2024 GreenPan vs Blue Diamond Ceramic Pan Review

Is a GreenPan or Blue Diamond pan better? The answer doesn’t depend on the brand, but on the specific collection of cookware that you buy. 

GreenPan and Blue Diamond have the same manufacturer and the same “Thermolon” ceramic coating. Both brands offer entry-level collections that cost around $20 a pan, and better-made lines. 

The best GreenPan collections, like Valencia Pro and Paris Pro are better quality and will last longer than any Blue Diamond pans.

GreenPan vs. Blue Diamond Side-by-Side Comparison

The Winner: GreenPan Valencia Pro

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The Runner Up: Blue Diamond Ceramic Pan

Key Differences Between GreenPan and Blue Diamond

For this product review, I tested a GreenPan Rio cookware set, the GreenPan Valencia Pro 11” Fry Pan, and the Blue Diamond 14” skillet.

Cooking Performance

When I test pans for product reviews, I boil water and cook pancakes, eggs, and protein (chicken or steak) in every pan. I measure temperatures with an infrared thermometer to check how evenly the pan heats. Often I’ll keep the pan and use it for everyday cooking to see how it holds up over time.

GreenPan Valencia Pros and Cons

The GreenPan Valencia Pro is comparable to high-end brands like Caraway in cooking performance. I could make a restaurant-quality meal in this pan. Its hard-anodized aluminum base distributed the heat very evenly, and it boiled water quickly. 

It put a decent sear on a chicken breast on medium heat. Since ceramic can’t be used on high burner heat without damaging the coating, you’ll never get an amazing steak on a GreenPan. But this one did better than the other two pans we’re comparing here.

In my experience, GreenPan Valencia Pro requires some oil to be slippery-slidey nonstick. The pan literature also recommends cooking with a small amount of fat or oil. 

It’s possible to fry eggs in this pan without oil. But, even when the pan was new, my oil-free egg results were mediocre. With a dab of butter, they turned out excellent.

Since the pan has a stainless steel handle, it’s oven-safe to 600°F. This means you could cook a stove-to-oven meal in this pan. Just avoid the direct heat of the broiler. 

GreenPan Rio Pros and Cons

GreenPan Rio is almost the same pan as the GreenLife Soft Grip, which we reviewed in depth. Unlike the Valencia Pro, this model of GreenPan does not have a textured coating. 

I found it easier to cook without oil in this pan than in the higher-priced model – at least at first. But the coating also wore out more quickly.

This pan did not heat up as efficiently or as evenly as the GreenPan. It took a very long time to boil water and steamed my chicken instead of searing it. 

Because it has a bakelite plastic handle, the GreenPan Rio is oven-safe only to 350°F. 

However, for light use like sauteing vegetables or cooking a couple of eggs every morning, the GreenPan Rio is a solid (and affordable) choice.

Blue Diamond Classic Pros and Cons

The Blue Diamond pan I tested was the “Classic” aluminum model – not the more expensive hard anodized or stainless steel versions. The classic model is made of regular aluminum and is extremely affordable.

It’s also fairly thin. It did not distribute the heat evenly at all on an electric stove, creating a hotspot in the middle of the pan. This was obvious, not only on my thermometer, but in the way water boiled more aggressively in the center of the pan. After using the pan for five months, the coating had a burnt patch in the center of the cooking surface.

This poor heat distribution makes it more likely to burn if used on high heat. So the Blue Diamond isn’t a good choice for stir-frying or searing a steak.

When the pan was new, it did very well at frying eggs and pancakes without oil. But after a few months, it needed oil to be nonstick at all.

Since it has a stainless steel handle, the Blue Diamond pan is oven-safe to 600°F. The glass lids are oven-safe to a lower temperature – so check the manual for details!

Build Quality

The Greenpan Valencia Pro is made of hard anodized aluminum with a reinforced magnetic base. This means it's induction compatible, as well as harder, sturdier, and more warp-resistant than the Classic Blue Diamond or GreenPan Rio. The pan body of the GreenPan Valencia Pro is likely to outlast the coating.

The Blue Diamond Classic pan is slightly bowed in the center to resist warping. But this also means it doesn’t make full contact with a flat-top glass stove. After a year of use, the bow shape has gotten worse, creating a valley around the edges where oil and water collect. 

The hard anodized and stainless steel Blue Diamond collections are much less likely to warp.

A couple of my old GreenPan Rio pans have wobbly handles. But the rivets on the GreenPan Valencia Pro handle feel very strong.

Design and Comfort

When it comes to attractiveness, Blue Diamond steals the show. I’ve heard people say that Blue Diamond’s jewel tones are gaudy, but I don’t think so. Blue Diamond pans have navy, forest green, ruby red, or pink exteriors. The Gold collection is onyx black with silver and gold trim.  

Most GreenPans are more modest-looking, coming in neutral grays and whites. In some collections, you can find pastel shades of pink, blue, and turquoise.

As for comfort, I found the GreenPan Valencia Pro very easy to work with. The handle and sides of the pan are at comfortable angles for turning the pan and flipping food. 

The bakelite plastic handle of the GreenPan Rio is comfortable, and it doesn’t get as hot as metal handles on the stove. Is it worth sacrificing the pan’s oven safety for a comfy handle? That’s up to you. 

Versatility

GreenPan skillets can hold lots of food, thanks to their wide cooking surfaces and relatively tall sides. This makes them versatile pans for sauteing, stir-frying, or even boiling pasta in a pinch. 

GreenPan and Blue Diamond both offer extensive cookware sets that include frying pans, saucepans, saute pans, lids, and more. If you decide to invest in a whole collection, you’ll find the sets to have an excellent value per piece.

Are Blue Diamond Pans Metal Utensil Safe?

Marketing materials for the Blue Diamond pans claim that the coating is metal-utensil safe. But it’s a well-known fact that metal utensils will reduce the life of any ceramic pan. In the video below, you can see a consumer testing metal utensils – including an electric beater! – on a Blue Diamond pan.

Some GreenPan collections also claim to be metal-utensil safe. But the GreenPan website acknowledges that using bamboo or silicone utensils will prolong the life of your pan.

Can GreenPans Be Used on Induction Cooktops?

Some GreenPan collections are induction-compatible; others are not. It depends on whether they have a ferritic metal base. GreenPan calls its induction compatible base, “Magneto technology.”

All GreenPan stainless steel collections are induction compatible, but not all the aluminum ones are. GreenPan collections that can be used on induction cooktops include:

Which Stovetops are Blue Diamond Pans Good For?

All Blue Diamond pans can be used on glass/ceramic flat electric stoves, coil electric stoves, and gas stoves. I wouldn’t recommend trying them over a grill or an open fire. Blue Diamond stainless steel pans are induction compatible, as is the Gold collection. The Blue Diamond classic and hard anodized aluminum collections cannot be used on induction cooktops unless you specifically buy the “induction” option.

Ease of Use and Maintenance

You might find these ceramic pans easy to use – or you might find them super frustrating. A lot depends on your expectations. Ceramic pans cook differently than traditional (Teflon) nonstick. It may take some trial and error to find the right temperature settings to cook successfully on a ceramic nonstick pan.

If your pan is sticking, make sure it’s completely clean (no gummy oil, even if you can’t see it!), try preheating it for about 60 seconds, and try using a dab of oil. 

Blue Diamond pans are supposedly dishwasher safe; but they already have such a short lifespan that you may want to avoid risking additional abrasion in the dishwasher. 

In my experience, the GreenPan Rio is the easiest to clean of these three. It’s least likely to burn food or oil and doesn’t have rivets on the cooking surface that can catch crud.

Longevity and Warranty

As you can see from these dismal scores, ceramic-coated cookware doesn’t last very long. The GreenPan Rio set that I used needed to be replaced after two years. The Blue Diamond Classic pan is warping and has a burnt spot in the middle after one year. If you treat high-end GreenPans gently, you can get 2-3 years out of them. But that’s the absolute max.

Users who monitor the temperature of their pans and use them with extreme care enjoy cooking on their GreenPan Valencia Pro pans. But other users report the pans sticking after a week. 

Since Blue Diamond and GreenPan are made by the same company, they have identical warranties – and the warranties aren’t very good. 🙄

Blue Diamond offers a “limited lifetime warranty,” but it doesn’t apply to the nonstick ceramic coating. The brand offers a 2-year warranty on the Thermolon coating, but it doesn’t cover “normal wear and tear.”

Price and Availability

The easiest part of using a Blue Diamond pan is buying it! You’ll find this heavily marketed cookware at Meijer, Walmart, Target, and other big box retailers. (If it’s not in the cookware section, look in the “as seen on TV” section!) It’s also easy to buy online. 

All of the Blue Diamond collections are inexpensive compared to high-end ceramic pans like Caraway. Most in-person stores only carry the Classic aluminum pans, so if you want an induction-compatible or hard anodized pan, you may have to order that online.

GreenPans are also available at local retailers. But since there are over 30 collections of GreenPan products, the stores might not have the exact model and color that you’re looking for. Online retailers like Amazon carry all the GreenPan sets and collections.

GreenPan offers a 60-day return policy if you purchase the pans on its website. But it only accepts returns for new and unopened cookware.

Health and Safety Considerations

The GreenPan Valencia Pro is the safest of these three pan options because it has the sturdiest base and is least likely to tip, warp, or spill.

The biggest concern with the GreenPan Rio is its plastic handle. Unlike stainless steel handles, the bakelite plastic handle stays cool to the touch – unless it catches fire altogether. The lower part of the handle can burn on a gas stove, as you can see in the photo below. 

The plastic handle on the GreenPan Rio is made of bakelite, which contains formaldehyde. It can release fumes if overheated.

In compliance with California AB1200, GreenPan and Blue Diamond release a list of metals “of potential concern” that are added to its cookware. Most of these are found in the stainless steel handle, or aluminum substrate layers – not in the food surface itself.

What About the Coating?

All three of these pans (even the Blue Diamond) use GreenPan’s patented Thermolon ceramic coating. The coatings on the Blue Diamond and Valencia Pro pans contain added diamond dust, but the base coating is still Thermolon ceramic.

Thermolon is The Cookware Company’s brand of sol-gel coating. It’s most likely derived from silicon dioxide (sand) and contains pigments, binders, and adhesives. It is sprayed onto a metal pan base and then cured.

GreenPan does not release a full component list for its proprietary coating, so we can’t know exactly what’s in it.

Some researchers have pointed out that the patent held by GreenPan states that its sol-gel coating might have a PTFE coating on top of it. However,

GreenPan adamantly defends its claim that the coating is free of Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS), including Teflon (PTFE).

Is the Thermolon Nonstick Coating Safe?

Ceramic-coated cookware is considered “most likely safe” by Healthline. Unlike PTFE cookware, it will not release toxic fumes if overheated. Thermolon coatings are PFAS-free according to the manufacturer, The Cookware Company. However, the company does not publish its third-party test results for CA Prop 65 compliance.

Introduced to cookware in 2007, sol-gel technology is relatively new and its long-term health effects have not been studied.

A report from Food Packaging Forum suggests that scratched ceramic cookware may expose the user to titanium dioxide nanoparticles. 

Check out our full article on the safety of ceramic-coated pans.

Company and Environmental Impact

Are ceramic pans actually good for the environment? Not really. They are better than traditional nonstick pans made with PFAS, but they have drawbacks.

Ceramic pan manufacturers broadcast that the sol-gel coating process produces about 50% less CO2 than manufacturing traditional Teflon pan coatings. The Cookware Company, the maker of GreenPan and Blue Diamond, claims that its manufacturing plant in China has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions since 2017 and has obtained ISO 9001-2015 certification for quality management. 

Yet none of this changes the fact that GreenPan products are mass-produced and don’t last very long. You will need to replace your Blue Diamond or GreenPans within 2-3 years. Since most local cities don’t have recycling options for cookware, the pans are likely to end up in the trash. GreenPan has a recycling program, but you will need to pay $20 for shipping and handling to participate. 

In fact, to call ceramic cookware “green” is such a stretch that, In 2013, the National Advertising Department of the Better Business Bureau essentially told GreenPan to back off on its claims that its pans were eco-friendly.  

Blue Diamond also stretches the truth in its marketing claims. The brand has a “fine print” page on its website to qualify and explain its claims, like that its cookware is “10x more durable than traditional nonstick” pans.

I break down the facts and fiction of Blue Diamond’s marketing in my full brand review.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Takeaway

If you plan to overhaul your kitchen and use ceramic pots and pans exclusively, you’ll want to go with a top model of GreenPan like Valencia Pro. But if you’re looking for a lightweight, affordable skillet to cook an egg now and then, GreenPan Rio or Blue Diamond will do the job.

The high-end GreenPans are some of the most enduring among ceramic-coated cookware. But they won’t last nearly as long as enameled pans, like this Made In skillet.