After Kneading and Mixing Breads, Pound Cake, and More, We Found the Best Loaf Pans

Best Overall

Chicago Metallic Commerical II Traditional Uncoated Loaf Pan

$18 at Amazon $18 at Walmart View on Webstaurantstore.com

If you're looking for a professional-grade metal loaf pan, the Chicago Metallic Commercial II earned our best overall placement based on both expert recommendations and first-person testing. The size of this loaf pan is perfect for baking babka, banana bread, or a sandwich-worthy sourdough loaf. Made of aluminized steel, this pan features a reinforced rim and folded corners that help to prevent the warping that may happen with lighter pans.

"Chicago Metallic's uncoated loaf pans are workhorses for us," says Clémence Gossett, owner of The Gourmandise cooking school in Santa Monica, California. "The narrow base allows for more vertical expansion, allowing for a taller loaf. I prefer metal to ceramic for a more golden, even crust on our yeasted and quick breads."

During our testing, banana bread and vanilla pound cake both came out evenly cooked and browned. Since the loaf pan is made of steel, it did need a generous amount of baking spray on the bottom and sides, but when properly greased, both cakes slid out of the pan with no issues. The pan was a little cumbersome to put into and take out of the oven, though, because it doesn't have handles. It was difficult to grip, especially with bulky oven mitts, and it was a bit of a challenge to invert the pan to remove the cake unless it was completely cooled.

Gossett's pro tip: Lining your pan with a quarter sheet of parchment paper rather than greasing the pan makes for easy lift-off and cleanup after baking. Aside from making the pan easier to clean, the parchment paper also makes little handles that made it easier for us to remove the cake from the pan.

Baking Dimensions: 7.75 x 3.75 x 2.75 inches | Material: Alloy steel | Dishwasher Safe: Yes, but hand washing is recommended

Best Looking

Great Jones Breadwinner

$30 at Greatjonesgoods.com

If you haven't been introduced to Great Jones' line of brightly colored and thoughtfully designed kitchenware, it's time to change that. The brand offers a boldly colored loaf pan made of aluminized steel and finished with a colorful ceramic nonstick coating that performed well in testing.

Besides looking phenomenal in your kitchen, the pan is scratch-resistant for when it takes a little extra effort to get an especially sticky loaf out of the pan. Both banana bread and vanilla pound cake turned out beautifully in the Breadwinner. They were evenly cooked and browned, and perfectly moist, but were a bit more domed than the cakes baked in the other loaf pans, giving them a rustic, loaf cake charm.

The pan is nice and lightweight, but the lack of handles makes it a bit difficult to grip when setting it in the oven and taking it out. This also presented some trouble when inverting it, but the nonstick ceramic coating, combined with a little baking spray helped the cakes slide right out after cooling.

The biggest con of the Breadwinner pan is the open seam in each inner corner. When it came time to wash the pan, it took significantly more effort to clean the crumbs out of the corners compared to other pans. Swapping parchment paper for the cleaning spray solved this issue, but it's worth noting.

Overall, we think this is a great option for anyone who hosts a lot and anyone who wants to impress dinner parties with delicious bread served in a beautiful pan.

Baking Dimensions: 7.5 x 3.37 x 2.75 inches | Material: Ceramic nonstick aluminized steel | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

Best High-End

Hestan Provisions OvenBond Tri-ply 1-Pound Loaf Pan

$80 at Amazon View on Hestanculinary.com

Whether it’s bread, pound cake, or a veggie casserole loaf, this 11.3 x 5.75-inch pan can do it all. Hestan Provisions is known for being incredibly durable while also producing incredible meals, and its loaf pan is no exception. Add to that its classic looks, and you have a loaf pan that'll last for decades to come.

Not only did this bake up a great casserole and not-too-browned loaves, but the design is also outstanding. The extra-wide side handles make it easy to get the pan in and out of the oven, and the shape allows the loaf to slide out without getting stuck in a sharp corner, even though it isn't nonstick. The stainless steel surface is easy to clean, and the pan is even dishwasher safe. It worked just as well with a cheesy eggy vegetable casserole as it did for a cornbread loaf, with even browning all around.

After the initial testing, we kept this pan to see how it holds up in the long run, and we're happy to report that despite a lot of baking and cleaning, it still looks almost new. We've seen consistent browning thanks to the heavy weight, and we've never had issues with sticking. We use either baking spray or butter and flour for sweet baked goods, and a sprinkle of cornmeal on the bottom is our favorite when making a loaf of bread. Hot spots and burns are rare, which makes it easy to clean either in the dishwasher or by hand—we've done both.

Baking Dimensions: 9 x 5 x 2.75 inches | Material: Stainless steel | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

Best Nonstick

OXO Good Grips Nonstick Pro Loaf Pan

$28 at Amazon $22 at Home Depot View on Oxo

Everyone needs at least one loaf pan, and there’s no doubt that a nonstick pan makes baking and cleanup a lot easier. This pan from OXO makes a fine addition to the baking collection, whether it’s the only loaf pan, or one of a few. It’s a heavy-duty option, with a rolled edge that keeps it from twisting or warping, while the aluminized steel offers excellent heat transfer.

In testing, multiple breads as well as an eggy, cheesy loaf slid right out of the pan, leaving very little behind thanks to the ceramic nonstick coating. The bread achieved a rich golden crust with a wonderfully fluffy top. And everything baked evenly due to the interior steel's amazing heat conductivity.

That coating means cleanup was also simple with nothing more than a soapy sponge. We're grateful for that since this can't go in the dishwasher. This is a great size for a sandwich loaf, pound cake, or quickbread, but we wished it did come in other options (we'd love to have this to make Pullman loaves).

This one has stayed in our loaf pan rotation since the first round of testing, and the nonstick coating has stayed intact. Sometimes we still use baking spray just to be safe, though. Even after a lot of use, it still looks good and works well.

Baking Dimensions: 4.5 x 8.5 inches | Material: Ceramic-coated aluminized steel | Dishwasher Safe: No

Best Silicone

Trudeau Structure Silicone Pro Loaf Pan

Orig. $20 $19 at Amazon Orig. $24 $20 at Walmart

Silicone bakeware is a favorite in Europe and has been used for years, particularly for specialty pans and molds, as traditional metal counterparts require greasing and flouring. Made of food-grade silicone, this Trudeau loaf pan is perfect for those who want a lightweight, easy-to-clean pan that requires no extra steps to prepare the surface for use.

This pan produced beautifully baked cakes with a slightly domed top and minimal cracking. It was cool to the touch within minutes after removing it from the oven, and after just 10 minutes, we were able to invert the pan and remove the cake successfully. Silicone is also resistant to thermal shock, making it possible for you to go from oven to freezer and back if you need to.

While the Trudeau pan is thicker and sturdier than other silicone pans we've used, it did buckle a bit when placed on the wire rack in the oven. The handles are generously sized, though, which made moving it and properly positioning it easy. To avoid the struggle of finding just the right position to keep it from buckling in the oven, put the loaf pan on a sheet tray for the best support and ease as you move it in and out of the oven.

Cleaning the pan is super simple as it is dishwasher-safe, but we will note that the silicone attracted little bits of dust and debris that seemed to stick to it so it never looked completely clean. Also note that this pan is only oven-safe to 430 degrees Fahrenheit.

Baking Dimensions: 7.5 x 3.37 x 2.75 inches | Material: Alloy steel and silicone | Dishwasher Safe: Yes

Best for Sandwich Loaves

USA Pan Bakeware Pullman Loaf Pan with Cover

Orig. $42 $29 at Amazon View on Kingarthurbaking.com $42 at Sur La Table

If you've ever wondered how to make a perfect loaf of sandwich bread, baking your bread in a Pullman loaf pan is half the battle. A Pullman loaf pan is a long loaf pan with squared height and width dimensions, straight sides, and most importantly, a lid. With the lid on, the bread inside can only rise to the top of the pan, making for a more delicate crumb and tender, moist bread since less moisture is released in the baking process.

We tested this with a basic white Pullman loaf recipe. The bread came out beautifully golden brown on all four sides and was a perfect square, thanks to the secure lid. (If you want a domed loaf, you can bake without the lid instead). The pan is advertised as nonstick, and while the loaf slid out without any sticking, it did need a generous amount of baking spray.

There were two downsides to this pan. The top was difficult to take off and put back on. This was a less significant issue when the pan was empty, but it made getting the loaf out after baking pretty inconvenient. Make sure to grease the inside of the lid well to help your loaf release cleanly. The pan also required a little extra effort when cleaning. Since it has a grooved design, crumbs occasionally stuck on the sides and bottom, even with adequate greasing.

Baking Dimensions: 13.67 x 3.75 x 3.75 inches | Material: Alloy steel | Dishwasher Safe: No

Best for Meatloaf

Chicago Metallic Professional Non-Stick 2-Piece Meatloaf Set

$19 at Amazon $19 at Walmart $20 at Wayfair

The Chicago Metallic Non-Stick Healthy Meatloaf Set is a game-changer for making meatloaf. Made of aluminized steel, it combines a pan and perforated insert that keeps the loaf elevated and allows for excess fat to drain away while baking. This makes it a breeze to remove and serve your favorite meat (or meatless) loaf without making a mess. Simply pull the loaf out of the pan and slide it onto a serving plate for slicing.

We made both a turkey meatloaf and a vanilla pound cake, partly to test the pan's versatility and partly so we could give an apples-to-apples comparison of the pan's performance. The pan got high marks across the board.

The meatloaf and the pound cake cooked evenly, and the insert made it easy to remove both with no effort and minimal mess. The insert has handles, so we could grab them and lift them out, but when baking the cake, we had to use extra care to make sure the sides were adequately greased so the cake would release enough to remove without cracking or falling apart. Granted, this isn't what the pan is designed for, but you can use it with or without the insert if you want to switch between making meatloaf and loaf cakes.

Since the insert is perforated, cleanup does require a little extra effort. A small scrubbing brush came in handy to remove stuck-on meatloaf and crumbs from inside the holes, but a good soak did the job, too. As for the main pan, the nonstick finish made cleanup effortless—no scouring required.

Baking Dimensions: 8 x 4.37 x 2.75 inches | Material: Nonstick silicone-coated steel | Dishwasher Safe: Yes, but hand washing is recommended

Best Mini Pan

USA Pan Mini Loaf Pan, 8 Count

$34 at Amazon $30 at Sur La Table

There's a good chance that if you're baking a mini loaf, whether it be a yeasted dough or cake, you're making several miniature loaves at a time. This pan from USA Pan accommodates up to 8 miniature loaves at a time, so you can make your usual recipe and divide it quickly into smaller pans and bake all at once.

During baking, the lighter steel color and silicone coating help keep mini loaves from browning too quickly, which can be an issue when baking smaller loaves in uncoated darker pans. The silicone coating also helps prevent loaves from sticking to the pan.

The pan is made from heavy gauge aluminized steel, so it won't warp while baking and is harder to dent accidentally. The pan extends by several inches around the loaf wells to make it easy to grab onto when turning, and moving in and out of the oven. Although it is dishwasher-safe, to maintain the finish and keep the steel from oxidizing, this pan should be washed by hand.

Baking Dimensions: 2.5 x 3.87 x 1.25-inch wells | Material: Silicone-coated aluminized steel | Dishwasher Safe: Yes