Caraway makes cookware and bakeware coated in ceramic, which is thought to be safer than commercial cookware materials. The company’s website highlights the “non-toxic” nature of their cookware, and calls their products “clean kitchenware.”

But is Caraway really safer and healthier than the standard non-stick cooking pan? What materials is it made of? Does it cook well? And how do real users rate and describe the Caraway cooking experience?

In this article we'll answer these questions and more as we analyze medical studies on non-stick cookware to determine if traditional cookware is a health risk.

We'll evaluate the materials used in Caraway cookware to give our take on whether it's a healthier option or if it's a waste of money.

Finally, we'll feature unsponsored customer reviews and provide a cost comparison to show which retailer sells Caraway for the best price.

Is Regular Cookware Even Toxic?

Most commercial non-stick cookware products release gases into the air which are toxic to humans. As we discussed in our recent review of another cookware startup called HexClad, medical research has found that the synthetic chemicals used as non-stick cookware coatings pose a risk to human health.

One interesting takeaway from the above-linked study is that the alternatives to common non-stick chemicals weren’t found to be safer. So just because a cookware manufacturer claims “PTFE-free” on their label, this doesn’t mean the product is necessarily safe.

We do not recommend using non-stick pans in light of the medical research on their potential toxicity. It seems illogical to use cooking products with questionable health effects when there exist cookware products on the market free of these potentially harmful coatings.

But are Caraway's products safer than regular non-stick cookware? We'll share our thoughts in the next section.

Is Caraway Safer?

Caraway claims to use “ceramic non-stick” which isn't particularly useful to consumers. The outer layer of their pots and pans are coated in ceramic, but they claim to use a “mineral-based coating” to create the non-stick effect.

The company doesn’t clearly detail what chemicals are used to create this mineral-based coating, so consumers (and researchers like us) have no way to assess whether it's safe or not.

Caraway also claims that their coating is “free of PTFE” which is a popular non-stick chemical proven to be harmful to human health. But as we referenced in the medical study linked in the previous section, non-stick PTFE alternatives aren't necessarily safer.

Caraway provides no evidence that their products are safer than commercial non-stick cookware. Because the brand fails to publish information on the specific compounds used for their non-stick coating, we don't have any reason to believe this brand is worth the increased price.

We don't currently recommend Caraway Cookware until the brand clearly publishes information on the materials used in their non-stick coating. At least HexClad shares that their non-stick coating contains PTFE. 

But how do real users rate and describe their experience cooking with Caraway? We'll feature two unsponsored reviews in the next section including a before-and-after video over two years of use.

Real People Try Caraway

One of the most popular Caraway reviews on YouTube is published by a channel called "Prudent Reviews" that breaks down the pros and the cons of the product after two full years of use and has over 80,000 views:

A YouTube creator named Emily Perry explains why she returned her Caraway products:

Where to Buy Caraway for the Best Price

Caraway products are sold at a variety of online retailers. Here's a price breakdown at the time of updating this article for some of the brand's most popular products:

Fry Pan

ModeSens: $95 (plus shipping, link)

Amazon: $95 (free shipping, link)

Brand website: $95 (free shipping, link)

Cookware Set

Home Depot: $395 (free shipping, link)

Amazon: $395 (free shipping, link)

Brand website: $395 (free shipping, link)

Dutch Oven Pot

Sears: $164.38 (link)

Amazon: $135 (free shipping, link)

Brand website: $135 (free shipping, link)

The brand's website and Amazon currently have the best deals on Caraway products.

Real Customers Review Caraway

Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.

Caraway's frying pan has been reviewed over 1,100 times times at the time of updating this article, with an average review rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars.

The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "Terri" who gives the product a 5/5 star rating and appreciates its effectiveness:

"I am amazed at the nonstick ability and it cleans so easily. I made steaks the first night, fried eggs and pancakes the next morning and fried some prosciutto and made pasta with a cream sauce the next. Every time nothing stuck and the pan wiped clean with a paper towel. The pan does take a little longer to heat up as noted in some reviews."

The top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Matt" who gives the product a 1/5 star rating and experienced issues with its non-stick functionality:

"After a single use, food began adhering to the pan’s cooking surface. Not just eggs, mind you; which is probably the main thing most of us hope to use our nonstick cookware for. Everything sticks. Bacon sticks. Sausage sticks. Potatoes stick. Meats, veggies - shoot, a slice of bread sticks to this pan. Would you like to simply to warm something from the fridge, reheat leftovers? Nope. It will stick. If you can cook something in this pan, it will stick to this pan. And not just a little bit of stick. No, no, no, my friends. Look to some of the other very low reviews. See the video evidence. There’s a whole lot of stick."

Our Clean Cookware Pick

We consider cast iron pans to be the safest and healthiest cookware option. Cast iron has been used for thousands of years and is non-toxic. 

Cast iron pans are made primarily from iron and steel, and are somewhat naturally non-stick because of the effects of fat heated on the cooking surface over time.

One fascinating fact about cast iron pans is that the minimal levels of iron leaching may have a beneficial effect on human health. Iron is an essential mineral, and many people are deficient in iron (particularly women). Cooking in cast iron pots is clinically shown to improve iron status.

Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet is our top cast iron pan because it's free of any questionable chemical coatings. The only material is cast iron.

This pan costs $59.07 while a 12" Caraway fry pan costs $95.

Interested consumers can check out Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet at this link to the brand's official Amazon listing.

Pros and Cons of Caraway

Here are the pros and cons of Caraway Cookware in our opinion:

Pros:

• Beautiful branding
• Positive Amazon reviews

Cons:

• Brand fails to publish convincing evidence their products are safer than traditional non-stick
• More expensive than traditional non-stick
• We're unclear on what the non-stick coating is made of
• A video review showed significant wear after two years

Conclusion

We don’t currently recommend Caraway and haven’t found any scientific research suggesting their products are safer than traditional non-stick pans, which are much cheaper.

We urge Caraway to clearly publish the materials in their "non-toxic" non-stick coating on their product pages, because without this information consumers cannot make an informed purchase decision.

One of the real user reviews we highlighted in this article documented significant wear after two years of use of a Caraway pan.

At the time of updating this article, Amazon and the brand's official website have the best prices on Caraway products.

Cast iron is our top cookware pick for health-conscious consumers, because it’s naturally non-stick. This means most cast iron pans are entirely free of synthetic chemical non-stick coatings present in commercial cookware.