Best Baking Sheets for Cookies

The best baking sheet for cookies is a heavy-gauge aluminum half sheet pan - light-colored, rimmed, and 18 by 13 inches. Light metal bakes evenly and browns the bottoms gently, while dark nonstick pans run hot and over-brown, and thin pans warp and bake unevenly.

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My Top Picks

This is the rare piece of kitchen gear where the best one is also the cheap one. The Nordic Ware half sheet has been the top pick at America's Test Kitchen and Wirecutter for years, and it is usually under 20 dollars. Buy two.

Pure aluminum, 18 by 13 inches, made in Minneapolis since 1946, and normally under 20 dollars. It heats fast, spreads heat evenly corner to corner, and cools quickly, which is exactly what you want for cookies. Cheap pans warp at 350 degrees and these do not warp even hotter than that. There is no reason to spend more.

Aluminized steel with a corrugated bottom that lifts the dough slightly for air circulation, plus reinforced rims so it will not bow. Two honest downsides: the nonstick coating wears off over a few years, and all those ridges give grease more corners to hide in, so it is fussier to wash than a flat pan.

This one feels like a bakery pan rather than a home one. The silicone based coating is safe with metal spatulas, the lip is reinforced with a wire rod so it holds its shape, and it is dishwasher safe. Two catches: it runs small, closer to a quarter sheet than a half sheet, and it stains more than the others.

What Actually Matters When You Shop

Cookies are more sensitive to the pan than almost anything else you bake, because the bottoms are in direct contact with hot metal for the entire bake. Four things decide how they come out.

• Light colored, not dark. This is the big one. Pale aluminum reflects heat and browns the bottoms gently. Dark nonstick absorbs heat and runs hot, which is why your cookies come out burnt underneath and raw in the middle on the same tray. If you fix one thing, fix this.
• Heavy gauge. A thin pan buckles the moment it hits a hot oven, and a warped pan means the dough slides to one side and bakes unevenly. Heavy aluminum stays flat through hundreds of temperature swings. You can feel the difference in the store just by picking it up.
• Rimmed, not rimless. A rimmed half sheet does everything: cookies, sheet pan dinners, roasted vegetables, and it catches drips instead of sending them to the oven floor. Rimless cookie sheets only help if you are sliding parchment off fast in a bakery.
• Buy more than one. Two is the minimum and four is better. Dough spreads too fast on a warm pan, so if you are baking six dozen cookies you need pans coming out of rotation to cool while others bake. This matters more than which brand you picked.

Parchment or a Silicone Mat?

Both work and they give you genuinely different cookies, so it is worth knowing which you are choosing.

• Parchment gives you crisper edges. It sits flat against the metal so heat moves straight into the bottom of the cookie. Best for anything you want a little crunch on, and for delicate doughs you need to lift off in one piece.
• Silicone mats give you softer, more uniform cookies. The mat insulates slightly, so the bottoms brown less and the cookie stays chewier. They are reusable, which adds up. Do not cut anything on them and do not put them under the broiler.

What to Skip

• Dark nonstick cookie sheets. They run hot and over-brown the bottoms. The single most common reason home cookies burn underneath.
• Air-insulated sheets. The air layer keeps the bottom so cool that cookies spread out thin and stay pale. They sound clever and they make sad cookies.
• Anything without a rim. Less useful for everything else you would put in the oven.
• Cooking spray. Not a pan, but worth saying: it bakes onto the surface as a sticky varnish that never fully comes off. Use parchment instead.

Baking Sheet FAQs

What kind of baking sheet is best for cookies?

A heavy, light colored aluminum half sheet, 18 by 13 inches, with a rim. Light metal browns the bottoms gently instead of scorching them, heavy gauge keeps the pan from warping, and the rim makes the same pan useful for roasting vegetables and sheet pan dinners the rest of the year.

Why do my cookies burn on the bottom?

Almost always the pan or the rack position. A dark nonstick pan absorbs too much heat and a thin pan conducts it unevenly, so switch to heavy light colored aluminum. Then make sure you are baking in the center of the oven, not the bottom third, where the heating element radiates straight up into your pan.

Do you need parchment paper for cookies?

You do not need it, but it makes life easier. It stops sticking, keeps the dough from spreading as much, and cleanup takes about four seconds. A silicone mat does the same job and is reusable, though it gives you a slightly softer, cakier cookie. Skip cooking spray either way.

How many baking sheets do I need?

Two at an absolute minimum, four if you bake cookies more than a few times a year. The reason is cooling: dough put onto a still warm pan spreads before it sets, so you want a pan resting while another one bakes. At under 20 dollars each this is the cheapest upgrade to your baking there is.

Can I put a hot baking sheet in cold water?

Do not. Aluminum warps when you shock it with a temperature change, and a warped pan is a pan with a permanent tilt. Let it come down to room temperature on the counter, then wash it. Hand washing also keeps bare aluminum from going dull and blotchy in the dishwasher.

Is it normal for my pans to discolor?

Completely. Bare aluminum darkens and gets blotchy over time and it does not affect how it bakes at all. A pan that looks well used is not a problem. If it bothers you, a paste of baking soda and a soft sponge will lift some of it, but honestly I stopped caring years ago.

Before You Go

Get two Nordic Ware half sheets and a box of parchment and your cookies improve before you change a single recipe. Then put them to work with my Christmas cookies for gifting, how to temper chocolate at home, and edible Christmas gifts.