Le Creuset vs. Staub: Which Dutch oven is best?

Business Insider

20-05-2025

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Le Creuset Signature Round Dutch Oven, 5.5 Quarts
Beloved by home cooks, Le Creuset's Dutch oven has tons of user-friendly features like roomy handles, a (relatively) light weight, and straightforward lifetime warranty.
Staub Round Cocotte, 5.5 Quarts
Staub's Dutch oven is often preferred by professional chefs for its darker interior — which browns food faster and doesn't show stains — and innovative self-basting lid.
I've worked in kitchens for over a decade, and if there's one piece of equipment that I reach for even more than my chef's knife, it's my Dutch oven. Also known as a cocotte or French oven, a great Dutch oven is the true backbone of a well-equipped kitchen. They're essentially large, heavy-bottomed, do-it-all pots that can be used for boiling water, braising meats, simmering soups and sauces, deep frying, or even baking bread. There are dozens of cookware brands that make solid Dutch ovens, but the big decision often boils down to two options: Staub vs. Le Creuset.
I've cooked with dozens of Dutch ovens and know firsthand that both Staub and Le Creuset make phenomenal pots and pans worthy of their reputations. But for this guide, I wanted to settle the debate once and for all, so I put both Dutch ovens through a series of identical tests to find out which one is truly the best. (It's worth noting that Le Creuset and Staub make their Dutch ovens in a range of shapes and sizes, but I tested the 5.5-quart round Dutch oven from both because it's the shape and size we recommend for most people in our guide to the best Dutch ovens.)
After 16 hours of cooking with each Dutch oven across five different tests, Le Creuset emerged as the clear winner. Read on to see why I think Le Creuset is the best choice for most home cooks.
Staub vs Le Creuset, an overview
Staub and Le Creuset are both legacy culinary brands with roots in France and are known for making high-quality enameled cast iron cookware. Unlike regular cast iron, which needs to be seasoned and carefully maintained, enameled cast iron has a glass-like coating that is non-porous, non-reactive, and easy to clean. The result is a pan that has the heat retention and durability of traditional cast iron, but doesn't require as much upkeep. Unsurprisingly, both Dutch ovens look similar at first glance, but have subtle differences in shape, color, and weight. Here's a quick overview of the differences:
How I tested the Dutch ovens
For this comparison, I but the two Dutch ovens head-to-head in four cooking tests: making Bolognese sauce, boiling water for pasta, baking chicken and rice in the oven, and baking bread. I also evaluated each pot for durability by whacking the rim with a metal spoon 100 times. You can read a more in-depth overview of my tests in our guide to the best Dutch ovens.
Performance
The light-colored interior of the Le Creuset Dutch oven made it much easier to monitor browning.
The Staub's interior is made of black-colored enamel, while Le Creuset's is white. I can see benefits to both — Staub's black coating definitely showed less staining — but when it comes to cooking, the white interior of the Le Creuset offers a significant advantage.
While making Bolognese, I had a much easier time monitoring browning in the Le Creuset than in the Staub. In the Staub, I couldn't tell when the fond was turning from rust-colored red (the ideal color for Bolognese) to black and burned until it was too late. The resulting sauce was salvageable, but had a noticeable acrid, scorched taste.
Proponents of Staub's dark interior claim that it browns food faster, but I felt much more confident cooking in the Le Creuset. I could easily follow the visual cues of the recipe, which is one of the primary reasons I recommend the Le Creuset over the Staub for most home cooks.
The only downside I can see to a light-colored interior is that it's prone to staining over time. I'm not bothered by this patina, but if you are, you can always bleach the interior back to white — a process we outline in our guide to the best Dutch ovens.
Le Creuset's Dutch oven has a roomier cooking surface, but shorter walls.
Both Dutch ovens have the same 5.5-quart capacity, but slightly different shapes. The Le Creuset has a wider cooking surface — 9 inches, compared to Staub's 8.75 inches. Instead, the Staub applies an extra quarter-inch to the pot's wall height, for 4.25-inch walls compared to Le Creuset's 4 inches.
These are small differences, but I did find that they made an impact when cooking. I liked that the Le Creuset's roomier cooking surface let me spread food out for better browning with less stirring. However, because of the shorter walls, I often found myself splashing or losing pieces of food over the side of the pot as I stirred. Though I was personally thrilled with the loaves that came out of both Dutch ovens, the Staub predictably made a slightly taller loaf of bread than the Le Creuset, which I preferred just a tiny bit more.
If you're a messy cook like me, you may find the extra quarter-inch height of the Staub helps minimize mess. If we were judging on shape alone, Staub would eke out a win, but unfortunately, I found that any positives in performance due to the shape were offset by the Staub's incredibly dark interior color.
Both Dutch ovens have generous handles and oven-safe knobs…
Good handles are essential when you're carrying a heavy pot filled with hot food, and both Staub and Le Creuset's handles are roomy and comfortable to hold, even with oven mitts. I'd give a slight edge to the Le Creuset's handles and kob for being a bit more generous in width. Each Dutch oven has a stainless steel lid knob that can withstand heat up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is great for preparing dishes in the oven, like bread or casseroles.
…but the Staub Dutch oven is heavier to carry.
I wouldn't call either of these Dutch ovens "light" — if maneuverability and weight are important factors to you, I recommend abandoning the enameled cast iron altogether and looking into stainless steel Dutch ovens. Still, every pound counts in the kitchen, and a Dutch oven shouldn't be unnecessarily cumbersome to carry. With the lid, the Le Creuset pot weighs 11.4 pounds, whereas the Staub weighs 13.2 pounds. I could definitely feel the difference, especially when carrying and tilting each pot filled with boiling water, as I did when making pasta.
Moreover, I couldn't find a performance benefit to having a higher weight. Both Dutch ovens cooked evenly and retained heat well in all our tests, so I don't see any need to tack on an extra 1.8 pounds to an already heavy piece of cookware.
Staub's tight-fitting, self-basting lid is great for dishes that cook in the oven.
I've never given much thought to my Dutch oven lid, but I do think Staub's brings a bit of innovation to an otherwise classic design. The underside of the lid is covered in dimples that are supposed to drop moisture back onto your food as it cooks. The lid also fits tightly, which helps lock moisture in.
I saw the benefits of this best when making chicken and rice, which cooks in the oven. The rice came out really tender and fluffy, and the chicken was extra juicy. Chicken and rice made in the Le Creuset was perfectly tasty as well, but the Staub had just a little extra oomph. I think you'd get the most out of the Staub if you regularly make long-simmering stews, soups, or braises that take advantage of the unique self-basting lid design.
Both Staub and Le Creuset are equally durable, but Le Creuset has a better warranty.
The bases of both pots are made with nearly indestructible cast iron, however, the enamel coatings can chip and wear over time and with heavy use. I tried to simulate reasonable wear and tear by banging a metal spoon against each pot over 100 times and slamming the lid down on the pots at least 10 times. There was no visible damage in either case.
Still, neither the Le Creuset nor the Staub Dutch ovens come cheap, so we want to see any potential damage covered by a generous warranty. While both brands claim to come with lifetime warranties, Le Creuset's is much more generous and clear. Staub's warranty appears to only cover manufacturing defects and specifically says it does not cover normal wear and tear. By contrast, Le Creuset's warranty does cover normal wear and tear, which is what chips in the enamel usually fall under. In research for this guide, I also found many more people complaining about their Staub warranty claims being denied compared to Le Creuset.
Both Dutch ovens are priced similarly and have equally devoted followings.
The MSRPs for the Le Creuset and Staub Dutch ovens are $420 and $400, respectively. However, both can usually be found on sale for around $300. If price is your main consideration, you won't find a significant difference here.
Both brands are also beloved by a vocal legion of fans. You'll often hear that home cooks prefer Le Creuset while commercial cooks prefer Staub, but I know plenty of professional chefs who love Le Creuset and vice versa. Of course, if you're going solely based on Instagram followers, Le Creuset has Staub beat at 1.2 million compared to 236,000 — but we don't put much weight behind social media followings. Instead, it really comes down to a personal preference for one design over the other, but both Dutch ovens are worthy of their loyal fan bases.
Bottom line: Is Le Creuset or Staub better?
Both brands make phenomenal Dutch ovens that are likely to be legacy pieces you can pass down for generations. However, the Le Creuset Dutch Oven's lighter interior, roomier cooking surface, and more generously sized handles are small but meaningful upgrades that we think make it the better choice for most people.