Non Toxic Pots and Pans
The safest cookware is made with uncoated stainless, carbon steel, titanium, ceramic, glass, or cast iron. “Ceramic” non-stick cookware has its place, as long as it has third party testing showing it doesn’t leach. I explain why Prop 65 causes unnecessary fear with cookware, and evaluate each brand based on material science and data, using consistent material health scales, all explained in my full methodology.
By Dr. Meg Christensen | Physician-founder of Interior Medicine, a non-toxic home resource built on her background in medicine, biochemistry, epidemiology, and clinical research.
Updated September 21, 2026
Nickel-Free Stainless Steel
Chantal Induction 21 Nickel-Free Stainless Steel Cookware
Chantal’s Induction 21 line is nickel free and what I use for all of my saucepans and small pots at home. Stainless steel pots are very safe, and you ingest less chromium and nickel from cooking in one than you do from eating food or taking a multivitamin, but I go with nickel free because I have a nickel allergy. These are made of Japanese steel, with a copper center for even heat distribution, and strengthened with titanium. They’re also coating-free: no PFAS or nanoparticles, just steel, as confirmed by email. They strike a nice balance of affordability and quality, and work well on any type of stovetop (including induction.) Read more about nickel, chromium, and stainless steel safety in my Metals Guide.
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Homichef Nickel-Free Affordable Stainless Steel Pots and Pans
This affordable nickel-free brand of pots and pans are less durable than the Chantal ones because they don’t contain strengthening titanium. However, they are truly nickel-free stainless steel, and can be a great choice if you’re prioritizing affordability with a nickel allergy. Their cookware sets are super affordable, even compared to regular stainless steel brands. They’re also coating free: no PFAS or nanoparticles, just steel, also confirmed by email. They’ve done extractable heavy metal testing, which is an extra level of assurance.
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Cuisinart Stainless Steel Cookware
Cuisinart’s classic stainless steel cookware, along with other affordable brands like Quince, IKEA, T-Fal, and others, are truly safe options as they are all uncoated stainless steel. If you have any hesitancy around steel, the amount of nickel and chromium that can potentially leach from them is less than what is in a multivitamin. Nickel and chromium are only dangerous if you inhale them as dust everyday and it irritates your lungs (like wood dust does, which also requires a Prop 65). This is not a dismissive “levels are so low they won’t affect you” argument (which drives me crazy). Read my Metal Guide for all the details about why stainless steel doesn’t need to be feared!
Caraway Stainless Steel Cookware
Caraway’s regular stainless steel line is actually pretty great: they’re coating free, without PFAS or nanomaterials. Just steel, as confirmed by email. They’ve also done extractable heavy metal testing for 16 metals and all were non-detectable, and while stainless steel is generally very safe, this extra step sets them apart from other brands. Since they also make non-stick pans with coatings, I appreciated their very fast and thorough email response confirming these have no coatings.
Cast Iron: Oiled, Polished, and Enameled
Lodge Non-Toxic Cast Iron Cookware
Lodge offers cast iron pots and pans at a very affordable price. I use these all the time and they’ve developed a great seasoning on them, so they’re totally non-stick now. These now come pre-seasoned with vegetable oil; you can always add your fat of choice and season it yourself in the oven upon arrival. One of the most classic, super-healthy cooking surfaces, that come in lots of shapes and sizes, as long as you can tolerate their weight (a bit heavy!) and seasoning maintenance.
Smithey Polished Cast Iron
If you want a higher-end look than Lodge, but with the same level of material health, Smithey makes polished cast iron and carbon steel pots and pans with optional glass lids. It comes pre-seasoned with their blend of grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, and beeswax — you can buy some for future seasoning separately. You can even use soap to clean these, unlike standard cast iron.
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Staub Non-Toxic Enameled Cookware
Staub is another healthy choice for enameled cast iron cookware. Staub has done third party testing and confirmed via email they meet EU and Prop 65 standards— and reassured me that they use traditional sand and pigment-based enamel (no PFAS, nanomaterials, lead, or cadmium.)
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Kana Non-Toxic Enameled Cookware
If you prefer enameled cast iron for a more non-stick finish, Kana is a healthy choice. They do third party leach testing to confirm no heavy metal leaching, making their enamel a safe bet. Kana uses 40% recycled iron for their base, and Tomatec enamel, which means its been tested and meets Prop 65 requirements.
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Made In Seasoned Carbon Steel Cookware
Made In, like Lodge, offers seasoned carbon steel cookware, but it has a more polished look. Their pieces are not nitrided like Misen, so require some maintenance to remain non-stick, but they have a very wide array of options, shapes, and sizes of carbon steel cookware, including woks, roasting pans, and griddles. I appreciate that they go above and beyond with third party testing to prove that no PFAS are added (FYI, the results mean that the third party testing lab has the ability to detect down to 0.02 parts per billion, and the result is below that, meaning it’s zero — not that it contains 0.02 ppb.) A super healthy choice with a nice look.
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Visions Glass Cookware
While most glass pots and pans have poor reviews, the Visions brand has great ones. These were popular abroad decades ago, and are making a comeback in the US now. Glass and ceramic are actually very similar materials, and these are made of a glass-ceramic mineral blend called beta-quartz. It’s totally non toxic, lead free, non-reactive to even acidic foods, and super heat resistant, meaning you can take them from the stovetop to the freezer if you wanted. The products look vintage, but the entire line is still in production. Meets Prop 65 requirements. A solid choice for healthy cooking if you like the look and the concept of glass.
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Misen Nitrided Non-Stick Carbon Steel Pan
This is the safest non-toxic pan, and the first one I’ve actually used in a decade. It’s made of carbon steel, but the top layer has been hardened by nitrogen. You can see a video of the nitriding process here. I always avoided “non-toxic ceramic non-stick” pans, which are coated, not with ceramic, but with a secret sol-gel (read more below.) They’re safer than Teflon but I prefer knowing ingredients than just trusting they’re safe. Nitrided carbon steel is not actually a coating, and is instead a physical change in the top layer of steel when it’s exposed to nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up 78% of air, and when it’s forced into steel at high pressure, it makes the carbon steel very hard and truly non-stick. Performs almost as well as a non-stick pan, and is truly healthy. My current favorite.
Lodge Seasoned Carbon Steel Cookware
Lodge offers carbon steel pots and pans at a very affordable price. They aren’t nitrided like Misen, so do require some seasoning and maintenance over time, but come pre-seasoned with vegetable oil; you can always add your fat of choice and season it yourself in the oven upon arrival. Carbon steel is simply lighter weight than cast iron, with very similar make-ups, and both are super-healthy cooking surfaces. Fun fact: these pans become non-stick when you apply oil at high heat —the high heat causes a change in the chemical structure of the oil, and it bonds to the surface of the pan. It’s called polymerization, or seasoning— here’s a guide on how to do it.
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“Ceramic” Non-Stick
GreenPan: Best Non-Toxic Non-Stick Cookware
If you want cookware with a non-stick coating, GreenPan is the best option from a material health standpoint because they are the most transparent and thoroughly-tested. While no company fully discloses their ceramic non stick coating ingredients, and they’re all imperfect, GreenPan is definitely free of nanomaterials including nanotitanium, and have always been free of all PFAS. Their coating brand name is Thermolon, and it meets Prop 65 standards for lead and cadmium. They’ve also done testing to confirm that even at 850° the pans don’t release toxic fumes. While I think it’s better to bake on completely known surfaces, this is a pretty good option if you require non stick, and they’re a step above the rest in this category.
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Caraway
Caraway's "ceramic" non-stick line is an OK option from a material health point of view. They've confirmed via email that the coating is nano-based, likely nano-titanium dioxide. But they've also done leach testing to prove no heavy metals, titanium, or PFAS escape into food per US and German safety limits. They're entirely PFAS free, which is better than most non-stick lines. They're also very aesthetic, and gloriously organizable.
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Xtrema
Is Xtrema non-toxic? Xtrema makes ceramic cookware and they publish third-party test reports showing total lead content is around 26 parts per million, and cadmium between 0-5ppm. This causes controversy, but a deep dive into the nuance is helpful. The test method they use is CPSC-CH-E1002-08.3, which is a total content test, not a leach migration test (the standard leach test is ASTM C738.) Their testing dissolves their ceramic in nitric and hydrofluoric acid, then measures total lead and cadmium in the resulting solution. It doesn’t tell you what migrates into food during cooking, and because of that, it’s not the test usually used for ceramic dinnerware compliance. It’s a slightly odd choice in my opinion, but the worst-case math is still reassuring. 26 ppm total lead in a pot means that the absolute maximum that could ever migrate out is 26ppm. In practice, well-fired modern ceramic typically releases between 1-5% of its total content under an intense acetic acid leach challenge. Since no one cooks their food in pure vinegar for multiple hours (the conditions of this leach test) it would be a very very tiny potential amount. I think Xtrema is not nearly as bad as some wellness blogs think it is, and I think that doing testing at all and sharing reports is a good move. I’d still love for the process and results to be more clear; they’re really hard for most people to interpret. I think their products are probably fine if you are looking for a non-stick alternative that doesn’t rely on PFAS, ceramic sol-gel, or seasoning, and you aren’t worried about tiny potential amounts of lead exposure that are under Prop 65 limits like other ceramics are. I think if your precaution level is higher, are pregnant, or have kids, and another option is just convenient, go with that instead. Risk tolerance varies so much person to person, and I go into depth about it in my free course if you’re interested in a deep dive.
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Our Place
In terms of material health, transparency, and testing, Our Place's "ceramic" non-stick is very similar to Caraway's, and choosing between them comes down to aesthetic, reviews, and features. They also use nanomaterials in their coating, are PFAS free, and are tested to Prop 65 standards to ensure no lead or cadmium leach. Like Caraway, not perfect, but still definitely better than untested or PFAS-containing non-stick bakeware.
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Taima Pure Non Toxic Titanium Cookware
Titanium is a very healthy, non-toxic, and non-reactive metal to cook with, and because titanium allergy is ultra-rare, I consider it even safer than stainless steel, since nickel and chromium allergies are slightly more common. This is why it’s often used in medical devices— it’s totally inert to our bodies. Taima’s titanium pots and pans are made without any coatings whatsoever, including no nano-titanium, as confirmed by email. Their pans have a slip-scale design etched into them for natural non-stick purposes. Inside are layers of steel and aluminum for durability and heat distribution; all food surfaces are 100% pure titanium.
Our Place Non Toxic Titanium Pots and Pans
Our Place has great coating-free titanium cookware sets and singles. Like Taima, inside are layers of steel and aluminum for durability and heat distribution; all food surfaces are 100% pure titanium and they confirmed they don’t use nano-titanium coatings in this line. The surface is etched— the pattern is pressed into ultra-hardened titanium to make the interior naturally hydrophobic, which creates a nonstick effect. Healthy, induction compatible, and really pretty.
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FYI, “non-toxic” has no official definition, so I rate every product with the same method. It’s built on third-party certifications and published test data, not brand claims. For a deeper dive, my free course walks you through it.
Everything on Interior Medicine is educational information, not medical advice. Read my full disclaimer.
How Interior Medicine Rates Pots and Pans
"Non-toxic" has no legal or scientific definition, so it's become a marketing word. I still think a healthier home is worth working toward, and the way to get there is with a consistent system. Every product on Interior Medicine is rated with the same method, based on its materials, ingredients, and third-party certifications. This makes it easier to compare products fairly, spot healthwashing, and make informed decisions.
The rating card under each product shows its Material Health. Every material is rated on its own scale, from Healthiest to Harmful, and each brand is rated on the healthiest option it offers. Differences between models are noted in the description.
The guides show what qualifies for each tier, what to look for, and what to ask a brand.