Top pick
This inexpensive Dutch oven aced every test, and its design rivals that of pricier models.
For the best value in a Dutch oven, get the Lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It cooks foods just as well as other, much pricier Dutch ovens we’ve tested, and it’s one of the easiest ones to use and to move around the kitchen.
You can firmly grip the large handles to lessen the strain of moving a full pot in and out of the oven or to the sink. A whisk or spoon reaches easily into the Lodge’s rounded corners to prevent foods from getting stuck when you deglaze the pan. The Lodge’s light-colored enameled interior makes it easy to see your food browning, and like most enameled ovens, the Lodge is a breeze to clean.
The lid allows for enough evaporation to leave concentrated, rich cooking liquid behind. In our tests, the stew we made in the Lodge lost a total of 15¾ percent of its weight during cooking. By contrast, the stew cooked in Staub’s Dutch oven lost only 6 percent of its total weight during cooking, and the resulting stew was our least favorite, with a dull, watery flavor and thin texture.
The Lodge hit the sweet spot for evaporation, creating a thick and flavorful stew. The more expensive Le Creuset yielded a similarly concentrated stew (losing 14 percent of its weight), so even though it has a few nicer features, such as a lighter weight and a more durable enamel coating, we don’t think it’s worth the enormous price jump for cooking performance alone.
The Lodge also has some design features we like. For one thing, its shape makes cooking in it particularly easy compared with other ovens we tested. It’s wide and squat enough to allow for searing (rather than steaming) meat, and the gentle curve from the bottom to the side of the oven helped onions brown more evenly because they didn’t get trapped in the oven’s corners.
By comparison, we had to stir onions more attentively in Le Creuset’s Dutch oven, which has a more pronounced angle between the bottom and sides that can trap food around the edges.
The light-colored interior makes it much easier to judge the color of the onions and meat browning. With the same technique and timing, onions we cooked in darker-colored ovens like the Staub burned slightly, because the dark surface made it difficult for us to judge the color as it developed.
Using the infrared thermometer, we found that the pots with dark and light interiors heated about equally, so it was really visual cues that made the difference between browning or burning.
The enamel finish is durable. It has remained intact over several rounds of testing and years of long-term use in our test kitchen. By comparison, the enamel on both the bottom and the handle of the Milo Classic Dutch Oven we tested chipped after just a few washes, and we noticed that the surface was pitted in a few places.
The glossy surface of the Lodge is also painless to clean, while we found that matte interiors like the one on the Staub gripped onto food and required more scrubbing.
The wide, looped handles are among the easiest to grab securely, even with a folded towel or an oven mitt (which you’ll need, since cast-iron handles heat up during cooking). We struggled to hold onto the spindly half-moons attached to either end of the Great Jones Dutchess or the stubbier handles on the Milo.
Not only do the Lodge’s handles make the pot easier to lift (it weighs just under 15 pounds when empty) in and out of the oven, but you can also grip them more comfortably while stirring what’s inside. The only model we tested with better handles was the much more expensive Le Creuset.
Lodge offers a satisfaction guarantee for all of its products that’s a little vague, but Lodge spokesperson Mark Kelly told us, “The enameled cast iron Dutch ovens are covered by a limited lifetime warranty as long as all use and care recommendations have been followed.”
How the Lodge Dutch Oven has held up
Alex Vaughn, a senior product manager for Wirecutter, used the Lodge from 2018 to 2022, and reported “I love the Lodge! I can’t tell the difference while cooking between the brands (Le Creuset and Lodge.) The Lodge does show its wear and tear much more though.”
Over years of testing, we’ve had mostly good experiences with Lodge’s customer service, and the Dutch oven we’ve been using in our test kitchen since 2014 is still in good shape. Repeatedly moving the pot from stovetop to cabinet has caused some exterior scratching on the bottom, but the enamel finish is unmarred and it performs as well as ever.
The interior is still free of any major scratches, and the enamel finish has no cracks or chips. However, as the photo shows above, the Lodge’s finish can wear down and discolor. This won’t affect the pot’s functionality, unless the enamel flakes off. To remove stains on the light interior, you can use a bleach solution or a baking soda paste.
We have heard from some readers and Wirecutter staffers that the enamel on their Lodge ovens has chipped. If you absolutely want the longest-lasting pot, we recommend Le Creuset’s Dutch oven.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The bottom of the Lodge has a slightly curved surface compared with Le Creuset’s oven. That’s an asset when sautéing vegetables or caramelizing onions, but the Lodge required a few extra minutes to achieve the same level of sear on large cuts of meat, compared with other ovens with flatter surface areas. The base is an inch smaller than that on Le Creuset’s oven, so you have a little less room to brown meat if you’re cooking in large batches.
As mentioned earlier, we’ve seen complaints from Amazon reviewers, our readers, and a few Wirecutter staff members that the Lodge’s enamel chips easily. We haven’t experienced any chipping ourselves, and Lodge told us that its warranty covers cracked or chipped enamel. But one Wirecutter writer with a damaged pot did not hear back from Lodge’s customer service.
The Lodge is much more affordable than our upgrade pick, but it may also have a shorter lifespan. Price isn’t always a tradeoff for quality, but in the case of Dutch ovens, it may be something to consider.
