So you’ve finally decided to upgrade your kitchen and have snagged the best pans you can afford. But you don’t want to deal with a bunch of hassle in your cooking, so you opt for the nonstick variety because, you think, they’re much easier to clean and, therefore, far less work. Then, you go to the grocery store to pick up some cooking supplies and, in the name of convenience, grab a bottle of cooking spray. What could go wrong?
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As I recently found out, there’s plenty that can go wrong with that line of thinking. But the biggest of all — the one that hurt the most — is that it ruined a pair of my favorite nonstick pans, to the point where I had to completely replace them, sinking another several hundred unexpected dollars into my kitchen setup. Thankfully, you can learn from my mistake. Here’s why you should never use cooking spray on your nonstick pans.
Cooking oil and cooking spray are not the same thing
Surprisingly, there’s a lot of debate about which is worse, cooking oil or cooking spray. Health advocates will tell you that, simply based on the amounts needed for cooking, spray is the way to go. And there’s good reason for this: the wide area of coverage provided by a spray means you need to use less overall in order to cook the same amount of food, and therefore, you’re ingesting fewer calories per meal. Furthermore, the old argument about aerosol chemicals — that they’re bad to ingest and even worse for the environment — has been largely debunked, as chlorofluorocarbons, AKA CFCs — the chemicals once commonly used in aerosol cans — are rarely found in spray oils nowadays.
These sprays leave a stubborn film on the nonstick surface, proving resistant to conventional soap and water cleaning methods.
— Nancy Gurd, Caraway associate director of CX
It’s this exact line of thinking, paired with the overall convenience, that had me buying up spray cans practically in bulk. But there’s another, bigger issue with cooking sprays when it comes to nonstick pans: they will ruin your pan’s nonstick coating.
As Nancy Gurd, associate director of CX (customer experience) at Caraway, explains, “Using a nonstick cooking spray, such as Pam or Smart Balance, can damage your pan’s nonstick finish. These sprays leave a stubborn film on the nonstick surface, proving resistant to conventional soap and water cleaning methods. Over time, this accumulation can compromise the efficacy of the nonstick coating.”
How does cooking spray ruin your pans?
“The potential adverse effects of cooking sprays on non-stick pans arise from a combination of factors,” Gurd says. “These sprays, typically containing additives and propellants, may leave a residue on the non-stick surface when applied to a heated pan. Over time, this residue can accumulate, posing challenges for removal through standard cleaning methods.”
“Additionally, certain cooking sprays may break down at elevated temperatures,” Gurd continues, “resulting in the deposition of a sticky residue that can negatively impact the non-stick coating. The chemical composition of these sprays can interact with the non-stick coating, potentially compromising its integrity and reducing its non-stick properties. Regular use of cooking sprays without thorough cleaning may lead to a gradual build-up of residues, diminishing the pan’s effectiveness.”
In short, there are far more potential downsides to cooking sprays than the benefits of convenience. This combination of potential factors is exactly why most nonstick pan brands recommend avoiding cooking spray usage altogether.
Your nonstick pan’s owner manual isn’t just blowing smoke
It seems like everything we buy nowadays comes with its own owner’s manual, and they often seem a lot thicker than they need to be. However, when it comes to nonstick pans, the information housed inside can help save you a lot of grief (and money) — even if you only read it one time. That was my folly: I thought I knew how to care for my pans without the need for literature. I was wrong. And as a result, I ruined them.
Had I just read the care page, I could have avoided all of this. Lucky for you, you can learn from my mistakes. Read your owner’s manual and follow it to the letter. Otherwise, you’re likely going to be spending a lot of money replacing your kitchen gear.
Other issues that exacerbated my cooking spray folly
While the cooking spray is the likeliest culprit regarding my ruined pans, it is probably among a few other mistakes. “Factors such as temperature control, cleaning methods, and the choice of cooking oil also play a role in determining the overall durability of non-stick pans,” Gurd says.
Another factor I’m fairly certain I did not heed enough is the cooking temperature. I am a high-heat fast cooker, mostly because of my impatience. This, as mentioned, is also a potential mistake. As was clearly outlined in my pans’ manual, high heat can damage the coating on a nonstick pan, especially when mixed with oil (yes, even the non-spray variety).
This is because some oils, like olive oil, have a low burn temperature. If you crank up the heat, the oil can polymerize — essentially fusing to your pan in a thick, sticky layer that can destroy its functionality. And once that happens, there’s no going back.
Just to be clear, this was my fault — not my pans’
I want to make sure I clearly point out that the damage, grief and expenses I and my pans endured were entirely my own mistake and not due to the quality or construction of my pans. Our Place makes solid gear that, had I properly cared for it, would have lasted me for years and years. While I’ve since replaced those pans with ones from Caraway, I want to clarify that this is not a critique — I just wanted to try offerings from another highly touted brand, as I had the opportunity to do so courtesy of my own screw-up.