USA Pan 1-Pound Loaf Pan

The USA Nonstick Loaf Pan is exactly what you’d see in a professional bakery, but with a nonstick coating that makes it simple to clean.

A quality loaf pan is about as useful in a home kitchen as a sturdy sheet pan-which is to say, you need one. Loaf pans can be used to make a variety of baked foods, including quick breads, pound cake, and classic meatloaf. Though I’m a professionally trained baker, I’ve purchased most of my loaf pans from thrift stores. This made it faster to send an extra banana bread loaf home with a friend (no need to worry if it came out easily), but it also left me wondering why some loaves came out better (i.e., taller, more tender) than others.

In a quest to finally have a few proper loaf pans to hold onto, I put 10 of the most popular pans to the test in my home kitchen. After making nearly a dozen loaves of white bread, 10 batches of banana bread, and enough meatloaf to feed a soccer team, I found five loaf pans that distribute heat evenly and release loaves easily.

Top Picks

The Tests

• Simple White Bread Test: I prepared the dough for The Simplest White Bread Ever. I followed the directions and prepped each loaf pan with just a bit of cornmeal. I noted how long each loaf took to bake, how easy the loaves were to remove, and how evenly browned each loaf came out.
• Banana Bread Test: I mixed up banana bread and prepared each pan with a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of flour for coating. During baking, I noted the fullness of each loaf pan as well as its rise in the oven. I let each loaf cool slightly before removing it from the pan.
• Durability Test: You know how you might casually store a banana bread loaf in the loaf pan, cutting into it with a knife or butter knife to retrieve a slice? I did that with each loaf pan, scraping a butter knife along the bottom of the pan to test for durability, noting any scratches.
• Meatloaf Test (Winners Only): My six favorite loaf pans from the other three tests were filled with a batch of meatloaf to see how each pan held up to greasy, sticky foods like a meatloaf topped with ketchup and brown sugar.

What We Learned

Pan Depth Impacts Bread Height More Than Pan Shape

A standard loaf pan should hold a one-pound loaf of bread dough or about six cups of batter, and the interior usually measures 8.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide, and 2.75 inches tall. While almost all the pans I tested fit these standards, there were a few outliers like the Williams Sonoma Essential Stoneware Loaf Pan and Nordic Ware Treat Nonstick Loaf Pan, which had slightly different heights and widths. The taller and narrower shape of the Williams Sonoma Essential Stoneware Loaf Pan caused bread to rise above the rim of the pan, while banana bread batter spilled over into the oven. The shorter, wider Nordic Ware Treat Nonstick Loaf Pan baked up breads that were stout and squidgy.

Material Impacts Browning

Loaf pans come in a variety of materials, including aluminized steel, cast iron, and ceramic stoneware. Each material bakes up recipes a little differently and has its own set of pros and cons. For example, aluminized steel pans like the USA Nonstick Loaf Pan, OXO Good Grips Nonstick Pro Loaf Pan, and Great Jones Breadwinner, all had the exact same bake time in both the banana bread and white bread tests. These pans browned meatloaf better than ceramic pans, like Le Creuset Heritage Stoneware Loaf Pan and Williams Sonoma Essential Stoneware Loaf Pan. Ceramic pans took longer to make most things-only five to 10 additional minutes, depending on the test-because they are thicker and conduct heat more slowly. This slower heating is great for getting a tall rise on bread, but slightly annoying when you’re trying to finish meatloaf for dinner, and it takes longer than you planned. Cast iron pans, like the Lodge and Le Creuset Cast Iron Classic Loaf Pan, were also slower to bake but gave the best browning in the meatloaf tests. Ultimately, which material you choose for your loaf pan will come down to what you want: If you want something easy to clean, a nonstick-coated aluminized steel is best. Looking to avoid nonstick together? Choose cast iron. Ceramic loaf pans are beautiful and great for going from oven to table, too.

Avoid Metal Utensils on Nonstick Pans to Make Them Last

While three of my five winning pans are aluminized steel with nonstick coating (they baked beautiful loaves of bread and meat without sticking), it is important to note that not a single nonstick pan made it through the durability test without some scratching. Over time, these scratches can erode the nonstick coating completely, so if you opt for nonstick, stick to wood, silicone, or plastic for cutting directly in the pan to help the loaf pan last longer.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Loaf Pan

Look for a one-pound loaf pan measuring 8.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide, 2.75 inches tall; this is the most versatile size, and what most recipes are developed to use. The pan should be able to hold at least six cups of batter. The choice of material is up to you, but I like aluminized steel with a nonstick coating for the most even bake and no-sweat cleanup. Some loaf pans made from cast iron or ceramic bake well, even if they need slightly more time in the oven. Ceramic has good heat retention, so it’s good for serving casseroles.

Our Favorite Loaf Pans

The Best Loaf Pan

USA Pan 1-Pound Loaf Pan

What we liked: This pan is professional quality at home-baker pricing. It’s a standard size and has crisp corners that make even the most humble loaf of pound cake look like it came from a bakery. It’s also lightweight and heats evenly for a consistent rise on bread loaves and cakes. The nonstick coating requires little pan prep and cleans up beautifully. This was one of our winners in previous tests, and it’s still great.

What we didn’t like: Water can get trapped in the rolled rim of the pan. This is easily remedied by drying it right side up and then upside down after washing. Nonstick coatings are prone to scratching, and this pan had some of the most obvious marks of the pans I tested.

Key Specs

• Weight: 1 pound
• Materials: Aluminized steel with nonstick coating
• Interior dimensions: 8.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide, 2.75 inches tall
• Max temperature: 450ºF
• Care instructions: Hand-wash only

Another Great Loaf Pan

OXO Good Grips Nonstick Pro Loaf Pan

What we liked: One of the many things that OXO designs incredibly well is its bakeware-see its sheet pans as an example-and this loaf pan is no exception. Like my other two nonstick winners, the OXO pan is made from aluminized steel, which helps baked goods heat evenly and browns the sides of meatloaf well, even in a low-temperature oven. This pan has rounded corners, rather than squared-off ones, so it bakes up bread loaves with a slightly more homey look.

What we didn’t like: The bottom of the pan is a ridged platform that’s made to bake foods more evenly, but it caused the white bread and banana bread to stick a little.

Key Specs

• Weight: 13.75 ounces
• Materials: aluminized steel, ceramic-reinforced, 2-layer coating
• Interior dimensions: 8.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide, 2.75 inches tall
• Max temperature: 450ºF
• Care instructions: Dishwasher-safe; hand-washing recommended to preserve nonstick coating

The Best Splurge Loaf Pan

Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Pro Nonstick Loaf Pan

What we liked: William Sonoma promises this pan is nearly indestructible and can be cleaned up quickly thanks to its specialty “Goldtouch® Pro nonstick coating,” and it truly lives up to the hype. (It was our winner in previous testing, too.) In testing, it baked and cleaned up very well, and it also retained the fewest scratches in durability testing. It has the same tight corner design as the USA Pan, which creates bakery-like loaves of bread and cakes.

What we didn’t like: Considering that it has nearly identical materials to the USA pan, it is a bit shocking that it’s almost twice the price. The nonstick coating worked so well that the meatloaf barely got a chance to brown on the sides. While that made for easy cleanup, I missed the caramelized bits on the sides of the pan.

Key Specs

• Weight: 1 pound
• Materials: Aluminized steel with nonstick coating
• Interior dimensions: 8.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide, 2.75 inches tall
• Max temperature: 450ºF
• Care instructions: Dishwasher-safe; hand-washing recommended to preserve nonstick coating

The Best Cast Iron Loaf Pan

Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Loaf Pan

What we liked: Cast iron is a wonderful material for baking in, but it can be heavy to maneuver in and out of the oven. That’s why I was surprised that Lodge’s Cast Iron loaf pan was almost a full pound lighter than other cast iron pans I tested. The baked goods coming out of this loaf pan had nice brown sides, and it was one of the few pans to actually brown the sides of the meatloaf. The petite handles on this pan are an added bonus.

What we didn’t like: Despite being lighter than