Cast Iron, Steel or Stone? The Best Oven Pizza Pan

A home oven tops out around 500 to 550°F, well short of a pizzeria’s deck oven. What closes some of that gap is the surface the pizza bakes on. A heavy pan, stone or steel that has soaked up heat for long enough pushes that stored heat into the bottom of the dough the moment it lands, which is what sets and browns the crust before the cheese overcooks.

So the choice is really about material: cast iron, steel, ceramic, cordierite stone, or a light aluminum or steel pan you put the pizza on before it goes in. Each heats differently, needs a different preheat, and fails in a different way if you treat it wrong. This guide names the pizza pans, stones and steels worth buying for a home oven, and what each maker says about preheating and sudden temperature changes.

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Quick verdict: which pizza pan to buy

The rest of this page explains why, and which surface suits the pizza you make.

Five pizza surfaces side by side

Our five standout picks, one for each kind of pizza night, with the material and the maximum temperature each maker or listing states. All nine are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Temperatures are as stated by each maker or listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best oven pizza pan

These nine cover every common way to bake pizza in a home oven: cast iron and steel that store a lot of heat, a ceramic and a cordierite stone, a thin perforated steel, light pans for weeknight and frozen pizza, and a deep pan for thick, square pizza. Each pick explains who it suits, what the maker says about preheating and care, and one honest reason to skip it.

How to choose a pizza pan for a home oven

Five questions sort out which surface suits you. The answer usually depends on how often you make pizza and how much you are willing to lift and preheat.

1. Do you want to preheat?

Steel, cast iron and stone work by storing heat, so they need a long preheat: Baking Steel says 60 minutes. Thin pans and crispers (GoodCook, USA Pan, Nordic Ware) and deep pans (Lloyd) go into the oven with the pizza already on them. If you mostly bake frozen pizza on a weeknight, a pan you do not preheat is the honest choice.

2. Steel, iron or stone?

• Steel moves heat into dough fastest and cannot crack. A thick plate (Baking Steel) stores the most heat; a thin one (Made In) is lighter but stores less.
• Cast iron holds plenty of heat, is much tougher than stone, and doubles as a griddle. It needs a gradual preheat; Lodge warns that heating too fast can cause thermal shock.
• Stone (ceramic or cordierite) heats more gently. Unglazed stones need care: start them in a cold oven and keep water and oil off them. Emile Henry’s glazed stone can be washed.

3. Size and your oven

Measure your oven rack before you buy a 14 x 16-inch steel or stone, and leave some space around it. A round 14-inch pan suits a standard pizza; the Made In steel’s 11.5-inch surface suits a smaller pie.

4. Temperature limits

Nonstick pans here are rated to 450°F (GoodCook and USA Pan). If you bake at 500°F or above, choose steel, cast iron or stone, all of which are either rated well above home-oven temperatures or, in Lodge’s and Baking Steel’s case, meant to be heated as hot as the oven goes.

5. Weight and care

A quarter-inch steel weighs 15 pounds; a crisper pan weighs very little. Think about lifting it onto an upper rack at 500°F. For care, steel and iron want drying and a film of oil, unglazed stone wants only water, and nonstick and aluminum want gentle washing. If you line a pan, check the liner’s temperature limit too; see our guide to the best baking pan liners.

Preheating and thermal shock: what the makers say

Thermal shock is stress from a sudden change in temperature, and it is what cracks stones and, in severe cases, cast iron. Here is what each maker says.

• Lodge: preheating the pizza pan is key to a crisp crust; for cast iron generally, warm it gradually to prevent thermal shock.
• Baking Steel: preheat for 60 minutes at 500 to 550°F; the steel will not crack, but direct flame can warp it.
• Emile Henry: its Flame ceramic resists thermal and mechanical shock; full care instructions are on its website.
• Old Stone (Honey-Can-Do): place the stone in a cold oven, then preheat to 500°F; plain water only, no oil.
• GoodCook and USA Pan: no preheat needed; do not exceed 450°F.

Whatever you choose, never run water over a hot stone or iron pan, and let it cool in the oven.

How we picked these nine pizza surfaces

We started from what a working kitchen expects of bakeware that lives in a hot oven: a surface that browns the crust, a stated temperature limit, and care instructions a home cook can follow. We then narrowed the field to products sold on Amazon in the United States that were in stock when we checked, from identifiable makers, and chose nine to cover each material and style rather than several near-identical stones. Specifications come from the maker’s site where we could read it (Baking Steel’s product page, Lodge’s pizza-pan and care advice) and otherwise from the brand’s Amazon listing; where we used a retailer’s figure, the review says so. We left out stones whose sellers publish no maker details, and Unicook, whose stone we could not find in stock under that brand. We have not baked on these pans; where we describe how a material behaves, we say whose information it is.

Pizza pan questions, answered

What is the best pizza pan for oven baking at home?

For most people, a cast iron pizza pan such as the Lodge 14-inch: it browns well after a full preheat, is far tougher than a stone, and has handles. If you bake pizza or bread every week, a quarter-inch steel gives a crisper bottom.

Is a pizza steel better than a pizza stone?

It depends on what you want. Baking Steel says steel moves heat into dough far faster than stone, and steel cannot crack. A stone heats more gently and is lighter to lift. Glazed ceramic (Emile Henry) is the easiest stone to keep clean.

Do perforated pizza pans work?

The holes let hot air reach the bottom of the crust, which GoodCook and Made In both say helps crisping. A thin perforated pan will not brown as hard as a preheated steel, but it needs no preheat.

Why did my pizza stone crack?

Usually a sudden temperature change: a cold stone into a hot oven, or water on a hot stone. Old Stone’s distributor says to start the stone in a cold oven, and to clean it with plain water once it has cooled.

Can you put a pizza stone or steel in the dishwasher?

Only the glazed Emile Henry stone, which the listing says is dishwasher safe. Baking Steel says never to put its steel in the dishwasher, and unglazed stones should be rinsed with plain water.

Our final pick for pizza night

Buy the Lodge 14-inch cast iron pizza pan if you want one durable piece that browns well and works on the grill too. Choose the Baking Steel if you bake every week and want the crispest crust, Emile Henry’s glazed stone if you want a stone you can wash, and the GoodCook AirPerfect pan for quick weeknight and frozen pizza. Whatever you choose, preheat it the way its maker says, and keep water away from it while it is hot.

Related guide: Best pizza screen.

And if you would rather someone else did the cooking tonight, see the menu or call to order.