How to Use Nonstick Pans and Pots? Read This Before You Buy!
Regardless of what your cooking needs are and what type of cook you are, beginner, home cook, or a professional chef, you need to know exactly how to use nonstick pans and pots!
Not only nonstick cookware is a versatile option for cooking low-fat recipes, but there are many other advantages to utilizing this type of cookware. Ease of use, being the topmost.
Through this guide, I will tell you different types of nonstick used in our cookware. After evaluating the differences of various nonstick cookware, I will also briefly explain how you can use your nonstick pans and pots.
Related: Best Nonstick Cookware
How to Use Nonstick Pans and Pots?
What are the different types of nonstick used in our cookware?
Following are the seven types of nonstick used in our cookware these days!
Ceramic coating:
A safe alternative to Teflon coating, ceramic coating on nonstick cookware is a healthier nonstick choice. Ceramic coating is a mineral-based coating that never causes fumes during high heat cooking.
However, the ceramic-based nonstick interior is prone to chipping and is not a considerable cookware option for daily and frequent cooking. The typical lifespan of this kind of nonstick is about one year or two.
Gentle hand washing is recommended and wooden or silicone utensils should be the right hand for maximizing the lifespan of ceramic-based nonstick cookware.
PTFE coating
PTFE-based nonstick cookware has longer life as compared to ceramic-coated nonstick cookware. It may last you nearly 4-5 years when used on moderate heat temperatures.
Don’t use steel wool or scouring pads to clean Teflon-coated pans and pots. Hand wash is recommended! Don’t overheat the pans above 500-degree F to prevent leaching PTFE coating into food.
However, PTFE coating is subjected to a lot of controversy regarding its potential health issues. Therefore, it’s not a safer cookware choice.
Silicone coating
Often used in bakeware and cookware, the silicone coating is an FDA-approved nonstick coating that never releases toxins and fumes under high-temperature settings. It is a safe and nonreactive nonstick coating.
However, silicone nonstick cookware comes with poor heat conductivity and its use is also limited.
Oven-mitts are a prerequisite when taking hot silicone molds and cookware out from the oven.
Porcelain enamel coating
A layer of enamel coating is being spread over cast-iron cookware to make it nonstick. Approved by FDA, porcelain enamel coating is safer, however, slightly expensive than PTFE or ceramic nonstick cookware.
Heavier and durable yet eco-friendly, this nonstick cookware type is safe and easy to use.
Hard-anodized aluminum coating
This is the most common type of nonstick cookware. In contrast to normal, lightweight, highly reactive metal pots and bowls, such as tomatoes, anodized aluminum cookware is safe. It is also non-adhesive, resistant to scratches, and easy to clean.
Seasoned cast iron coating
Cast iron is a naturally nonstick surface and when seasoned, it will take cooking to the next level. it is the safest nonstick cooking option.
With its excellent and superior heat endurance, it turns out food delicious. To maintain the nonstick surface in place, the pans should be seasoned periodically. Carbon steel cookware, which likewise gains no sticking surface through seasoning, is another material similar to cast iron. However, it is reactive cookware that leaches iron into food, giving food a metallic taste.
Super-hydrophobic coating
It wouldn’t be wrong to wrong to say that super-hydrophobic coating is the future of cookware. It is the most slippery coating and the manufacturers have started using it.
How to use nonstick pans and pots?
Following are the tips and tricks if you want to know how you can use nonstick pans and pots, so that they perform at maximum and last longer than usual.
- Use your nonstick cookware as instructed by its manufacturer so that it will remain in optimum condition:
- Don’t preheat your nonstick pan. Nonstick generally consists of aluminum, which has a superior thermal conductivity. Add some oil to the pan (sufficient to cover the surface slightly) first, and warm for a few seconds before adding food.
- Some brands advocate putting on the cooking surface a small layer of vegetable oil before using your non-stick cookware, which conditions the cooking surface and protects it.
- Use your nonstick cookware with low to medium heat only. The cooking surface may be degraded by higher heat, which might emit hazardous fumes. For high heat cooking such as searing meat, avoid using non-stick pans. This includes cooking at temperatures not exceeding 500° for non-stick coatings.
- Rest assures to use wooden and heat-resistant plastic spoons and spatulas to prevent scratches.
- Washing nonstick pans and pots the right way is crucial for the well-being of your cookware. Handwashing is recommended! Dry with a towel or soft cloth.
- Store your cookware properly. Don’t stack pans and pots and if necessary, place paper towels or paper plates between them to avoid rubbing to protect the coating.
Nonstick coating can’t last you generation after generation and it has a shorter lifespan as compared to cast-iron and stainless steel cookware choices. Replace it immediately once the coating starts to peal off.
