Can you put a teflon frying pan in the dishwasher?

Yes but why?
Waste of water and electricity
All it takes is a damp sponge

I have T-Fal and I find that the dishwasher is very hard on them and decreases the life by as much as half. It also seems to make the exterior cloudy and ugly.

I do nearly all the cooking and still find my pans in the dishwasher. There’s no sense in it – I can see 2 racks of dishes, but how long does it take to rinse a non-stick pan?

Ok. Convinced.

What @ibstubro said.

Not advisable, because the chemicals in the dishwasher detergent will abrade and eventually rub off the teflon coating.

I don’t, but I wish I could. I know some people do. I wonder if the gel detergents are less harsh than the powder ones?

“I don’t know, can you??”~

There are plenty of things that you can do, but just because you can doesn’t always mean you should. It’s that distinction that stops me from throwing heavy objects into washing machines. Usually.

Fortunately, you can put non-stick pans in a dishwasher with far less drama and destruction. You won’t turn the Teflon into a neurotoxin or cause an explosion in your kitchen. Nothing nearly so catastrophic will happen if you put a non-stick pan in the dishwasher.

Unfortunately, while it’s safe to do so, there are some minor downsides that may stop you anyways. Most notably, dishwashers are not exactly gentle and often rely on abrasives for part of their cleaning power. While not as bad as putting the pan in an actual sandblaster, it does affect the longevity of the non-stick coating.

The way I see it, if a non-stick pan won’t come clean in the sink in thirty seconds or less then the pan is pretty much shot anyways, so why risk damaging the coating in the dishwasher?

Seems like they should make a soap for nonstick pans for dishwashers. It’s the soap that destroys it I would assume?

@JLeslie The pans also tend to get poked and scraped by the tines/prongs in the racks. Even worse, the water pressure from the sprayer tends to move things around, so even if you stack it perfectly nice there is no guarantee that it won’t go flying around and get gouged anyways.

There are some less abrasive cleaners on the market, but the soap is not the only problem with dishwashers.

@jerv For the first time ever I was able to pick my dishwashers and I made sure at least some if the Prongs can be folded down. It’s great! I actually keep one set always in the down position in the top level.

Less abrasive means less clean.
Non-stick should mean non-abrasive = easy handwash, but @janbb is already on board with that.

The good thing about non-stick cookware is that it’s pretty easy to clean. Dish detergent and a sponge and the grease washes off easily.

I don’t buy expensive stuff and shove it all in the dishwasher. Nonstick or not. Eco wash for 35 minutes. It all seems fine. What’s the point of having a dishwasher if you have to wash up by hand?

Well, another reason to handwash non-stick pans, @Stinley (besides the incredibly easy and easier on the pans lobby) is that they simply take up too much room in the dishwasher. Mine get the cleanest in the dishwasher if I put them in face down. Meaning 2 pans are ½ a rack. Um, no.

I also wash my aluminum cake pans and many other aluminum items because the dishwasher grays and dulls the finish. Not to mention displaces 5 plates. I hate what the dishwasher does to aluminum.

@ibstubro – just to nitpick a little.

It is not the dishwasher that is doing the greying and dulling. It is the chemicals that are inside the detergent (liquid or powder). Milder detergent would leave the chemistry of the aluminum alone.

I don’t know what the malfunction was, @elbanditoroso, but most of the graying seems to have occurred at/during final rinse/dry. The inside bottom of the cake pan has a series of concentric circles where the rinse water was.

It’s possible it was run on heated dry – I don’t know, as I would never put the pan in the dishwasher. Takes up too much room, and I’m extra-particular about dishes that I might take to other people’s gatherings. We no longer (intentionally) run heated dry.