Just about each house cook dinner I do know owns at the very least just a few cookie sheets, and that’s as a result of they’re probably the most versatile items of cooking gear which you could personal. They’re excellent for cookies, after all, but additionally preferrred for roasting veggies, baking proteins, and the universally beloved sheet-pan dinner. And whereas the enormous cookie sheet — sometimes referred to as a “half sheet,” in baker’s parlance — is actually helpful, it doesn’t maintain a candle to its smaller sibling, the quarter sheet pan.
The usual dimensions of 1 / 4 sheet pan are 13 by 9 inches, the identical as a typical baking dish, which implies that they’ll nonetheless maintain a ton of meals. Too typically, a half-sheet is simply too massive for the rooster cutlets and roasted broccoli that I’m cooking for my family of two folks. All that further house can result in uneven cooking, too; it’s an actual bummer when half of your cookies are excellent, and the opposite half are slightly undercooked. With the quarter sheet, although, I hardly ever have that downside. I can bake 4 or six cookies — an ideal quantity for 2 adults, and the remainder of the dough goes within the freezer to bake later — with no downside.
For years, I used to be dedicated to the Nordic Ware model, largely as a result of its quarter-sheet pans are reasonably priced, sturdy, and persistently beneficial by different bakers. I nonetheless have the primary one I bought — it was initially a part of a Costco 3-pack — and it has been well-used. It’s not an ideal pan, although — its aluminum development implies that it needs to be hand-washed except you need it to develop a bizarre movie brought on by oxidation, and regardless of its hefty development, it’s nonetheless vulnerable to warping.
Unhappy with my sheet pan state of affairs, I scoured the web in quest of the perfect pans for just about any cooking state of affairs. Right here’s what I discovered.
How we examined
To place these sheet pans below the figurative magnifying glass, I baked a number of batches of cookies (snickerdoodles and peanut butter, for those who should know) and roasted each frozen and recent veggies on every sheet. All the pans had been subjected to the identical (crappy, builder-grade) oven and washed by hand to find out precisely how troublesome every could be to scrub. To gauge their long-term sturdiness, we consulted buyer critiques whereas weighing them in opposition to our experiences throughout a number of rounds of wear and tear and tear.
The very best general: Nice Jones Little Sheet
Out there in an elegant array of colours, together with magenta and the wildly in style cobalt blue, Nice Jones’s Little Sheet feels slightly bit like a gimmick. I’ve been tricked by these newcomer kitchen manufacturers earlier than, so I used to be admittedly skeptical that the Nice Jones pan had any likelihood of successful my affection. For the primary batch of snickerdoodles, I put the Nice Jones pan head-to-head in opposition to the Nordic Ware, and it objectively outperformed my outdated favourite. The cookies arrange higher, their bottoms had been browner and crispier, and their insides fluffier, and I attribute that to the warmth retention that the pan’s added layer of ceramic provides. The Nordic Ware-baked cookies had been good, however they had been too flat, not cakey sufficient, and took longer to bake than their rivals.
So far as the roasted veggies had been involved, I didn’t discover a lot discernible distinction between the Nordic Ware and the Nice Jones, however there’s no denying that the colourful ceramic coating added slightly panache to the dinner desk. When it got here time to scrub up the mess in my kitchen, the Nice Jones pan was the clear favourite. Each cookie baked on these pans simply slid proper off, with none resistance. I used to be capable of sweep away burnt bits of broccoli and garlic into the trash with my hand. Maybe that’s an unfair benefit — the NordicWare pan and different aluminum pans don’t proclaim to be non-stick — however I actually appreciated that characteristic whereas doing a sinkful of dishes.
The sleeper hit for solo cooks: Baker’s Lane Quarter Measurement
Right here’s the place I admit that I ordered this candy little sheet pan by chance — I believed it was going to be a fantastic, budget-friendly dupe for the Nice Jones pan due to its blue nonstick end and $10 price ticket. When it arrived, although, I used to be struck by simply how compact it actually was. Nonetheless, I’m not one to stew on minor mishaps, particularly once I had extra roasting to do. That mistake was truly a flip of fortune. My husband is a choosy eater, so we commonly make dinner for ourselves, and we nonetheless run into the issue of getting to make use of a pan that’s too large for the quantity of meals we’re making an attempt to cook dinner. Enter this tiny little surprise.
I used to be instantly impressed by its versatility. It’s nice for heating up a single batch of leftovers, making a pan of nachos for one, or roasting a serving or two of veggies. I used to be capable of bake three cookies with none of them touching — 4 was, sadly, too many — and the completed cookies slid off with out leaving any residue behind. The one factor I didn’t love about this pan is that not like the Nice Jones, it’s not dishwasher-safe. However for $10, hand-washing this pan nonetheless feels completely price it.
The very best aluminum quarter sheet: Vollrath
Of the aluminum quarter-sheets I attempted — made by Vollrath, Nordic Ware, and Made In — I didn’t discover a serious distinction in how they cooked. All three had been sturdy, appeared good, and had been heavy sufficient to really feel sturdy with out being too heavy to drag out of the oven. Finally, the Vollrath sheet received the day due to its heft and super-shiny floor, which produced golden brown cookie bottoms and crispy, evenly cooked veggies each single time.
A notice about sheet pan care
If you would like any of those pans to stay stunning, you’re going to must hand-wash them. Placing aluminum within the dishwasher will trigger the pans to oxidize, which leaves a greyish movie that’s innocent however visually unappealing. Ceramic-coated pans might chip or lose their coating over time, and it’s best to by no means use metallic utensils on them.
Then there may be the difficulty of polymerized oil. In case you use numerous cooking spray or oils at excessive temperatures in your oven, the oil can burn and type stains in your pans which are troublesome to take away. You’ll be able to scrub them away with an abrasive cleaner like Bar Keeper’s Good friend (verify your pan’s care directions to ensure that it’s secure in your floor) or, merely, make your peace with the stains as a pure a part of cooking.