Best frying pans under $120

These affordable non-stick frypans performed as well as big-name brands that cost more than $300.

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Last updated: 22 May 2024

A good non-stick frying pan is an essential item in your kitchen kit. It means you can use less (or no) oil or fat when cooking, and your pancakes will still gracefully slide off your pan when they’re done.

They’re generally easier to clean than other types of frying pans and although you shouldn’t use them for high-heat cooking tasks such as searing, a good non-stick pan should be your go-to for things such as a perfectly cooked fried egg.

But with prices for non-stick pans headed into the hundreds, how much do you need to spend to get a good one, and which cheaper pans scored well enough to be recommended by our experts?

Cheap vs expensive frying pans

CHOICE experts put more than 30 pans through their paces in our kitchen lab, assessing factors such as how easy they are to use, their durability and how well they perform tasks such as cooking pancakes.

Some cheaper frypans do stack up against more expensive brands, outscoring pans that cost hundreds of dollars more

Not only do we cook up lots of pancakes and eggs, but we use a mechanical arm to repeatedly scour the surface of each non-stick pan 10,000 times to assess the resilience of the coating – a good sign if the pan is going to go the distance in your kitchen.

Pan vs pan: some cheaper models outperform expensive brands.

When looking at the final score each pan receives, our experts say that some cheaper frypans do stack up against more expensive brands, outscoring pans that cost hundreds of dollars more.

However, some of the high-end brands may have more premium features that could be important to you.

“The aspects that separated the best and worst models mostly came down to their durability and things like how easy they are to clean, the ergonomics of the handles and how well-balanced the pan is,” says CHOICE kitchen expert Chantelle Dart.

The frying pans we tested recently range in price from just $14 up to around $450.

While some frying pan RRPs run into the hundreds of dollars, it’s worth shopping around – you can often find some expensive models heavily discounted.

Which cheaper frying pans scored well in CHOICE tests?

CHOICE members can access detailed reviews from our frying pan test to discover which pans give you the most bang for your buck.

Join CHOICE to access our detailed cookware testing data. Only CHOICE members have access to all our expert, independent reviews.

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Pru

I came to CHOICE in March 2019 after working as an editor on many of Australia's leading food and lifestyle titles. As CHOICE's audience and engagement editor, my job is to bring the unique stories, surprising facts and the personalities behind CHOICE's data and research to our readers. I spend a lot of my time in our labs and offices speaking to our testers and experts to find those gems of information that resonate with Australian consumers and help them make the best decisions. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Alice

I'm a content creator and marketer here at CHOICE – which basically just means that I write stuff. CHOICE's testing is so comprehensive that we publish vast amounts of data on all the products we test. We know that not everyone likes to wade through numbers to find the best product, so my job is to take the data and translate it into something more easily digestible for readers who are time-poor or just want to know the best products to buy – and which to avoid. I also get to dream up fun ways of taste-testing products, like the Tim Tam challenge and the Democracy Sausage taste test. I write about all kinds of things, from health insurance to heaters and BBQs to bargain-hunting, so each day is different and I'm lucky that I get to learn about all the different things CHOICE does to help consumers. LinkedIn