Why You Should Never Use Nonstick Spray on a Nonstick Pan

Nonstick cooking spray is a handy kitchen staple. Use it to ensure your food doesn't stick to the bottom of the casserole dish or the sheet pan. Opt for it when you want less mess than you get from butter greasing — fewer calories, too. It's more efficient than preparing a pan for baked goods with both oil and flour.

But in spite of nonstick spray's charms, it has one glaring shortcoming: It should never be used on a nonstick pan.

Nonstick pans — along with skillets, muffin tins, Bundt cake tins, and anything else you can find a nonstick version of — don't respond well to nonstick spray. Nonstick pans contain a coating called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or Teflon. This synthetic chemical is made up of carbon and fluorine atoms, and it works to keep food from sticking.

When you use a nonstick spray on this type of material, it doesn't easily — if ever — come off. The film a nonstick spray leaves on a non-stick pan builds up over time, making your non-stick pan ineffective.

According to an article in Consumer Reports, built-up cooking spray reduces a pan's performance, ultimately resulting in the exact opposite of the desired effect. That is, the buildup may cause food to stick to the pan, not the other way around.

If you don't feel you can fully trust your non-stick pan to do the job it was intended to do, you can add a layer of fat to make extra sure you won't run into any sticky food issues. But the fat should be natural — olive oil, avocado oil, or butter all work nicely on non-stick pans. Yes, it may be a little messier, and it may add a trace few additional calories, but it's the best way to preserve your non-stick pans.