The braiser is a piece of cookware that is as versatile as it is iconic. And Le Creuset’s braisers are designed to last a lifetime (and even generations), built from a selection of premium materials — including enamelled cast iron, toughened nonstick pro, and stainless steel. Simply introduce your favourite ingredients, close the lid, and sit back as the braiser works its magic. The end result will be tender, flavourful, and perfectly cooked ingredients every single time.
But what exactly is a Braiser? What are some of its key features? And what can you cook in your Le Creuset Braiser?
We have the answers to all your questions, including five delicious recipes perfect for your Braiser pan to help you get started.
What is a Braiser?
Put simply, a braiser is a piece of cookware that uses both wet- and dry-heat to create the ideal environment when preparing tender meat and veggies. Featuring a shallow base and a domed lid, Le Creuset’s braisers lock in heat and moisture, exposing ingredients to a consistent heat source as they slow-cook to perfection.
Braising involves first searing meat and vegetables at a higher temperature to seal in moisture and flavour, and then slow-cooking them in an aromatic liquid. Beyond braising, our braisers can also be used for a number of other different cooking techniques, including browning and poaching. Ultimately, Le Creuset’s Braisers are a great way to prepare deliciously tender meals for the whole family to enjoy with minimal effort.
6 Braiser Features
Le Creuset’s Braisers are built to deliver a lifetime of delicious meals, combining expert craftsmanship with premium materials. From its shallow base and domed, tight-fitting lid to cooktop compatibility and its different sizes, familiarizing yourself with these six Braiser features is a great way to unlock an endless world of culinary possibilities.
The Braiser’s wide, shallow base ultimately separates itself from other pieces of cookware, maximizing contact with the heat source. This creates the ideal environment to sear ingredients to perfection before slow-cooking them in aromatic liquid. The Braiser’s spacious base also provides ample room to arrange ingredients in a single layer, ensuring they cook evenly without overcrowding.
Whether you are browning meat for a hearty stew, or caramelizing vegetables for a savoury side dish, the Braiser’s shallow base ensures even heat distribution. Its shallow base allows liquids to spread so food can simmer, rather than stew. Indeed, with a Le Creuset Braiser, you can experiment with braised classics like osso buco, but can also prepare daily staples like pasta dishes, layered casseroles, and sautés.
A domed, tight-fitting lid is a hallmark of Le Creuset’s Braisers, transforming daily meal prep into a culinary experience. Le Creuset’s Braisers come equipped with a tight-fitting lid that lock in heat, moisture, and flavor, ensuring ingredients are tenderized to perfection while they slow-cook.
Once ingredients are initially seared on high heat, the Braiser’s tight-fitting lid creates the optimal environment for the magic of braising to unfold. As the dish simmers, the domed shape of the lid allows for efficient steam circulation, continuously basting the ingredients and infusing them with rich flavors. This ensures that even tougher cuts of meat become melt-in-your-mouth tender, and vegetables retain their vibrant color and nutrients.
Le Creuset offers three different types of Braisers depending on your personal preferences and daily cooking habits: our Enamelled Cast Iron Braiser, our Stainless Steel Braiser, and our Toughened Nonstick Pro Braiser. Ultimately, each material comes with its own set of unique advantages and intended uses.
Our Enamelled Cast Iron Braiser, for example, is ideal for tenderizing tough cuts of meat and veggies, offering superior heat retention, while our Stainless Steel Braiser has the unique ability of withstanding higher temperatures for an inch-perfect sear.
Our Toughened Nonstick Pro Braiser, by contrast, is perfectly suited for those delicate recipes, providing all the ease of cooking with a completely nonstick surface. All of Le Creuset’s Braisers, however, are built to be passed on from generation to generation, establishing themselves as family heirlooms.
Le Creuset’s Braisers are thoughtfully designed with two convenient ergonomic handles, providing superior comfort and control. These handles ensure you can easily maneuver the pot from the stovetop to the oven, or from the kitchen to the table, even when it is full.
Indeed, our ergonomic handles allow for safe and effortless transfers, reducing the risk of spills, messes, and accidents. Whether you're lifting, tilting, or pouring, these ergonomic handles simplify meal prep—whatever the recipe calls for.
The question of size often comes into play when purchasing any piece of cookware, let alone a Braiser pan. Le Creuset’s Braisers come in a variety of different sizes depending on material, ranging from 3 L to 4.8 L.
A general rule of thumb when selecting a Braiser is to estimate approximately 1 L per serving. In other words, a 4.8 L serves up to five people at a time. Be sure to keep in mind exactly how many people you typically cook for, as well as your intended use when adding a Braiser to your Le Creuset collection.
Le Creuset’s versatile Braisers transition seamlessly from the stovetop to the oven, making for a convenient addition to your kitchen setup. These pieces of cookware are compatible with all cooktops, including gas, electric, halogen, ceramic, and induction burners. In fact, all our Braisers are also oven-safe up to 260ºC (500ºF).
When using the Braiser on the stovetop, be sure to turn to low- to medium-heat, ensuring even cooking without burning its base. Whether you're searing, simmering, or finishing a dish under the broiler, Le Creuset’s Braisers are an indispensable tool for both novice and experienced home cooks alike.
Braisers vs. Dutch Oven
The Braiser and the Dutch Oven often get compared to one another given their similarities, however, a few key distinctions exist. Our Braisers, for instance, are perfectly suited for tenderizing tough cuts of meat and hearty vegetables in small amounts of liquid.
The Dutch Ovens, on the other hand, are ideal for simmering soups and stews. This is the case as this iconic piece of cookware comes outfitted with taller sides than traditional Braisers, making it best suited for casserole dishes, deep-frying, baking, and, of course, soups and stews.
Le Creuset’s Braisers feature a wider base with lower sides, excelling at shallow-frying, roasting, and tenderizing ingredients that do not require a large amount of liquid. Ultimately, the Dutch Oven and the Braiser complement each other to perfection, making for versatile, durable, and beginner-friendly additions to any cookware collection.
5 Braiser Recipes
Looking to make the most out of your Le Creuset braiser? These basic braiser recipes are equally delicious as they are easy to prepare. From fall-off-the-bone ribs to our very own take on Italian Focaccia, our Braisers’ versatility is on full display in the recipes below.
Braised Beef Ribs
Our signature Enamelled Cast Iron Braiser was created for recipes like these. Indeed, our Braised Beef Ribs makes for a delicious, beginner-friendly recipe for home cooks looking to earn their stripes in the kitchen.
Our cast iron Braiser is the ideal piece of cookware for this delicious recipe to come together, exposing the beef ribs to both wet- and dry heat until they are fall-off-the-bone tender. Its domed lid also ensures locks in heat and moisture, ensuring the beef ribs absorb all the rich flavours of their surrounding ingredients and spices.
Ready in just over two hours, our Braised Beef Ribs recipe serves between six and eight portions at a time. Need a crash course on how to braise? Watch our how-to video and master the art of braising with Le Creuset!
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Fragrant Braised Chicken Thighs
Perfect for a cozy dinner at home alongside friends and family, our Fragrant Braised Chicken Thighs recipe can quickly become a household favorite. Featuring a range of fresh ingredients and delicious spices, including garlic, ginger, shallots, cumin, and turmeric, your chicken thighs will not be lacking in flavour.
The cast iron Braiser pan’s wide and shallow shape gives you the ability to sear more pieces of chicken at a time before slow-cooking it in aromatic liquid. Best of all, its tight-fitting lid is designed to trap in heat and moisture, resulting in a mouthwatering, comforting, and juicy chicken dish.
This Braiser recipe takes just under two hours to prepare from start to finish, and serves between eight and 10 people, making it ideal for a weekend gathering.
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Italian Rosemary and Roasted Pepper Focaccia
While not traditionally associated with bread recipes, our Enamelled Cast Iron Braiser is the perfect piece of cookware for this recipe. Our Italian Rosemary and Roasted Pepper Focaccia combines the rustic charm of traditional baking with the vibrant colours of roasted peppers and fragrant rosemary.
This enamelled cast iron Braiser offers superior heat retention thanks to its domed lid and shallow base, giving the focaccia a nice, crispy exterior while the inside remains soft and spongy. Be sure to top it off with black pepper, pieces of roasted pepper, and rosemary springs before baking.
This Italian classic comes together in your cast iron braiser pan in just over an hour, and can serve up to four people with the minimum of fuss.
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Provencal Braised Chicken in Milk
Our Provencal Braised Chicken in Milk offers a unique twist on traditional chicken recipes, and comes together in five simple steps. Deriving its inspiration from Provence, France, as its name suggests, this hearty recipe has all the makings of becoming an instant classic.
Begin by generously seasoning the chicken with salt, pepper, and Provence herbs before heating up your cast iron Braiser pan. Once preheated, sear all sides of the chicken until they are browned.
The chicken legs and thighs are then slow-cooked in a beautifully creamy sauce along with fresh herbs and other aromatics for a tender and delicious main course. This Braiser recipe takes just over an hour to prepare, and can serve four to six portions at a time.
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Wilted Escarole with Crispy Chickpeas
Our Wilted Escarole with Crispy Chickpeas recipe offers a delicious, vegetarian alternative for weekly meal preparation. Whether you are looking to complement a main course, or looking to bring a nutritious snack to a potluck, this braiser recipe has you covered.
Combining braised escarole with crispy chickpeas, smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic, this dish is equally delicious as it is healthy. Our Toughened Nonstick Braiser simplifies this recipe, exposing the escarole and chickpeas to a consistent heat source until they are ready to be served.
Once the escarole has barely wilted, be sure to use your Braiser pan to crisp the chickpeas for approximately four to five minutes. This vegan-friendly Braiser recipe can go from stovetop to the table in just under an hour, serving between six and eight portions at a time.
Buy nowGet Started with your Le Creuset Braiser
Le Creuset’s braisers are a great addition to any cookware collection, offering home cooks the ability to experiment with a range of easy recipes. Whether you want to slow-cook a rack of ribs to perfection or braise an entire chicken for the whole family to enjoy, this versatile piece of cookware can help you produce succulent meals every time.
Featuring a wide, shallow base, a domed lid, ergonomic handles, and a smooth, glass-like finish on the interior enamel, our braisers have all the makings to become a staple in your kitchen. And when they are not being used to tenderize ingredients, they can even double as a bold serving dish, and are available in a range of our bold colours.
These were just six of the most important features that make our Braisers such an iconic piece of cookware. For more inspiration, visit Le Creuset’s Cooking School, or our blog for tips and tricks on how you can make the most out of your cookware collection.
