The Best Baking Tools of 2021

The Artisan is the quintessential stand mixer. Easy to set up and with the quietest motor we tested, the Artisan was a pleasure to use and passed through all our tests with aplomb. Despite its many competitors, our tests prove that it is still the best stand mixer you can buy.

Its merits are many: attachments were easy to put on, remove, and clean; the tilt lever lock worked well; the bowl installed smoothly; and the splash guard, though not really necessary (for this class of mixer, none of them are), fit the bowl well and could be slid on when needed without taking apart the mixer.

All this comes at a price—an MSRP of $429.99, to be exact—although colors and sales may vary (we tested the red KSM150PSER). There are also a few features on competing mixers that we wish the Artisan had too. For instance, the speed lever on the Artisan is durable and effective, but not pleasant to use, with sharp edges and just enough resistance to make it easy to turn the mixer on faster than intended. The Artisan also doesn’t have a lock for when the head of the mixer is in the “up” position – a safety feature that would be nice.

Owners of KitchenAids consistently get great performance from their mixers for years, so though the price is high, an Artisan mixer is well worth the money.

See more of the best stand mixers we tested and reviewed.

From whipping cream to kneading bread, you can’t beat the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Hand Mixer with Storage Case. It simply didn’t have any weak spots on any of our tests. We didn’t have to stop and scrape the bowl when we were making sponge cake batter and when it came to cookie dough, it sailed right through, easily beating in oats and raisins thoroughly so we didn’t have to do a quick mix with a spatula before forming cookies. The Cuisinart kneaded yeast dough into a smooth elastic ball as well as the human hand.

The on/off switch and speed controls are intuitive to use, and the mixer always starts off slowly, so you never get an initial spatter of flour in your face. Of all the hand mixers we tested, it has the most helpful manual, which even includes recipes you might actually want to make. The attachments are dishwasher safe and can be stored in the included case, snapped on the top of the mixer. The only drawback is that this is the noisiest model we worked with, although it is certainly nowhere near as loud as a blender or a hairdryer.

See more of the best hand mixers we tested and reviewed.

This balloon whisk is an all-around winner with a satisfying silicone grip and a featherweight lightness. The fine wire balloon is easy to clean and it breezed through each test with flying colors.

Its shape and size make this GIR whisk incredibly versatile—plus, it made some of the quickest whipped cream I’ve ever mustered. It’s priced on the higher end for a whisk, but the quality certainly justifies the price.

See more of the best whisks we tested and reviewed.

If you ask us which we prefer (glass or stainless steel bowls), we’ll say stainless every time. There’s nothing to shatter or chip, making them both durable and long lasting, and their lightweight profile makes them easy to use. While they shouldn’t go into the microwave, they can be used on the stovetop as a double boiler–and the small- and medium-sized bowls in the Cuisinart Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls with Lids worked perfectly for melting butter and chocolate over a 2-quart saucepan.

In addition, this set had nice, tall edges and a comfortable rim to hold onto while whisking. Each bowl was heavy enough to keep movement at a minimum (especially when we placed a towel underneath it) but light enough to hold in one hand while scraping out batter with the other. As a bonus, the bowls come with air-tight plastic lids, so each bowl doubles as storage and transportation container. Put all this together and it's easy to see why these bowls earned our top spot as the best stainless-steel mixing bowls.

See more of the best mixing bowls we tested and reviewed.

The heavy-duty Bellemain Stainless Steel Measuring Cups aced all of our tests. With short (but functional) handles held together by an easy-to-remove chain, the cups scooped with ease and benefited from a low-storage profile. The etched-on measurements include both American cups and European milliliters (just in case you don’t want to reach for that liquid measuring cup).

In addition to the common sizes (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup), the set includes a 2/3- and 3/4-cup for ease of measuring. They fit inside standard flour and oatmeal containers and they didn’t bend easily when scooping brown sugar. These cups were the least expensive stainless cup option on our list but they out-performed all of the more expensive sets, making them a no-brainer for our top choice in the best dry measuring cups category.

See more of the best measuring cups and spoons we tested and reviewed.

You can’t beat the Emile Henry Pie Dish for looks or turning out a pie with a crispy, flaky crust. It’s made in France of ceramic and comes in lots of pretty colors. While this 9-by-2 inch dish is deep enough to hold almost two quarts of filling, we didn’t find our pies came out skimpy looking. Its large capacity and attractive appearance make it a good choice for baking and serving other items like scalloped potatoes or candied sweets.

As it can withstand high temperatures, you can run the Emile under the broiler if you want to brown off a lemon meringue pie or a mac and cheese casserole. Plus, it’s microwave and dishwasher safe. While its ruffled top adds to its appeal, it won’t help you create a fluted edge. Keep in mind that ceramicware is heavy, so this might not be the right choice for carrying a pie to a potluck. And there’s not much of a rim, so you need to grasp it firmly by the sides.

See more of the best pie dishes we tested and reviewed.

This 9-inch cake pan (also available in 8-inch) from Chicago Metallic aced our tests, coming out at the top of a very solid cake pan lineup. It doesn’t have the bells and whistles of some other cake pans, but it does its job superbly. The Chicago Metallic cake pan baked perfectly round yellow cakes without significant doming and one evenly browned pound cake with a moist interior texture and a patina-like finish.

The unmolding process was smooth and easy—it was one of the few pans that didn’t struggle in this step. It’s made from heavy-duty aluminized steel, which is a more costly material than others used in cake pans, but the functionality and durability of the pan is also significantly higher. The dual-coating technology makes the pan nonstick and safe to use.

In terms of care, this cake pan doesn’t require too much cleaning. As the pan is nonstick, there was nothing for us to scrub. Run it under warm, soapy water and dry immediately, then you’ll be ready to bake again. If all you need is a round cake pan that can bake perfect chiffon, sponge, and tiered cakes consistently, then this is your best choice.

See more of the best cake pans we tested and reviewed.

It has a silly name and it doesn’t look like a professional tool, but when it came to results and ease of use, we liked everything about the Rachael Ray Yum-o! Oven Lovin' Loaf Pan for loaf baking. First of all, the handles are large and have silicone inserts in Rachael’s signature orange color that make it super easy to get a firm grip on the pan.

The nonstick finish never faltered, even when we didn’t grease the pan. And because the nonstick finish is dark, it gave a nice deep crust to white bread. The Rachael Ray is roomier than some of the others we tested, so meatloaf juices never bubbled over onto the oven floor. As it’s safe up to 500°F, you can quickly brown off a crumb topping, if need be.

See more of the best loaf pans we tested and reviewed.

When they say there’s beauty in simplicity, they’re talking about this wooden rolling pin. It’s really just a sturdy wooden cylinder of a medium-heavy weight, nothing more, nothing less. But during testing, it rolled out perfect dough every time.

The simple design of this wooden pin, combined with its weight, makes it easy to control the amount of pressure you use based on what you need for your dough. For tough dough you can push a bit harder, and for soft dough you can keep a light touch. The long, cylindrical body and lack of handles also means that you'll never cut an edge through your dough the way you sometimes might with smaller, handled rolling pins. This translates to an even, non-lumpy dough that's easy to shape however you want.

To top it off, flour sticks to the pin just fine, which keeps dough from sticking while in use. The pin also cleans up easily. The only downside is that, depending on the size of your kitchen, it might be tough to put this beauty away. Its 19 inches of length simply make it harder to tuck into a drawer.

See more of the best rolling pins we tested and reviewed.

There’s a reason this American-made baking sheet tops charts around the internet. It’s lightweight, large enough to fit more than a dozen cookies, and distributes heat like a dream. Measuring 12 by 17 inches, we're confident we can use it to cook enough vegetables for a small crowd—or for myself with plenty of leftovers. Even covered with goodies, this tray is light enough to hold with one hand while you scoop whatever you’re making onto a waiting plate.

My biggest concern was cleaning. While the pizza slid off easily, cookies and vegetables took a bit more work and left a bit of residue. However, everything heavy duty came off with a few minutes of soaking. Personally, I’d use parchment paper or a Silpat mat under my cookies to ensure that nothing sticks.

Given the high-quality construction, if you take care of this pan—wash it by hand and don’t even think about touching it with a metal spatula or fork—there's no reason why it shouldn't last for ages.

See more of the best baking sheets we tested and reviewed.

For those who want to up their cookie game—or who think cookies are the most important things you’ll ever put on a baking sheet—we recommend the AirBake Nonstick Cookie Sheet. Because of AirBake's “micro-dome technology” (the sheet has an insulated “bubble” that separates the bottom of the sheet from the top where your cookies rest), the underside of whatever you bake will be more even and far less likely to burn. During testing, we found this worked nicely for both cookies and pizza.

This is the only rimless sheet we tested, which is great for cookies, but less great for making sure a variety of roasted veggies won't slip off the side as you remove the pan from the oven. If we were to invest in two baking sheets, we would pick up this one just for cookies, while using the Nordic Ware sheet for everything else.

See more of the best cookie sheets we tested and reviewed.

A flat cooking spatula is a kitchen staple—ideal for removing cookies from a baking tray, flipping pancakes and eggs, and any other cooking task that requires slipping under food to move it around. And the Cutco Turn n’ Serve flat cooking spatula takes the cake. (No seriously, we used it to move a cake and it worked great.) It’s more expensive than we would typically recommend for a spatula, but this is a “you get what you pay for” situation. It’s pricey, but comes with a lifetime guarantee and will never send you back to your utensil drawer looking for a better tool.

This spatula performed incredibly well on all of our tests. The flat head is thin enough to easily slide under delicate eggs and tofu, but sturdy enough to flip burgers and lift a cake from a cake turner onto a serving plate. It’s a good size as well. It hits the sweet spot between being narrow enough to fit into your brownie pan and lift out a piece, and wide enough to be useful for flipping pancakes and removing cookies from your baking tray.

The only downside we found with this spatula is that it’s metal. And while this allows it to be as thin as a delicate fish spatula, it cannot be used on a nonstick pan. So if you only use nonstick cookware, you will have to opt for a silicone tool.

See more of the best flat spatulas we tested and reviewed.

Everyone needs a silicone baking spatula, and the Di Oro Large Silicone Spatula is an excellent choice for folding flour into your batter and then scraping down the sides of your bowl. It’s a single, slick piece of silicone, so you don’t need to worry about the head snapping off. The handle is sturdy and solid, while the head is just flexible enough to scrape down tricky-to-reach areas of your bowl.

The one-side-curved, one-side-straight head of this spatula makes it excellent for reaching into different types of corners (for instance, when scraping dough from a round bowl or when smoothing brownie batter into a square tin). As well, the medium/large spatula head means you can get the job done quickly and easily. Overall, this spatula worked wonderfully through all our tests.

See more of the best baking spatulas we tested and reviewed.

Like the Goldilocks of oven thermometers, the KT Thermo is just right. The face is large and uncluttered enough to clearly read through a closed oven door. But the body is small enough to be unobtrusive, with a simple hook that snuggly locks it to a rack, and a base that’s just wide enough to allow it to sturdily perch on the grates.

It also accurately clocks temperatures, and ranges from 100° to 600°F, meaning it begins registering at a cool room temperature, and stands up to even the most blistering, pizza-hot conditions.

But if it somehow doesn’t meet expectations, know that the thermometer comes with a 30-day money back guarantee as well as a two-year warranty.

See more of the best oven thermometers we tested and reviewed.