I’ve mentioned before that I use silicone molds to make homemade gummy vitamins and lotion bars, along with several other household staples.
I’ve gotten one question so often that I decided it deserved its own post:
Is Silicone Safe for Baking?
Unfortunately, this is one of those questions that I usually answer by saying: It depends.
To understand that answer, it is important to understand several often-confused terms:
- Silicon– A natural chemical substance (atomic #14), meaning it can’t be divided into smaller particles without splitting atoms. It is the second most abundant element (after oxygen) and when it bonds with oxygen creates minerals called silicates (like quartz, olivine, micas, thomsonite, jadeite, and prehnite)
- Silica– A compound made of silicon and another element. It is present in the human body in high amounts and emerging research suggests it can be beneficial for health. I’ve mentioned it before when talking about diatomaceous earth and how I consume it in natural form, but it isn’t the same as silicon or silicone bakeware and isn’t relevant when talking about the safety of silicone.
- Silicone– A synthetic polymer created by adding carbon and/or oxygen to silicon. It can exist as a solid, liquid, or gel and is often used in medical devices like pacemakers, joint replacements, and implants. It is generally considered safe for these uses and is now used to make silicone bakeware.
When we are speaking about bakeware, we are referring to silicone, the synthetic polymer. It is considered “FDA approved as a food-safe substance” and is generally considered inert.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much research on silicone bakeware or silicone molds so while there isn’t any evidence that it is harmful, there also isn’t much evidence that it is safe.
Testing on Silicone:
The testing that has been done on silicone is on medical-grade silicone without fillers or additives and at body or room temperature. These studies have shown that silicone is safe at these temperatures and long-term follow-up data support this.
Silicone’s safety at high temperatures has not been adequately tested and this is where the controversy emerges.
On paper, silicone bakeware is rated for temperatures below freezing and up to almost 450°F, so on paper it is safe.
Dangers of Silicone in Bakeware?
Again, any dangers are anecdotal at this point and not scientifically backed, but that doesn’t necessarily prove the safety of silicone. Some potential dangers include:
- The potential for leaching at high temperatures
- Fillers used in lower-quality silicone
- Potential odor during high-temperature use
These dangers are not proven and are reported only at high temperature use, but still worth investigating further.
Benefits of Silicone Bakeware
One major advantage of silicone bakeware is that it is considered more non-stick than many traditional types of bakeware, especially with muffin cups and bread pans.
Silicone bake mats and other silicone baking products are often easy to clean and prevent sticking when baking. The flexibility of silicone bakeware and molds makes it easy to get things out of them and makes cleanup easier.
Silicone is also dishwasher safe, petroleum free, and is not supposed to fade or scratch.
The Bottom Line
I hope that we will see updated research on the safety of silicone. Until we do, I feel comfortable using silicone at low temperatures and in the refrigerator or freezer, but try to avoid it in baking or high temperature use.
In any use, I consider silicone much safer than plastic, which I avoid at all costs. If you use silicone molds or bakeware, make sure it is high quality and doesn’t contain fillers or dangerous additives.
I stick to silicone molds for cool-temperature uses like:
These are the silicone molds I have:
- Silicone Bags (to replace plastic bags for fridge use)
- Lego bricks and people molds (great for homemade chocolate)
- Daisy Mini Molds (great for gummy vitamins)
- Mini Loaf Pans (great for soap bars)
- Muffin Cups (for lotion bars)
- Flower and Leaf Molds (for soap and lotion bars)
- Mini heart molds (for chocolate and gummy bears)
- Gingerbread Molds (for meltaways)
For now, I’m sticking to cool-temperature uses for silicone until we know more about its safety at high temperatures.
What is your take on silicone baking molds? How do you use it?
So what kind of bakeware (e.g. cupcake pans) do you recommend? I feel like nothing is safe:/
It really depends on the product. I wouldn’t use a silicone product that was made in China. I’d be concerned about the fillers and leeching. I’m a rep for the company that created Silpat 50yrs ago in France. The chemist used a combination of silicone and woven glass. That’s it, just two ingredients and no fillers. It meets every food certification around the world including being BPA free, Kosher, NSF. It’s used in over 100 countries in professional and home kitchens so even if you don’t trust the FDA, you can trust the other countries that have approved it. They have since created many other shapes and sizes using the same two ingredients.
I’m not so sure about that, as I’m now of the mindset of “is anything truly safe anymore??” after reading another Wellness Mama article just before this, about non-stick cookware, and seeing a few comments mentioning that even many glass items can contain and leech lead. And while I don’t, at this point, know how true it is… I also don’t know how UNtrue it is either.
Needless to say, I’m now feeling a bit dismayed after having switched almost everything in my kitchen to either glass or stainless steel… not only (but mostly) for health reasons, but also because I prefer as much as possible to be dishwasher-safe.
So after reading a plethora of comments about the newly-found dangers & risks of so many supposedly-safe alternatives to Teflon or PTOE surfaces or BPA plastics, I no longer know *what* to think or use anymore (especially considering my limited budget) :/
(Perhaps I should resort to using more ancestral, primitive, cave-man methods, and serve my food on rocks, using sharpened sticks & twigs as utensils… and as for cooking, I dunno… slabs of rock over open fire?? I suppose I joke only to go with the philosophy of “better laugh than cry”…*sighh*)
So please share what you would recommend using for baking. Thanks so much…
What kind of liners do you use for baking muffins?
hi Id like to know if silicone bake wear for making cakes in the oven is safe to use or is aluminum better . Thanks . I hope you can answer this question, as Id like to buy these items for my self to use .
I have been using a silicone sheet for making fries for the past year. Do you think this is unsafe? Do you know anything about silicone releasing formaldehyde above certain temperatures?
Hi,
I wanted to check that you said you feel comfortable using silicon on low temperatures but what do you personally use for baking cupcakes? I couldnt find anything here. I would like to know what is your personal choice. I have read that aluminium muffin pans are also not safe.
Hello!
Thank you so much for your blog! I refer to it often!
Can you tell me if you use any kitchen utensils besides bamboo? I am replacing all of mine right now and I worry about wood absorbing bacteria when cooking meat. Do you have any insight for me?
Thank you,
Bo
I use some stainless steel utensils as well…
What about SILPAT? Is this a safe alternative?
Hi Katie, I am an avid follower of yours so when I decided to make coconut milk popsicles at home for my family I logged on and checked here first. I have a recipe in my head but I want to make sure the popsicle molds and wood sticks are safe and chemical free. You don’t seem to have much on here about that. I see from the above article that you do not even have silicone popsicle molds in your repertoire. Can you recommend a good brand of both? I found stainless steel ones but they are pricey. Do you currently use certain ones? Also the wood sticks are mostly made in China and not very reliable to be chemical free. Any recommendations there would be great too! I just received your E-book and can’t wait to dig into it! Thanks in advance..Cheers!
I’d love to hear more about your choices for baking. Have you covered this elsewhere previously?
What do you use/recommend as muffin pans if not silicone?
Hello, exactly the post i was looking for. what would you recommend in place of plastic wrap or foil for baking? Would a silicone mat be a good option. Thank you
Do you think the muffin silicon shapes would be a more economical way to make “popsicles” rather than buying the popsicle molds and better than buying BPA free plastic popsicle molds. Maybe you know of silicon popsicle molds you would recommend?
You could definitely do that!
I’ve seen stainless steel popsicle molds and I feel that whenever a known safer alternative exists, it’d be best to go for that… (the bonus is you’d still achieve the typical, classic popsicle shape).
As for ease of release, I’d imagine a quick run under warm or lukewarm running water should do the trick quite nicely, just as with ice cube trays, or even with other frozen items in silicone molds which might be a bit resistant to release.
And while the stainless steel variety may be more pricey and/or difficult to find (the internet is your best friend in these instances), myself personally, I’d prefer to go with the ‘known good’ rather than the ‘maybe, perhaps somewhat-iffy-but-inconclusive bad’.
I’m not saying I don’t use silicone at all… in fact, quite the contrary. I used to be very leery at first (for very specific reasons) however after my original concern mysteriously “went away”, I’ve since gotten complacent over the years and have been loving the ease of use.
But now this article has gotten me thinking again that I should probably go back to being more critical and reduce to more moderate usage –and only when absolutely necessary– just to err on the side of caution until more conclusive findings are known. And for that matter, I think *anything* synthetic would be best regarded in the same manner.
CAUTION: TEST YOUR OVEN.
Oven temperatures do not hold rock steady at the temperature we set. The temperature will cycle above and below the set point, hopefully averaging out to where we set it.
I picked up a few silicone baking sheets to line the large aluminum baking pans I use to cook frozen chicken breasts. The carton instructions for the chicken breasts call for an oven temperature of 400 Deg F. The silicone mats I bought caution not to exceed a temperature of 230 Deg C / 446 Deg F.
I decided to test the accuracy of my oven thermostat before using these silicone sheets.
To test, I used a digital oven thermometer. When set to maintain 400 Deg F, the internal temperature of my oven ran as high as 483 Deg F before switching off to cycle down again.
Clearly my oven temperature cycles hotter than what many would assume from the oven setting. It goes well above the safe limit of these silicone baking sheets. I’m sure my oven cannot be the only one like this.
Katie, I suggest your readers run similar tests on their ovens before using silicone baking products at higher temperatures.
What type of cookware is safe for baking muffins?
Any suggestions for a good silicone bread loaf liner? I like making my breads and have a hard time getting them to lift smoothly from the loaf pan.
I have some baking recipes which call for greasing the pan (I usually use butter) and then following with a fine dusting of a powder ingredient. And by fine, I’m referring to the texture/consistency of the powder, not the amount of powder used (as I usually “apply” a decent layer, neither scanty nor super generous, in terms of amount).
As for achieving a fine, non-clumpy dusting, I do so by applying it through a small metal sieve — or perhaps a flour sifter could also work, but I’m not certain it’d result in a fine enough powdering since I’ve never owned a proper flour sifter to be familiar with the results; I’ve always sifted using the metal sieve method.
The powder ingredient itself varies depending on the recipe. In some cases it’s cocoa powder, in others it’s icing sugar, as the two most common powder ingredients from my own baking experiences which immediately come to mind, but I’m sure there are others as well.
This is done both for flavour and for ease when removing the baked good from the pan… (though admittedly, the part about it being for flavour could be conjecture on my part). And of course I run a thin knife or metal spatula around the edge of the pan before attempting to release and lift the baked good out, but I do find that the additional step of powdering seems to help quite a bit (although corners still seem a bit more difficult, but perhaps I’m just not diligent enough in those areas and need to be a bit more generous with both the butter and powder in the corners).
So perhaps a similar approach could be helpful for you? And while cocoa powder or icing sugar may not be suitable for your bread recipes, as sweet or chocolatey flavours may not lend appropriately to the bread flavours, perhaps there’s something more compatible, or even neutral, in taste? I’m not sure if this is a good suggestion or not, but the first idea which comes to mind is arrowroot powder… perhaps worth a try??
Shoot. I was looking for an alternative to parchment paper. I want to make healthy, seed & cheese-based gluten-free crackers but the recipes all say to use parchment paper. I figured I could swap it out for the silicone baking mats but now I’m concerned about whether they are non-toxic or not. The two recipes I found bake at 200-325 degrees – is that considered high heat?? Can anyone recommend another non-stick option for sticky-type recipes?
I am blown away! I have been thinking silicone is safe for use with cooking for the longest time! I don’t do much baking and don’t use silicone in that way. I don’t actually have a lot of silicone. The one thing I do have and use EVERYDAY is a silicone spatula. I cook on the stove at least two meals a day. I cook in/on cast iron and stainless steel only and I use my silicone spatula. I will have to get rid of it and use a stainless steel spatula I guess. That is the only other alternative, right? I cook a lot of eggs, turkey burgers, vegetables… I do use bamboo spoons when making stir fry though. Just feeling a little discouraged right now and venting…
I love your site, Wellness Mama! Thank you for bringing so many good things to light.
I have used silicone a few times for baking, and every time the food has come out with a slightly weird taste (and a slightly weird smell). So I’m pretty positive that the stuff is leaching nastiness. Which means I stick with using it at room temp or below. For kneading bread or kids playing with clay it’s pretty great. 🙂