The Best Casserole Dishes of 2023

The Pioneer Woman Heritage Ceramic Bakeware with Lid has everything going for it, including an unbeatable price. Its only drawback is that it’s decorated with a flowery design that will be very appealing to anyone who loves the Pioneer Woman’s home-on-the-range style but not to those who prefer a cleaner, more neutral look.

Of all the products we tested, this was the deepest, which provides plenty of room to pile in enough baked ziti for an entire team. The large handles are easy to loop fingers through, even with a potholder, giving a secure grasp when the dish is fully loaded and piping hot.

This bakeware is oven safe to 450°F and can be used in the microwave and placed in the freezer or dishwasher. There’s also a plastic lid that latches on securely for bringing your banana pudding to a community supper or for storing leftovers in the fridge. A choice of three different floral patterns are available.

We loved the Le Creuset Traditional Heritage Rectangular Dish's styling and versatility enough that it became one of our top picks during testing.

This 4-quart dish is deep enough to accommodate close to 5 quarts of food. The Traditional Heritage Rectangular Dish is broiler-safe, so you can get a melty layer of cheese on top of an eggplant parmesan recipe, without fear of damaging it. That it's available in 11 different shades, including several neutrals tones, red, lots of blues, and the brand’s signature flame, is the icing on the cake.

However, it's not perfect: during testing, we found that its large, textured handles are angled in such a way that it makes it possible to hold the Traditional Heritage Rectangular Dish relatively securely. Unfortunately, the handles are too small to all loop your fingers through them, for added support.

Like the original Le Creuset Heritage Dish, the Stoneware Rectangle Baking Dish has classic styling but unlike its predecessor, has long open handles that fingers can be looped through for an exceptionally good grip.

While the Heritage holds over 5 quarts, this one only has a 4-quart capacity. It easily held our lasagna recipe with three layers of noodles but if you like to load in more, you might want to consider the other version.

This dish is safe in the oven up to 500°F which should be more than high enough to melt cheese or brown crumbs on a noodle casserole. When it comes to color, there’s a choice of white, gray, or red.

Staub Rectangular Oven Dish is the only dish we tested that can be run under the broiler on a high setting, making it a great choice if you love to get the top of your mac and cheese extra brown and crunchy or caramelize sugar on top of an overnight French toast casserole. While you can’t fit your fingers into the holes in the handles, you can still get a very firm grip.

The volume of this dish is 4 ½ quarts, more than enough for a holiday-size sweet potato casserole. To satisfy different tastes and color schemes, the Staub comes in red, turquoise, black, ivory, and white.

The Made In 9 x 13” Baking Dish is a good-looking casserole pan that’s easy to use. With a 5-quart capacity, it’s among the largest and deepest of the dishes we tested. It can easily hold stuffed vegetables, a multi-layered lasagna, or a hefty one-dish meal of chicken pieces with potatoes and vegetables. However, at close to 6 pounds, it’s also the heaviest dish in our lineup. You can’t loop your hands around the handles, but fortunately, the handles stick out enough to grasp firmly even when the dish is loaded with food.

The slate blue and olive-green versions of the Made In Baking Dish can be used in the oven up to a temperature of 482°F, while the white dishes with a red or blue rim are safe up to 650°F. If running a casserole under the broiler to brown off a crumb or cheese topping is a priority, choose one of the white options. The Baking Dish is also safe to use in the freezer, microwave, and dishwasher although its size may make it difficult to fit.

Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Lasagna Pan is smaller in dimensions and capacity than the other ceramic dishes we tested. While it easily accommodated our lasagna recipe with three layers of noodles, you won’t be able to pack in any extra layers. Because of its smaller size, it’s lighter in weight, which, combined with very easy to grasp handles, makes this dish exceptionally easy to maneuver in and out of the oven.

This dish can take temperatures up to 500°F so if the blueberries in your cobbler are bubbling before the top is well browned, you can run the dish under the broiler to finish it off.

Under the Mrs. Anderson’s name, it only comes with a red exterior with a white interior, but it is also sold as the HIC Kitchen Lasagna Pan (available at Amazon) which is white inside and out.

If you’re looking for a baking dish that you can also use for shortbread and pecan bars, consider the OXO Glass Baking Dish with Lid. It measures 13-by-9-by-2 ¼-inches. The OXO has plenty of room for a peach cobbler and lasagna, but isn’t deep enough for stuffed peppers or a Tex-Mex casserole with a cornbread topping.

This dish is made of borosilicate glass which is less likely to shatter than tempered soda-lime glass. However, there are still occasional reports of it breaking in the oven. Be sure to follow OXO's recommendations, which include preheating your oven and not using it above 450°F or placing it in the oven directly from the freezer.

The glass handles are ample enough to give a good grip even with a bulky pot-holder. There's also has a plastic storage lid to use for storing made-ahead or leftover casseroles or carrying baked goods to a party.

Rachael Ray Copenhagen Cozy is attractive, practical, and reasonably priced. At 9-by-13 inches, it’s big enough to hold more than 5 quarts, which is perfect for a deep-dish chicken pot pie or a moussaka with a thick layer of creamy sauce on top.

Even while wearing oven mitts, you can wrap your hands around the handles so when it’s fully loaded, you get a good grasp. If you want to melt extra cheese on your enchiladas at the end of cooking, you can run the Rachael Ray under the broiler on the lowest setting.

We only have a few quibbles with this casserole. From end to end, it’s longer than most baking dishes so will take up more space in a cabinet. And it’s only available in a trendy shade of gray called sea salt.

When it comes to style, the Food52 Dansk Generations Bakeware Oval Roaster easily beats out every other casserole we’ve tested. The work of a renowned Danish designer, it has a mid-century aesthetic that would look good on just about any table.

Because of its oval shape, we think it’s the perfect dish for a gratin with circles of overlapping potato slices. However, the Dansk only has a 2-quart capacity and is just slightly more than an inch deep.

During our testing, we squeezed in our lasagna and peach cobbler test recipes, and they rose up spectacularly, but unfortunately, both boiled over, leaving us with a messy oven to clean up. The low profile is an advantage if you want to use the dish for roasting.

On either side of the dish, looped handles protrude, which gives a good grip for placing it in the oven. However, the handles are a little awkward if you’re using a potholder or oven mitt.

This bakeware can be used in the oven up to 450°F. That’s high enough to roast a chicken or bake most casseroles but not to brown off a Parmesan cheese topping under the broiler. For reheats, the dish is microwave safe, and it’s easily cleaned in the dishwasher. It’s available in two colors, a sophisticated blue or speckled cream.

Made of white glass, the Rubbermaid DuraLite Bakeware is a practical choice. It’s very affordable, can be used in the oven up to 550°F, and comes with a plastic storage lid. With its 2 ½-quart capacity, it’s one of the smaller casseroles we tested. As it’s also only 2 ½ pounds, it’s not unwieldy.

It’s designed without handles to make it easy to stack in a cabinet but that means you must grasp the sides of the dish with a potholder while removing it from the oven.

If you want to use up a whole box of lasagna in one batch, the Emile Henry Modern Classics Rectangular Baker is your best bet. With a capacity of 20 cups, it’s among the deepest that we tested. However, because the handles are small and angled upwards, they’re hard to grasp securely. And when it’s fully loaded, the Emile is heavy, so you need to be very careful when you’re transferring it to and from the oven.

This is a very good-looking pan and comes in bright primary colors as well as all white. As it can safely go under the broiler on the low setting, it can be used with slow cooker recipes, to help brown and crisp the meltingly tender chicken or meat.

With its clean design and moderate price, this baker will appeal to just about anyone. However, it has a serious flaw: It has no handles, so even though it’s lighter than other dishes we tested, it feels heavier. You have to be extra careful, especially when you’re taking a hot and bubbling dish like an apple crisp from the oven to the table.

It has a volume of more than 4 quarts which gives you plenty of room to layer in lasagna noodles or pile in sliced peaches.