Are Hexclad Pans Worth It? Not if You Care About Transparency and Durabiliy

We’re constantly revising and refreshing our cookware recommendations, based on the experiences of the Leaf Score team and new product launches.

One set of pans that has never made the Leaf Score cut comes from Hexclad. Based on the PTFE coating on these pans, we figured it unlikely that Hexclad would ever earn a spot in our rankings. However, in 2024, Hexclad seems to have quietly changed its coating to remove PTFE and use ceramic instead.

Here’s the reader question that prompted our original post:

I am looking for a non-toxic non-stick frypan and notice that you do not rate Hexclad (a favorite of Gordon Ramsey). Do you have an opinion to share? Thanks.

Martha

If you want opinions about cookware, you’re in the right place, Martha!

My quick take on the original Hexclad is that, no, we don’t recommend it because Hexclad was made with PTFE. 

Although many popular cookware brands manufacture products with PTFE, including Made In and Zwilling, we never recommend cookware that contains PTFE. No matter how you soup it up, PTFE is bad for people, planet, and pets.

However, sometime in 2024, Hexclad ditched the PTFE and began offering the same pans just with a “high-grade proprietary ceramic nonstick called TerraBond™ which is PTFE-free and free from forever chemicals.”

What is Hexclad?

Hexclad is a cookware brand that offers, among other things:

• Non-stick pans
• Knives
• Trivets
• Mitts
• Cutting boards.

The brand markets its pans as being great for home chefs who feel inspired by their sponsor, Gordon Ramsay.

Sure, the Hexclad pans look pretty punk rock, what with their stainless steel lattice pattern and black interiors. Appearances can be deceiving, though,

Why we didn’t recommend Hexclad (and still don’t)

Our readers want to avoid forever chemicals at all costs, which made it easy to suggest green alternatives to Hexclad.

Hexclad Hybrid cookware claims to be:

• Non-toxic
• Non-stick
• Oven-safe
• Dishwasher-safe
• Metal utensil-safe
• Warrantied for its lifetime.

Prior to 2024, the first claim was easy to debunk. After all, a quick dig into Hexclad specifications showed that this cookware was made with PTFE. This is a synthetic chemical coating as used in Teflon. Sure, Hexclad wouldn’t use PFOA to apply the PTFE (no U.S. cookware brand can, legally), but PTFE itself is not safe by the standards of our readers at least, or non-toxic.

Hexclad also marketed itself as great for high-heat cooking. The trouble is, high-heat cooking and PTFE don’t mix. 

Once you get to temperatures close to 500 F, PTFE starts to break down. That releases toxic fumes into the air. Toxic fumes that can kill birds and cause serious health issues in humans. Even if you accidentally overheat the pan once, the PTFE is damaged and will release fumes every time it heats up.

Put simply, you wouldn’t want to use Hexclad pans to sear a steak.

2024 update on non-toxic Hexclad

The revised Hexclad pans no longer feature PTFE. Instead, the company claims that the non-stick coating is proprietary HEXCLAD TERRABOND™ ceramic and that it is PTFE-free and PFAS-free.

There was no grand announcement about this, or a mea culpa regarding knowingly selling pans coated with damaging substances.

Instead, on the surface it looks very much like nothing changed with the pans, which is in itself a sign that the company doesn’t care about misleading its customers.

You wouldn’t even know Hexclad was now PTFE-free unless you take pains to dig around and ask questions. In fact, on the Canadian Hexclad site, you have to go to the FAQs to find out that the coating is now ceramic and not PTFE.

In line with this lack of transparency, you also can’t tell what’s in that ceramic coating. Hexclad doesn’t reveal anything about its composition, and it certainly doesn’t make third-party testing available.

So, should we trust Hexclad when it tells us the coating is non-toxic?

The phrase ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ comes to mind.

Until I see third-party testing, I won’t be satisfied that Hexclad is genuinely free of toxic chemicals. After all, what we call toxic is what Hexclad happily hyped as non-toxic for many years.

Let’s look at the non-stick claim. 

Is Hexclad non-stick?

The Hybrid Hexclad cookware has a stainless steel lattice work over top of a ceramic non-stick coating. That means the surface isn’t smooth and instead holds oil or juices in the honeycomb structure, which is largely what helps keep things from sticking… at least at first.

Unlike stainless steel or straight up PTFE or ceramic coated pans, where you have a smooth surface, the Hexclad pans have a textured surface. This is supposed to protect the non-stick coating. While it might do that to some degree, it also means you don’t have a smooth, non-stick surface to fry eggs, fish, or whatever else. And that means you lose a lot of the sear or fond when removing food from the pan.

Unfortunately, because Hexclad quietly changed its non-stick surface from PTFE to ceramic coating, chances are that these pans are actually less non-stick than before.

We love ceramic coatings for their relative safety compared to PTFE, but they tend to get tacky and scratched up faster and the non-stick qualities quickly decline.

Because Hexclad only made the sneaky switch to ceramic in 2024, we don’t yet know how long the non-stick properties last.

The reality is that you get a better, more flexible, and longer lasting non-stick experience with properly seasoned stainless steel, carbon steel, or cast iron versus any ceramic or PTFE cookware. And you can do so without the durability and toxicity issues of PTFE or ceramic coated cookware.

Which brings me to the lifetime warranty. 

Hexclad warranties

Reading the smallprint at Hexclad, you’ll note that this warranty doesn’t apply to surface imperfections from general wear and tear. 

For a PTFE or ceramic coating on a product where you’re told you can use high heat and metal utensils with abandon, those surface imperfections are likely to stack up fast. But they aren’t covered under the warranty.

Safe use and cleaning

Hexclad also claims to be different from most non-stick pans because it’s safe to use metal utensils and harsh cleaning methods, and to put your pan in the oven and dishwasher.

Sure, go ahead and use metal utensils when cooking with Hexclad. The stainless steel lattice will protect the coating to some degree, but what it mainly does is make it hard to see scratches and imperfections in the coating that would easily show up in a smooth ceramic coated pan. 

The same goes for the dishwasher and harsh cleaning. Chances are that those marks are there, you just can’t see them as clearly because of the lattice. 

As for using the pan in the oven, while Hexclad says these are safe to 500 F on the American site, it offers zero guidance on temperature limits on the Canadian site. This is odd for a pan made with a ceramic coating and different types of metal. All of these materials expand at different rates and the ceramic can crack easily if mistreated.

Cooking with ceramic is different to cooking with PTFE. For one thing, you definitely want to heat the pan slowly and stick to low or medium heat only.

Most ceramic coated pans should also stay out of the oven and be cleaned by hand, not in the dishwasher.

And because ceramic coatings degrade after two or three years, if you’re lucky and careful, that Lifetime Warranty seems very suspicious indeed.

Final thoughts on Hexclad

Unsurprisingly, I don’t recommend the OG PTFE Hexclad. 

I’m also very wary of the new ceramic coated pans.

I think the claims made about this product are overbaked. That the claims about the PTFE pans are simply being carried over to the ceramic rehash seems deeply strange, if not deliberately misleading.

These pans haven’t been tested for toxicity. They’re certainly not sustainable (because they’re probably even less durable than before). And they’re still very expensive.