you can not maintain and develop it long term. Why? Stainless steel is a significantly smoother material, making it more difficult for polymerized fat to adhere to its surface. Additionally, the metal has a non reactive layer of chromium oxide that further inhibits the strong chemical bond necessary for an actual seasoning to develop. If you’re like, “Wait, what about the gunk on my stainless-steel pans?” Well, unpolymerized fat and other food molecules can certainly accumulate on a stainless-steel pan, but this makes your pan more sticky, not less (and is also gross!)
It would be one thing if HexClad were to say that you must reseason the pan each time, (which is basically just oiling a pan, which is basically step one of cooking.) Yet the care instructions state, “over the first few weeks of use, your HexClad Hybrid cookware will perform better as it re-seasons from the fats in the food you are cooking.”
Okay, so let’s not use the term “seasoning.” HexClad is still advising you to pretreat your pan with fat prior to cooking, the same way you would to turn a stainless-steel surface nonstick. And If a HexClad pan requires the same amount of care and prep as a stainless steel, cast-iron, or carbon steel pan, I don’t see any point in purchasing HexClad over these other, more durable materials.
To the credit of HexClad and other brands making nonstick cookware, I think consumers have naive expectations for these products. Sticking is typically a consequence of improper cooking technique, and a nonstick surface of any kind can only do so much to prevent it. The temperature of a pan, the amount of oil used, and timing, all factor into how or why food sticks. Even with the nonstickiest of nonstick pans, you can still end up with stuck-on food if you aren’t mindful of what you’re doing.
Is HexClad worth the money?
It would be one thing if these pans were some budget line, but they are marketed as a premium product at premium prices. The 12-inch fry pan sans lid costs $179. For context, an All-Clad pan of the same size goes for $160. The difference is that All-Clad is the standard bearer for professional-quality stainless-steel cookware, with a reputation for longevity backed by decades of use in tens of thousands of kitchens across the country.
If after all this you’re still like “Hmph! I want a textured pan, I don’t care what you say!” Fine, but Oxo, Greenpan, and Zwilling all make cheaper versions—so go nuts pal.
The verdict
Don’t blow big money on a pans that won’t last. Simply accepting that, sometimes, things will stick while you’re learning to cook will set you up better in the long run. And if you want the convenience of a nonstick surface, at least go for one that doesn’t insist that you use and treat it exactly like the pans they claim to innovate upon. I review nonstick pans because it’s my job, but I have always and will continue to advocate for the alternatives that get better with time, see here, or here, or here.
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