Ina Garten's favorite Le Creuset cookware is on major sale! Save up to 50% off Dutch ovens, skillets and more (2024)

FAQs

What size Dutch oven does Ina Garten recommend? ›

An enamelled cast-iron Dutch oven is a kitchen classic, and of course Ina (who has a well-documented love affair with Paris) trusts French heritage brand Le Creuset. She prefers the brand's round, 5.5 quart Dutch oven because it's great for soups, stews and braising.

The All-Clad brand of pots and pans is prominently featured in Garten's work, from her TV appearances to her website's cookware shop. The queen of cuisine is drawn to the brand's versatility and high-quality material, keying in on its longevity.

True Ina Garten fans know that the Barefoot Contessa often uses Le Creuset enameled cast iron cookware. "I use the Le Creuset #26 Dutch oven more often than everything else," she writes on her website in response to a fan asking for a cookware recommendation.

While some Le Creuset products are made in China, the company's enameled cast iron products are still made in its original foundry in France. Le Creuset's stainless steel and nonstick cookware is most often made in Portugal.

Slow cooker: The lid usually remains closed during cooking, promoting condensation and ensuring dishes remain moist. Dutch oven: Its heavy lid also seals in moisture, but being used open on a stovetop for frying or sautéing means it works for a variety of cooking techniques—not just moisture-rich ones.

Oxo Good Grips Food Scale

Baking is an exact science. Ina uses this Oxo food scale to keep everything precise — and delicious.

The GreenPan Premiere collection is the brand's most advanced nonstick cookware to date, and to relaunch this line the brand teamed up with chef Bobby Flay. "GreenPan Premiere has become my favorite nonstick cookware hands down," says Flay.

However, most chefs prefer to use stainless steel pans when preparing food.

In essence, a French oven is a type of cast iron Dutch oven that has a porcelain enamel coating. Created in the early 1900s, the enamelled surface of the French oven greatly improved the stick-resistant performance of the already durable and versatile Dutch oven.

Why is Le Creuset more expensive? ›

When you buy from Le Creuset, you're paying for high-quality pots and pans that are designed to stand the test of time. Rather than aluminum or stainless steel, Le Creuset craft their pieces from cast iron, which has a much higher heat capacity.

It holds the heat evenly, and the enamel makes it great for easy cleanup.” He went on to say that at his restaurant, chefs use the brand's pans, and all of the sauces are made in Le Creuset sauce pots.

Le Creuset's signature three rings are shown with the words 'First, Finest, Favorite'. The Le Creuset logo appears with the words 'France 1925' below it.

Introduced in 1925, Flame is Le Creuset's trademark hue. As eternal as its name, it is our most iconic color of all. Aptly known as Volcanique in France, it is a glowing, confident orange ready to fire up your kitchen and appetite.

Anywhere between a 5- to 7-quart Dutch oven is the right all-purpose size for most cooking tasks. It has high walls that prevent spillage and enough surface area to brown meat for a braise, but it's not so big that you need help hauling it in and out of the oven. It's also the perfect size for bringing to the table.

We have two favorite Dutch ovens in the test kitchen: the gold standard Le Creuset 7¼-Quart Round French Oven, and the more affordable (but still incredibly reliable) Cuisinart 7 Qt. Round Covered Casserole.

Dutch oven bread recipes often call for a 5.5-quart pot, which makes these Dutch ovens more desirable for baking, which inspires more recipes — and the delicious cycle continues. All that to say, if you don't have a Dutch oven yet, a 5.5-quart Dutch oven will set you up for decades of baking.

You know those shiny, stainless-steel pans Ina Garten is often cooking with on any of her beloved shows? They're usually All-Clad. It's no surprise she loves them as much as she does. The cookware brand has been making high-quality, bonded stainless-steel cookware for decades.