How to Choose the Best Mixing Bowls Stainless Steel

Walk through the prep area of almost any restaurant kitchen and you will see the same thing on every shelf: stacks of plain stainless steel bowls. They hold diced onion and cilantro for salsa, catch chopped tomatoes, carry marinating chicken to the walk-in and get masa worked in them for tortillas and tamales. They are cheap, light, nearly impossible to break and easy to wash, and that is exactly why a home kitchen should own a few as well.

This guide compares eight stainless steel mixing bowls and sets, from a single restaurant-supply bowl to lidded storage sets, on what decides how useful they are: the shape of the bowl, the rim, the base, the size range and how they clean up. We lean on what America’s Test Kitchen found when it put mixing bowls through prep and durability tasks, and on each maker’s own specifications.

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Quick verdict: which stainless mixing bowls to buy

The table below compares our five standout picks, one for each kind of cook. All eight bowls and sets are reviewed in full after it.

Five stainless bowl sets side by side

One pick for each kind of kitchen, with the sizes and features each maker or listing states.

Product images from Amazon. Sizes and features are as stated by the maker or its Amazon listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best mixing bowls stainless steel can offer

Eight picks, chosen to cover the real choices: single open-stock bowls against boxed sets, bare steel bases against rubber or silicone ones, and plain bowls against sets with lids for the fridge. Three of them, from Vollrath, OXO and Cuisinart, were part of America’s Test Kitchen’s mixing bowl review, and we say where its findings were mixed.

How to choose stainless steel mixing bowls for real prep work

1. Shape decides how the bowl works

America’s Test Kitchen found it slightly preferred bowls with shorter, gradually sloped walls, because they put food within reach and make whisking, folding and scraping easier. Deep, straight-sided bowls such as Cuisinart’s contain splatter better but are harder to see into and to empty. If you mostly whisk and fold, go broad and shallow. If you mostly use a hand mixer, go deep.

2. A wide rim matters more than it looks

ATK called a wide rim a must for a good grip; bowls without rims were harder to lift, hold and rinse. A rolled or beaded rim also stiffens a thin steel bowl. The thickness of the rim matters for pouring: ATK found OXO’s thick rims dribbled liquid instead of pouring a clean stream.

3. Buy for the largest job you do

ATK tested only sets with a bowl of at least 4 quarts, and most home sets stop at 5. That is enough for a weeknight, but a big salad, a double batch of salsa or tamale dough for a crowd needs 8 quarts. If you cook in quantity, buy a set that includes an 8-quart bowl, or add a single large restaurant-supply bowl. Our guide to the best masa harina for tortillas covers what goes into that dough.

4. Decide on a base and lids

Rubber or silicone bases keep a bowl from spinning while you whisk, but they add weight and rule out setting the bowl over a pot of simmering water to melt chocolate, which ATK advises against with coated bowls. Bare steel can go over a pot, and a damp towel underneath stops it sliding, the way restaurant cooks do it. Lids are a bonus, as ATK puts it: they save plastic wrap when you marinate or chill dough, but they are more pieces to store and wash.

5. Gauge is often not stated

Gauge numbers run backwards, so a lower number means thicker steel. Vollrath states 26 gauge for its Economy bowls, which is thin and light; most home brands state no gauge at all. Thin steel is light and fine for mixing, but it dents more easily when dropped. ATK’s winning bowls are thin, light ones, so do not treat a heavy bowl as a better bowl.

6. Check how it cleans

Plain stainless steel goes in the dishwasher. Plastic exteriors, silicone bases and lids complicate that: ATK suggests hand washing anything with plastic parts, and several makers here ask for lids to be washed by hand. All stainless steel bowls share one limit, which is that they cannot go in the microwave.

How we chose these eight stainless bowls

We began with what makes a mixing bowl useful in a working kitchen: a shape that suits whisking and folding, a rim you can grip, a size range that covers small prep jobs and big batches, and easy cleaning. We searched Amazon US for stainless steel bowls and sets from makers with a record in home and foodservice kitchens, including Vollrath, Winco, OXO, Cuisinart, Tovolo, FineDine, KitchenAid and HexClad, and checked each listing’s stock through Amazon’s product data, keeping only items that were in stock when we checked.

Specifications come from each Amazon listing and, for Vollrath, from Vollrath’s own product page. Performance findings come from America’s Test Kitchen’s mixing bowl review, and we name ATK wherever we use it. We have not used these products ourselves for this guide. We left out All-Clad’s three-piece set, which ATK recommended only with reservations for its rimless, sharp-handled design and which we could not find in stock, Le Creuset’s stainless sets, which showed limited stock, and bundles padded with graters and gadgets.

Stainless mixing bowl questions, answered

What are the best stainless steel mixing bowls according to America’s Test Kitchen?

ATK’s best stainless steel pick is Vollrath’s Economy line, sold one bowl at a time. It also recommends the OXO 3-piece stainless steel set and Cuisinart’s stainless set with lids, and recommends All-Clad’s set only with reservations.

What makes a quality stainless mixing bowl?

A wide, comfortable rim, a shape that suits how you mix, a flat base that sits steady, and steel that resists odors and stains. Weight is not a sign of quality: ATK’s winning bowls weighed less than any other set it reviewed.

Are stainless steel or glass mixing bowls better?

ATK says every cook should have a good set of stainless steel bowls, because stainless is affordable, light and durable, and a plain steel bowl can sit over simmering water as a makeshift double boiler. Glass can go in the microwave and lets you see inside, but it is heavier and more fragile, and no glass bowl in ATK’s test held more than 4.5 quarts.

Can stainless steel bowls hold acidic foods like salsa or lime marinades?

Makers including Tovolo describe their stainless steel as non-reactive with acidic foods such as citrus and tomato. That makes stainless a practical choice for mixing salsa, ceviche-style marinades and lime-dressed salads.

What sizes of mixing bowl does a home kitchen need?

Three sizes cover most cooking: a small bowl of about 1.5 quarts, a medium of about 3 quarts and a large of at least 4 to 5 quarts. Add an 8-quart bowl if you make big batches of salsa, salad or tamale dough.

Our final word on stainless steel bowls

Start with Vollrath’s Economy bowls if you want what ATK and restaurant kitchens favor: light, broad, rimmed and cheap to add to. Choose OXO for bases that stay put, Cuisinart for tall splatter-catching walls, Winco for six sizes up to 8 quarts, Tovolo for lidded bowls with a thumb grip, FineDine for a run of small sizes, KitchenAid for a simple non-slip trio and HexClad for sealed storage.

Bowls are only one part of a working kitchen; our guide to Mexican cooking tools covers the rest, from the best molcajete for salsa to the tortilla making tools that pair with a bowl of masa. If you are baking as well, see our picks for the best measuring cups stainless steel sets and the best baking pan sets. And if you would rather let someone else do the prep tonight, see the menu or call to order.