Frying Pans

Frying pans are used for stovetop cooking and typically have sloped sides that are not too tall (no more than 2 to 3 inches) and one long handle. Those sloped sides create a wider opening at the top, making it easy to turn and stir food as well as slide cooked food onto serving dishes. Frying pans come in a wide variety of sizes (more on that in a minute), which are measured in inches across the top of the pan. 

Reach for a frying pan when…

• Pan-cooking chicken, steak, or other proteins 

• Frying bacon 

• Making pancakes      

Skillets

The terms “frying pan” and “skillet” are often used interchangeably, and that’s because there is no real difference between the two. “Skillet” is more commonly used in the Southern U.S. to describe this type of pan, while “frying pan” is more commonly used in Northern areas. That said, “skillet” often implies that you’re discussing a pan made of cast iron, which, unlike a frying pan, is ideal for both stovetop and oven cooking. 

Reach for a cast iron skillet when…

• Searing protein on the stove and finishing it off in the oven

• Making frittatas 

• Baking gooey skillet cookies

Omelet/Egg Pans

Clocking in between 6 and 10 inches wide, omelet and egg pans are small frying pans/skillets designed—you guessed it—for cooking omelets and small portions of eggs. These pans feature the same sloped sides as frying pans, making it easy to flip eggs as they cook and slide them onto plates once they’re done. 

Reach for an omelet/egg pan when…

• Cooking scrambled or fried eggs

• Cooking omelets

• Sauteing small portions of veggies

Sauté Pans

Designed for stovetop cooking, sauté pans have wide bottoms, straight sides that are about 3 inches tall, one long handle (though many now are made with helper handles to make handling them more comfortable), and a lid. Sauté pans can be used similarly to frying pans, though their straight sides make them especially useful for dishes with more volume like marinara sauce or linguini with clams, which is why their size is described in quarts. Ironically, those tall sides also mean that sauté pans are safer than frying pans when shallow frying chicken cutlets or crabcakes. 

Reach for a sauté pan when…

• Sautéing vegetables

• Browning meat for stews or chili

• Reducing sauces

• Making large one-pot meals, such as chicken and rice 

Woks 

Featuring deep sides (typically 4 to 6 inches) that slope outwards, two side handles, and a lid, woks are essential for Asian cooking. Woks can be made with flat or round bottoms (which require a base ring to be compatible with modern cooktops) that disperse heat evenly throughout the entirety of the cooking surface, allowing food to be cooked extremely quickly. While woks are often used for stir-frying small pieces of protein over high heat, they can also be used to steam foods, which is why they come with a lid. The size of a wok is typically described in inches from edge to edge, measured across the top of the pan. 

Reach for a wok when…

• Stir-frying protein and veggies in dishes like beef and broccoli

• Making big batches of fried rice

• Steaming dumplings or fish 

Stir Fry Pans

Stir fry pans are very similar to woks, but typically are made with just one long handle and are not sold with lids. They also are made with a flat bottom, and may have sides that slope out at a more shallow angle than those of a traditional wok—two attributes that allow stir fry pans to be slightly more flexible than woks, as they can also be used to sauté or even shallow fry food. The size of a stir fry pan is also described in inches from edge to edge, measured across the top of the pan.

Reach for a stir-fry pan when…

• Stir-frying dishes like kung pao chicken or veggie lo mein

• Shallow-frying tofu or pot stickers

• Browning meat for curries or stews   

Saucepan

Saucepans are an essential part of every cookware collection and one of the most versatile pans on this list. Most are straight-sided and deep (between 4 and 6 inches) with flat bottoms, which allow them to evenly heat liquid ingredients from all sides and provide easy access for stirring. Saucepans come with a lid, typically feature one long handle and one helper handle for comfortable stirring and pouring, and come in a variety of sizes described by their liquid capacity in quarts.   

Reach for a saucepan when…

• Slow-cooking sauces such as bolognese or ragú 

• Heating up soup

• Steaming rice

• Blanching veggies     

Chef’s Pans/Sauciers

Chef’s pans—also called sauciers— are very similar to saucepans, featuring one long handle and a lid. Chef’s pans tend to be shallower than saucepans, with gently rounded bottoms and sides that curve slightly outward to make it easy for whisks and spoons to reach the very edge of the pan. Chef’s pans are also measured in quarts and come in a variety of sizes (up to about 4 quarts). 

Reach for a chef’s pan when…

• Making delicate cream-based sauces that may burn quickly

• Cooking recipes that require constant stirring, like risotto 

• Browning butter 

Windsor Pans

Like saucepans and chef’s pans, Windsor pans are deep with one long handle and a lid and come in a wide variety of sizes (also measured by quart capacity). What differentiates them, however, is that they are made with smaller bottoms and flared sides that create a wider opening at the top of the pan. This shape creates more surface area across the liquid in the pan, allowing for faster evaporation—making these pans particularly useful for reducing liquids or sauces to concentrate flavors. 

Reach for a Windsor pan when…

• Reducing red wine-based sauces or balsamic vinegar

• Making simple syrup

• Making a roux to serve as the base of other sauces

 

Stockpots

Though technically a pot (pots feature higher sides than pans and two looped handles instead of one long handle), we’d be doing you a disservice if we left stockpots off this list. These workhorse pots come in a wide variety of sizes, measured by quart capacity, but are typically much larger than your typical saucepan (in fact, they’re usually the largest pot in the kitchen). Made with very high sides and a thick base, these pots are ideal for slow-simmering and creating rich flavor profiles.

Reach for a stockpot when…

• Making stocks or bone broths 

• Cooking large batches of chili or stew

• Slow-simmering pasta sauces   

Dutch Ovens

Large, with a round or oval bottom, two handles, and a tight-fitting lid, Dutch ovens are designed for both stovetop and oven cooking. Because of their size and heavy-duty construction, these pans are most often used to cook large quantities of food that need to be browned on the stovetop and then finished by slowly roasting in the oven (that tight-fitting lid helps lock in moisture, so food can be slow-cooked without drying out). Dutch ovens are typically made of enameled cast iron or ceramic—those made of lightweight materials, such as aluminum, are typically called casserole pots.

Reach for a Dutch oven when…

• Cooking recipes that call for browning and then slow-roasting, like beef Bourguignon

• Braising rich cuts of meat

• Slow-cooking soups or stews on the stovetop

• Baking bread 

Braisers

Featuring a heavy bottom, two handles, and a tight-fitting lid, Braiser pans are very similar to Dutch ovens and can be used in many of the same ways. But because they are typically smaller and usually feature an oval shape, they are ideal for smaller volumes of food cooked with less liquid and make great serving dishes. They can also be used much in the same way you’d use a frying or sauté pan.

Reach for a braiser when…

• Braising meat and vegetables

• Roasting whole chickens 

• Pan frying fish

• Browning meatballs 

Roasters

As the name suggests, roasters are designed for oven cooking. These pans are typically 4 to 5 inches deep and come in a variety of sizes, though most are large enough to comfortably fit a whole chicken. Their size and depth make them ideal for roasting vegetables or potatoes along with big cuts of meat, and they do a great job of capturing juices released during cooking. 

Reach for a roster when…

• Roasting whole chickens, turkeys, racks of ribs, or legs of lamb

• Baking ham

• Making large casseroles

• Roasting veggies like squash or eggplant 

Grill Pans

Available in various shapes and sizes, grill pans are used on the stovetop to cook the same kinds of food that you would on an outdoor barbeque. These pans are designed with one long handle, a shallow lip (typically 1 to 2 inches) to make flipping easy, and ridges on the interior bottom that simulate the marks—and delicious char—you get when using a traditional grill. Because they feature a solid cooking surface, these pans are often better suited for grilling smaller ingredients, like vegetables and shrimp, that are prone to falling through grates of outdoor grills.

Reach for a grill pan when…

• Searing chicken breasts, steaks, or pork chops

• Making hamburgers

• Grilling peppers, zucchini, and corn 

 

Griddles

Like grill pans, griddle pans are available in a wide range of shapes and sizes, and feature a shallow lip that makes it easy to flip ingredients using a spatula or tongs. Their large, flat cooking surface is designed to distribute high heat quickly and evenly, making it easy to flip up a big batch of pancakes or quickly fry onions.  

Reach for a griddle pan when…

• Cooking breakfast favorites like pancakes or french toast

• Toasting grilled cheese sandwiches

• Making at-home smash burgers

• Quickly frying proteins like shrimp or eggs

 

Understanding Pan Materials

When it comes to choosing the right cookware for your kitchen, knowing the shape of the pan you need is only half of the battle. Most of the pans we just covered are made in a wide range of materials, which can impact everything from the way they perform to how easy they are to care for. Here we break down the most common.

Nonstick

Nonstick pans are named for their nonstick surface, which allows food to glide around easily while cooking. Traditionally, these pans are made with an aluminum or stainless steel core and then coated in a food-safe and chemically inert material such as Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE) that allows ingredients to slip and slide across the cookware. 

Nonstick pans of all shapes and sizes are staple in most kitchens because they’re durable, practical, and simple to clean. Keep in mind that nonstick pans are specifically designed for medium- to low-heat cooking (though Ciruclon’s nonstick pans are safe up to 500°F, which is hot enough to sear and sauté)—so if you plan to use extremely high heat or broil, you may need to opt for a pan made of one of the other materials on this list. 

Ceramic 

Ceramic-coated pans are made using the same process we just described, but are coated in a silica-based ceramic-like material to create their nonstick cooking surface. Ceramic pans have become popular over the last couple of years as an alternative to PTFE pans—and while they have many of the same advantages, they tend to lose their nonstick properties more quickly, causing them to need to be replaced more frequently. 

 

Cast Iron

Heavy-duty and ultra-durable, cast iron pans are ideal for cooking at high temperatures and open flames. While not inherently nonstick, when seasoned properly (a process that involves routinely coating the pan in oil to create a slick surface) cast iron pans will release food easily and impart a richer flavor than the other types of cookware on this list. 

While cast iron pans are tough enough to last generations, these pans do require a bit more TLC than those made of aluminum or stainless steel. They also tend to be quite heavy, which may not be ideal for every home cook.

Aluminum

Affordable, lightweight, and an excellent conductor of heat, aluminum is one of the most common materials used to make pans today. Because bare aluminum is prone to discoloration, most aluminum pans on the market feature some kind of nonstick treatment—whether they’re coated or hard-anodized, a process that uses an electric current to create a durable and slippery cooking surface. 

Stainless Steel

Beloved by professional chefs, stainless steel pans are lightweight, durable, and easy to clean (they’re one of the few truly dishwasher-safe pan types). Because stainless steel is a poor heat conductor on its own, these pans typically feature an aluminum core that is then clad in stainless steel to more evenly distribute heat and eliminate hotspots. 

Like cast iron, stainless steel cookware is not inherently nonstick. These pans require proper greasing and pre-heating before cooking begins to ensure easy food release, something that can be a learning curve for first-time chefs.         

Copper    

Because it is an excellent heat conductor, copper has been used to make cookware for thousands of years. Today, most copper pans are lined with materials like steel and tin, which eliminates the toxic reaction that can occur when copper comes into contact with certain foods and can help increase their durability.      

    

The Essential Accessories Every Home Chef Needs

While choosing the right pan shape and material is crucial—so is having the right accessories on hand. From steamer baskets to splatter guards, these tools will help you make the most out of your cookware collection. 

Inserts

Many of the pans we’ve covered in this article come with inserts that fit snugly into them. These inserts make pans more versatile and cooking more convenient. Here are a few of the most common inserts:

• Steamer basket. These perforated baskets allow vegetables, dumplings, and fish to cook in the steam of the simmering water underneath. 

• Pasta basket. Also perforated, these baskets are deeper than steamer baskets and designed to be submerged in boiling water. Their main use is to lift cooked pasta out of boiling water—making it easier to reserve pasta water for sauces and eliminating the need to carry a whole heavy pot of boiling water to drain the pasta in the sink. 

• Double broilers. These are solid inserts (without perforations) that allow delicate foods like Hollandaise sauce or chocolate to be gently cooked or melted over a steam bath. 

• Roasting racks. These cage-like inserts are designed to hold whole chicken, turkey, and other large cuts of meat slightly above the surface of a roasting pan, brasier, or Dutch oven. This allows you to pack vegetables and potatoes underneath, clears the way for pan drippings, and can help protein cook more evenly. 

Spatter Guards

Spatter guards are designed to sit on top of frying pans, sauté pans, and woks/stir fry pans to prevent hot oil from splashing out of the pan while cooking on high heat. These are typically made of fine mesh, which ensures food can still breathe (which is essential for getting nice rich sears) and that you can safely keep a close eye on what you’re cooking. 

Cook with Confidence

We hope this guide helped you get a better handle (pun very much intended) on the various types of pans available to home chefs. And while many of the pans we’ve covered here have a wide range of uses, knowing when to reach for your Dutch oven or when a sauté pan will do the trick can save you time in the kitchen — and take your recipes to the next level. 

 

For more tips, recipes, and to shop some of the best pans on the market, visit circulon.com.