Best Muffin Pans for Muffins, Cupcakes, and More (2025)

What we love: The Williams Sonoma Traditionaltouch Muffin Pan was neck-and-neck with Chicago Metallic for our best overall pan, but Chicago Metallic’s cheaper price ultimately gave it the edge. Still, there’s a lot we loved about the Traditionaltouch pan. The lined and unlined cups both yielded lovely golden brown muffins with an excellent rise and domed tops that didn’t spread. The sides and bottoms of the unlined muffins were a bit more crisp than the ones baked with muffin liners — we may have been a little heavy-handed with the cooking spray — but it didn’t impact the taste or result in a dryer crumb. Bursting blueberries were also an issue with this pan, but, as with Chicago Metallic, release and cleanup were a breeze.

While there are many similarities between the Chicago Metallic and Williams Sonoma pans, the biggest difference is that the Traditionaltouch has extended handles — a huge plus, as far as we’re concerned. Since the pan is on the heavier side, they’re extremely helpful for transferring the muffins to and from the oven and flipping them out onto a cooling rack.

What we’d leave: As a muffin pan, the Traditionaltouch is a heavyweight champ, but we wish it was just a little lighter. And a little less expensive. Yes, it’s a tough, commercial-grade pan, but it has no extra bells and whistles, and you can find more wallet-friendly options.

Mark Marino

Mark Marino

Best nonstick muffin pan: Great Jones Stud Muffin

Can’t be bothered greasing or lining your bakeware? Meet the Great Jones Stud Muffin, the best nonstick muffin pan we tested. Available in the brand’s cheery Blueberry and Raspberry colors, the lightweight pan is made from aluminized steel for even browning and has a dual-layered nonstick ceramic coating that helps sweet and savory bakes slide right out. That same coating also makes cleanup ridiculously quick and easy. When it comes to superbly designed nonstick muffin pans, they don’t get more slick than the Stud Muffin.

What we love: The Stud Muffin makes baking a joy. Not just because it comes in vibrant colors (we used the Raspberry version), but because it makes everything so effortless. Getting the filled pan in and out of the oven was a cinch, thanks to Its extended handles and light weight. While darker metal can result in too-dark bakes, the Stud Muffin browned our lined and unlined muffins evenly and exceptionally well, giving them a deliciously crisp exterior and a tender interior bursting with blueberry flavor.

Speaking of bursting blueberries, they were no match for the Stud Muffin. Though the gummy juices were present on the platform and cup rims, the muffins glided right out with ease. But what really wowed us was how easily the sticky stuff washed away from the pan. Unlike our uncoated pans that needed to soak for a bit, the Stud Muffin just needed a quick swipe with a soapy sponge to get clean.

What we’d leave: There was a little bit of spreading on some of the muffin tops, but not enough to take away from the positives of this nonstick pan. And while we do love the poppy color of the pan, we don’t love having to keep a watchful eye on the darker metal to make sure our bakes don’t get too brown.

Mark Marino

Mark Marino

How we tested muffin pans

We baked small batches of Classic Blueberry Muffins in more than a dozen popular muffin pans. The standard-sized pans were all PTFE-free and came in a variety of materials, including aluminum, carbon steel, silicone, and cast iron; some had nonstick coatings. All were 12-cup muffin pans, except for Le Creuset’s six-cup cast-iron model.

After hand-washing the pans and drying them thoroughly, we lined two of the cavities with paper liners and sprayed two with cooking spray so that we could determine how well each version browned and released muffins (we skipped these steps for the Silpat Muffin Mold). We then filled the lined and greased cavities with batter and added a little bit of water to the empty cups to create steam and prevent warping once the pan went into the hot oven.