8 Best Baking Sheets to Add to Your Kitchen

SomethingSwanky is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.

What are the two things in common between cookies, nachos, peanut brittle, oven pizza, sheet cake, crispy bacon, and meringues? The first is that everyone loves them. Seriously, I can’t remember ever meeting someone who dislikes any food on that list. The second commonality is that the best way to prepare all of them is on a baking sheet.

Baking sheets are one of the most important tools in any kitchen, not only because of how many incredible foods they can make but also because of how convenient they are. Most people don’t realize, though, that the exact model of baking sheet you use can really affect the final result.

In this post, I’ll talk about why finding the right baking sheet is so important and even reveal eight of my personal sheet pans of all time.

About Baking Sheets

First, let’s look at what makes a baking sheet worth its salt!

What is a Baking Sheet?

A baking sheet, also known as a sheet pan, is a shallow oven-safe pan used to prepare dishes that will not flow off the edges of the pan during baking. That usually means dishes like cookies, pastries, or breads that stand on the pan on their own.

Since a baking sheet does still have shallow walls, it can also be used to hold recipes like sheet cake or peanut brittle that do indeed flow to the sides of the pan but which are virtually flat.

What are Baking Sheets Made Out Of?

Common materials for baking sheet construction include:

• Aluminum – It’s lightweight, inexpensive, and heats quickly and evenly. Unfortunately, it’s not dishwasher-safe The biggest downside of aluminum baking sheets is that they react negatively to acidic ingredients like tomato, vinegar, wine, or citrus. When those kinds of ingredients are present, they break down slightly and may transfer some metal particles to the food, damaging the taste. 
• Stainless steel – Stainless steel is more durable than aluminum, lasting longer without warping. It is also dishwasher-safe, which is a big deal if you’re opting for a non-stick model. Stainless steel is heavy and expensive, though, and many manufacturers try to pass off thin stainless steel baking pans as a cost-saving measure. Thin stainless steel surfaces do not conduct heat very evenly, so make sure if you’re springing for stainless steel that the model you get has a good amount of thickness.
• Ceramic – The biggest advantage of ceramic baking sheets is that they look great and can be brought to the table as a show piece. They get hot very quickly too. Unfortunately, that fast heating might be a detriment for dishes like peanut brittle that contain a lot of sugar, as the sugar will often burn.

Any of these materials are easier to clean by hand if you buy a model with a nonstick coating. However, non-stick coatings usually lower the sheet’s heat resistance and can be damaged if you use rough sponges or metal tools on it.

What to Look For When Choosing a Baking Sheet

Material and thickness of the pan (both covered in the previous section) are the most important considerations.

Size is also an important consideration. Baking sheets come in three standard sizes:

• Quarter sheet (9”x13”)
• Half sheet (18”x13”)
• Full-sized (26”x13”)

Make sure the size you choose can fit in your oven.

Some baking sheets are corrugated at the bottom to help with heat circulation before and after baking. This is an important feature that helps to evenly cook all food.

Some sheet trays include a baking rack, which is an even better solution. If you buy a tray that doesn’t include either of those features, you should buy a high-quality cooling rack separately.

Last, it’s nice to have a baking sheet with handles on the sides. It helps with taking the sheet in and out of the oven as well as with transport.

How to Care For Your Baking Sheet

The main piece of advice I can give is to clean immediately after every use! I know it’s hard to take time for cleaning when you’ve just pulled something delicious out of the oven, but it will save you time down the line.

No matter what material you’re dealing with, warm water and soap will usually clean all of the residue off if you clean immediately after baking. With especially tough residue, you may have to soak the baking sheet in a mixture of warm water and soap for an hour before gently handwashing it. After handwashing, leave the sheet upright to air dry.

Also, use parchment paper when baking with the baking tray if possible. No parchment paper? No problem. Check out parchment paper substitutes you probably have at home..

Best Baking Sheets

Without further ado, the eight best baking sheet options on the market! Each model I chose is given a “best of” category to help you narrow down your search, and there’s a paragraph or two about each model below the table.

“Best Of” Category	Name
Quarter Sheet	[amazon link=”B07WWQ7HJ1″ link_icon=”none” title=”All Clad Nonstick Pro-Release Quarter Sheet” /]
Jelly Roll	[amazon link=”B0029JQE3M” link_icon=”none” title=”USA Pan Bakeware Jelly Roll Pan” /]
Full Sheet	Large Sheet Pan
Half Sheet	Nordic Ware Naturals Half-Sheet Pan
Set	Platinum Pro Bakeware, Set of 3
XL	Nordic Ware Naturals Big Sheet Pan
Nonstick	GreenPan Craft Sheet Pan
Splurge	Baking Sheet

1. Quarter Sheet: All Clad Nonstick Pro-Release Quarter Sheet

by [amazon link=”B07WWQ7HJ1″ link_icon=”none” title=”All-Clad” /]

[amazon fields=”B07WWQ7HJ1″ value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”All Clad Nonstick Pro-Release Quarter Sheet”]

All Clad specializes in heavy-duty cookware, and this quarter sheet tray is a good example of that. It has a sturdy look and feel with two handles that make it easy to handle, especially considering how light it is. It’s made from aluminized steel, which gives it the supreme heat resistance of aluminum and the durability of stainless steel.

It also has a very good non-stick coating that is safe up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Although the coating is not dishwasher-safe, it makes handwashing a breeze in almost every case.

2. Jelly Roll: USA Pan Bakeware Jelly Roll Pan

by [amazon link=”B0029JQE3M” link_icon=”none” title=”USA Pan” /]

[amazon fields=”B0029JQE3M” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”USA Pan Bakeware Jelly Roll Pan”]

If you plan to make jelly cakes, peanut brittle, or other flat baked goods in your sheet pan, you should definitely consider this model. It has a corrugated surface, which gives it great air circulation that bakes more evenly and makes releasing the recipe from the pan a snap. When you’re dealing with a baked good that can fall apart on release if it sticks to the pan, that’s a very nice feature to have.

The Americoat non-stick coating, which is free from any harmful chemicals, makes the task of releasing foods after baking even easier. The pan is made from aluminized steel and has a nice weighty heft to it. It’s only $20, too.

3. Full Sheet: Large Sheet Pan

by Pampered Chef

Full sheet pans are a huge pain to wash by hand since they’re so large, and that’s why I would never recommend an aluminum full sheet. At the same time, though, a 100% stainless steel sheet pan is just too heavy (not to mention expensive) to be feasible for me, especially since I am far from a weight-lifter.

The aluminized steel material of this sheet pan is a perfect medium between the two. It is light, dishwasher-safe, and resists corrosion. It has a very high heat resistance, and it is good with heat distribution. Pampered Chef has so much confidence in the product, in fact, that they include a 3-year warranty, an important indicator of quality.

Despite all that, the sheet pan is under $30. For such a large piece of equipment, that’s a mind-blowing deal.

4. Half Sheet: Nordic Ware Naturals Half-Sheet Pan

by Sur La Table

Half sheet pans are the most commonly used size since they’re large enough to accommodate most baked goods without being unruly, and this model is a great buy for someone looking for versatility.

I love how light this model is and how evenly it distributes heat. Even though it’s only $21, it produces more consistent results than any of my other sheet pans. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Nordic Ware, who are definitely one of my favorite kitchen tools manufacturers.

This pan is made from aluminum so it has to be hand-washed, but the manageable size and sleek design make a quick paper towel wipe-down sufficient 95% of the time. The only steel is located in the rim of the sheet to prevent warping from high heats.

5. Set: Platinum Pro Bakeware, Set of 3

by Sur La Table

If you don’t have any half sheet pans yet, this set is a great way to dive in head-first.

Both pans are identical, and they’re both outstanding. Each one has a corrugated bottom, and I swear that the diagonal corrugations are more effective than straight up-and-down ones when it comes to releasing baked goods (though I have no data to back that up).

They are made from aluminized steel and coated with Sur Le Table’s proprietary non-stick coating, which is known to be among the best in the cookware industry. The two pans are half sheets, so most ovens are big enough to fit both of them at once.

Cooling racks are great tools to have, too. They’re not the focus of this post so I won’t go into the one included in the set, but I can guarantee you it helps to produce crispier, more evenly-cooked baked goods. For more info on cooling racks, check out my post about the best cooling racks on the market.

6. XL: Nordic Ware Naturals Big Sheet Pan

by Sur La Table

At 21”x15”, this model provides a slightly wider alternative to a full sheet pan. It’s not too heavy, either, since it’s made of aluminum except for a thin band of steel in the rim. It will never rust, and it has excellent heat distribution that provides consistent results. If you can fit it in your oven and have a big enough sink to hand-wash it, I’d highly recommend picking one up.

7. Nonstick: GreenPan Craft Sheet Pan

by Sur La Table

Sur La Table outdid themselves with the ceramic non-stick coating for this model. Not only does the food glide off the surface like a dream once it’s done baking, but the baking sheet also cleans up with next to no effort.

Unlike most non-stick surfaces, you can use metal utensils on it, and its heat resistance is off the charts. The sheet pan is dishwasher-safe, too. I don’t know how they did it, but Sur La Table gave us the best of both worlds with this aluminized steel wonder.

Even besides the non-stick surface, the pan is very nice. It is finished in a deep steely gray that I find particularly appealing, and it has oversized handles that help with transportation.

8. Splurge: Baking Sheet

by Caraway Home

This 10”x15” baking sheet is the most expensive on this list, but it’s worth it for those who have a few extra bucks to spare. It looks great, the non-stick works well, and it’s oven-safe all the way up to 550 degrees. The surface is made of alloy steel with a sleek ceramic coating, and the ergonomic handles on either side of it are made from pure stainless steel.

Baking Sheet FAQ

The Right Baking Sheet For You

If you’re going to spend time, energy, and money baking, then I implore you to use the right baking sheet. Otherwise, all those expended resources are being wasted… at least, partially.