The chef’s hat is officially known as the toque Blanche (literally “white hat” in French). A toque is a type of hat that sports either a narrow brim or is completely brimless. The chef’s hat is usually tall, rounded with pleats (a hundred, to be exact), and starched. French chefs wore the first toque during the 16th century. It is designed as such to stop the chef’s hair and beads of sweat from falling into the food while they are cooking. The pleats, meanwhile, represent the one hundred different ways that a chef can cook eggs.
If you’re a professional chef, then chances are you’re probably looking for the right chef’s hat that can complement your uniform. Some restaurants will often offer a brand new uniform – with the toque included – to their newly hired chefs. However, other restaurants don’t do that, and the new chef is left to fend for themselves when it comes to their uniform. So, to solve this issue, we created a list of the top 10 best chef hats for your professional attire.
Here is a list of the best chef’s hat that you can wear in a professional cooking environment, according to our in-depth research:
Best Chef Hats Comparison & Rating
| Image | Chef Hat | Rating |
|---|---|---|
 | #1 - Sunrise Kitchen Supply Black Chef Hat | 99% |
 | #2 - Keklle JoyFamily 5-Piece Chef Hat | 98% |
 | #3 - Hyzrz Chef’s Hat Adjustable Elastic Baker | 96% |
 | #4 - Horsky Chef Hat | 94% |
 | #5 - Chef Works Unisex Chef Beanie | 93% |
 | #6 - New Star Disposable Flat Chef Hat | 90% |
 | #7 - AFYHA Adjustable Elastic Chef Hat | 88% |
 | #8 - Lee-buty 9" Chef’s Hat | 86% |
 | #9 - 10oz Apparel Mesh Top Chef Skull Hat | 84% |
 | #10 - Chef Works Cool Vent Chef Beanie | 80% |
To create our list, we had to do a bit of thorough research, as well as ask the opinions of chefs, along with friends or family members who are acquaintances with chefs. We decided to rank them based on the following: Insulation, pricing, design, and how it felt on the wearer’s head.
This is the reason why we prepared this list of the top 10 chef hats for this year. We wanted a carefully curated list that we can use to make searching for the most suitable product much faster and better. You’re also advised to use the checklist that we prepared at the bottom of the comprehensive details we provided below. Use this while you browse through our selection of the ten best chefs hat this 2021. You’ll find it quicker and easier to spot the right product from our roundup when you do this.
After all, our objective is to provide you with unbiased and extensively researched information about each product in our collection of the top chef hats this year. This is our primary motivation in thoroughly testing these brands and models, which in turn enabled us to curate our selection carefully. So dive in and learn about the comprehensive details that we prepared just for you about each of the chef hats in our list:
#1 – Sunrise Kitchen Supply Black Chef Hat
This chef hat has a measurement of 5.5” x 4”. It is often said that the height of a chef’s hat will tell you about their rank and experience in the kitchen. Sunrise Kitchen’s line of chef hats may be short that we might as well refer to them as skull caps or beanies, but they can work as the trendier alternative to a tall and elegant toque.
There’s a fastening strip located at the back of the hat, which is entirely adjustable, in case you have worn it on too tightly or too loosely. The top part of the hat contains a bit of mesh fabric, which lets the heat and moisture dissipate and helps keep the top of the wearer’s head cool and comfortable as they have to work is a humid kitchen for a length of time.
What We Like About It:
This is a hat that nicely fits our heads, and even left a bit of room to spare. Some of the hats that we have tried while researching this list felt a bit uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the case with Sunrise Kitchen’s chef hat. Not only was it made from lightweight fabric, but the material is also very breathable, which provides excellent ventilation. Just don’t change the straps while you wear them, because it does tend to make the back of the hat bunch up a bit and look untidy as a result.
We love the quality of this hat, as well as its performance. We also like the mesh on top of the hat. Another great thing about this is that it’s straightforward to wash. However, a downside here is that it’s only meant for people with seemingly large heads – Small-headed people who wear this might expect a bit of tightness around the head, which could make them uncomfortable after a short while of wearing.
#2 – Keklle JoyFamily 5-Piece Chef Hat
This chef hat is made from 100 percent pure cotton, unlike the others on the list, which are all polyester-based. This hat is comfortable and suits people who work as professional chefs, bakers, cooks, or even if you’re just an aspiring chef working in the comfort of your kitchen. Feel free to put it on while you bake delicious cakes at a birthday party or while you cook at a swanky hotel restaurant!
The JoyFamily Chef Hat is both comfortable and cool to wear, thanks to the material it’s made from. The hat includes a rubber band found at the back, which you can adjust freely. This ensures that the hat will be able to fit in both kids’ and adults’ heads. It has a size of around 6.2 x 11 inches and 11.8 inches, or 15.7 cm x 30 cm. This chef hat comes in five individual pieces, so all of your family members can wear one and look the part! The material used here is both durable and easily reusable – Just throw it in the washing machine, and you’re good to go.
The hat also carries a one-year warranty. So, in case you end up encountering any issues about it, the manufacturing may refund your money or send you a brand new hat instead.
What We Like About It:
We ended up wearing this hat while helping out with the food preparation for an eleven-year-old’s birthday party. Although these hats were supposed to be worn by adults, they fit kids’ heads too, as evidenced by the children who helped us out with cooking and food preparation during the event.
The hats all have excellent quality to them, and they held up pretty nicely during the entire event. Some of us have decided to continue using these hats, wearing them during other activities. The elastic found inside the hat allows it to be worn comfortably, and to fit a wide variety of head sizes. Overall, it comes in handy if you want to project a clean and professional image when preparing food, whatever the occasion might be.
#3 – Hyzrz Chef’s Hat Adjustable Elastic Baker
This chef hat is made from a blend of fine polyester and cotton. There’s an elastic band found at the back, which allows for quick and easy adjustments. The same feature also guarantees that this chef hat can fit most people’s heads, no matter how large or small they may be.
It’s also easy to wash and is washing machine-friendly, for added convenience. The hat’s appearance and fit make it suitable for catering or culinary school students, chefs who work in professional kitchens, school cafeterias, cafes, pubs, hotels, and diners.
What We Like About It:
We were slightly disappointed with this hat, as it barely fit our head – Perhaps it’s a hat that’s better suited for young adults, teenagers, or children who work in kid-friendly kitchens. We ended up wearing this when we decided to bring in some lunch orders for people who worked in a clinic.
Perhaps the only advantage that this hat has to offer in comparison to the rest is that we purchased it at an affordable price. This makes it a product better suited for part-time cooks who need a headcover for hygiene purposes that carries the bonus of projecting a professional image.
The experience was quite different for one of our testers, who worked as a professional chef. He has since been using this hat for two months now since his purchase because it’s made from durable material and seemed to fit his head nicely. He’s a pretty statuesque man at around six feet tall and weighed 200+ pounds. However, he never encountered any issues when it came to donning this hat. He liked it so much that he ended up purchasing several more of the same hats from an online retail store.
#4 – Horsky Chef Hat
This hat is comprised of 35% cotton and 65% polyester fabrics, providing it with durability and pure stability. It’s also excellent for bars, catering schools, restaurants, cafes, fast-food joints, hotels, and commercial kitchens.
The size of the hat can be changed from a minimum of 10.6 inches, up to 12 inches. This allows it to fit on top of most adult heads. It’s also very lightweight and comfortable, fitted inside with its sweatband for additional insulation and comfort. The material also makes the whole thing washable, not just through the washing machine, but with the hand as well. It also dries in around one day.
What We Like About It:
This hat is very well-made if we do say so ourselves. A tester purchased it for her husband, who works as a professional chef, and it didn’t squeeze his head too much, which is one of his issues in regards to buying chef hats. She had a difficult time looking for a brand new hat for him, and fortunately, the journey ended after she discovered Horsky’s chef hats. The two of them loved the quality of the hat, and their teenage son even used it as part of a Halloween costume.
#5 – Chef Works Unisex Chef Beanie
Just like the fifth entry (also from Chef Works), this beanie is also comfortable and cool on the head. It’s also a part of the company’s Cool Vent line. This hat wicks away from the wearer’s head, all the while allowing the cold air to start filtering back. This will then encourage evaporation inside the hat, helping keep the wearer’s head cool at all times, and the wearer feeling very much at ease while working in a hot kitchen. The skull cap portion of the hat is composed of this amazing Cool Vent fabric, as well as an elastic back and an internal sweatband.
Additionally, it comes in two colors: black and white.
What We Like About It:
This is the kind of hat that our tester needed – He works as a fry cook, so he must put on a chef’s hat as part of his uniform while working in a humid kitchen environment. Before purchasing this hat, he simply wore a white baseball cap. He knew that he has to change as it became too difficult for him to clean it, and the cap started losing its shape. A few chef hats that he had tried out were either too large or too small for him or won’t stay put. He said that he felt so much better wearing the Chef Works hat compared to his baseball cap, especially since the hat has a hairnet function.
This hat is very nice and has a clean, professional look to it. There are no bills, unlike a baseball cap, or the chance of it getting knocked off after you pass by a set of heavy plastic curtains while walking either in and out of the kitchen. It’s got a semi-perfect fit to it and comes in a singular style that complements men and women alike.
#6 – New Star Disposable Flat Chef Hat
New Star Food Service’s line of hats is both breathable and lightweight. They also come with a full set of pleats. The large size makes it look elegant and stylish like a chef hat should. It also follows the safety and economical solutions for wearing hair restraints and ties inside restaurant kitchens. The hat is constructed from non-woven fabric and is around a foot tall.
If there’s anything that New Star Food Service believes in, it’s providing nothing but the best kitchen products and garments that can withstand the tension and humidity in the kitchen. Meanwhile, at the same time, these products will give the durability and functionality that an aspiring chef like you will need to project a professional image.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a highly successful chef who works in a five-star hotel or runs a chain of restaurants, or are new to the culinary scene – this company has something for you.
What We Like About It:
This chef’s hat comes in a ten-pack. That’s a lot of toques! The bottom adhesive strip found on the top of the hat held up nicely when we wore this on a workday. The hat also comes at a reasonable price! The only issue here is that there were too many hats for one person. We have more than we need to the point where we lent some of them to our friends’ kids to use as Halloween costumes. That aside, this hat is just fantastic.
Because of the quantity, it comes in, and it could perhaps be ideal as a bulk purchase for restaurateurs who want to provide uniforms for their chefs.
#7 – AFYHA Adjustable Elastic Chef Hat
The AFYHA Chef Hat set of three Adult Adjustable Elastic Baker caps is an excellent gift for those who dream about being chefs, those who have made it but are still trying to reach for the top, culinary school graduates, or even home cooks who just want to wear a chef’s hat for fun and cleanliness.
The hat is necessary when working in a restaurant environment, because it gives the wearer a hygienic and safe attire to work in, and stops their hair or beads of sweat from falling onto the food. No matter if your hair is long, medium-length, or short, AFYHA’s giant tufted chef’s hat is sure to hold each strand into place whenever you’re busy doing what you love – making food.
What We Like About It:
This is a very comfortable hat to wear. There’s an elastic strap located on the back that allows the hat to fit in snugly on the wearer’s head. But this could pose a bit of a problem if you have a larger head.
The quality of the hat’s fabric is excellent too, and despite the fact that it’s crafted from polyester, it’s still much softer and comfy than we had expected. These hats are delightful and fun to wear, all in all. Since they come in sets of three, they also make for ideal group purchases.
#8 – Lee-buty 9″ Chef’s Hat
The chef hat is a recognizable symbol, and wearing one usually means you are a professional in the restaurant business and the kitchen. Wearing one of these hats is excellent for both new chefs and seasoned ones. Lee-buty’s set of chef hats come in various sizes, for junior chefs as young as five years old, to full-fledged professional adults. Constructed from non-woven fabric, the hats are all made from lightweight disposable material, and they fit very comfortably on your head.
Lee-buty’s hats are excellent if you’re catering for dinner parties, birthday parties, school fundraising events, theme parties, bars, fancy restaurants in hotels, and even in your kitchen at home. Kids can wear them if they want to create delicious edible arts and crafts projects at a party. They’re customizable too – Children can place foam stickers on them, to add a little bit of fun at a party.
What We Like About It:
The fact that it’s fully disposable reduces the need for us to wash it after every use. They’re entirely breathable too, and cannot be torn in comparison to chef’s hats that are constructed from paper.
Adding to that, they’re moisture-proof, waterproof, and can withstand hot temperatures while you work in a kitchen. Some of our children wore them, and it seemed a tad too big to fit on their five-year-old heads. But we still like using them and are planning to buy more in case we decide to hold a cooking or baking event at school.
Plus, since they’re disposal hats, they can be purchased as needed for special occasions. This is also ideal for part-time cooks who do not need to be in uniform on a daily basis.
#9 – 10oz Apparel Mesh Top Chef Skull Hat
The 10oz apparel mesh top chef skull hat with piping is constructed purely from polyester. The same goes for the mesh found on top – except this time, it’s combined with a type of breathable polyester fabric, made in the US. The hat’s twill, meanwhile, is also made from the same kind of 65/35 cotton and polyester combination, with the piping incorporating two contrasting colors. There is also a Velcro closure located at the back, which can be adjusted to accommodate the size of the wearer’s head.
There’s a cute knife logo found at the front of the hat, which helps the wearer stand out from the other chefs that they work with – unless, of course, there are others around who happen to be wearing the same hat too!
The hat also makes a great gift, in case you want to give one to a professional chef or a chef-in-training. The hat has got to be an amazing chef accessory if they have to spend a busy and chaotic day inside a humid kitchen.
What We Like About It:
This chef hat fits in nicely on top of our head. Sometimes one of the biggest mistakes that these chef hat manufacturers make is that they never consider the head size of the people who will eventually wear their products. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to chef hats; some heads are large, while some are small. And when you’re unfortunate enough to wear a hat that’s a bit too small for your head, it can feel like you’ve put on a swimming cap instead.
Luckily, 10oz’s chef’s hat is adjustable and leaves plenty of room for heads od different sizes and even a little bit of additional space in case the wearer has long hair and needs to tie their hair in a bun or put it up in a ponytail. The quality of the hat is just amazing, not to mention the materials used, and the construction is just great as well.
#10 – Chef Works Cool Vent Chef Beanie
The Chef Works Cool Vent Chef Beanie is a hat that is both fully-functional, not to mention stylish. Both professional and novice chefs can wear it in a café, a fancy hotel, a restaurant, a fast-food joint, or even if they’re working as a caterer. The main purpose of this hat is to help keep the wearer dry, cool, and comfortable while they’re busy working.
The makers of the hat have managed to incorporate all of the brand new technology in regards to making cool vent material for their hats. The fabric used in the hat will surely help keep your head cool in all sorts of hectic kitchen environments.
The hat appears to have a head-hugging, brimless design all formed together and surrounding the sides and the top of the product. The stitching method applied to the hat – which involves two lines sewn together side by side that provides the hat’s construction with a huge amount of strength and durability. The hat is also fitted with Chef Works’ signature Cool Vent fabric top, which helps get rid of the moisture from the wearer’s head, and gives off proper circulation.
What We Like About It:
This hat is just fantastic. We have been searching all over the Internet for a great chef’s hat that wasn’t too tall or imposing, all while still allowing us to cook inside a humid restaurant while looking professional doing it.
Some of us who have long or medium-length hair tend to wear nets or tie our hair into a ponytail instead because we sometimes stand right next to huge pots of boiling liquid or ovens; the combination of wearing a chef’s jacket and the blistering heat is just torture. We are happy to report that this hat suited us nicely, thanks to the ventilation it provides.
Do You Need a Chef’s Hat?
In the food preparation business, the white chef’s uniform is the hallmark that commands respectability. As such, a chef is never referred to without his or her signature tall hat. It is one of the most recognizable aspects of a chef’s uniform, apart from their double-breasted jacket and apron.
So, the quick answer to this question is, yes — You need a suitable chef hat to complete your uniform if you are looking to build a distinguished career in food preparation, where you want to be taken seriously by employers and customers.
The right kind of chef’s hat can either make or break a look. A chef’s hat may have a uniform look, but there are also different designs as well – ranging from the traditional to the edgy. There are also various colors available, aside from the standard white or black. Nowadays, the modern version of the chef’s hat allows the humid air in a busy restaurant kitchen to circulate above the wearer’s head. It also works as an outlet for heat. As mentioned, the chef’s hats are a requirement as a form of hair restraint. In other words, not only does the chef’s hat complete the professional uniform, but it also serves a particular and necessary function for hygiene purposes. And we know how important it is to show one’s compliance with hygienic practices in the job of preparing food.
If the culinary arts is where your professional calling lies, then your search for the right chef’s hat for your uniform is an investment in your professional image. This should not be overlooked. That’s because first impression matters, and you only get one chance to make an excellent lasting impression. Might as well make it count!
Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Chef Hat
Insulation
As often mentioned in our reviews, most chefs work in enclosed and humid kitchen environments. Adding to that, a headwear is needed to keep sweat and hair from falling and compromising the hygiene of the food they are preparing. Hence, it is important that the right chef hat is one that provides the wearer’s good circulation to make standing next to the stove and boiling pots bearable. While a more standard or disposable hat will do for small-time cooks who don’t have to work in a kitchen every day or chefs who work outdoors, professional chefs working in kitchens everyday need to take the hat’s insulation into account when choosing the right one for their uniform.
Design & Material
A chef’s hat is an integral part of the professional uniform, and as such, how it looks has to factor into your decision when choosing one. While design can be a matter of preference or chosen to reflect a chef’s status and experience, the material a hat is made of cannot be simply overlooked. The material a hat is made of accounts for how comfortable and breathable it will feel on your head. It also determines how durable the product is.
Comfort, Adjustability & Durability
This has a lot to do with the form factor of the hat’s design along with the materials that are used to produce the product. Most quality chef hats are made of cotton and polyester blends, tend to be constructed in a way to feel lightweight on your head, and usually come with Velcro or elastic bands for adjustability. They should fit snugly on your head to prevent moisture from perspiration and hair from falling off while you work. In a fast-paced and humid kitchen environment, the last thing a chef would want is a hat that is either too tight around their head, or too loose that it falls off easily. For professional chefs, it is especially crucial to pick a hat that is the right fit to be worn all day long, in addition to looking good with one’s uniform.
Frequency of Use
Does the chef hat need to stay on along with the uniform all day while you work? Are you a part-time chef who only needs to don a chef uniform on occasions where your services are required? Do you need only need a professional-looking and functional headwear for a one-off event which you will be cooking for? These are questions to take into consideration when deciding on a chef hat that’s right for you. Professional chefs who don the uniform on a daily basis will benefit from investing in a well-made, durable hat that can withstand regular washing. Meanwhile, part-time and hobby cooks can just opt for a more mid-range hat or disposable ones. It also helps that disposable hats can be purchased in sets of several quantities.
Perhaps the only thing you need to observe here when choosing the right chef’s hat for you is the size of your head, and whether the hat itself compliments the entirety of your chef’s uniform. Be careful when choosing the right chef’s hat because it can serve as a good representation of what you do for a living. Maybe you can pick one of the hats that we have included in our list, or go for a brand that we do not mention here – It’s all up to you. It also helps if you take good care of your chef’s hat (yes, even if it’s made from disposable material since it contributes to waste reduction), and make it last for years.
These are some of the key factors that you should always remember while you’re taking a closer look at any product in our selection of the ten best chef hats in 2021. That’s because you’re bound to find the headwear for your professional uniform in much quicker ways for your exact needs when you gauge its overall value through these aspects. So, best of luck in finding the right product as you go through our roundup of the top 10 chef hats this year!