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The Best Flipping Pans

02 Dec 2023

We got an induction range (hurray!) Some of our favorite frying pans aren’t induction-compatible, however, which kicked off the Great Search for the Best Flipping Induction Frying Pan. Specifically, an indution pan that is actually pleasant to flip with: for crepes, naan, omelettes, etc.

The main aspects of a pan that appear to matter here are weight and curvature. Weight is already going to be a balancing act because induction pans need to have some amount of ferrous metal, the more the better, which is going to directly impact the amount of wrist strength you need to flip something in the pan. For curvature, the angle where the wall of the pan meets the base can stop your naan from beginning it’s flip as you move it towards the edge of the pan and into the air, while too much curve might mean that it’s difficult to get the finished naan out of the pan.

Testing out frying pans

I tried to find an assortment of potential pans to try out. Another desired attribute is some sort of non-stick. I have a slight preference towards ceramic non-stick, but I’m willing to try other options as well. This is mostly driven by the fact that I haven’t historically been good at cooking on low heat and I have been known to burn food to the bottom of the pan, and a little non-stick magic can at least help with the latter.

The Contenders

Graph of pan weight vs score

For an incredibly unfair comparison, here are the stats for the aluminum non-stick pans we can no longer use:

  • Hy-Vee 11” nonstick
    • Weight: 1 lb 12.9 oz (822 g)
    • Rim diameter: 11”
    • Cooking surface diameter: 8.5”
  • Target 11” nonstick
    • Weight: 14.9 oz (423 g)
    • Rim diameter: 11”
    • Cooking surface diameter: 8”
  • Chefmate 8” nonstick
    • Weight: 12.6 oz (359 g)
    • Rim diameter: 8”
    • Cooking surface diameter: 6”

I made a point of dragging my SO out to a physical store at the actual mall to flip some pans in real life. We were considering several pans from All-Clad, Scanpan, GreenPan, and Zwilling. Of these, primarly the average retail price of $100+ is the kicker - if I’m not sure that this pan will work for me after waving it around in the air while the sales associate hovers nearby awkwardly, do I want to buy it and then risk dealing with whatever returns process they have? Not yet. I do think that the Zwilling stood the best chance of being a nice flipping pan out of that set, and I still wish we’d go flip some pans at the local Cooks | Bellecour.

Of the pans that I did purchase, I’m most worried about the Misen stainless steel and the Tramontina carbon steel. I am not known for cooking delicately, or patience, and it seems like both will require that and a decent amount of skill. In order to give it a fair shake, I have been reading tips on cooking with stainless steel. We also bought an 8” Figmint nonstick ceramic, but either the induction base was too small or the ferrous metal content wasn’t high enough for it to register on even the smallest burner, which is supposed to accept a 4.5” minimum diameter pan. We got to test this theory with the KitchenAid (it worked), although for comparison to the rest of the pans it would have been better to have another 10” version.

Use Cases

Flipping a Whole Tortilla

The goal of this test is to provide a uniform test of flipping a large, flat piece of food across all pans.

HyVee Nonstick The angle where the wall meets the cooking surface is sharp, which prevents easy flipping. This pan earns a 1 from me and an “ok” (2) from SO.

Target Nonstick This is by far the lightest pan, and also the easiest to flip with because of the curvature. It is almost always possible to do a complete single flip with this pan without much effort. This pan earns a 5 from me and top marks from SO, who said “this pan is a breeze” (5).

Kitchenaid This pan was actually too small to flip a whole tortilla. To get the same effect, we cut down a tortilla by about 2 inches, and then it earned a grade of “fair” (2) from SO and a 1 from me.

Chefmate Nonstick It’s very easy to flip a whole tortilla in this pan, and then for a fair comparison we also flipped a cut-down tortilla - still great. The curve on this pan is much more open than the Kitchenaid. This pan earned a 3 from me and a “good” (4) from SO.

Tramontina I think this pan would be great if it didn’t weigh so much. The curve is actually really nice, but you have to hold it with two hands and honestly take a stance to flip with this pan. It earned a 3 from me and a “fair enough” (2) from SO.

Misen I had high hopes for the curve on this pan, but it really didn’t deliver. Not only is it heavy enough to require two hands, the tortilla just kept getting stuck at the rim and it was almost impossible to flip. It gets a 1 from me and a “fail” (1) from SO.

Muller I’d say this is the surprise performer of the pack - being relatively light, and it was actually decent to flip the tortilla. The Muller earned a 4 from me and an “adequate” (3) from SO.

Figmint Ceramic We’ve had this one for a while, and have been unimpressed so far. The curve of this one made it nearly impossible to flip the tortilla, earning it a 2 from me and an “adequate” (3) from SO.

OXO The OXO surprised me with the tortilla, it wasn’t as smooth as the Target pan but it wasn’t awful. It earns a 3 from me and an “adequate” (3) from SO.

Flipping Tortilla Pieces

Flipping small pieces of tortilla

This test simulates cooking anything with small pieces - for example a stir fry or sauteeing vegetables. All of the pans were acceptable at this test, with only the heavy pans continuing to be difficult to use due to their sheer weight.

Flipping Naan

For this and the crepe test I only had 2 of the pans available, but recording the experience is still beneficial. Neither the Figmint nor the OXO impressed us; it was fine flipping the naan and it was difficult to get the naan out of the pan onto the plate due to the curve of the rims.

The naan gets stuck in the curve of the rim

Flipping Crepes

Neither the OXO nor Figmint made flipping crepes easy. It could be the learning curve of using a new induction stove, or letting the butter sit for too long before adding batter, but it was much easier to use my fingers to flip the crepes than to get them to release enough in either pan to flip them.

Conclusions

Which one would I recommend?

Honestly, we were correct in thinking that none of the induction-friendly pans are as lightweight or as flipping-friendly as the nonstick aluminum pans - the Target pan in particular is a standout. But given that we can’t use them anymore, the Muller and OXO pans seem to be decent.

Which one(s) will I keep?

I’m keeping the Muller, Figmint and OXO pan for now because they are fine. Not amazing, but we’ll get along. The Muller is the best of the three, the OXO is close behind. None of these three work on the largest burner of my stove, which isn’t ideal: if you want to use two frying pans at once, you have to fit them onto the left front and rear burners, and the stove doesn’t always love that.

Which one(s) will I return?

I’m definitely returning the Kitchenaid, as it doesn’t have enough metal to work on the smallest burner. Although I think I might be able to learn to cook on stainless steel or carbon steel, I’m returning the Misen and the Tramontina due to the weight.

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