The Cookware Andrew Zimmern Absolutely Refuses To Use

We all have a go-to pan that we prefer in the kitchen. Whether you're a professional chef or you're always working to create inventive recipes for your family, most of us who spend any time cooking have a soft spot for certain cookware, utensils, and appliances. Four-time James Beard Award winner and TV personality Andrew Zimmern, however, takes it a step further — there's a whole category of cookware that he prefers to keep out of his pot and pan arsenal. 

In an Ask Me Anything video on Zimmern's YouTube channel, an anonymous fan asked the chef if there were types of cookware and appliances that he has stopped using, and Zimmern responded by talking about his disdain for plastic and nonstick kitchen materials and cookware. He bluntly stated that he does not use plastic utensils or cutting boards, and that he doesn't use nonstick cookware. 

"I've sort of been on a campaign with all my friends. I open up their drawers where their pans are," Zimmern explained. He looks for decades-old nonstick pans and encourages his friends to upgrade — or simply get rid of pre-prepared nonstick options. In a non-sponsored Facebook post, Zimmern mentioned that he loves Yeti cast iron pans for eggs and more. The chef also has his own cookware line that prioritizes the best of the best cookware from around the world — adapted to meet the needs of American cooks.

Rather than reach for chemically-treated options, Andrew Zimmern recommends taking the time to properly prepare your pans for stick-free cooking the old fashioned way. Nonstick pans that have been in your kitchen for even a few months often have degraded cooking surfaces that make it tough to get consistent nonstick results. 

"By the way, carbon steel pans — you can make nonstick in about two minutes. I can make scrambled eggs in every single one of my carbon steel pans, and in my stainless steel pans, and in my Le Creusets and everything else that I cook with because I pre-heat them well enough, and I use the right technique. So, I'm not really big on any of the nonstick cookware," he explained. If you're going for stick-free scrambled eggs a la Zimmern, be sure to keep the heat low and use the figure-8 pattern to keep your eggs fluffy.

Zimmern is a big fan of preheating across the board — including heating up utensils when frying food. At the Food & Wine Classic in 2024, Zimmern recommended placing frying utensils in preheated oil for just a few seconds before using them to handle food, as this can both coat the tools with slippery oil and heat them up enough that they're unlikely to stick to your cold or room-temperature ingredients.