Top 4 Least Toxic Cookware Brands for a Carnivore Diet | Meat Eaters

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of the results will come from 20% of the effort. I call it going after the big wins.

Concerning health and the carnivore diet, the biggest win you get from the carnivore diet is the act of eating nutrient-dense and bioavailable animal products and avoiding plant food. 

That one change could see you improve your health by 80%. However, to get to a 90% health improvement, you may have to change a hundred things.

Things like improving your sleep, using blue light glasses, and what this article is about… using mainly non-toxic cookware. 

In my opinion, get the big wins first, then start to worry about other factors and try to lessen your mistakes.

Do you need to swap out all your cookware before you start the carnivore diet? Probably not.

Once you are settled into the carnivore diet, been through the transition phase, should you consider getting some quality non-toxic cookware? Absolutely. 

What to look out for

It would be best if you avoided anything that has a Teflon coating or something like Teflon. Teflon seems to be the best of a bad bunch, so cheaper non-stick options are even worse. 

Cookware is definitely a case of buy cheap, buy twice. The cheaper the non-stick cookware, the cheaper the non-stick chemicals will be, and the more those non-stick chemicals will leach into your food and cause potential issues. I have to mention that according to www.cancer.org there isn’t a conclusive connection that Teflon causes cancer. 

Healthline wrote an informative article outlining the potential dangers of Teflon and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). This is a must-read and links to certain scientific studies.

You might not think it sounds like a big deal, but just think about how many times you cook each day, week, month, and year.

If even just a tiny amount of chemicals leaches into your food, you are, in fact, potentially chronically poisoning yourself over your lifetime.

If you have time I would highly suggest watching this documentary, “The Devil We Know.” It documents how DuPont was secretly dumping Teflon into the air and water in West Virginia. A high amount of people in the town next to the chemical plant ended up getting cancer and other health problems. It’s an eye-opener!

What I like

My personal favorite potentially less toxic options, in order:

1. Cast-Iron
2. Stainless Steal
3. Glass
4. Ceramic

With this in mind, here are some brands I like:

Smithey for cast-iron

I love this brand, they have only been around since 2015, but they have built up an excellent reputation, and they are widely used by professional chefs.

They make a beautiful range of cast-iron cookware that looks both traditional and modern at the same time. I love the little leather handle covers, and their spatulas are a thing of beauty. 

My favorite product of theirs is The No.12 Combo Set; it is a deep-set cast-iron skillet that you could buy something similar from anywhere.

However, this one comes with a cast-iron lid which is useful, but what makes it a must buy is that the lid can also double up as a flat griddle. So, this combo set gives you a huge range of things you can cook. 

Plus our readers can get a $25 discount on the No. 12 Combo Set! (limited time).

Le Creuset for stainless steel

This company is nearly one hundred years old, and they know what they are doing. They do great cast-iron, but I believe they really excel with their stainless-steel range, which is restaurant standard.

They aren’t cheap, but they will last you a lifetime. I have their 3-ply stainless steel uncoated frying pan, and it is excellent.

I cook my meat in a cast-iron pan, but I think this is better for cooking fish. It seems to keep the taste a bit cleaner, as fish is more delicate.

Unlike a lot of frying pans, this has a stainless-steel handle, too, so you can cook stuff in the oven with it as well. 

Pyrex for glass

Glass is non-toxic, and I have a few different-sized glass dishes. The main problem is that they are limited in their use as you can not use them on direct heat.

So, you must use them in the oven. When I cook joints of meat or make carnivore deserts, these dishes prove very useful.

Glass is great as there is no leaking of materials into the food, and it can’t absorb anything either. It also retains heat well for an even cook. 

Xtrema for Ceramic

I have their Dutch Oven, which I use for making stews and soups; I have used this in the oven, on the stove, and even on an open fire to great effect.

Ceramic is one of the oldest cooking methods, and xtrema tries to keep the production process as traditional as possible.

The cookware is 100% ceramic, and even though they do use a ceramic glaze to make it more non-stick, they do not use any synthetic materials and chemicals like PTFE, PFOA, glues, and dyes.  

Cast-Iron Seasoning

Cast-Iron isn’t the only option when looking for non-toxic cookware, but it is the best, in my opinion, and most of my cookware is cast iron. 

Nowadays, most cast-iron pans will come pre-seasoned, which means you can start cooking with them straight out of the box.

Unfortunately, they will be seasoned with some sort of vegetable oil like grape seed oil. It isn’t easy to find non-seasoned cast-iron. 

So, you have 3 options. 

Firstly, accept the amount of vegetable oil seasoned onto the pan is tiny, and the amount of vegetable oil that will leach off into your food is even smaller.

Be happy with that, then going forward, season the pan with animal products. Personally, I use EPIC lard and beef tallow. 

Secondly, you decide you do not want to consume any vegetable oil at all. This means you will need to de-season the cast iron.

To do this, you will need to scrub the pan in hot soapy water. Then I leave it to soak in warm water for an hour before rinsing with warm water and a bit more scrubbing.

Then I dry the pan, rub it with lard, and place it into a hot oven for a couple of hours. Then allow to cool naturally inside the oven. P.S. this is the one and only time you should use soapy water on a cast iron. 

Third, use this link to get to Smithey Ironware and ask them to send you an unseasoned frying pan. That’s what I did and when it arrived I seasoned it with beef tallow.

Carnivore Conclusion

Spend time getting the biggest wins possible; then, once you have things like diet, blue light exposure, and sleep nailed, you can start looking all the other stuff that might help your short, medium, and long-term health. 

And speaking of help these books have helped me tremendously!

1. The Carnivore Diet by Dr. Shawn Baker
2. The Carnivore Cookbook by Jessica Haggard (E-book and hard cover)

Go check out MeatRX and book an affordable carnivore diet coach and read some testimonials!

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or dietician, or nutritionist. Consult with and ask your doctor about any diet or medical-related questions. No information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition.