Is HexClad Safe? The Lawsuit, the New Coating, and an Honest Score
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Short answer: it depends which HexClad you’re holding. The pans sold through early 2024 had PTFE — the Teflon family — in the valleys between the steel hexagons, while the ads said “PFAS-free” and “non-toxic.” That’s what the lawsuit was about. The pans HexClad sells now use a ceramic coating it calls TerraBond, which the company says is PTFE-free. On our scale the old version is a 2 and the current version is a 3: the same kind of ceramic nonstick as GreenPan and Caraway, on a metal we’d happily cook on, from a company whose claims we now read twice.
HexClad is the pan people ask us about right after Caraway. Gordon Ramsay is in every ad, the hexagon pattern looks like nothing else on the shelf, and the pitch — stainless steel toughness with nonstick convenience, metal utensils allowed — is exactly what most home cooks want. We don’t own one. This is a materials review, built from HexClad’s own pages, the court’s settlement notice, and Amazon’s current listing, which is how we score everything.
What a HexClad pan actually is
Every HexClad Hybrid pan is a tri-ply pan: a magnetic stainless steel base (so it works on induction), an aluminum core for heat spread, and a stainless steel cooking surface on top. That part is standard clad cookware and it’s fine — it’s the same construction as All-Clad and Made In.
The twist is the pattern. HexClad laser-etches a grid of hexagons into that stainless surface, leaving raised steel “peaks” and recessed “valleys,” and fills the valleys with a nonstick coating. The peaks are what let you use a metal spatula: the utensil rides on steel and never quite reaches the coating. The valleys are what make eggs slide. HexClad’s own science page describes the valleys as containing “our high-grade proprietary ceramic nonstick called TerraBond,” and the company’s FAQ says its cookware is “PTFE-free and PFAS-free.”
So the material question was never about the pan body. It was always about what’s in the valleys.
What the lawsuit was about
In November 2023 a group of customers sued HexClad’s parent company (One Source to Market, LLC) in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The case, Cliburn v. One Source to Market, No. 23STCV28390, alleged that HexClad marketed pans as “non-toxic,” “PFAS free,” “PFOA free,” and “metal utensil safe” while the nonstick in the valleys was PTFE — polytetrafluoroethylene, the fluoropolymer better known as Teflon, and by most definitions a member of the PFAS family.
HexClad denied all of it and admitted nothing. But in 2025 the company agreed to a settlement: a $2.5 million fund for people who bought the Hybrid pans, pots, woks, griddles and sets between February 1, 2022 and March 31, 2024, and — this is the part that matters going forward — a promise to stop advertising any product that contains PTFE or any PFAS-family chemical as “PFAS free,” “PFOA free,” or “non-toxic.” The court’s fairness hearing was in September 2025; the claim window closed in November 2025; reports put the average payout at a few dollars per person after fees. The details are on the settlement administrator’s site, HexCladSettlement.com.
Two things are true at once. Nothing in that case found a HexClad pan unsafe — it was a false-advertising case, decided by settlement, not a finding of fact. And a company that told you its PTFE pan was PFAS-free is a company whose next claim you should verify rather than take on faith. That’s the whole reason this article exists.
What HexClad says is in the pan now
HexClad’s current line uses the TerraBond ceramic coating. Ceramic nonstick, across the industry, means a sol-gel coating: a silica-based liquid sprayed on and cured hard. It isn’t a fluoropolymer, so the thing we score PTFE pans down for — a plastic surface that scratches into food and breaks down with heat — isn’t in it. That’s real progress.
Three caveats, all of which apply to Caraway and GreenPan too, and one that’s HexClad’s alone.
The recipe is a secret. HexClad describes TerraBond as proprietary. When a consumer-safety writer asked for the composition in 2025, the company declined. What HexClad publishes is what’s not in the coating (PTFE, PFAS, lead, cadmium), not what is.
The testing is HexClad’s. HexClad says its cookware was third-party tested for forever chemicals with non-detect results. We couldn’t find a published lab report with the lab named and the detection limits stated, the way Caraway posts its SGS reports. “Non-detect” without a detection limit is a promise, not data.
It needs seasoning. HexClad’s care instructions tell you to season the pan with oil before first use and to expect it to “re-season from the fats in the food” over the first weeks. That’s unusual for a ceramic coating and tells you the surface is closer to stainless-with-help than to true nonstick. Reviewers who cook on it for months describe the release as modest and fading. If you’re buying HexClad because you want eggs to glide the way they do on a fresh nonstick pan, you’ll be disappointed either way.
And the one that’s HexClad’s alone: the old pans are still out there. The settlement class runs through March 2024, and HexClad didn’t recall anything. Warehouses, third-party sellers, open-box and clearance channels all turn over slowly. If you’re buying HexClad, buy it from a listing that names the coating — the current Amazon listing for the 12-inch pan says TerraBond in the first sentence — and if you’re buying used or from a reseller, assume it’s the PTFE version unless you can prove otherwise.
The score, and why
HexClad Hybrid (TerraBond, current): 3. A ceramic nonstick coating on a stainless steel surface is exactly the construction we gave a 4 in the GreenPan Venice Pro — the coating wears, but what’s underneath is a metal you’d cook on anyway, not bare aluminum. HexClad loses a point for transparency: no published lab report we could find, a proprietary recipe, and a marketing history that earned a court order. Show us the report and the ingredient list and this becomes a 4.
HexClad Hybrid (PTFE, sold through early 2024): 2. PTFE in the valleys of a pan designed to be used with metal utensils is the worst of both worlds. The steel peaks protect the coating from a spatula’s flat edge, but not from the corner of one, and not from years of scouring. It’s not dangerous the way a flaking pan in a hot oven is — HexClad recommends low and medium heat, which helps — but it’s a Teflon pan that was sold as something else. If you own one, treat it like any PTFE pan: low heat, no dishwasher, wood or silicone utensils despite the marketing, and replace it when the valleys look bald.
For reference, our scale: 5 is a single inert material (stainless, cast iron, carbon steel, glass); 4 is a coating we’re fine with on a metal we’re fine with; 3 is a coating with a shelf life or a transparency gap; 2 is PTFE or aluminum in contact with food; 1 is a hard no.
Should you buy it?
If the thing you want is one pan that tolerates metal utensils and the dishwasher, HexClad does that, and the current version is a reasonable 3. Buy the single 12-inch pan, not the full set — you don’t need twelve pieces of a coated consumable, and HexClad’s stockpots and saucepans are places where plain stainless does the same job for less.
If the thing you want is a pan you never have to think about again, HexClad is the wrong shape of answer. Every pan below is a 5, costs the same or less, and has no coating to wear out.
What we’d buy instead
All-Clad D3 12″ Fry Pan — Score 5
Why it’s here: The pan HexClad is imitating, minus the hexagons. Tri-ply stainless over aluminum, made in Pennsylvania, no coating. Learn to preheat it (medium heat, a minute, then the oil) and eggs release; skip that step and they don’t. Lifetime warranty that means it.
Made In Stainless Clad 12″ Frying Pan — Score 5
Why it’s here: Five-ply stainless, made in Italy, sold by Made In itself on Amazon, and usually a little cheaper than the HexClad it’s sitting next to. This is the pan we’d point most people to if they want to keep the “stainless, no coating, buy once” promise without paying All-Clad prices.
Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad 12″ — Score 5
Why it’s here: About a third of the HexClad’s price, 18/10 stainless cooking surface, NSF-certified, and the pan that lives in more restaurant kitchens than any brand with a celebrity chef. It’s plain. That’s the point.
Lodge 10.25″ Cast Iron Skillet — Score 5
Why it’s here: Twenty-five dollars, no coating, and after a month of use it’s more nonstick than a worn HexClad will ever be. This is our daily pan; it’s in every guide on this site for a reason.
GreenPan Venice Pro — Score 4
Why it’s here: If you specifically want ceramic nonstick on stainless — HexClad’s construction without the hexagons — this is the version with a published California AB 1200 disclosure of what is and isn’t in the coating. It’ll wear out in a couple of years like all ceramic. Buy the one fry pan.
HexClad 12″ Hybrid Fry Pan with Lid — Score 3
Why it’s here: Because if you’ve read all of this and still want the hexagons, this is the one to buy: the current Amazon listing names the TerraBond coating, it’s sold by HexClad (which matters for the lifetime warranty), and one 12-inch pan is the right dose. Low to medium heat, season it once, and don’t expect it to stay slick.
Skip: any HexClad set; any HexClad listing that doesn’t say TerraBond; secondhand HexClad of unknown vintage; HexClad’s pots and stockpots (pay for plain stainless instead).
If you already own a HexClad
Find the order date. Bought before spring 2024? It’s almost certainly the PTFE version. It isn’t an emergency — millions of people cook on PTFE every day, and the risk we score it for is chronic wear, not acute harm — but stop using metal utensils on it, keep the heat at medium, and plan its replacement. Bought later, from HexClad or a listing that named TerraBond? Treat it like any ceramic pan: low heat, no cooking spray, hand wash, and replace it when the valleys stop releasing. If you were in the settlement class and missed the November 2025 claim deadline, that window is closed.
What would change our mind
A lab report, posted publicly, with the lab’s name, the PFAS panel tested, and the detection limits — the same thing Caraway already does. And a plain-English list of what TerraBond is made of. Do those and the current HexClad is a 4, with the metal-utensil trick as a real advantage over every other ceramic pan.
The other brand that puts PTFE on a stainless pan is All-Clad, in its D3, D5 and Copper Core “Nonstick” versions — a 2 next to the bare-stainless 5s. Sorted in Is All-Clad safe?
Whatever pan you land on, use the right tool in it: metal on bare stainless or cast iron, wood or good silicone on any coating. Our utensils guide scores every material.
Frequently asked
Does HexClad have Teflon in it?
The pans sold through March 2024 did — PTFE in the recessed valleys, per the lawsuit HexClad settled. The company says the current TerraBond pans are PTFE-free.
Is HexClad PFAS-free?
HexClad says yes for the current line. Under the settlement it can no longer use that phrase on anything containing PTFE. We haven’t seen an independent lab report.
Did HexClad lose the lawsuit?
No. It settled for $2.5 million without admitting fault and agreed to change its advertising. A settlement isn’t a finding that the pan is unsafe.
Can I use metal utensils on HexClad?
That’s the design’s whole idea, and on the current ceramic version it’s mostly fine — the steel peaks take the contact. On the PTFE version we’d stop.
Is HexClad better than Caraway or GreenPan?
On construction, yes: the coating sits on stainless steel, not aluminum, so a worn HexClad is a stainless pan, while a worn Caraway is an aluminum one. On transparency, no: Caraway publishes its lab reports and GreenPan publishes its chemical disclosure; HexClad publishes neither. Hence 3 for HexClad, 3 for Caraway ceramic, 4 for GreenPan’s stainless lines.
Is HexClad worth it for a full set?
Not on materials. Buy one pan if you want the hexagons, and put the rest toward a stainless set that will outlive you.
Is HexClad better than the Our Place Always Pan?
Different constructions: HexClad is ceramic in the valleys of a stainless surface (3); the ceramic Always Pan is ceramic on aluminum (3, and a 2 worn). If you want the “nonstick without a coating” idea done honestly, Our Place’s Titanium Always Pan Pro — bare titanium, no coating — is a 4. Our Always Pan review.
What’s the difference between HexClad and a plain stainless pan?
The coating in the valleys. Bare stainless — All-Clad, Made In, Tramontina — is a 5 with no shelf life. Our stainless steel guide explains the grades, the nickel question, and how to cook on it without sticking.
The bottom line
HexClad sold a Teflon pan as a non-toxic one, got sued, settled, and switched to ceramic. The current pan is a reasonable 3 — ceramic on stainless, which is the right way to build a coated pan — held back by a recipe nobody outside the company has seen and a track record that means we verify before we trust. If you want it, buy one 12-inch pan from a listing that says TerraBond. If you want to stop thinking about coatings altogether, the stainless pans above are cheaper, simpler, and a 5 for the rest of your life.
Scores last reviewed September 2026. How we score.
