You can spray a pan with any aerosol or non-aerosol cooking spray designed to prevent sticking. The best option depends on your cooking method: use standard oil sprays (like canola or avocado) for general cooking, or use baking sprays (which contain flour) for cakes and baked goods.
There are several reasons to avoid using cooking sprays on your nonstick cookware. Aerosol cooking sprays contain propellents and other additives that can create a film on your pan over time, damage the nonstick coating, and cause food to stick to the surface.
Use of Abrasive Products or Utensils
Like we mentioned earlier, metal tools are a no-go when it comes to cooking with non stick. Even when handled gently, your favorite stainless steel fish spatula, tongs, or even a metal serving spoon can scratch or chip the coating and leave permanent damage.
Whether you fill a reusable pump or opt for commercial sprays, choose olive oil or avocado oil. Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fats, which are linked to healthier cholesterol ratios.
Conclusion. This research study provides scientific evidence that cooking with EVOO does not ruin non-stick Teflon coated pans at any different rate than other cooking oils. Significantly higher differences in metal leaching were observed between pans, rather than between the treatments with the different oils.
Replace Nonstick Spray With Butter
Greasing your pan with butter is a perfect substitute for cooking spray, and it has the bonus of adding richness and depth to your dishes. Butter doesn't just prevent food from sticking — it also helps create a golden, flavorful crust that's hard to beat.
TIP: It's best to make sure there is a little bit of oil or fat in the pan before turning the hob on. Allow this to move around in the pan when warming the pan, then add your food. The idea is to support the non-stick coating by adding a layer of fat.
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Pick up any can of Pam cooking spray and you'll see lecithin listed as a non-stick agent. However, with use over time it will cause your non-stick pan to become a stick pan. It is not the best idea to spray oils unless you are baking.
Both sprays are nonstick, no matter what kind of oil, propellant, or lecithin they use. However, the flour particles in baking spray create an extra gap between the metal and the pastry, so everything releases easily. This little gap also insulates the batter from the metal of the tin, so it doesn't cook as fast.
How to Prevent Your Nonstick Pan From Getting Sticky
Canola oil is also high in healthy unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. And it's relatively inexpensive. Use it for everyday cooking and whenever you need to coat your nonstick pans.
An alternative is to avoid non-stick coatings altogether, especially as these will eventually wear off, and opt for a stainless steel, iron or carbon steel pan instead. The latter two require a little more upkeep, including regular “seasoning”, which involves rubbing a small amount of cooking oil into their surface.
Use two types of fat
Gordon Ramsay has a solution that's reminiscent of cooking a steak — he uses both oil and butter. In a nonstick skillet, the chef adds a generous drizzle of cooking oil (likely a neutral oil like peanut or canola, but olive oil would also work) and an even more generous amount of butter.
When choosing a cooking oil, it's best to choose an oil high in poly and/or mono-unsaturated fats, which are heart-healthy fats derived foods such as olives, seeds, nuts and vegetables. Olive oil, which is high in monounsaturated fats, is a particularly beneficial choice for heart health.
While these may have seemed like smarter options at first, recent research suggests that they may actually be far more detrimental to heart health than animal fats. In fact, one British Medical Journal study found that consuming too much vegetable oil may actually increase the risk of heart disease.
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Get an oil spray bottle and mix half olive oil (or whatever oil you prefer) and half distilled water. This is what I use instead of Pam type sprays.
Using cooking spray as a replacement for oil and butter can help cut back the calories. Since butter and oil have 100 to 120 calories per tablespoon (respectively), switching to a spray can mean fewer calories (and grams of fat) in your cooking.