What's the Difference? Sauté Pan vs. Skillet

These two terms tend get used almost interchangeably, it seems. Believe it or not, though, there is a difference between them! Does it make a difference in your cooking if you use one instead of the other? Let's take a look.

A sauté pan is the one that has straight sides. It has a larger surface area, which makes it ideal for tasks like searing meat or reducing a pan sauce. We also like it because we're less likely to slosh things over the side!

A skillet is the pan with slanted sides. To add to the confusion, this pan is also sometimes called a frypan or frying pan. The slanted sides make this pan perfect for stir-frying and quick cooking techniques where you're moving ingredients around a lot in the pan. It's also good for dishes like frittatas that are served straight from the pan.

The reason these pans get so confused is because they really can be used almost interchangeably. They're constructed from the same kinds of metals and are available in the same diameters, so they only really differ in the shape of the sides. Sure, one might be slightly better suited for a particular task, but that doesn't mean that the other pan can't do it.

If you're trying to decide which kind of pan to buy, we'd recommend going for the skillet first. You lose a little surface area, but you can buy a slightly larger size than you might otherwise to make up for this. We feel like the sloping sides of the skillet give us better access to the food and make this pan more versatile.

Do you have a preference for one pan over the other or think it makes a big difference which one you use? Let us know!

(Images: Williams Sonoma)

Comments (14)

I only ever had frying pans until someone gave me the sautuese that came with my pots as a gift.

That sautee pan has changed my life! I honestly believe that I became a better cook with it. I used it way more often than the fry pan.

It might just be my particular pans, but I feel like I can cook things longer without burning/searing them in the saute pan versus the fry pan.

I was just wondering about this! I just purchased All-Clad's 7 piece set, which includes a skillet but not a saute pan (decided against the 9 piece set, which has both, because of the price) but I'm finding the skillet a little too small. Wish the 7 piece set had either a larger skillet or an option for the saute pan instead, but I guess that's how they get you to buy the 9 piece.

Any tips for mastering that cool professional chef food tossing in a skillet move? Thinking I might as well master it now that I have the skillet, but I'm afraid of getting food all over the stove!

I have the 9-piece set and I use the saute pan much more often than the skillet. The higher sides make it useful for more situations.

That said, I think the 6-quart pot in that set is more useful than the saute pan or the skillet. You can do anything with that pot -- fry, sear, saute, boil, stew, etc.

If I had to downsize, I'd just keep the big pot.

Wait. So my cast iron skillet is actually a cast iron saute pan?

I really love my All Clad sauteuse pan. It's basically a sautee pan with small handles on each side instead of a long handle. The shape of the pan is great for sauteeing and, since it came with a lid, I can use it for braising, too. The smaller handles make it far easier to store. It's wonderful!

Regardless of which you choose, buy the one with the lid! Always. I went with a skillet which I love, except that it doesn't have a lid. Until I needed one, I didn't realize how many things I cook in it that require covering!!

Timing for this couldn't be better. I was trying to fill out my registry and was getting overwhelmed. (My current pans are a wok that I'm always scrubbing rust out of, a cast iron pan that's great but too small and a big pot with a broken handle.)

While you're at it, what is

1. a French skillet (seems to have deeper sides)?

2. a "chef's pan" (it looks like a wok with a long handle?)

Ladidi, All Clad says the French skillet is "ideal for flipping food."

@ ladidi: It's all about the wrist. Push the skillet towards the back of the stove and quickly jerk it back towards you. The food will follow. Be fearless and accept you may have to clean your stovetop in the learning process.

Sauté pan all the way. I use it way more often than my skillet of the same size.

Ladidi, practice the food flipping trick with dried beans over a (made) bed. Much neater.

Sautee pan, definitely. My cookware set (cuisinart, highly recommended) came with 2 skillets and i think i've used one of them once since buying. The sautee pan gets used more than anything else. The high sides are the deciding factor, since the sloped sides of the skillet let too much food fall out when i'm being careless. Especially things like a stir fry, which a skillet is recommended for above, i would use a sautee pan, to make sure all the bits and pieces stay where they're supposed to be.

The only thing a skillet is useful for, in my opinion, is things that need to be flipped (omelets) or things that need thin edges (crepes). Everything else goes in the sautee pan.

The skillet is better for reducing sauces, actually. The sloped sides allow for better evaporation.

@Ladidi:

I've found that the best food for practicing flipping is crepes: they won't make much of a mess if you biff it because they're pretty much cooked through by the time you flip them, but they're fussy enough that you really do have to get the technique right in order to achieve a proper flip.

@ladidi: whenever I've shown anyone how to flip in the pan I've recommended dry toast first then moving to dry beans (cheers to kitchenMage!) to work with on their own. If you can catch all the beans then eggs'll be easy! :D

Skillet v saute: I love my skillets - cast iron and stainless both. I hardly ever use my saute pan. Perhaps a shortcoming on my part or maybe just how I cook. I think there's as much technical reasoning as preference.