Many people have asked me how to care for nonstick cookware, so I thought I’d write a little article about it to put the matter to rest once and for all. Everyone knows that you need to hand wash stainless steel cookware, but what about the different types of nonstick? Don’t worry, we’ll get into all of it right here today.
First I want to start by breaking down the two or three main types of nonstick cookware that are available today. The most popular ones that you’re going to see are:
- Teflon
- Hard Anodized Aluminum
- Cast Iron
Now obviously everybody’s aware of Teflon and hard anodized aluminum, but most people don’t really think of cast-iron as nonstick but actually it. Unfortunately, I’m not going to talk about cast-iron in this article today because I feel like people just don’t use it all that much anymore and besides, when you think of nonstick you’re really thinking about Teflon and hard anodized options so I’m going to stick with them.
The first thing you should do is check the box that your cookware came in (if you just bought it or are about to), you’ll also want to check any instructions or manuals that came with them as well because they will always have instructions for how you should care for and wash your cookware.
Of course, that doesn’t help you if you bought your stuff years ago and don’t have the manual or the box anymore so I’m going to give you some general tips and instructions if that’s the case. These days though, you can often go online to the manufacturers website and download instruction manuals for your particular set, so keep that in mind.
The first time you use your cookware you should wash it with hot and soapy water and then rinse it completely and dry it by hand. It’s sort of a regular thing to “Season” your cookware the first time you use it and you do that by coating the surface with cooking oil. Just coat it lightly, bake it, then wipe it clean. This is sort of an old-time ritual and may not be necessary for newer cookware; so again, check your manual or instructions or the company website that you bought from.
How To Clean Your Non-Stick Cookware
The first thing to note is that you always want to let your cookware cool completely before cleaning it. If you put your hot pan into cool water it will warp it and ruin it forever. You can probably get away with washing it in the dishwasher but you really should wash it by hand with hot soapy water, always.
Why not use a dishwasher? Many dishwashers heat the water to such a degree that can actually warp your nonstick pan. Why take the chance?
You can use a nylon scrubber and really scrub away at most nonstick pans. You don’t ever want to use steel wool or scouring pads of any kind or even stiff brushes because they can scratch the surface, which will ruin your cookware. You also want to dry them by hand if possible.
In my mind hard anodized nonstick cookware holds up better under cleaning then Teflon. Teflon tends to wear out over time and if you scrub really hard you can exacerbate this process. For this reason I stay away from Teflon completely and I really recommend that my readers do as well. So now you know how To Care For Nonstick Cookware. It’s definitely easier than stainless steel!
