The 8 Best Saucepans of 2024

What to Look for When Buying a Saucepan

Material

Copper, stainless steel, aluminum, and cast iron are some of the materials used in manufacturing saucepans with each having their own advantages in certain settings. “I always go for a stainless steel pan with a heavy base that also feels light,” says Madhoo Seth, chef and owner of Roots in Longmont, Colorado. “Stainless steel is durable, non-reactive and is resistant to corrosion.”

“You can’t go wrong with stainless steel and/or enameled cast iron. Copper is beautiful and an excellent conductor of heat, but is a high maintenance material — it can tarnish with acids like vinegar and tomatoes,” says Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack, Emmy-winning producer, blogger and author of the book, “Muy Bueno: Fiestas.”

Aluminum pans are lightweight and typically form the base of many nonstick or ceramic coated pans. Aluminum is also used to clad the base of pans, the same way that copper is.

When choosing the material for the saucepan, consider its use, durability, and ease of care. If you want a beautiful looking copper pot for its supreme heat transfer but loathe handwashing and immediately drying your pans, copper may not be the best material for you. “I look for pans made from layered metals,” says Donna Currie. “These may be called ‘clad’ pans or referred to by the number of layers, like tri-ply.”

Size

Saucepans come in various sizes to provide flexibility in the kitchen. Whether you are looking to melt just enough chocolate to drizzle on ice cream or make a batch of sauce for pasta, choosing the right size is important for proper cooking and efficiency.  

Anything under two quarts is a small pan, with two to three-and-a-half quarts considered medium. Saucepans that are four quarts and higher would be a large-sizes pot. Larger saucepans hold more food and can be used to cook things that are larger in volume like rice or they can be used to cook large quantities of soups and chilies. If you don’t want to stack multiple pans and have room for only one, a two to three quarts pan is a good middle ground.

Lids

You will mostly get to pick from stainless steel or glass. Yes, you can look through the glass lid and see what’s happening inside and if that’s important to you, go for a glass lid. A tight-fitting lid will help keep the heat in and send moisture back into the pan for an even and flavorful cooking. The fit and the shape of the lid on the pan is more important than the material.

Handles

Saucepan handles can make or break the design. A pan with an uncomfortable handle that gets too hot too fast gets dumped to the back of the shelf quickly. The grip should feel comfortable, and the handle should be long enough to provide stability and maneuverability. If they are designed to stay cool, all the better. 

“Almost any handle is going to get hot where it joins the pan, or after a long cooking time,” says Currie. “But if I can move a pan without needing a mitt after 10 minutes of cooking, that’s a bonus.”

Another thing to look out for is how the handle is attached to the saucepan. Screwed in handles often come loose, a flush rivet is always a good choice unless the pan is short and small, and the rivets get in the way of efficiently stirring or removal of food. In that case, a well-constructed welded handle is the way to go. But mostly, a riveted construction is the best bet.

Weight

“Thin, lightweight stainless steel or aluminum pots are prone to hot spots, which means food can burn,” says Currie. “On the other hand, cast iron saucepans are going to be heavy to move. And again, balance is important. A well-balanced heavy pan will be easier to handle than a poorly balanced lighter pan.” The larger the pan, the heavier it will be to accommodate the surface area.

FAQs

What is the difference between a saucepan and a sauté pan?

“Saucepans hold volume upward, while sauté pans hold volume outward,” says Marquez-Sharpnack succinctly. A saucepan’s main function is to cook liquids. It is sort of a combination of a pot and a pan. It has a flat bottom and straight sides like a pot, and a long handle like a pan. They usually come with a lid to trap heat inside for things to cook in their own steam or for liquids to come to temp faster. Meanwhile, the straight sides help prevent any spills or overflows.

A sauté pan is used to cook food in small quantities of fat over high heat for a short period of time. “A sauté pan is short and wide,” says Currie. “It’s more like a frying pan than it is a saucepan.” They are relatively lighter than the saucepans because you need to move the pan constantly, so the food keeps jumping and cooking.

What does "heavy-bottom saucepan" mean?

When a pan’s base is reinforced with heavier metal than its sides it is called a heavy-bottom pan. The thickness of the base also allows the pan to stay at a consistent temperature for longer cooking.

“When it comes to pan weight, the important part is the bottom of the pan, because that’s where the pan meets the heat,” says Currie. “Thick or heavy bottoms help distribute the heat evenly, making hot spots less likely. Besides distributing heat, the base can allow the cookware to be used on an induction cooktop.”

What grade of stainless steel is best for saucepans?

The grade of a pan refers to the percent of chromium and nickel. For durability, Currie recommends to “look for 18/8 or 18/10 stainless steel for the interior. Some multi-metal pans are made with one of those grades for the interior, and 18/0 on the exterior so the pan is magnetic for use on induction cooktops.” The 18/10 pans—18 percent chromium and 10 percent nickel—have the highest resistance to corrosion and are nonreactive. You can leave that tomato sauce in the pan after cooking and the taste won’t be altered.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats? 

Renu Dhar is a personal chef and culinary instructor who is passionate about making cooking approachable, developing easy and nutritious recipes, and finding tools that help make cooking fun and easy for everyone. She integrates her professional kitchen expertise, knowledge of ingredients and world cuisine to research and write for The Spruce Eats.