Our Testing of Dutch Ovens
Equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top pick for Dutch ovens.
Buy our winning Dutch oven:
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$367 for a dutch oven? So you think people are all upper middle class or old Boston Yankees with money to burn?
Buy a Cuisinant for $83. You can buy 4 meals worth of food for what you save. And some Basil Hayden bourbon to enjoy after dessert.
I have a beautiful Dutch oven. I don't know how old it is but the were made from the late 1800s till mid 1900s. The earlier one had lead in the enamel. I don't know when my version was made. Do you know anything about this Dutch oven? It is in perfect condition, but I don't know if it is safe to cook in any more: Asta Energie-Spar=Geschirr Hervorragende Glaskeranmik
I got myself a Le Cruset and I am obsessed!!! I am not going back to cheaper brands … this is worth the investment
Le Creuset, buy it and you will only cry once.
I gave my wife a Dutch Oven. She made me sleep on the sofa.
Lighter means less cast iron which means less heat retention. It may still satisfy your needs, but heat retention is one of the significant reasons people cook with cast iron.
How many enamel dutch ovens can stand repeated use at 500F? The lodge bare cast iron laughs at your chipping and cracking enamel. And is cheaper to boot.
Skipped over the BEST….STAUB!
I wish they had at least briefly mentioned the other brands tested. I have a Crock Pot brand Dutch oven I bought a few years ago. It's enameled cast iron, has the large looped handles, the light interior, and a dimpled lid. It's been one of my favorite kitchen implements and I think it cost me less than $40. No way I'm spending $370 on a pot that looks nearly identical to the one I have. Maybe the Le Creuset is magical in some way, but I'll never know.
Hello 👋
I use plain cast iron and cook amazing meals including bread. It cost me 40 bucks.
I would have liked to know the other brands tested. And whether a dimpled lid is a good feature and how useful, or not.
Would you include Visionware Dutch Oven next time in your tests please. Thank you.
Can't trust this testing they have a sponsorship contract with Le Creuset.
Could you please name the brands you're reviewing in all your videos? Thanks.
What were the other brands and why were they not selected as a potential winner?
Staub — how to easily clean btwn deep grooves of lettering/numbers/inner design dots and lines? Hard to clean all the food smells out of the recess of the raised letterings/liner designs of dots and swirls. Le creuset cover lining sooo much easier to clean!
Sorry… Sticking with my beloved Lodge pots.❤
Oh please!!! The dark interior makes no difference when compared to the light interior. I grew up with non-stick cookware and I am 60 years old! Non-stick cookware has always been BLACK. For someone to whine and complain about the interior cover is ignorant, biased or stupid. Handles are a no brainer and can be used with a pair of cooking mitts. STAUB does not pay-off America's Test Kitchen and has a better designed Dutch Oven with a much better lid. ATK, you are sold-out!
Mmmm, looking at the thumbnail, I had no idea Tony Stewart was a Dutch oven expert….
Fart
Very disappointed that you did not mention the Lodge Dutch Oven. I have watched several review videos on Dutch Ovens and no one has anything bad to say about it! I bought one for about $35 (one -tenth of a Le Creuset) and I am sure 90% of Dutch Oven buyers would be completely satisfied with it.
Well, when I win the lottery, I'll spend over $300 on a pot.
How about testing things affordable?
You know, walmart stuff. Most people shop there on a regular basis, I would venture to say.
Crazy.
Great Video. Thank you and have a wonderful one
My daughter got me a Le Creuset Dutch Oven for Christmas last year. I have used it at least weekly this past year and love it!! It is a work horse and looks brand new. I agree with ATK it is the winner.
I wanted to know if they have lead in them?????
Yahoo just purchased a Le Creuset dutch oven from a nice thrift store for $19.95. It's not the larger one that won this testing, but I don't need a large one. Thank you for this nice testing.
Buying my 1st Enamelware Dutch Oven. Should I buy round or oval? Thanks
Has anyone bought the Amazon Basics?
They come in white, and that is something that I really like.
And the price is great!
I have a cast iron dutch oven for 30 yrs I picked up on the side of the road and it works just fine. I don't like the orange color.
I inherited my moms Le Creuset. 15 years later still going. Yes they are a bit bouji but they just work. I would recommend them also. I don’t like the Staub because they are too dark inside
I bought a le Creuset 5 years ago and had been loving it until last week, when the enamel just started sizzling off. I contacted the company thinking it would be covered by their "lifetime" warranty but was told no. Apparently, they don't expect the pot to be exposed to anything higher than medium temperature settings on the stovetop. I wish I had known that earlier! 😭
Just picked up a lodge that has a ceramic coating inside and out. Short of spending hundreds of dollars this unit is everything I could ask for. Funny how they did not even bring this into the test group.
I bought my first Dutch oven as a Boy Scout nearly 50 years ago. It is a Lodge cast iron and I used it last Saturday to make Dutch oven cobbler in the backyard for the Grandkids. It works perfectly.
I bought my first enameled Dutch oven some 35 or more years ago at Sam's (brand unknown, but it was probably $30) and I made chili in it last weekend. It too, works perfectly.
I appreciate these kitchen reviews but they all too often pick the most expensive option tested. They may be right but my long life of experience often tells me that quality does not have to be foolishly expensive.
I would love to know all of the brands tested. That helps me know what you are comparing.
I have an old cast aluminum dutch oven. It is a beast of a thing, absolutely enormous — and I wouldn't give it up at all. I got it second hand at a yard sale years ago, when my kitchen budget extended to yard sale things or nothing at all. So you don't have to have the fanciest one. My old workhorse has seen me through decades and will probably give someone else decades more, long after I've stopped cooking.
I have a real question here. I use my good 6 quart Stainless Steel stockpot as a Dutch Oven and it works well. I know a Cast Iron Dutch Oven would be better and I was shopping/reading about it over the last few days and then I thought: When you see a chipped inner enamel layer (google some chipped dutch ovens images – I saw some large chips not just tiny) there is a good chance that you might have swallowed that chip (if it detached while cooking a stew for example). And these chips can be thick, hard, razor sharp pieces of enamel. That you can swallow. I am a nurse who worked on Emergency and Critical Care Units for years. I saw what swallowing glass can do and what it implies. That thought completely steered me off of Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Ovens. Maybe its a remote possibility. Maybe I am a bit paranoiac. But I took a pause on my shopping nevertheless and I will think about that some more. Thoughts ?
OH. BROTHER.
All that and you only rated two of them. Of course more should have been ranked and you should have given the names of all of them. This was a very poorly done comparison, and a waste of time to watch. D+
Dutch ovens are cast iron. These are french ovens. French ovens are enamel covered cast iron
Was staub tested?
Is there a list of pots reviewed?
Why have you not tested vintage Dansk Kobenstyle dutch ovens?
This is not what I was expecting when I saw "testing of Dutch Ovens"