The Best Muffin Pans (2023), Tested and Reviewed

By Beth Lipton

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For such a humble piece of cookware, the muffin pan can bring so much joy. Whether you’re baking them for guests coming to brunch, for kids to grab on busy mornings, or for yourself, a fresh muffin is a happy way to start a day. And then there are cupcakes—the centerpiece of children’s birthday parties and bridal showers everywhere.

But all muffin pans are not created equal. The best muffin pan bakes up muffin tops that dome instead of spread, cupcake bottoms and sides that get an even golden crust, and always—always—treats that unmold easily and without breaking. And after all the candles have been blown out and the coffee sipped, you want something that’s easy to clean up.

To find a pan worthy of your all-important muffin-baking efforts we baked batch after batch of classic blueberry muffins (and became very popular with our neighbors, indeed) in well-reviewed muffin tins to bring you the best ones.

Incidentally, though we all call it a muffin pan, this pan can do loads more. You can cook eggs in it or make mini-frittatas, whip up individual meatloaves or tiny pies–some creative parents even use theirs to entice little eaters to try just a bite of something.

Read on for our top picks and scroll farther down for more on how we tested and the muffin pans that didn’t make the cut.

A note on lining muffin pansThe best nonstick muffin panThe best muffin pan that’s not nonstickHow we testedWhat we looked forOther muffin pans we testedThe takeaway

In each batch we lined half of the pan with paper liners and left the other half unlined. In general we recommend lining your muffin tin. Not only does it make cleanup easier, it also helps to keep muffins and cupcakes from spreading at the top, so you get that nice photo-worthy dome shape. Of course, it’s important to have a pan that’s easy to clean in case you find yourself out of muffin liners, but as a rule, if you can, save yourself some trouble and line ’em.

Usually attractive isn’t the word that comes to mind with muffin tins, but this one looks good and does its job(s) very well. Made from heavy-gauge steel, with a hard-anodized nonstick surface in a bronze hue, this pan held and distributed heat well and delivered evenly baked muffins with a nice golden brown crust. The unlined muffins spread a bit at the top, but less than they did in other pans we tested (and, as we’ve established, you should line your pan anyway).

A few things set this one apart from the other nonsticks we tested: One was the handles, which were not only nice and wide, but also covered with silicone grips making turning the pan halfway through baking and transferring to a wire rack super simple and comfortable, even wearing oven mitts. Also, the pan comes with a well-fitting 2"-deep clear plastic lid so you can take your baked goods on the go with ease.

It’s oven-safe up to 450ºF and dishwasher safe–though we always recommend hand-washing to keep your pans in good condition longer. Plus, it’s so easy to clean, we can’t see the need to take up valuable dishwasher real estate with this pan. A lifetime warranty is another nice-to-have feature.

Typically, muffin tins tend to be inexpensive, so this one is definitely on the pricier side ($37 at the time of publishing). It offers enough bells and whistles to justify it, so it comes down to whether you want to spend the extra dough. Other than that, our only other complaints with this pan are the same as those we have with most all nonstick baking pans. Nonstick bakeware is finicky insofar as you have to take extra care with the coating–it can withstand less heat than traditional pans; you can’t use abrasive cleansers or sponges; and so on. Arguably, these issues are not as serious with muffin pans as with as other types of pans, though—we can’t, for example, think of a time we’ve been tempted to cook anything in a muffin pan at a temperature higher than 450ºF.

Size: 15.5” x 10” x 1.5”Weight: 2.4 lbs.Oven safe to: 550℉ Coating: Ceramic

Caraway’s muffin pan is heavy duty, emphasis on the heavy. It’s 10% heavier than the Anolon, even though it’s slightly smaller. Though it’s made of aluminized steel it handles a bit more like cast iron. And that extra weight resulted in good performance. There was reasonable browning on the lined muffins and the unlined muffins came out truly golden. They also released very easily from the ceramic nonstick coated cups. There was also very little spread in the Caraway pan–even less than with the Anolon and in terms of baking performance the Caraway performed on par with our top choice. The Anolon gets the nod here simply for its extras like rubberized grips and lids for transportation and stacking.

Like all Caraway pans, it's designed with aesthetics in mind and it’s a good looking piece of equipment that comes in nine different colors (although the colors are only on the underside of the pan, so they’re a little tough to show off). There’s a comfortable amount of extra space along the edges to grab for easy maneuvering in and out of the oven, and clean up was easy.

Caraway says the pan is oven safe up to 550℉, and as we get into when discussing the best nonstick pans, ceramic nonstick is the only type that can withstand that kind of heat. And while you’re probably not going to bake too many muffins with the oven cranked that high, we guess it’s nice to know you can.

Its weight is noticeable and if you need to, for example, flip it around in the oven halfway through baking, it’s more challenging than with lighter pans. Also, while this is less important in a muffin pan than in a skillet, because a muffin pan is likely getting lined, ceramic can lose its nonstick more quickly than PTFE-coated items. Finally, at $50 (at the time of writing) it’s also more expensive than almost every other pan we tested.

Size: 15.5” x 10” x 1.5”Weight: 2.4 lbs.Oven safe to: 550℉ Coating: Ceramic

Professional bakeries and restaurant kitchens usually have no-frills, tough pans—not necessarily heavy-duty but tough—that do the job well, over and over again. If that idea appeals to you, this is the pan you want. The combination of aluminum and the anodizing process means it offers good and even heat distribution so you get a nice golden crust. This was the only pan we tested in which there was no difference between lined and unlined in terms of spread; all the muffins baked up with a satisfying dome shape. The muffins released easily, and cleanup was a snap. At $18 (at the time of publishing) and with a lifetime warranty, you can stock up on a couple of these pans and know you’re good to go.

There isn’t much to dislike about this pan; it just works. It is very basic, though, so if you’re after extra-wide handles, a cover, or any other bells and whistles, you won’t find them here.

Size: 15.75” x 11.125” x 1.5”Weight: 1.1 lbs.Oven safe to: 550℉ Coating: Uncoated

We collected eight popular, well-reviewed 12-cup muffin pans. Following the manufacturers’ instructions, we washed and dried each pan. We lined six of the cups with paper liners and brushed the remaining six lightly with melted butter. (The one exception was the Silpat Muffin Mold, which we neither lined nor greased, per manufacturer's instructions.) We baked a batch of Epi Classic Blueberry Muffins in each pan using the middle rack of the oven.

As the recipe instructed, we left the muffins in the pans on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then unmolded them. Finally, once the pans were cool, we washed them by hand.

We reach for our muffin tins often, so we looked for sturdy, well-made pans that can stand up to frequent use. We considered extras, like wider handles or covers. For nonstick pans we looked at the listed maximum oven temperature and considered the quality of the coating and whether there was an easy release of muffins. We chose not to look at any mini muffin pans or jumbo muffin pans for this test to compare like to like.

Like most things Oxo, the Oxo Good Grips Nonstick Muffin Pan is a high-quality piece. This was a close second behind the Anolon. The muffins baked evenly with a nice golden color; there was extra space around the sides that made the pan easy to transport; and the pan was sturdy, with two layers of coating. The unlined muffins spread a bit more than with some other pans, but you’ll be lining your pans (!), so that shouldn’t be a big issue. The Anolon edged out the Oxo with its rubberized handles and the cover (though the Oxo pan is almost $10 cheaper at the time of publishing, so if you want to save a little, it’s a good choice).

Speaking of budget, at $9 the Wilton Recipe Right Nonstick Muffin and Cupcake Pan is quite easy on the wallet. It’s also a decent no-frills nonstick; we got just a little spread in the unlined cups and slightly uneven baking, but you might not even notice if you aren't baking side-by-side batches like we were. A note: They advertise that the handles are extra-wide, but that’s overstating it a bit.

On the other end of the price spectrum at $30 is the USA Pan Bakeware Muffin Pan. The aluminized-steel pan performed very well, and the company touts its fluted design and PTFE-, PFOA-, and BPA-free silicone nonstick coating. It yielded evenly baked muffins with good dome shapes and lovely golden color. But like the Oxo, it was edged out by the Anolon’s extras.

The Silpat Perfect Muffin Mold worked as beautifully as Silpat mats—it offered, as you’d expect of a silicone muffin pan, easy release of the muffins with no need for butter or cooking spray in the baking cups. Cleanup was as simple as a light rinse. The problem, which you’ll find with lots of silicone pans of all types, was that it didn’t conduct heat well. The muffins came out anemic with no discernible golden crust at all except on the bottom, where the mold rested on a sheet pan. This mold would be great for mini crustless quiches, where sticking can be an issue and a golden exterior is not necessary. But it’s spendy at $65, and a set of food-grade silicone molds is much cheaper and can do the same job.

Though the muffins we baked in the Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Muffin Pan were well-shaped and popped out with ease, they were on the paler side. At more than $22, with no special features, this pan offered less value than others.

Though pretty, the GreenLife Bakeware Healthy Ceramic Nonstick 12-Cup Muffin Pan was our least favorite. The unlined muffins spread very noticeably.

Though nonstick muffin tins are very popular, a good regular pan can be just as easy to use and clean, especially when lined. So the choice of coated or uncoated really comes down to your preference. There are several good ones in both categories on the market. If you like a nonstick pan with some extras, you’ll be very happy with the Anolon Advance Bronze. But if you’re more attracted to the tough kitchen workhorses similar to what the pros use, the Fat Daddio anodized aluminum pan is your jam.