The Absolute Best Saucepans You Can Buy Right Now
As a professional kitchen gear tester, writer, and editor, I have covered a lot of cookware: Dutch ovens, nonstick and cast iron skillets, you name it. And while I love covering all those types of pots and pans, there’s one piece, in particular, I use at least daily that doesn’t get much air time: the saucepan.
For some reason, people don’t talk (or ask) about saucepans often, but I think it’s time to change that. Saucepans are ideal for cooking grains, boiling a serving or two of pasta, blanching veggies, making a batch of barbecue sauce, reheating chili or soups … the list goes on.
There are as many saucepans as there are uses for them, so to find the best ones, we here at The Kitchn tested models from top-performing brands, making sure to stir, whisk, and pour again and again and again. Let’s get to it.
The Best Saucepans
- Best Overall Saucepan: Tramontina Covered Saucepan, 4 Quart
- Best Splurge Saucepan: All-Clad D3 Tri-Ply Stainless-Steel Saucepan, 3 Quart
- Best Nonstick Saucepan: Zwilling Clad CFX Ceramic Nonstick Sauce Pan, 3 Quart
- Best Saucier: American Kitchen Stainless Steel Saucier, 3 Quart
What We Look for in a Saucepan
When it comes to saucepans, there are three areas we consider when deciding what makes a great pick:
- Performance: How well did the saucepans cook?
- Ease of use: How easy is it to hold and pour from the saucepan?
- Cleanup: Does the saucepan clean up easily and/or become discolored after cleanup?
Below, we rounded up some of the best saucepans on the market today that hit all of these criteria and then some, including some long-standing favorites of the team here at The Kitchn, as well as reader favorites you all can’t get enough of.
Do you have a saucepan you swear by that didn’t make this list? We want to hear all about it. Tell us about your favorite finds in the comments below!
How to Choose the Right Saucepan
The Size
Saucepans come in many sizes, but we find that a 4-quart pot is best. You can always cook less in a larger saucepan, but you can’t cook more in a smaller one. We think it’s helpful to have both a large and small saucepan, but if you’re only going to get one, opt for a 4-quart capacity. For testing, we focused on 4-quart saucepans but included some 3-quart models if that was the largest size the pan came in.
The Weight
You want it hefty enough to heat food evenly (thin pans tend to have more hotspots and can scorch food) but light enough so it’s still easy to pour from, even with one hand. During testing, we found that saucepans weighing less than 3 1/2 pounds without their lids were the sweet spot.
With this weight, we got the cooking results we wanted and could still comfortably tilt the saucepan to pour out boiling water, swirl it around while browning butter, and easily pour my pastry cream into a fine mesh strainer.
The Shape and Interior
The best saucepans have tall walls and straight sides, which don’t cut down on the saucepan’s usable cooking area. Saucepans with light interiors are also preferable to ones with dark interiors, as this helps for monitoring, like if you’re making browned butter or if you’re sautéing aromatics for risotto.
The Handle
If we can’t firmly and securely grip a pan’s handle, we can’t lift it well — which means we also can’t swirl or pour with ease. The handle shouldn’t be too skinny or too rounded, both of which are tougher to hold and tend to slip from your hand as you pour.
We prefer handles that are cupped, meaning they have indentations at the top to ensure a non-slip grip. The best handles were also at least 7.25 inches long because that length will help keep your hands comfortably away from the heat source.
This brings us to our next handle-centered point: Does the saucepan’s handle stay cool while cooking? If it doesn’t, we don’t want it. And, finally, saucepans that have a helper handle opposite the regular handle are, well, the most helpful. A helper handle is useful for moving the saucepan around the stovetop and if you need extra leverage when pouring. It’s not a must-have, but it is very nice.
FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Saucepans
What is a saucepan?
Typically ranging in size from 1-quart to 4-quarts, saucepans are a staple piece of cookware every chef, whether home or professional, needs in their collection. Think of these pieces as the stock pot’s versatile baby sister. Perfect for whipping up sauces, simmering soups, boiling grains, and even deep frying, these pots are designed to cook liquids in small batches.
Saucepan vs Saucier
While many people use them interchangeably, a saucepan and a saucier are very different thanks to one thing: their sides. A traditional saucepan features a flat bottom (providing closer contact with the burner) and straight edges, making it a go-to for boiling, simmering, and braising. A saucier, on the other hand, has a bowl-like shape with sides are sloped and rounded, making them a great choice for those working with stirrable foods they’re concerned about getting caught in corners and burning (think: sauces, risottos, and caramels).
What material is best for a saucepan?
This mirrors that of a nonstick skillet: For super gooey things, a nonstick saucepan means easier cooking and cleanup. This includes making sauces or reheating macaroni and cheese (and to no one’s surprise, cleaning pastry cream off of a nonstick saucepan was much easier than the stainless steel models). However, with stainless steel saucepans, you get longevity. Nonstick cookware has a finite lifespan, but a great stainless steel saucepan will last for years. Because of this, we recommend buying a stainless steel saucepan first and a nonstick saucepan to complement it.
Can you put saucepans in the oven?
In most cases, the answer is yes. However, it’s important to check the manufacturer’s instructions so you’re aware of your pans’ materials as well as up to what temperature your piece can withstand. For the most part, saucepans are made of metal (stainless steel, aluminum, cast iron, etc) and metal is oven-safe. That being said, be sure to pay close attention to whether or not your pieces feature any plastic or wooden accents as these are not oven-safe.
How to Clean a Saucepan
With all of the saucepans, we made sure their interiors didn’t dull or become splotchy after cleanup. While you can put a saucepan in the dishwasher, we don’t recommend it — we’d suggest hand-washing any cookware that you want to last. The heat and detergent from the dishwasher can tarnish stainless steel cookware and cause nonstick cookware to lose its, well, nonstickiness faster, so they’re among the many kitchen items you shouldn’t put in the dishwasher.
How We Shop for You
Our writers and editors put hundreds of products to the test every year to determine which ones get our stamp of approval and are really worth your time and money. If we love it, you’ll hear about it.
Why You Should Trust Us
Our team is made up of writers and editors with years of experience in the home, kitchen, and parenting consumer product space, and who are always testing for new tried-and-true staples.
How We Test Products
We put products to the test right where they matter: at home. We bring these products into our personal spaces and test them for weeks and even months to see if they live up to their claims. At the end of the day, we’re consumers too, so we’ll provide you with all the information we’d want — and then some.