Advertisement

9 best casserole dishes for heart-warming stews, chillis and soups

Round dishes are best for stews as they’re easy to stir, while oval ones are a little more versatile and suit joints of meat (iStock/The Independent)
Round dishes are best for stews as they’re easy to stir, while oval ones are a little more versatile and suit joints of meat (iStock/The Independent)

A great casserole dish is a fast-track to the sort of hearty comfort food everyone loves. Throw in ingredients, transfer the dish to the oven and you’ll soon be sitting down to a steaming chilli, chicken chasseur or rich beef stew.

Though casserole dishes can be expensive, the best ones will last a lifetime so it’s an investment worth making. If you’re planning to splash out, it’s worth buying one that works on the hob and in the oven, and it’s a bonus if it looks good enough to bring straight to the table for serving.

Size, shape and material are all important too. Two people should find a 20cm/2.4 litre dish more than enough, while a family of four would be better buying one around 24cm/4 litre. However, it’s always worth buying bigger if you can, as leftovers freeze really well for days you don’t have time to cook. Remember that a round dish is best for stews as they’re easy to stir and fit better on hobs, but oval designs are a little more versatile and suit joints of meat.

When it comes to material, cast iron is the most expensive but will be robust and last for years. It ensures an even heat but can be very heavy and may break if dropped. Traditionally, cast iron dishes also needed to be seasoned regularly but they often now come with enamel coatings to stop food sticking. Dishes can also be made of stainless steel, glass, copper or aluminium, which are a lot lighter and are very easy to clean. Just be sure to avoid plastic non-stick coatings as these won’t last.

How we tested

We dug out our recipe books and got cooking, making dishes including Lancashire hot pot, sausage casserole and bean chilli in all these pots. We served up family meals with them, dished out dinner party dinners and even filled our freezer with home-cooked stews to tuck into later. For every dish, we considered the weight and ease of cleaning, how versatile it was and whether it heated our food quickly and evenly to make it a kitchen staple we couldn’t cook without.

Read more:

The best casserole dishes for 2021 are:

  • Best overall – Le Creuset cast iron oval casserole: £240, Lecreuset.co.uk

  • Best lightweight option – Stellar casserole non-stick: £92, Horwood.co.uk

  • Best budget buy – Mason Cash classic collection casserole and lid 2lt: £13, Masoncash.co.uk

  • Best for the dinner table – Denby pavilion cast iron 30cm shallow casserole: £155, Denbypottery.com

  • Best affordable cast iron – Barbary & Oak 24cm cast iron round casserole: £64.99, Towerhousewares.co.uk

  • Best for couples – Peugeot Appolia ecru soufflé dish 22cm: £24.99, Peugeot-saveurs.com

  • Best for modern kitchens – Judge classic casserole: £68, Horwood.co.uk

  • Best dish for the freezer – Pyrex classic glass round casserole with lid, 3.5l: £28.99, Pyrex.co.uk

  • Best for versatility - Samuel Groves grey & white oval cast iron enamel casserole dish with lid: £100, Samuelgroves.com

Le Creuset cast iron oval casserole

Best: Overall

Rating: 10/10

  • Capacity: 4.1 litres

  • Material: Cast iron

Every wannabe chef dreams of whipping up meals in a Le Creuset dish one day. A bonafide status symbol and the darling of French kitchens for nearly 100 years, these trusted cast-iron wonders are more likely to be displayed proudly than stashed away in a cupboard when not in use. And at this price, you can understand why.

Available in a variety of shapes including round, oblong and shallow, we tested the brilliantly versatile oval casserole dish and were instantly smitten. It comes in a vast array of bold colours to match any kitchen colour scheme and a range of sizes from 25cm (3.2l) to a colossal 40cm (13.9l). We tried out the 27cm dish, which was the perfect size for a family yet not too unwieldy to handle. It has a heat-resistant knob, large handles to move from oven to table without struggling and a tight-fitting lid to lock in moisture. The enamel interior is a real wonder too – most food is simply wiped straight off afterwards. It can be used on all hobs as well as in the grill and oven, and we found its handy shape meant we reached for it again and again.

It’s an obvious choice for casseroles and soups of course, but this dish has also become our go-to when roasting meat for a super-succulent Sunday roast. We were most impressed by its weight though, which was noticeably lighter than all the other cast-iron dishes we tested and easily made it our best buy, despite the hefty cost. With a lifetime warranty and a wow factor that never gets old, this is the casserole dish of dreams.

Buy now £240.00, Lecreuset.co.uk

Stellar casserole non-stick

Best: Lightweight option

Rating: 7/10

  • Capacity: 5 litres

  • Material: Aluminium

Cast iron pots may look fantastic, but they’re not easy to lug around the kitchen if you have a bad back or issues with mobility in your fingers.

Instead, try this super-lightweight dish that weighs only 1.7g but is suitable for all hobs including induction and can be used in the oven up to 210°C. It features hard anodised surfaces which are corrosion, abrasion and heat resistant and are twice as hard-wearing as steel. The heavy gauge aluminium body offers impressive heat distribution and we felt it cooked our sausage casserole and bean chilli very efficiently.

This is the only non-stick dish that made our list too. The Teflon pro platinum plus interior means it was easy to prepare dishes with little or no oil but we were most impressed by the fact the non-stick surface itself has a ten-year guarantee (apart from the dish’s own lifetime guarantee) so you can be confident it won’t start disintegrating after a couple of months.

Buy now £92.00, Horwood.co.uk

Mason Cash classic collection casserole and lid 2lt

Best: Budget buy

Rating: 7/10

  • Capacity: 2 litres

  • Material: Glass

If you’re not quite ready to splurge on a cast iron dish, this is a great pot to try to see if casserole cooking is for you. It’s made from tempered borosilicate glass, which is handy for peeking in to check on the progress of your dish, and it’s also one of the easiest dishes we tested to wash. It went straight in our dishwasher and even burnt on sauce around the edges disappeared.

Though it’s not big enough for a family, it’s a great size for a couple and is very easy to store in a cupboard between uses, as the lid fits snugly upside down for stacking. We also loved the fact it’s freezer and dishwasher safe and think this would be ideal for anyone living alone, someone who has just moved into their first home or even a student attempting to cook for themselves. Just be aware that it doesn’t go on the hob, so you’ll need to cook any ingredients that need browning in a separate pan first.

Buy now £13.00, Masoncash.co.uk

Denby pavilion cast iron 30cm shallow casserole

Best: For the dinner table

Rating: 9/10

  • Capacity: 3.8 litres

  • Material: Cast iron

We couldn’t wait to get guests round to flaunt this gorgeous casserole dish from Denby, the Derbyshire company best known for its vast range of pottery. The brand’s cast iron collection takes some beating too; it’s available in four colours and various sizes including 20, 24, 26 and 28cm round casserole dishes. All come with a lifetime guarantee and arrive gift boxed with a small recipe booklet. The melting Moroccan chicken with chickpeas and butternut squash was definitely our favourite and one we’ll be cooking up again and again.

This shallow dish in a pale duck egg blue is certainly a dinner party dazzler. It serves four to six, has an easy-clean ceramic surface and is suitable for all oven and hob types, including induction, aga and even open fires. Plus, it definitely looks good enough to be carried straight to the table so everyone can help themselves. It also has integrated basting rings to keep food succulent, easy-grip handles and a tight-fitting lid to seal in moisture. But take extra care not to drop it, as it is extremely heavy.

Buy now £155.00, Denbypottery.com

Barbary & Oak 24cm cast iron round casserole

Best: Affordable cast iron

Rating: 9/10

  • Capacity: 4 litres

  • Material: Cast iron

This handsome deep blue casserole dish with a 25-year guarantee could easily cost twice as much, as most cast iron pots of this quality do.

Round with an all-important enamel interior to make cooking even easier, it’s safe for all hobs including induction as well as the grill, freezer and the oven up to 260°C. The side handles feel really sturdy – essential with a pot this heavy – and the domed lid retains moisture for delicious dishes you’ll keep digging into. It has a generous 4l capacity too, which we found fantastic for serving up a chilli for the whole family on a weeknight. The food heated very evenly and also stayed warm when we took it off the heat, which is perfect if everyone can’t make it to the table at the same time. Impressively, it didn’t absorb any colour from the tomato-based sauce either.

It’s not suitable for the dishwasher but is extremely easy to wash with hot, soapy water, which will make sure it stays looking top-notch anyway. Fantastic value for money all around.

Buy now £64.99, Towerhousewares.co.uk

Peugeot appolia ecru soufflé dish 22cm

Best: For couples

Rating: 7/10

  • Capacity: 2.4 litres

  • Material: Ceramic

Okay, this isn’t strictly a casserole dish but if it’s good enough for French chefs, it’s definitely good enough for us to throw together a hotpot.

Designed and made in Brittany, this ceramic bakeware collection comes in all different shapes and sizes, plus four different colours, and is suitable for whizzing up everything from a terrine to a beef bourguignon. This deep, round dish is perfect for casseroles for two and has an attractive glazed finish and side handles for carrying straight to the table. There’s no lid like with most casserole dishes we tested, so we found it was a good idea to add a little extra liquid when cooking to avoid dishes getting too dry, but the high 8.5cm sides meant there was plenty of room to do this.

It also comes with a ten-year warranty, is dishwasher safe and has an anti-abrasion surface so you won’t do any damage even if you have to scrub at any burnt-on bits. Plus, you can stick it straight from the freezer into an oven heated up to 250°C without any cracking if you want to cook and get ahead for later.

Buy now £24.99, Peugeot-sauvers.com

Judge classic casserole

Best: For modern kitchens

Rating: 8/10

  • Capacity: 4.5 litres

  • Material: Stainless steel

Another lightweight option brilliant for weekday cooking, this polished stainless steel dish would look great in a sleek modern kitchen as an alternative to classic cast iron. It’s a shade under 2kg and is suitable for all hobs including induction, as well as being oven safe up to 240°C and (hooray!) fine to throw in the dishwasher too.

With a 25-year guarantee, it has user-friendly details aplenty, including a toughened vented glass lid to prevent anything boiling over, an internal capacity guide to measure as you cook and a thermic base for even heat distribution throughout. We made oven-cooked dishes including coq au vin in this but also found it invaluable as a hob-top pan when batch-cooking huge portions of bolognese or even rustling up simple pasta as it’s so much lighter than its cast iron cousins. A great all-rounder.

Buy now £68.00, Horwood.co.uk

Pyrex classic glass round casserole with lid, 3.5l

Best: Dish for the freezer

Rating: 7/10

  • Capacity: 3.5 litres

  • Material: Glass

This is a surprisingly sturdy dish for the bargain price. Made of borosilicate glass that is oven resistant to a scorching 300°C, it comes in a variety of sizes including 1, 1.5 and 2.5l but we tested the 3.5l. This was the perfect size for a family of four with two younger children, though if you have teenagers with an appetite, you may want to buy one a little bigger.

It’s extremely easy to use (and clean!) too and we loved the fact it’s microwave safe, so if everyone’s not home to eat, they can easily zap the leftovers later without transferring to another dish. It won’t go on the hob though, so you can expect a little more washing up if ingredients need browning first.

Best of all, it’s thermal shock resistant up to 220°C, which means it can go straight from the freezer into the oven without a worry, making it great for freezing whole dishes. It’s a handy one to keep in the cupboard for that reason alone we reckon.

Buy now £28.99, Pyrex.co.uk

Samuel Groves grey & white oval cast iron enamel casserole dish with lid

Best: For versatility

Rating: 9/10

  • Capacity: 3 litres

  • Material: Cast iron

Keen to cook joints of meat as well as casseroles? This oval shaped dish is the perfect compromise, shaped to fit the most awkward shaped meat on the bone as well as standard soups and stews.

It cooks beautifully, with no burning or sticking and an even heat throughout while the lid seals tight so there’s no chance of steam escaping. Its handy shape makes it ideal for baking bread as well. The chicken chasseur and beef and vegetable casseroles we made in this were some of the most delicious we cooked (even if we do say so ourselves), so we know we’d use this chic grey dish again and again.

Be warned though. At over 5kg, this is one of the heaviest dishes we tested, so might not be suited to anyone who struggles with lifting.

Buy now £100.00, Samuelgroves.com

The verdict: Casserole dishes

The Le Creuset cast iron oval casserole is a one-in-a-lifetime investment you won’t regret, thanks to its versatile shape, easy-clean interior and curiously manageable weight. Plus, you’ll be able to show it off at dinner parties for years. If you just can’t face the price tag (and who could blame you?), the Barbary & Oak 24cm cast iron round casserole is a worthy replacement that looks just as good on the dinner table.

Voucher codes

For the latest offers on kitchen appliances, try the links below:

Get creative in the kitchen with the best indoor pizza ovens