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Pyrex Glass Baking Tray Review: Is It Better Than Metal?

Pyrex Glass Baking Tray Review by Lei Hang: Is It Better Than Metal? - The Thrifty Island Girl
Lei Hang with one of her Pyrex Bake & Enjoy multipurpose glass baking tray

Have you ever heard of Pyrex glass baking trays before? I’ve only discovered them a month ago. I’ve purchased 3 of them in the hope that these are better than the metal baking trays.

Why I’ve decided to purchase Pyrex glass baking trays?

Are your metal baking trays going rusty too? I’ve noticed that I’ve been buying new metal oven trays annually. They’ve always gone rusty after a while. I’ve tried some cheap £1 ones from Poundland, which I always had to be replaced after a few months due to the rusting. I’ve also tried the more expensive metal, non-stick baking trays that could be washed in a dishwasher. I’d pick them up from grocery stores, hoping that they won’t rust. The more expensive ones were about £6-£10 and lasted a whole year before needing to be replaced. After I’ve discovered these Pyrex Bake & Enjoy Glass Multipurpose cooking sheets, I thought I had to give these a go. Since glass doesn’t rust, I thought this may be the solution to my rust problem. This would also mean that I wouldn’t need to replace them every year, saving me money in the long run.

Now that I’ve used these for over a month, I’ve decided to write a glass baking tray review to share my thoughts with you.

Why do metal baking trays rust in the dishwasher?

Why do metal baking trays rust in the dishwasher? - The Thrifty Island Girl
One of Lei Hang’s rusty metal baking trays.

Like many, I use a dishwasher as it makes life so much easier. It saves me time and money on my water bill. However using the dishwasher has also some cons, such as using electricity and getting some metal cookware rusty.

So why do baking trays rust? After a while the protective coating on metal cookware wear. This in turn exposes the metal under the protective layer to water. The water reacts with iron to form hydrated iron oxide , which we know as rust. Using a dishwasher speeds the rusting process up. This due to the water and due to the item being sat in the moist environment in the dishwasher for longer when drying, compared to dishes waiting to be dried in a dish rack.

Therefore thoroughly drying off your metal cookware straight after washing can help slow the rusting process or even completely prevent it.

How can the a glass baking tray save you money?

Pyrex glass baking trays are a bit more expensive than the metal ones, but they wont ever rust!

I’ve bought 3 Pyrex glass rectangular baking trays on offer from Wayfair at £18.98 including shipping, while they were on sale. I just love bargains! This worked out £6.33 per Pyrex Bake & Enjoy Glass Multipurpose sheet.

They usually cost around £13 each. As I’m writing they are currently cheapest at Amazon for £9.47 for one with free delivery. The Pryex glass baking tray set of 3 is a better price at

As mentioned earlier, I used to buy new metal baking trays yearly, which costs me about £15 per year as I would normally go for the non-stick ones. This year I’ve spent about £4 more on these glass baking sheets by Pyrex than what I’d normally pay for metal ones. However the difference this time is that I won’t need to replace these, as the glass won’t rust. Another big plus is that these are also made from non-toxic material.

It’s a great investment in my opinion, as it isn’t just saving me money but will also be kinder to the environment. I can’t imagine how many of these rusty baking sheets end up in landfills. As you may know from my other posts such as My eco journey & how going eco has saved me money & Phox Water filter review: Is it really budget & eco-friendly?  I try to make small changes to my lifestyle that could help protect our planet.

The pros & cons of using Pyrex Bake & Enjoy Glass baking trays

Before buying the multipurpose glass baking sheets by Pyrex I had a lot of questions. To help you decide whether Pyrex glass baking trays are right for you, I’ve made a list of advantages and disadvantages of using the Pyrex multipurpose baking trays.

Pros Cons
Dishwasher safe
& very easy to clean
Trays don’t stack for storage, which can be annoying
Pyrex glass is microwave safe
Can you freeze pyrex glass ?
Yes it’s Freezer safe
Resistant to odours
Resistant to stains
Safe to cut directly on the glass due to its scratch resistant material
Can’t rust
BPA free
Thermal shock resistant up to 220° C. The Pyrex glass can go directly from the freezer into the oven without shattering.

Pyrex glass baking dish max temp supports extreme temperatures from -40 ° C to + 300 ° C
Available in 2 sizes

Are Pyrex Borosilicate Multipurpose Glass Baking Trays worth it?

I’ve now been using these glass baking trays just over a month. You may be asking are glass baking trays good? Based on my own experience, I believe these are totally worth it and think they are the best baking trays to buy! I don’t have to worry about rusty baking sheets and having to replace them every year any more. So in the long run, this investment will save me money and the environment. I guess the only time I’d have to replace these, would be if I break them by accidentally dropping them.

Pyrex bake & Enjoy glass baking tray review by Lei Hang - The Thrifty Island Girl
Pyrex glass trays don’t stack very well.

Though I’m a little annoyed that Pyrex didn’t make their baking trays stackable for easy storage, I still love these as they have so many benefits. Since I’m a bit lazy when it comes to washing dishes, I use a dishwasher. Hence it’s very important to me that everything is dishwasher friendly. The thing that really amazed me was how easily they wash! Usually with the metal baking trays, I always had to scrub and rinse any burnt on food such as cheese before popping them into the dishwasher. If I don’t prewash it before putting the metal baking trays into the dishwasher, they would always come out dirty. The Pyrex multi-purpose glass baking sheets on the other hand can be popped into the dishwasher straight away without having to prewash. Any burnt on food just washes off, leaving it the tray looking squeeky clean.

Pyrex claims that their borosilicate glass doesn’t retain stains and odours. From using these trays for a month nearly every other day, I can confirm that my Pyrex trays have not stained or smelt of anything after they came out of the dishwasher.

Another thing I really like is that you can cut food such as pizzas directly on the glass, without scratching it. On busy days when my little girl has extra curricular activities after school, we occasionally have a cheeky pizza as it’s quick and easy. When I was using the metal trays, I’d always transfer the pizza onto a chopping board before cutting. Since using these glass baking trays, I’ve been cutting directly onto the glass. This has saved me time, plus there is also one thing less to wash.

Though Pyrex claim that their product is microwave safe, I’ve never put it into the microwave as the tray is too big to even fit into my standard size microwave. I guess this feature might be useful to catering businesses that have massive microwaves.

I’m impressed that these trays are thermal shock resistant up to 220°C, as well as being able to go from freezer straight into a 200°C hot oven without it shattering. I have to say I personally have not done this yet. However I find this reassuring, as I often cut banana in thick slices and freeze them on the glass trays. Once I’ve bagged the frozen bananas the trays are still ice cold and I pop them into the dishwasher for a 60°C straight away.

The Pyrex glass baking dish supports extreme temperatures from -40 ° C to + 300 ° C. I’ve never really cooked anything over 200°C and never really frozen anything below -10 ° C in my freezer. But the fact the trays can withstand extreme temperatures, shows that the material is strong. The thing I wonder is how easily do the glass baking trays break when they’ve accidentally been dropped on the floor? So far I haven’t dropped one thankfully, but it could happen. If I ever drop one, I’ll update this post and let you know what happened.

Pyrex does these glass baking trays in 2 sizes. I’ve bought are the 32×26 cm. They also make them in a smaller size (24 x 19 cm), but I find them too small.