Honest Caraway Cookware Review After Years of Daily Use
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Like many, I first heard of Caraway Cookware on social media. I had my doubts seeing “influencers” push yet another pricey product on their Instagram stories when by their own admittance they didn’t even cook much themselves.
I took a chance on ordering the 4 piece set round Black Friday 2021 since I was ready to ditch my toxic Teflon cookware asap. Years later, I’m SO glad I did!
After years of daily use, I finally feel comfortable sharing my full Caraway review.
Read on as I share my thoughts, pros + cons, and answer common questions in this Caraway review so you can decide if this is the cookware for you!
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Would I Recommend Caraway Cookware
The Caraway Cookware Options
As of 2023, Caraway has four pieces of full size cookware and two mini options. I bought the four piece set to save some money, but they’re available individually as well.
First thing, let’s break down the specs of each item individually.
The Caraway Fry Pan: This 10.5 inch fry pan is my most used item. The ceramic non-stick coating means my daily fried eggs + grass-fed butter slide right out of this frying pan. Another thing I ofte
n use this pan for several times a week is caramelizing onions. Size wise, this skillet is in between Caraway’s other two options: the mini (8 inches) and the saute pan (11.8 inches).
The Caraway Saute Pan: This is the largest skillet caraway currently offers. It’s 11.8 inches across the cooking surface, making it about the biggest size that will fit on a standard American stove top.
At 6.8 lbs with the lid on, you’ll find yourself thankful for the extra handle that makes carrying the pan much easier. I use this 4.5-quart saute pan for dinner almost every night!
Though the names might be misleading, this saute pan is what I use to make fried chicken and shrimp for a plethora of recipes. The fry pan would work just the same, but the size difference is notable when needing to cook, or fry, for more than one person.
The Caraway Sauce Pan: This 3-quart sauce pan is most used in my kitchen for boiling pasta and reheating leftovers I’ve frozen in my souper cubes. I highly recommend it for both! Of the three Caraway pots, this one
falls in the middle. At 4 lbs with the lid, it’s easy to tote over to the sink to drain pasta water, etc.
I occasionally use this sauce pan for, literally, heating up sauces like teriyaki, sweet chili, or orange chicken sauce and it’s thick bottom prevents them from scalding to the pan like you might find in a thin stainless steel pan or similar material.
The Caraway Dutch Oven: This large 6.5-quart dutch oven means business. At 10.5 inches across like the frying pan, the same lid fits on both items.
This sturdy dutch oven is a dream for making soups and chili. It holds heat well and offers two handles for easy transport across the kitchen or into the oven.
The Caraway Mini Fry Pan: The tiniest of all Caraway’s cookware, meet the mini fry pan. This model is ideal for making an egg at breakfast, or anything else where the full size fry pan isn’t necessary.
It’s 8 inches across, meaning the lid to the sauce pan will fit as well. Caraway hadn’t released their mini line when I purchased my set, or I definitely would’ve snagged this!
The Caraway Mini Sauce Pan: Last but not least, this mini sauce pan is perfect for cooking canned food, or when you just don’t quite need the full size.
Pros
Included Storage
The thing that sold me on investing in a Caraway set was their storage solutions. When you buy a set, it comes with magnetic pan racks that prevent your pans from scratching each other and becoming a jumbled mess in your kitchen.
I don’t know about you but playing that daily game of Jenga with my old pots, pans, and their lids was not my idea of a good time.
Along with storage for the cookware, the set comes with a solution for storing and protecting the lids. The canvas lid holder is a game changer for storage.
Easy To Clean
The nonstick surface created by the ceramic coating on these pans means easy clean up, my favorite part. Even on occasion when I burn something (whoops!) resulting in some food, breading, or seasoning scoured to the pan, a light scrub takes it away.
If I’ve waited too long to clean it after the meal, I’ll let hot water soak it for 10-15 minutes and it cleans off easily with a standard dish brush or soft sponge. I’ve NEVER had to scrape these pans.
Oven Safe
Another selling point of this ceramic cookware- it’s oven safe up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit! The most popular item for oven use is probably the dutch oven (bread, roasts, etc), but the whole set is oven safe. This is helpful for recipes where you might saute some ingredients before baking in the oven.
Saving a dirty dish by going straight from the stove top to the oven with one of the skillets is a major pro if Caraway’s cookware set.
Non Stick
One of the Caraway cookware set’s most important features is their non-stick surface. No one wants food clinging to the skillet- you’re in luck with these premium nonstick pans.
I always cook with a bit of oil or butter, so I can’t speak to not using ANY- but I can speak to using very, very little and having no problems.
I find that people who have issues with food sticking to these pans aren’t following some simple guidelines that should be used with any set of cookware: 1. Heat the pan before adding oil 2. Heat the oil before adding food. This is fundamental and if you don’t follow those steps, start now!
Non-Toxic
Truthfully, what brought me to team Caraway was my need to ditch my toxic Teflon pans. When I learned I’d been cooking my healthy recipes in toxic chemicals I felt defeated.
Why I didn’t realize that was the case every time the clear coating would start to peel after a few months of use, I have no idea. But I’d just replace my pans made of toxic materials without much thought because they were cheap.
In my research I decided on Caraway as a much better non-toxic alternative and I haven’t looked back. No more toxic fumes in my kitchen.
Color Selection
In total, Caraway has 12 colors to choose from for their ceramic pans. I find the color options for Caraway products to be very on trend and aesthetically pleasing.
There are 6 basic colors across the board, and 6 more that are considered limited edition and/or a premium up-charge.
With Caraway’s wide range of colors, your new cookware can match your personality! All of my Caraway pans and bakeware are in the color “cream” to go with my mostly neutral kitchen, but I’ve gifted several other colors that look amazing in person.
Thick Cooking Surface
The heat distribution is stellar. My Caraway cookware set cooks much more evenly on my hot spot ridden military housing stovetop burners than ANYTHING else. Even versus something thick like a cast iron pan, Caraway’s aluminum core pans perform better.
Their build also holds heat well, which is why Caraway recommends cooking on low/medium heat only. They conduct the heat so well that’s all you need! This is another way I believe people mistreat and misuse their Caraway pans and then complain when they have ill results. You don’t need to use high heat.
Unique Cooking Surface Color
No matter what color the exterior of your pans are, all the cooking surfaces are light gray. Versus the black pans I’d always used, I really like this. Since the cooking surface of Caraway’s pans is light in color, it’s very easy to tell when your food is browning. It’s a 6th sense I get to use while cooking now! Pictured are some oven roasted potatoes made in my fry pan.
Only Get What You Need
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started prioritizing quality over quantity. Cookware is no different. The truth is, most people don’t need more than the 4-6 pots and pans that Caraway offers. With Caraway’s pans you get ONLY what you need.
I had a hard time at first justifying the price for just a handful of items, but quickly rationalized they were a good investment vs a large set.
The low quality, toxic sets you can find at Walmart with 12-15+ different items are sure to clutter your kitchen cabinets while you only consistently use 3-4 of them. Every year or two you’ll be replacing those most used pans while the others take up space.
The vast majority of American stove tops only have 4 stovetop burners. Even if you have 6, the times you’re using all of them are likely few and far between.
Less Oil
As highlighted above, the ceramic nonstick coating has more than the benefit of convenience. Less oil needed means less calories consumed.
Oil used in preparing food can be a significant source of surplus calories. I like to save my calories for my actual food- not what it’s cooked in. Minimal oil needed is another win for Caraway!
Cons
Scratches
I won’t beat around the bush- these pans scratch when they come in contact with metal or other abrasive surfaces. I first realized this when scooping a dense soup out of my dutch oven and leveraging the 2-3 inches of metal on the handle of my otherwise plastic spoon, against the top interior edge of the pan.
However, this scratch hasn’t spread or continued to flake past where it was damaged which is what I really care about. This of course means no metal utensils should be used for stirring or flipping food in your Caraway pans but rather wood or silicone utensils, etc.
This might be your biggest concern if you’re rough on items, but I’ve had no further issues when using the right utensils. Since we have cast iron burners in our base housing (I know, medieval) it has rubbed a bare spot on the side of our most used pan from it being dragged across the ribbed burner often.
Weight
Caraway pans tip the scales vs some other options. While I don’t find them unmanageable, for those with weakness in the arms and hands this might be an issue.
They’re much easier to handle than cast iron, but still on the heavier side of non-stick pans vs stainless steel or Teflon.
Handles Heating Up
One of the pros of Caraway cookware, it’s ability to go in the oven up to 550 degrees, brings with it a drawback. When simmering food for a long time, the stainless steel handles (specifically the small handles) can get quite hot vs more plastic-type non conductive handles you might find on cheap non-stick cookware.
This goes for the handles on the lids as well. I simply use an oven mitt when needing to touch those handles. This isn’t unique to Caraway’s cookware, as cast iron and stainless steel pans will do this as well, but it’s worth mentioning.
Light Colors Show Grease and Grime
My pans are in Caraway’s “cream” color, and when flipped over definitely show their use if I haven’t cleaned them with Barkeeper’s friend in a while. However, they clean up well and probably would clean up even better if I treated the bottoms more often, ha!
That would be my recommendation if you want the bottom of your pans to stay looking good as new. The “before” below shows probably a year without me soaking in Barkeeper’s friend.
Price
Specifically when bought individually, these pans aren’t cheap. To get the best value, I absolutely recommend buying the 4 piece, 6 piece, or 16 piece bundles. What you get for the money is incomparable to buying each individually. See the full comparison below.
Shipping To PO Boxes
While this doesn’t effect most people, it did me. Caraway doesn’t ship to APO/FPO addresses or PO boxes.
Being stationed overseas, my options were to ship to my mom in the states or use a mail forwarding service. Both of which incurred extra expenses. I chose to ship to my mom and therefor was mercy to 6% sales tax in her state vs no sales tax when items are shipped directly to an APO address.
I also paid her to ship the large, heavy box which just added to my total investment. This was really frustrating, and cancelled out what I saved by getting a bundle.
Do I Recommend Caraway Cookware?
After years of daily use, I absolutely would recommend the Caraway pots and pans. I’ve gifted every woman in my family the fry pan and they continue to sing it’s praises for its use in their kitchens as well. I now have well performing pans with peace of mind that I’m not cooking with harmful chemicals.
However, I recommend buying one of the value bundles like my 4 piece set on the Caraway website vs the individual pieces. If I had it to do over, I would’ve gotten the 6 piece set at the very least. See why below!
The savings are substantial, and you’ll earn free shipping over $95. If I could go back, I would probably invest in the 16 piece complete set when my husband and I got married, as I have 2 pieces of the Caraway bakeware now and love them as well.
Overall, I find Caraway to be a great brand that deserves a permanent spot in your kitchen! These sturdy pans have certainly earned my respect over the last few years.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
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