Crofton Awesome Pot

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EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re looking for our review of the Crofton Awesome Pan, click here. 

Aldi has a funny way of selling exactly what I need at exactly the time when I need it. This was the case once again when I spotted the Crofton Awesome Pot in the weekly Aldi ad. This pot is essentially a Dutch oven — a large pot with lid that is great for making soups, stews, and other dishes.

The reason why this pot’s arrival at Aldi was so serendipitous is that I was actually going to pick up a new Dutch oven at a local big box on the very day the ad came out. I’ve been limping along with an old Walmart Dutch oven that is scratched on the bottom and very much in need of replacement. I decided to hold off on purchasing a new Dutch oven for one more week so I could buy the Aldi one.

The Crofton Awesome Pot is an Aldi Find, which means it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store receives one shipment, and after that sells out, it’s gone unless Aldi decides to bring it back at some later time. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products if they are not currently in stock at your local store.

The Crofton Awesome Pot (Product Code: 709865) cost $29.99 at the time of publication.

The Awesome Pot is a sibling to the Crofton Awesome Pan, which Aldi sold in 2022 and is bringing back in November of 2023, and which I also own. Both the Awesome Pot and the Awesome Pan are dupes of expensive name-brand Our Place pots and pans. The older Awesome Pan I purchased is a knockoff of the Our Place Always Pan, which sells for $150 on the Our Place website, while the Aldi version costs $24.99 in 2023.

The Awesome Pot — which is my focus today — is a knockoff of the name-brand Our Place Perfect Pot, which sells for $165 on the Our Place website. I also found the Perfect Pot on Amazon, where it went for $150. In contrast, the Aldi version is much cheaper with that $29.99 price tag.

As a side note, here’s some our information about the Our Place company. Our Place was founded in 2019 and focuses on making kitchen products. The co-founder, Shiza Shahid, served as a mentor to Nobel laureate and assassination survivor Malala Yousafzai. Our Place sells a variety of products, but its best-known product is the Always Pan, which features an aluminum body and ceramic nonstick cooking surface, and it comes with a beechwood spatula with a built-in resting place.

Another popular product from Our Place is the Perfect Pot, which is a 5.5-quart ceramic Dutch oven with lid that can be used for boiling, baking, steaming, and braising. Our Place’s website states that the Perfect Pot “combines every pot you’d ever need…and then some.” It has a built-in strainer and includes a beechwood spatula with a built-in resting place just like the Always Pan.

Here’s more information about the Aldi pot:

• Available in Green or Black (I bought the Green)
• Compatible with all cooktops including induction, electric, glass ceramic, gas, and halogen
• Awesome Pot body is oven safe up to 450 °F
• Awesome Pot lid is oven safe up to 300 °F
• Features FusionTi nonstick coating, which the package states is a titanium-reinforced sol-gel “ceramic” non-stick coating
• Cast aluminum offers uniform heat distribution
• Holds up to 6.5 quarts
• Made without PFOA or PTFE
• Pot with lid measures 7.8 inches high and 13.5 inches wide

A small paper included in the package gives care and use instructions:

• Wash in warm, soapy water with a soft cloth before first use.
• Do not use high heat settings. Low to medium heat settings work best for most cooking.
• To preserve the life of the nonstick coating, always use nylon, silicone, or wooden utensils. Metal utensils will cut or scratch your Awesome Pot.
• Place the Awesome Pot on a cooktop burner no larger than the bottom of the Awesome Pot. The pot should heat up gradually on the burner. Do not put it on a pre-heated burner.
• The Awesome Pot is oven safe up to 450 degrees. However, the lid is only oven safe up to 300 degrees. Do not use the lid under a broiler.
• Note that the handles and the pot will become hot during stovetop or oven use. Use oven mitts or a potholder when moving the pot.
• Always lift the Awesome Pot on a glass stovetop and never drag or drop it onto the glass surface.
• If cooking with a gas range stovetop, never allow open flame to travel up the sides of the Awesome Pot, as this can lead to discoloration.
• Always allow the Awesome Pot to cool before immersing in water to avoid warping.
• Not dishwasher safe. Hand wash only. Do not use steel wool, metal scouring pads, or abrasive cleaners.

This Aldi pot has some differences from the Our Place Perfect Pot. For one thing, both the Awesome Pot and the Perfect Pot are oven-safe up to 450 degrees (although the Awesome Pot lid is only oven-safe up to 300 degrees).

One difference is that the Awesome Pot does not have a built-in spoon rest, and it doesn’t come with a wooden spoon like the Perfect Pot does. It also doesn’t have a built-in strainer like the Perfect Pot does. (These features were also missing from the Awesome Pan from Aldi.)

The Awesome Pot also has a slightly larger capacity, coming in at 6.5 quarts versus the Perfect Pot’s 5.5 quarts.

The Awesome Pot does not come with any kind of warranty, which is disappointing because its Awesome Pan sibling did come with a two-year warranty when I bought it in 2022.

We put our pot to the test making taco soup, one of our favorites.

I decided to make taco soup for my trial run with the Crofton Awesome Pot. It was an ideal dinner on a rainy fall evening. I browned ground turkey and diced onion, then added two cans each of black beans (you can add any type of beans), corn, and diced tomatoes. I also added one can of diced tomatoes with chilies (RO-TEL), one can of tomato juice, and one packet each of ranch dressing mix and taco seasoning mix. I brought it to a simmer and let it cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, then served it with shredded taco cheese, sour cream, and On the Border Tortilla Chips for toppings.

The soup filled the pot nicely and it cooked perfectly. I was impressed with how well the Awesome Pot held its heat after I turned off the stove. The pot was still quite hot to the touch even after my family finished eating dinner. The pot handles do get hot to the touch when you’re cooking, so you’ll want to use pot holders if you need to move the pot or touch the handles for any other reason. Cleanup was a breeze, but I also wasn’t cooking anything that was particularly sticky or tough to clean.

It’s a small thing, but my husband discovered that the Awesome Pot lid and the Awesome Pan lid are the same size and therefore are interchangeable.

So far, my family and I like this pot a lot. I’m looking forward to using it more, and I’ll update this post with any new developments.

The Verdict:

The Crofton Awesome Pan is a less expensive knockoff of the very pricy Our Place Perfect Pot. It has a 6.5-quart capacity and a nonstick coating, and it’s suitable for use on all cooktops. The pot is oven safe up to 450 degrees, while the lid is oven safe up to 300 degrees. If you’re looking for a nice Dutch oven-style pot, this looks like a good one. We like it so far and are eager to continue using it.