What size roasting tin and baking tray do I actually need?

Most kitchens have four thin, warped, blackened trays and no good ones. Two well-chosen pieces of metal do almost everything, and the choice comes down to thickness, side height and whether the thing fits your oven with air able to move round it.

Step by step

1. Tell the four things apart.A baking sheet is flat with one raised lip to hold it by — for biscuits and anything you slide off. A baking tray or sheet pan has a shallow rim all round, 2–3cm — the workhorse for roast vegetables, tray bakes and traybake cakes. A roasting tin has deep sides, 6–8cm, to hold fat and juices without them spilling. A roasting dish is the ceramic or glass equivalent, oven-only.
2. Measure your oven before buying anything.The tray must leave a gap of at least 2–3cm all round for hot air to circulate, or the oven cooks badly and the edges burn. Measure the internal width of the cavity and the shelf, and take the number to the shop. A tray that only just fits is a tray you will regret.
3. Buy on thickness, not on brand or coating.The single quality that matters is gauge. Thin aluminium buckles violently in a hot oven — the loud bang that makes people jump — and once buckled it never sits flat, so oil pools and food burns in the low spots. A heavy tray costs more, stays flat for years and browns more evenly.
4. Choose the side height by the job.Roast potatoes and roast vegetables: shallow rim, so steam escapes and everything browns. Roasting a joint or a chicken with fat and juices: deep sides. A tray bake or a slab cake: 2–3cm sides to contain the batter. Deep sides on vegetables is a common mistake — the walls shield the food and it steams.
5. Decide on non-stick honestly.Non-stick trays are easy but the coating degrades under high roasting heat and with metal utensils, and it is the first thing to fail. Bare aluminium or heavy steel with a sheet of baking paper gives you the same release, costs less, and the tray outlives several non-stick ones.
6. Get the loading right.Whatever the tray, one layer with space between the pieces. Crowded food steams and never colours — this is the tray equivalent of crowding a frying pan, and it is why two trays beat one heaped one. It is also the argument for owning two identical trays rather than several odd ones.
7. Add a rack if you roast meat.A wire rack that sits inside the roasting tin lifts the joint out of its own fat, so the underside roasts instead of frying and the fat below can be used for the gravy. Most tins are sold without one and it is worth buying separately in a size that fits.

Tips

• Preheating the empty tray for five minutes before the food goes on gives a much better crust on potatoes, chips and anything you want crisp underneath.
• Two identical trays are more useful than one large and one small, because most of the time the problem is capacity for a single layer.
• Discolouration and staining on a bare metal tray does not matter and cannot really be prevented. Buckling does matter, and is the reason to replace one.
• A roasting tin needs to be safe on the hob if you make gravy in it. Check whether yours is — thin enamel and glass are not.

Questions people ask