The name saucepan might describe the piece of cookware we’re talking about here, but it doesn’t do it justice. Sure, the best saucepan will come in handy for your once-in-a-while béchamels—but it is something you will use almost every day you cook, and a good one is vitally important to any cookware set. Saucepans are true kitchen workhorses, ready to get to work for your morning oatmeal, instant noodles, steamed rice, even just heating up that jar of grocery store marinara.
Our top picks
Saucepans tend not to get as much attention as more sought-after pieces of cookware like Dutch ovens and cast-iron skillets, but they’re arguably one of the most important items to have in your kitchen—and there’s a lot to consider when shopping for a good one. Is the best material aluminum, copper, or stainless steel? Is it ever a good idea to get a saucepan with a nonstick coating? Should you go with 3-ply or 5-ply? And what does ply mean anyway? Below, we get into all the details and share the top picks from our range of experts.
The best saucepan overall: All-Clad D5 3-Quart Stainless-Steel Saucepan
What we love about the All-Clad D5: Our team of product testers consider All-Clad the all-around best brand of cookware for a reason. The brand’s pots and pans are beautifully designed and proven to provide even heating. You can expect them to serve you for decades. So we weren’t surprised when the All-Clad D5 stainless steel saucepan came out on top in product testing against 23 other models. This saucepan’s hefty 5-ply construction is made with alternating layers of aluminum (which allows it to heat up quickly and evenly) and stainless steel (which offers excellent durability). The high-quality metal bonding, along with a heavy bottom, means no hot spots on the pan and heightened precision when working with delicate liquids like caramels and custards. Similar to the rest of the D5 lineup, the saucepan’s clad core goes all the way up the sides, providing even heat retention all around, as opposed to just at the base. This pan excels in every task, including boiling, browning, braising, and sautéing. But what really sets it apart is its ergonomic design. Testers touted its thick heat-resistant handle, which didn’t require oven mitts to hold and is flat and angled rather than rounded, making for a more comfortable grip. They also appreciated the pan’s oversized helper handle on the opposite end and its flared rim, which provide greater stability and fuss-free maneuvering and pouring.
What we’d leave: There’s little to gripe about, however we will note that the brand’s pans shouldn’t be put in the dishwasher due to their unsealed rim. Heat and detergent will cause the edges of their pans to corrode over time, which can create a sharp edge that some people have reported injuring themselves on. While other stainless-steel cookware claims to be dishwasher-safe, we recommend hand-washing all stainless-steel cookware anyway, as detergent will damage the chromium oxide layer on your pans, eventually leave them vulnerable to rusting.
Diameter: 8.8”
Depth: 6.4”
Handle length: 9”
Weight: 3.6 lbs.
Another great saucepan: Misen 3-Quart Stainless Steel Saucier
What we love about the Misen: This 5-layer multiclad pan performed well in all our tests. Sauciers are like saucepans, but with a more rounded shape at the base, which makes them great for doing cooking tasks that require a lot of whisking, i.e. making bechamel or hollandaise. The Misen also has a comfortable handle and it’s easy to maneuver around a cooktop. Compared to other saucepans, the Misen has a thicker base, which brings things to temperature more gently. This comes in handy when making something like custard, which can curdle or burn if the pan gets hot too fast.
What we’d leave: Despite the handle being comfortable to hold, we did find the design to make it slightly awkward when pouring liquid out of the saucepan—but not significantly so. If we’re being honest, we have to get really picky to find issues with this pan.
Diameter: 9″
Depth: 4″
Handle length: 8″
Weight: 3.3 lb.
How we tested saucepans
We conducted several different cooking tests to assess the quality and design of each pan. We cooked lemon curd and melted sugar to see whether any pans were prone to scalding or hot spots, and to see how well the pans responded to changes in temperature. We also spent time maneuvering each saucepan around the cooktop, making note of how comfortable they are to hold, how well they pour liquids, and how heavy they feel full. Using an induction burner for precise control, we checked how long it took to bring the same volume of water to boil.
What makes a good saucepan
Materials and construction
Similar to stockpots, sauté pans, frying pans (and all the best cookware, really), the most important features of a saucepan are good heat conductivity, good heat retention, and even heat distribution. We wanted a pan that heated up and cooled down quickly, because that provides more control when working with finicky sauces. A 3-ply or 5-ply fully clad saucepan made with high-quality aluminum and stainless steel is ideal. This material combination is safe to use at high heats, is oven- and induction-compatible, extremely durable, and of course, great at retaining and distributing heat. A saucepan with an aluminum core is also a lot more affordable than one with, say, a copper core, which would not be compatible with an induction cooktop anyway.
Some factors to consider when you’re looking for an easy-to-use saucepan: Are you able to use a spoon or whisk along the sides without issues, and does it have a comfortable handle that stays cool while cooking?
We looked for pans with nice-fitting lids that let little to no steam escape when the saucepan was filled with boiling water.
Other saucepans we tested
Hestan Pro-Bond Saucepan
The Hestan is shallower and wider than most saucepans. It’s lightweight thanks to finer layers of cladding, but still boasts very even heating. We think this is an excellent pan, but costs around 80% more than the All-Clad, so it is certainly a luxury pick.
All-Clad D3 Stainless Tri-ply Bonded Stainless Steel saucepan
This is a great saucepan, but we feel that it’s worth spending the extra 20 bucks for the additional design finishes of the D5 including the rounded lip, the helper handle, and the 5-ply cladding.
All-Clad Stainless Steel Tri-Ply 3-Quart Saucier
Another great pan from All-Clad, however, we think if you’re really interested in a saucier that the Misen model will be more than satisfactory and costs about 20% less.
Sardel saucepan
The Sardel saucepan was quite responsive to temperature on the stovetop, but testers found pouring from this pan to be tricky thanks to an edge prone to dribbles.
Heritage Steel 316Ti 3-Quart Saucier
A high-quality pan comparable to the All-Clad, but testers weren’t crazy about the handle, which is bulky and hollow. Handle feel is one of the more subjective elements of a pan design, so if you know you prefer a thicker handle, you might like this one.
Tramontina Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Clad saucepan
The Tramonitina saucepan is often compared to All-Clad as an affordable alternative. Generally-speaking, Tramontina pans tend to heat a little more inconsistently around the cook surface, but for their price are still a decent alternative. Like All-Clad, it has the same issues with corrosion in the dishwasher due to the unsealed edge, so make sure to hand wash it.
Made-In Saucier
In shape and performance, the Made-In Saucier is comparable to the Misen, just slightly more expensive. One caution: Made-In handles have been polarizing among testers because of their sharper angles and overall chunkiness. Some of us have found them a little harder to move around the stovetop.
Le Creuset Stainless Steel Saucepan
We don’t love Le Creuset’s stainless steel cookware the way we do its enameled cast iron. It performed adequately, but it might be a little too thick. It took a long time to melt sugar compared to other pans.
Cuisinart French Classic Tri-Ply
This saucepan is on the thinner side for a tri-ply pan, which makes it prone to quick changes in temperature, and potentially more likely to scald what you’re cooking.
Cuisinart MultiClad Pro
We found that this pan didn’t heat as evenly as the winners we chose.
GreenPan Valencia Pro Saucepan
GreenPan makes our favorite nonstick pan. The saucepan—also nonstick—performed well in our tests but didn’t blow us away. The pan is on the heavier side, and it comes with a glass lid, which does not retain heat as well. More importantly though, we won’t recommend nonstick cookware over stainless-steel cookware due to the fragility of the cooking surface and the longevity issues ceramic nonstick cooking surfaces have.
Caraway saucepan
If you’re a fan of nonstick skillets, a nonstick saucepan might sound like a good idea. However, this pan sacrifices a lot of practical design for the sake of aesthetics. The flat lid caused a lot of condensation to accumulate around the edge, which then poured onto the cooktop when removed. This is also a heavier pan, around 4 pounds, which made it difficult to pour from with one hand.
Farberware Classic Stainless Steel Saucepan
You might recognize this pan from the cabinets of an Airbnb or from a communal dorm kitchen. It has pour spouts and plastic handles, and a thin build prone to warping, denting and inconsistent heating. But hey…it makes great boxed mac n’ cheese.
What’s the difference between saucepans and sauciers
These terms are often used interchangeably, but the difference between them is in their shape. Saucepans typically have flat bottoms and straight sides—and their sides are usually higher, which makes them ideal for heating liquids and cooking grains (think soup, stock, oatmeal, or rice). On the other hand, sauciers have rounded bottoms and curved sides, which makes them the perfect vessels for stirring and whisking tasks (think risotto or lemon curd).
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