What's the Best Muffin Tin If Your Muffins Keep Sticking?

There are few baking letdowns quite like a tray of lovely risen muffins that leave their bottoms behind in the tin. If that keeps happening, it’s usually the tin, not you.

Thin, cheap muffin trays tend to have two problems. The metal heats unevenly, so the edges of each cup catch and caramelise onto the surface while the middle is still setting. And the non-stick coating on budget trays wears off within a year or so, especially if they’ve been through the dishwasher a few times. Once the coating’s patchy, no amount of spray oil really saves you.

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The one I’d look at

The USA Pan 12-Well Muffin Pan (set of 2) is the one I’d look at if you’re done with flimsy ones. A few things make it different:

Heavy gauge aluminised steel. Steel for strength, an aluminium layer for heat conduction. It feels noticeably weightier than a supermarket tray and doesn’t twist when you lift it out with one hand.
The ridged surface. Those fluted lines aren’t decoration. They stiffen the pan and let air move underneath, which helps the cups bake more evenly.
Americoat coating. It’s a silicone-based non-stick, made without PTFE, PFOA or BPA, and it’s what does the heavy lifting when you turn the muffins out.
Standard cups. Each well is 2.75 by 2.13 inches and 1.38 inches deep (roughly 7 by 5.4 by 3.5cm), so normal cupcake cases and recipes fit without any adjustment.

It’s oven-safe to about 230°C (450°F), which covers anything you’d sensibly bake in a muffin tin, including Yorkshire puddings if you’re happy to give them a go in there.

Why two?

Because most muffin recipes make more than twelve, and baking in two rounds is miserable. With two trays you get the whole batch in at once, on the same shelf if your oven’s wide enough, and you’re done.

Keeping it non-stick

Hand wash it with warm water, a little washing-up liquid and a soft sponge. Skip the scourer. A light grease before the first few bakes doesn’t hurt either. Treat the coating kindly and it’ll keep releasing cleanly for years, which is really the whole point of paying for a better tin.