Best Dutch Ovens

Dutch ovens are an great tool for convenient, flavorful, and multi-faceted cooking. They are a worthwhile investment that will serve as a hallmark staple for family dinners, grilling parties, and bread-making feats for years to come. You just need to make sure you’re buying a quality piece of cookware. We did the research to find the best Dutch ovens made in the USA – our findings and all the essential factors that went into our research are below.

Our Findings

After investigating a wide range of Dutch ovens, we found six high-quality American made options, each with a distinct feature that gives it an authentic advantage in the market. Our picks vary in material, size, price, and heating capacity, but they are all excellent options suited for the best cooking results on dishes ranging from stews to bread.

Top Recommendations

Recommendations: Going Deeper

Below are deeper details about all of our top picks: what we liked, what we didn’t like, and where to get them.

Most Affordable

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Lodge manufacturers have been dedicated creators of high-quality cookware since the company’s founding by the Lodge family in 1896. Their two workshops still lie in the small town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, along the banks of the Tennessee River. Therefore, all of their products are proudly made in the USA, utilizing Lodge family values and techniques that have spanned over a century.

The Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven has a big, round kettle that holds up to 5 quarts of food. Its cast-iron material ensures even and efficient heat conduction while providing a robust and durable shell. Additionally, this Dutch oven comes seasoned, so it’s ready to use right out of the delivery box.

Not only can you use the Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven over all forms of heat (except a microwave), but the lid of this Dutch oven doubles as a skillet. The best part about it is that this is a high-quality product with a tiny price tag.

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Things we like:

• Lid transforms into a stovetop skillet
• Works well in the oven, on the stove, over a fire, or on the grill
• Loop handles on skillet and kettle

Things we don’t like:

• Brown, flakey seasoning residue
• Too shallow for deep frying

Best Enameled Dutch Oven

Borough Furnace

Borough Furnace is a small, specialty cookware company located in upstate New York and family-owned by partner craftsmen John Truex and Liz Seru. They are impeccable cookware engineers and avid cooks who take their products home to test them on any number of dishes and cooking methods. They started the company in 2011, intending to put a contemporary design twist on classic cookware.

They created the first enameled Dutch oven made in the USA. Enameling is a semi-gloss coating over the entire oven that is both easy to clean and promotes even and flavorful browning to your food. Borough Furnace’s enamel and materials are free of lead, cadmium, and PFOAs or PFAS, so you do not have to worry about hazardous material leaching into your food.

This Dutch oven also has a sleek and modern design that is both functional and safe for handling. The large handles make it easy and secure to transfer this product from the stove to the oven. Its unique lid has small, evenly placed protrusions on its underside to baste your food as it cooks, and the top contains a large flat handle for easy lifting.

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Things we like:

• First of its kind to be made in the USA
• Environmentally friendly materials
• No chemical coatings or pigments
• The lid has pips for basting food

Things we don’t like:

• Expensive
• Not made for camping or outdoors cooking

Best Large Dutch Oven

All-Clad 5.5 Qt Dutch Oven

All-Clad is a U.S. company with a line of widely proclaimed high-quality products, including this spacious stainless steel 5.5-quart Dutch oven. They are also one of our top picks for the best cookware made in the USA. All-Clad uses an ironclad design consisting of 5 layers of alternating stainless steel and conductive aluminum construction to safeguard against warping while also allowing for even heat conduction.

This stainless-steel Dutch oven can withstand temperatures up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. It has a highly functional and professional-looking design, equipped with heat-resistant handles, tight-fitting flat-edged lid seals, and flared rims to assist in pouring.

The All-Clad Dutch Oven is commercial grade with a stick-resistant coating that is easy to clean, whether by hand or in the dishwasher. All-Clad’s large volume makes it an excellent tool for large dinner parties or big family meals.

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Things we like:

• Dishwasher safe
• Lifetime warranty
• Lightweight
• Non-stick

Things we don’t like:

• Expensive
• Indoor cooking only

Best Stainless Steel Dutch Oven

Wolf Dutch Oven with Lid

Wolf Gourmet cookware is a U.S. based company with worldwide cred in top-tier cookware craftsmanship. The Wolf Dutch Oven upholds the Wolf standard as our pick for the best stainless steel Dutch oven. This 6-quart round Dutch oven can cook large one-pot dinners evenly and efficiently with a flat, circular bottom with a large perimeter, straight walls, and a lid that tightly seals in all cooking vapors.

The Wolf Dutch Oven contains a 7-ply construction of alternating aluminum and stainless steel engineered for induction and heat resistance. By nature, stainless steel does not react with food, so you do not have to worry about a metallic flavor sipping into your dishes. You can use metal utensils to stir and fry food without worrying about scratching.

The side handles on this Dutch oven have a diagonally slanted design to ensure wrist protection and more comfortable carrying. It is also much lighter than the standard cast iron Dutch oven.

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Things we like:

• Lifetime warranty
• Large 6-quart size
• Dishwasher safe
• Does not leach anything into food
• Ergonomic handles for easy lifting

Things we don’t like:

• Maximum heat tolerance is 500 degrees Fahrenheit

Best Pre-Seasoned Dutch Oven

Finex Cast Iron Dutch Oven

The Finex Cast Iron Dutch Oven proudly represents its American origin with the words “Portland, Oregon USA” etched right into the bottom of the kettle. This Dutch oven has a unique octagonal shape with a circular base, its flat sides providing easy entry for spatulas, which is especially helpful for baked goods or crusty casseroles. There are likewise eight rounded corners that serve to funnel liquids into a neat pour.

The cooking surfaces and sides have been double-polished to ensure easy cleaning and stick-free cooking. The best feature of all is that the Finex comes pre-seasoned with organic flaxseed oil that provides a non-stick, rust-resistant finish that adds a delicious flavor to your food and gets better with each usage.

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Things we like:

• Fast-cooling stainless steel handles
• Pre-seasoned with flaxseed oil
• Indestructible
• Smooth, non-stick cooking surface

Things we don’t like:

• Heavy
• Bulky, garishly rustic design aesthetic

Best Small Dutch Oven

Nest Homeware 3.5qt Oven

The Nest Homeware Dutch Oven is a small, 3.5 quart fully cast-iron Dutch oven that is the best small Dutch oven due to its beautiful and ergonomic design. Nest uses an attractive aesthetic in shape, color, and detailing. It has a chocolatey-bronze coloring with side and lid handles in the form of cherry tree branches. The lid handle is a regal gold.

Its cast-iron material provides even cooking, and its pre-seasoned surfaces make it smooth and easy to cook and clean. One thing we didn’t like is that the walls and base are rather thin, but depending on what you are cooking, that may not matter as much.

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Things we like:

• Lifetime warranty
• Beautiful design
• Pre-seasoned

Things we don’t like:

• Expensive for its size
• Thin walls and base
• More prone to sticking and burning food

Recap: Best Dutch Ovens Made in the USA

• Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven – Affordable
• Borough Furnace – Enameled Dutch Oven
• All-Clad 5.5 Qt Dutch Oven – Large Dutch Oven
• Wolf Dutch Oven with Lid – Stainless Steel Dutch Oven
• Finex Cast Iron Dutch Oven – Pre-Seasoned Dutch Oven
• Nest Homeware 3.5qt Oven – Small Dutch Oven

Factors We Considered

Material

The materials used to construct a Dutch oven are incredibly essential to its versatility, heat conduction, and durability. In our opinion, the best material for a Dutch oven is cast-iron, but stainless-steel is gaining popularity. Cast-iron provides a much higher heating capacity than stainless-steel, providing more cooking options and methods. Stainless-steel is lighter and easier to clean but doesn’t work on grills or over campfires.

Kettle Thickness Uniformity

The best Dutch ovens have the same thickness over the entire product to maintain its heating mechanism’s integrity. If the sides are thinner than the bottom, then contents on the bottom will burn by the time contents towards the top are ready. Thickness uniformity is key to even heating, and thus evenly cooked stews or evenly baked bread.

Size

Size is generally a personal preference and depends on who you’re cooking for and what you are cooking. For single households or couples, perhaps a smaller 3-quart Dutch oven will suffice, but for large families or singles who love to entertain, a minimum 5-quart kettle size is optimal. Many bakers swear by the Dutch oven to make loaves of bread, while others enjoy slow cooking stews, meats, and pilafs. Depending on the volume your food preferences fill up, a larger size is generally the safer bet.

Seasoning

For cast-iron Dutch ovens, seasoning is a process that treats cast iron surfaces by adding a layer of fat (usually oil) and baking it into the Dutch oven to prevent rusting. Cast iron needs to be seasoned, and you can either do it yourself with the oil of your choice, or Dutch oven manufacturers will pre-season it, so it comes ready to use.