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Oct 13, 2023

Why We Love the Tramontina Fry Pan for 2023

The affordable Tramontina fry pan makes it easy to cook, flip, and scramble delicate foods.

In my small Brooklyn kitchen, every pot, pan, knife, and organizing accessory has a leading role to play, and I pull the Tramontina 10-Inch Professional Restaurant Fry Pan from my pot rack almost daily.

With its classic flared-lip pan shape, slick nonstick coating, and comfortable handle, this is a quality pan that will last for years.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $42.

I mainly use the pan to make eggs, which I add to most of my meals. I’ll slide a perfectly jiggly, crispy-edged egg from the Tramontina pan onto rice, pasta, or even a salad.

At Wirecutter, we love that the Tramontina fry pan has even heat distribution, a slick nonstick surface, and a comfortable handle, and we’ve been cooking with this pan since 2016. We’ve flipped dozens of eggs, fried many pounds of hash browns, and whipped up countless crepes.

The Tramontina pan is a joy to cook with. It heats evenly and is incredibly nonstick. You can wiggle a spatula around the wide-angled corners to flip a sheet of hash browns, and when you pour extra crepe batter from the flared lip, there are minimal drips.

At Wirecutter, we’ve been cooking with the Tramontina fry pan since 2016.

The pan's handle is comfortable to hold, with a removable silicone grip to protect your hands. It's easy to lift the lightweight Tramontina from the stove to fold a French omelette à la Julia Child, or to transfer a frittata to the oven to finish (the pan is oven-safe up to 400 °F).

We’ve cooked mounds of eggs and more in 27 nonstick pans since 2016, and we recommend the slick and durable Tramontina 10-Inch Professional Restaurant Fry Pan.

Nonstick coatings can scratch and ding easily, causing them to lose their slickness, but with proper care, your pan should last three to five years. The pan comes with a limited lifetime warranty; it protects against manufacturer defects but not against general wear and tear or abuse. We’ve used a pan for four years before the surface started to dull.

Tramontina began as an iron mill in 1911 in Carlos Barbosa, Brazil. Founded by Italian immigrants Valentin Tramontina and his wife Elissa Cecco, the company blossomed, and Tramontina expanded into the US in 1986. Beyond nonstick pans, Tramontina sells 18,000 other products to more than 120 countries.

It's rare that we come across deals on this nonstick pan, so get it when you can.

$33 Average street price$20 Best price we’ve ever seen

Nonstick coatings are delicate, and to ensure proper use and maintenance, you should always check the instructions that come with your pan. Never, ever use nonstick cooking spray on your pan because, ironically, it can make foods stick. To be effective, nonstick pans do need some fat, so we recommend that you rub your cold pan with a bit of vegetable oil. High heat can damage the coating, so use a medium-low setting to cook.

Don't put this pan in the dishwasher, and don't use a harsh scrubber (like the green side of a heavy-duty scrub sponge) to clean it. Anything abrasive can scratch the pan's surface and damage the nonstick coating, so you should also avoid using metal utensils when you cook.

Let your pan cool before washing it, and if you’re stacking pans, layer them with a paper towel or dishcloth to protect the pan's surface.

This post is part of our 2020 "52 Things We Love" series, an ode to Wirecutter picks that have withstood the test of time. Read the entire series.

Anna Perling

Anna Perling is a former staff writer covering kitchen gear at Wirecutter. During her time at Wirecutter, she reported on various topics including sports bras, board games, and light bulbs. Previously she wrote food and lifestyle pieces for Saveur and Kinfolk magazines. Anna is a mentor at Girls Write Now and a member of the Online News Association.

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