The Best Roasting Pans

Seven publications ran hands-on roasting pan tests and put the Cuisinart MultiClad Pro 16-Inch first: America's Test Kitchen, Wirecutter, Serious Eats, Food & Wine, Food Network, The Kitchn and TechGearLab. ATK's Miye Bromberg roasted a 20-pound turkey, a pork loin and potatoes in each of 10 pans and named it the winner. Wirecutter's Lesley Stockton has roasted more than 400 pounds of poultry in 16 pans since 2013, and she calls it "on a par with pans that cost nearly twice as much."

The tri-ply build is why it works as well on a burner as it does in the oven. An aluminum core sits between two layers of stainless steel, and the base is flat from edge to edge. ATK found it seared pork loin without buckling or burning. Andrea Rivera Wawrzyn at The Kitchn wrote that the flat bottom "meant that making gravy in it was a breeze," and Food & Wine's browned bits dissolved into gravy right on the stovetop. TechGearLab watched the potatoes in the middle and at the edges brown at the same rate.

It is sized for the holidays. Wirecutter and TechGearLab say it holds a 20-pound turkey, and Serious Eats measured 9 quarts, enough for a water bath or a batch of stock. Serious Eats tester Taylor Murray summed up her complaints in one line: "There wasn't much I didn't like about this roasting pan." Cuisinart lists it at $159.95 with a lifetime warranty.

Three test kitchens chose the Circulon 17 x 13-Inch Nonstick Roaster as their budget or value pick: TechGearLab, Reviewed and Taste of Home. Circulon lists it at $69.99, about $90 under the Cuisinart. Lindsay D. Mattison at Reviewed expected the carbon steel to work against it, then found it "seared pork with the best of 'em, cooked up a beautiful-looking chicken, and was a breeze to clean."

Lifting it out of the oven is easy. Reviewed weighed it at 6.55 pounds, the lightest pan in its test, and TechGearLab ranks it among the lightest full-size roasters it tried, which counts for a lot with a 20-pound bird inside. Taste of Home's Test Kitchen liked the wide, heavy-duty handles and the stainless rack's silicone-coated hooks, which hold it in place and protect the coating. Reviewed called that clip-on rack its favorite of the group, saying it made it "nearly impossible for that 20-pound turkey to slide around."

There's room for a big bird. Taste of Home rates it for a turkey up to 24 pounds, and TechGearLab found it one of the deepest pans in its test. The nonstick coating covers the inside and outside, and Taste of Home found cleanup a breeze even on the textured bottom.