Is HexClad Non-Toxic? It Depends on When You Bought It

What is a HexClad pan made of?

HexClad calls its design “hybrid”. The body is tri-ply: a magnetic stainless-steel base, an aluminium core for even heating, and a stainless cooking surface. A raised hexagon pattern is laser-etched into that surface, and the nonstick coating sits in the low “valleys” between the steel peaks. The idea is that spatulas ride on the steel ridges and don’t scrape the coating, which is why HexClad markets its pans as metal-utensil safe.

So the safety question is about the coating in the valleys, and HexClad’s answer to “what is it?” has changed. Today, its science page says the valleys contain “our high-grade proprietary ceramic nonstick called TerraBond™ which is PTFE-free and free from forever chemicals.” Its product pages show a table of results from a third-party lab listing PTFE, PFOA, PFOS and other PFAS as “Non-Detect”. HexClad has not published the lab report, the test method or the detection limits.

Did HexClad pans contain PTFE?

HexClad said so itself. The company’s FAQ has changed several times, and archived copies show how its answer shifted:

Quotes are from hexclad.com FAQ pages captured by the Internet Archive. The September 2024 row is paraphrased. Product names such as the 12″ Hybrid Pan stayed the same across the change.

The practical point is that the name on the pan doesn’t tell you which coating you have; the purchase date comes closer. If yours was bought before late 2024, assume it has the PTFE coating unless HexClad tells you otherwise for your order. Its customer support can check against an order number.

What was the HexClad lawsuit about?

Buyers sued in 2023, first in federal court and then in Los Angeles Superior Court (Cliburn et al. v. One Source to Market, LLC, which trades as HexClad Cookware). They alleged that HexClad had marketed its pans as free of PFAS and PFOA, and as “non-toxic”, while the nonstick coating was PTFE, which California law counts as a PFAS. The complaint relied on HexClad’s own public statements rather than on lab tests of the pans.

The case settled. HexClad agreed to pay $2,500,000 into a fund for US buyers of the listed products between 1 February 2022 and 31 March 2024, and it continued to deny any wrongdoing. The claim deadline was 14 November 2025. Law-firm settlement trackers report the court gave final approval on 9 March 2026. The fund is split pro rata among valid claims, so individual payments depend on how many people claimed. The more lasting part is the injunction, in paragraph 46 of the signed agreement:

• HexClad “will cease to market or advertise any product containing PTFE or any chemical in the PFAS family as ‘PFAS free’ or ‘PFOA free’”.
• It “will cease to market or advertise any product containing PTFE or any chemical in the PFAS family as ‘non-toxic’”.
• It may keep calling products “metal utensil safe”, and may call products that don’t contain PTFE “non-toxic” or “PFOA-free”, for example ceramic-coated pans.

No court ruled on whether PTFE cookware is harmful. The settlement governs what HexClad can say, not what the science says. Today’s product pages avoid the word “non-toxic” and use “PTFE-free” and “free from forever chemicals” instead.

Is PTFE actually dangerous?

At normal cooking temperatures, intact PTFE is very stable. The FDA says that because the coating is applied at very high temperatures, only negligible amounts of PFAS migrate into food. PFOA, the processing chemical behind the original Teflon controversy, was phased out of US production by 2015 under an EPA stewardship programme. The two real issues are heat and wear.

• Heat. Overheated PTFE, roughly 260 °C (500 °F) and up, gives off fumes that can cause “polymer fume fever”, a short-lived flu-like illness. The fumes can kill pet birds. An empty pan on a high burner gets there in minutes.
• Wear. Australian researchers used Raman imaging on scratched nonstick pans and estimated that “thousands to millions” of Teflon micro- and nanoplastics might be released in a simulated cooking process. In June 2026, a Chinese team found “high abundances” of fluoroplastic microparticles in food prepared with nonstick cookware. Health effects at those doses are unknown, but it is plastic in food, which is this site’s subject.

HexClad’s FAQ says a scratch “is only cosmetic, and it will not affect the performance or safety of the cookware.” That answer doesn’t distinguish between the old coating and the new one. We haven’t found any independent test of how much coating the hexagon design saves from wear, on either version.

Is the new TerraBond HexClad non-toxic?

By HexClad’s account, TerraBond contains no PTFE or other PFAS, which fits a silica-based sol-gel coating. Those have their own trade-offs: a silicone-type matrix, faster loss of slickness, and titanium nanoparticles released under scratching in one 2017 study. See is ceramic cookware safe? In short: PTFE-free is a real improvement if forever chemicals are your concern, but no coating lasts forever or sheds nothing.

What if I own an older, PTFE-era HexClad?

1. Don’t follow the 900 °F rating. That is for TerraBond pans. A PTFE-era listing said “oven-safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit”, and lids to 400 °F. Treat 500 °F as the ceiling and don’t put the pan under a broiler.
2. Don’t preheat it empty on high. This is the most common way any PTFE pan overheats. Add oil or food first and use medium heat. The stainless ridges and aluminium core spread heat well enough.
3. Ventilate, especially if you keep birds. Use the range hood and keep birds away from the kitchen.
4. Retire it when the valleys are worn. If the dark coating is visibly gone, flaking or deeply scored, the pan is shedding coating. That is the point to replace it, not a surface scratch.
5. Don’t panic-bin an intact pan. Used correctly, an intact PTFE pan is a low-exposure item. The biggest step is avoiding the high-heat, worn-out end of its life.

Where can HexClad’s PTFE pans no longer be sold?

States have started banning cookware with intentionally added PFAS, and PTFE counts. In the industry challenge to Minnesota’s law, a federal court noted that PTFE, FEP and PFA “all meet the Statute’s definition of PFAS”, and dismissed the challenge in August 2025.

These laws apply to new sales, not to pans already in your kitchen. Details and exemptions vary by state.

Is HexClad worth it if you want to avoid plastic entirely?

If you want no coating at all, no hybrid pan fits: clad stainless, cast iron and carbon steel have nothing to wear off and cost less, though they need proper preheating and fat. If you want nonstick without PTFE, the current TerraBond HexClad delivers that, as a consumable coating. Gordon Ramsay’s endorsement and the lifetime warranty, which covers defects rather than wear from heat or misuse, don’t change the chemistry.

Related: the best non-toxic cookware, ranked, our Our Place pan review, and what nonstick air-fryer baskets shed.