Interested in some feedback on nonstick pans for cooking eggs. We used to have a traditional Teflon pan but my wife has grown concerned about the chemicals from some things she had read. So now we have a ceramic pan, mostly for cooking eggs.

Unless I'm doing something totally wrong, the ceramic sucks. Even at medium cook temps, if I use butter it eventually builds up a film that essentially renders it non-nonstick and requires you to boil and scrub with a sponge to get the film/residue off (this deglazing procedure was recommended by Green Pan when I tried to send it back). So they only recommend cooking with neutral oils because apparently the ceramic always does this with butter or even EVOO.

Seems like the Teflon is a no-go in our house, but the ceramic has worked terrible for me. Y'all have any recommendations?

ETA: Yes I have read about the Teflon chemicals myself and I'm not personally concerned, but it's not a battle I feel like fighting.

1. Don't let your wife read. Anything.
2. Get cheap teflon pans from restaurant supply store or Sam's.

Teflon is fine as long as you're not using it as your primary cookware, don't use really high heat and replace it every 5 years.

These are great pans. Nonstick without PFOA's. They are priced like a nice stainless pan though because they are.

https://hestanculinary.com/collections/nonstick

We have a Made In and 2 well seasoned/well used Lodge pieces.

Carbon steel. Gotta use a little pad of butter but eggs do not stick and you can clean it with just a wipe.

My wife fell for one of the popular / expensive ceramic brands. They suck ass.

For eggs, agree with all the other posters. I have a made in carbon steel pan. I do scrambled eggs for the family every Saturday and Sunday and there is zero sticking. I could clean it with a dry paper towel if I wanted.

For everything else we just use stainless or cast iron. I want to get a larger carbon steel pan but just haven't yet. We have a cheap nonstick we use occasionally, but honestly if you get cast iron or stainless hot before using they're more nonstick/easier to clean.

My carbon steel pan that gets used daily is a fairly cheap (maybe $40-50?) Lodge. Not the prettiest but can't imagine anything else performing better.

I was given a
Greenpan premier set for Christmas. They are pretty amazing. I'm guessing not all of their ceramic lines are created equally.

FWIW, I'm about at the point where I need to replace one of my non-stick pans, and I will be switching to carbon steel.

I know it seems gimmicky, but I really like my hexclad pan for eggs. I have never had to scrub it after making scrambled eggs, and it literally just wipes out. You just have to adjust your cooking temps to lower than you are used to.

histag10 said:

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I know it seems gimmicky, but I really like my hexclad pan for eggs. I have never had to scrub it after making scrambled eggs, and it literally just wipes out. You just have to adjust your cooking temps to lower than you are used to.

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Same. I like them as well. They clean easily. I still use my grandmother's cast iron for quite a bit, but the hexclad is lighter as I get older.

HTownAg98 said:

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Get a carbon steel pan. They will become non-stick over time. The process of seasoning a carbon steel pan is a little different than cast iron, but it's not daunting.

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Got a link to some good carbon steel pans? My teflons are older than 5 years so I'm ready to replace them.

https://www.seriouseats.com/best-carbon-steel-pans-7093873#toc-the-winners-at-a-glance

I have an 8" carbon steel pan from Made In. I got it to try carbon steel in a small pan before going all in.

I struggled with seasoning it. The first round (6 layers) I clearly messed up with too much oil so I stripped it with steel wool and redid it. I thought I was using no oil at all but it still came out ripply.

It works great for a steak but eggs not so much.

I really need to strip it and do it again.