Pyrex baking dishes are versatile enough to cook everything from cinnamon rolls to roasted potatoes to lasagne. You can buy them in various sizes to suit your needs, whether you cook for one or a large household.
But, which is the best Pyrex baking dish, and how do you pick one to best suit your requirements? The Pyrex Deep Baking Dish Set is one of the best options on the market, containing three dishes of varying sizes and three lids for storage.
Recipes commonly call for dishes of particular dimensions, so it's helpful to know the measurements of your baking dishes. Standard sizes for Pyrex baking dishes include 13 by 9 inches, 8 by 8 inches, 11 by 7 inches and 15 by 10 inches, but you can find some options outside these dimensions. Sizes are also often listed in quarts, which is useful when making recipes that state the size of the necessary baking dish or casserole in volume measurements rather than physical dimensions.
It's also good to know the depth of your baking dish. It's usually between 2 to 4 inches. Classic and basic Pyrex dishes are shallower than Pyrex deep baking dishes. Deeper dishes fit more inside and are less likely to spill over during cooking, splashing onto the bottom of your oven and causing a mess.
Pyrex dishes can come with either glass lids or flexible plastic or silicone lids. Glass lids are oven safe and are for cooking dishes that need to be covered while in the oven. While they're nice to have, you can protect your baking dish in foil when a recipe calls for being covered. Plastic or silicone lids are for putting on your dish after cooking to store leftovers or when you've batch-cooked a recipe to go straight in the freezer for later.
The vast majority of Pyrex baking dishes are either rectangular or square, but you can occasionally find round or oval Pyrex offerings.
Easy grab handles are larger than the standard handles found on Pyrex dishes. As the name suggests, they're easier to grab and hold onto when putting your dish in the oven and taking it out, so you're less likely to drop it or spill something out of it.
Pyrex baking dish sets consist of two or more dishes sold together. They're usually of different sizes, though you can sometimes buy two dishes of the same size in one set. When you buy a Pyrex set, it may or may not come with lids.
A single Pyrex baking dish costs $10-$25, depending on size, shape, range and whether or not it has a lid. A Pyrex baking dish set can cost roughly $30-$80, spending on its contents.
A. Although Pyrex dishes are slower to heat up than standard metal dishes, they retain heat much more effectively, which can cause food to brown quicker, especially the parts of the food that touches the glass. As such, you often need to slightly reduce the cooking temperature or time to get the same results as you would in a metal dish. Luckily, since Pyrex is transparent, you can easily tell whether the edges and underside of your food are cooking too quickly.
A. One of the selling points of Pyrex is that it's non-porous, so it won't absorb odors or flavors from food previously cooked in it, nor will it stain. It's also non-reactive, so your Pyrex baking dish won't react with any of the ingredients in whatever dishes you cook in it, changing the flavor of your food or leaching materials into the food.
Used correctly, Pyrex is exceptionally durable. Some people still cook with vintage Pyrex they've owned for 50 years. Unlike metal baking dishes, it doesn't have any coatings that can wear down over time, and it isn't capable of rusting.
What you need to know: A six-piece Pyrex baking dish set containing three dishes and three lids that are great for serious cooks.
What you’ll love: It includes deeper-than-average Pyrex baking dishes, containing 13 by 9 inch, 8 by 8 inch and 11 by 7-inch dishes. The lids allow you to store leftovers without decanting them.
What you should consider: Some users would prefer if all three nested inside each other.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Pyrex Easy Grab Glass Casserole Dish with Glass Lid
What you need to know: This is an affordable choice for anyone looking for a Pyrex dish with a lid.
What you’ll love: It comes with an oven-safe glass lid, is made in the USA and is top-rack dishwasher safe. It has a decent, 2-quart capacity and large, easy-grab handles.
What you should consider: A few reports of dishes shattering, but these are occasional and down to manufacturing faults or improper use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Pyrex Basics 3 Quart Oblong Glass Baking Dishes
What you need to know: This set includes two 3-quart, 13 by 9-inch baking dishes that are great for everyday use.
What you’ll love: Its versatile size is called for in many baking recipes. There are two to a pack, which is ideal when cooking for a crowd.
What you should consider: This dish is slightly shallow for some layered dishes, such as lasagne.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
