The 10 Best Clay Cooking Pots
Special Honors
My Toque located in Santa Cruz, CA, and taking its name from the pleated chef's hat, My Toque stocks a wide variety of the best cookware, bakeware, cutlery, cooks' tools, and accessories from around the world. Their eclectic selection of Dutch ovens and braisers come in all shapes, sizes, and styles to brighten up your kitchen and enhance your cooking skills. mytoque.com
Toiro Is the official US representative of Nagatani-en, a leading producer of authentic Iga-yaki, donabe, and other high-quality earthenware products from Japan. Their unique selection of artisanal kitchen and tableware are carefully crafted by hand and have gone through multiple detailed quality checks. toirokitchen.com
Editor's Notes
February 26, 2021:
For over 12,000 years clay pots and cookware have been used across cultures and geographies for roasting, baking, steaming, and braising. The porous material allows for heat and moisture to circulate around the dish while it cooks, making food tender and juicy while retaining vitamins and minerals that otherwise would be lost in the process. In this ranking, we selected a number of different styles to reflect traditional cooking techniques from around the world.
Unglazed earthenware, such as the Romertopf by Reston Lloyd is a little more difficult to clean and needs to be soaked in water before use, however, recipes do not require as much oil or fat because the clay naturally draws out the rich flavors by heating evenly and recirculating steam. Glazed pots on the other hand are more versatile and often have a higher temperature range. The Raphael Rozen Tagine, for example, is ideal for cooking meats and vegetables and keeps food moist thanks to its conical-shaped lid that collects evaporation then drips the juices back onto your food.
In this update, we removed the Ancient Cookware Cazuela and the Ancient Cookware Thai Medium over concerns about availability. In their place, we added the Ahua Stockpot, which, as well as having an eye-catching leafy pattern, is ideal for Soups, Stews, and Casseroles. It is oven safe up to 600 degrees centigrade, however, its plastic handle prevents the lid from being used at this temperature. Also included is the Shabana Art Potteries Yogurt Pot, this Indian design is unglazed, which allows the moisture in the curd to be absorbed and doesn't require refrigerating, rather, when placed in a cool environment, the pot will do its job to produce rich creamy yogurt. Finally, we switched the TianJi Purple Slow Cooker for the VitaClay Slow Cooker, which has four cooking modes and is roomy enough to feed a family. Its handy programmable timer makes preparing dinner very easy, especially when preparation time is limited.
January 29, 2019:
Investigated various offerings made from clay, including terra cotta, ceramics, and unglazed options. For visual appeal combined with usability, it's tough to beat the Ancient Cookware La Chamba, Romertopf by Reston Lloyd, and Kinto Kakomi Ih Donabe, although the latter is rather pricey. Also selected the TianJi Purple Slow Cooker, which combines the benefits of clay with the ease of a slow cooker, and the Vyatka Ceramics Ramekins for the fun they bring to the kitchen.