There are so many options when looking to purchase ramekins for your kitchen. I’m here to help narrow down the list. I grew up cooking and turned my love for food into a career. I have spent the last three years in professional kitchens, first in San Francisco and now in Philadelphia. As a result, I have been able to test a wide range of kitchen products for home and professional use. I’m happy to share some of my expertise to help you find the right ramekins for your home.

You don't need to know how to make a soufflé to use ramekins in your home! Ramekins are a deceptively versatile kitchen product. In my kitchen, I love using my ramekins as pinch bowls for salt and other seasonings and as serving bowls when entertaining, filling them with cheeses, nuts, and pickles.

When used for cooking, ramekins bring restaurant-style, individualized portions to your dinner table without requiring much additional effort. I have seen ramekins used for mini chicken pot pies, custards and puddings, sauces, and even soups.

Before we get into my ramekin recommendations, let’s talk about what a ramekin is. The word “ramekin” comes from the French word “ramequin,” which means a small meat- or cheese-based pie. This gives us a little context into why most food traditionally cooked in ramekins comes from French cuisine, such as French onion soup, soufflés, and quiches.

You might ask: What makes a ramekin different from other dishes? Well, a ramekin is not rounded at the bottom. Instead, it is a cylindrical shape with a flat bottom, maximizing its surface area.

Whether you’re looking for decorative small bowls or something with which to practice challenging new cooking techniques, the perfect ramekin is out there for you! For your convenience, I have compiled a list of the best five ramekins I have found. Each one brings a different element to the table.

Best All Around

Emile Henry Ramekin (Set of 2)

Emile Henry is a French ceramic company. Two factors make Henry products unique. First, they use extremely hard glazes that are resistant to scratching. Second, they use high-fired Burgundy clay. Burgundy clay is special because of its high heat retention, making it oven safe at temperatures up to 520°F. In my kitchen experience, porcelain products that use Burgundy clay have more consistent results, which is why I recommend these ramekins as the best overall pick from this lineup.

The Emile Henry ramekins come in a wide range of colors, which allows you to choose the color that best fits your kitchen design and also makes them an interesting addition to your dinner table when entertaining. While these ramekins are sturdy and built to be cooked in, their 8oz capacity makes them the perfect container for nuts, olives, or condiments. When testing these ramekins, I could tell the high quality of the ceramic material by its heft, weighing in at almost a pound for each ramekin. While weight is not always an indicator of quality, in this case, the weight of the ceramic indicates the ramekin’s strength. The heavier the piece, the more durable it is.

These ramekins are easy to clean. Not only are the ramekins dishwashers safe, but they are easy to scrub because of the hard glaze used both on the exterior and interior of the ramekins. These ramekins are an ideal size for individually portioned desserts, puddings, and soups. They are also oven safe and microwave safe. Emile Henry products come with a 10-year warranty.

The only drawback I identified when testing this product was the lack of matching lids. While these ramekins are still perfect for making crème brûlée and chocolate lava cake, it is harder to hold warm soups and baked egg dishes in them, as the heat is likely to escape.

Best Bang for Your Buck

Prepworks by Progressive Porcelain Stacking Ramekins (Set of 6)

Progressive International uses an elegant and classic white, dimpled design for their ramekin set. These ceramic ramekins are made out of porcelain, which does not absorb flavor, colors, or odors. The porcelain used to make the Prepworks ramekins is incredibly durable. Despite my heavy use of the ramekins, they did not chip or show real signs of degradation. In the professional kitchen, one of the best indicators of a quality product is its weight. The Prepworks ramekin set weighs in at only 2.5 pounds, which indicates to me that while they are a great bargain product, their long-term durability may be lacking.

However, they are oven safe at temperatures up to 500°F and stack easily for convenient kitchen storage. This makes them a solid option for home cooks who are excited to add ramekins to their kitchen repertoire.

These ramekins are easy to clean by hand and are also dishwasher safe. They are a fairly versatile dish as well. They are a good single-portion size, with a 5oz capacity, and can easily be used for individually plated custards, savory cheese or dessert soufflés, or pot pies, giving your food a restaurant-quality feel. The ridges on the outside make it easier to grip them.

The main drawback of this product, I feel, was their smaller size. I also recognized a slight difference between the finish of each ramekin.

Best Alternative Design

Delling Ramekins (Set of 6)

Delling ramekins are unique in their design. The geometric shapes that adorn the outsides give a modern twist to the traditional ramekin design to give the ramekins added visual appeal. Only sold in white, these ramekins are elegant and versatile, with a 4.4-inch diameter and 2-inch height. The Delling ramekin’s porcelain is thicker and stronger than other ramekins and has a chip-resistant, all-natural glaze. In addition to being dishwasher safe, they are stackable.

Even though they are not the traditional style for a ramekin, their round shape still provides for an 8oz capacity. The Delling ramekins are not sold with a lid but are still a viable option for soups, custards, and puddings.

The Delling ramekins are adaptable. They can withstand cold temperatures as low as -40°F and as high as 450°F, allowing them to be utilized for a variety of different recipes. Because of the thickness of their walls and overall sturdiness, they are also easy to clean. Delling sells matching geometric dinnerware for those who are interested in purchasing a set.

In my opinion, these ramekins are for people who value their style more than their ease of use. While they are high-quality ramekins, they have slightly tapered walls. In addition, the geometric, avante-garde design, as well as the shorter walls of the ramekins, makes them difficult to grip, especially when they come out of the oven.

Best Decorative Look

The Pioneer Woman Flea Market 4-Inch Ramekins (Set of 8)

The Pioneer Woman Flea Market ramekins come in an assortment of colorful floral patterns. I highly recommend these ramekins if you are looking for a set of small bowls to use when you are hosting hors d'oeuvres. They are easy to mix and match, giving them a fun, bohemian aesthetic.

The Pioneer Woman ramekin is made of durable stoneware that is dishwasher safe. Unlike most of the other ramekin options, these come in a set of eight, which makes them a great entertaining accessory. The Pioneer Woman also sells matching dinnerware to complete the look.

These ramekins are the most durable and easy to clean of all of the options here. They are oven safe and microwave safe. They can be hand washed but are also easy to place in a dishwasher for a quicker clean. Overall, I was happy with the 8oz portion size these ramekins offer, and I preferred these ramekins because of their exciting patterns and design.

Because of their bell-shaped bowl, they are slightly precarious when more than two are stacked together.

Best for Storage and Stacking

Sweese 8oz Ramekins (Set of 6)

The Sweese brand is dedicated to bringing products to the home cook that allow them to share delicious food and warmth with all those who come into their home. These ramekins provide a generous portion size when used for individual dishes. These ramekins follow the traditional ramekin design with white ridged edges.

The main appeal of the Sweese ramekins is that they are built to be stacked. In my tests of the product, I was easily able to stack four of the set of six. It is possible to stack all six together, but they are slightly unstable at that height. These ramekins are slightly large for individually plated desserts but work well for single servings of pot pies and baked eggs.

These ramekins are quite large. Their advertised capacity is 8oz; however, in my tests, I found that their capacity is closer to 9.5oz, offering a hearty serving if you are using them for an individually portioned dish.

My Note To You

Have fun with your ramekins! There are traditional ways to use your ramekin in baking, but you can also use it as an accessory when adorning your dining room table. For me, a ramekin can be a fun replacement for a small bowl. Don’t reserve your ramekins only for baking soufflés!

Curated Kitchen Experts like me are here to help you find the perfect ramekin for your particular needs. Please reach out to one of our Curated Kitchen Experts if you are looking for more specific advice on which ramekin best fits your needs.