I Cooked 11 Cups of Rice to Find the Five Best Saucepans

Serious Eats is Team Saucier over Team Saucepan. However, that doesn’t mean saucepans don’t have their purpose in the kitchen, and many home cooks do want to buy them. Plus, saucepans are still a workhorse: they can be used to boil water, cook rice or pasta, poach eggs, reheat soup, and more. Plus, the higher, straight sides and larger capacity tend to prevent boiling over more than their lower profile saucier siblings.

But not all saucepans are made the same. They come in different materials, have various cladding layers, and are available in an array of sizes/shapes. Some have built-in spouts on the side to make pouring easier or measurement markings on their inner walls. And the handles and lids can also vary considerably. With all these variables, I set out to find the best 3- to 4-quart saucepans, evaluating 10 popular models (I also included our top small saucepan here, too, for 11 total tested).

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Overall Saucepan

Zwilling Spirit 3-ply Stainless Steel 4-Quart Saucepan

$85 at Amazon $75 at Sur La Table View on Zwilling.com

The Zwilling Spirit's handle stayed cool while the water boiled, which let me hold and pour from the pan without difficulty. The flared rim made stirring easy and the saucepan heated evenly. The glass lid lets you monitor food as it cooks (though it can steam up) and I liked the measurement markings on the pot's interior. The handle was comfortable and secure, too.

The Best Budget Saucepan

Tramontina Covered 3-Quart Saucepan

$94 $40 at Amazon $48 at Home Depot $109 $65 at Macy's

The Tramontina wasn’t the cheapest saucepan I tested, but it performed on par or even better than some of the pans that cost twice as much. The handle stayed cool, with a slightly rounded shape that felt comfortable to hold. The pan itself cooked evenly with no hot spots, and the lid handle didn't heat up while cooking, making it easy to take on and off.

Another Great Budget Saucepan

Goldilocks 3-Quart Saucepan

View on Cookgoldilocks.com

This saucepan is affordable, super sturdy, and sports a flared lip that makes pouring mess-free. I liked handle, which has a slight divot in the center that's comfortable to grip.

The Best All-Clad Saucepan

All-Clad Stainless Steel Tri-Ply 3-Quart Saucepan with Lid

$120 at Amazon $155 at Williams Sonoma $228 at Walmart

We at Serious Eats are longtime fans of All-Clad's stainless steel cookware, and the D3 saucepan is no exception: it was heat-responsive and easy to clean. Plus, it comes with All-Clad's lifetime warranty. While it's more expensive than the other winners, it's often discounted.

The Best Small Saucepan

Made In Stainless Clad Saucepan

$143 at Amazon $149 at Made In Cookware

If you're looking for a smaller, 2-quart saucepan, this sturdy, responsive offering from Made In is a great choice. While petite, its sides were still tall enough that a rolling boil didn't spew hot water all over the stovetop, and the five layers of cladding meant it heated up quickly and evenly.

The Tests

• Boiling Water Test (Part 1): I boiled two quarts of room temperature water on medium-high heat without the lid to test how long it took for the water to boil, how easy it was to pour the water out of the pan, and how comfortable the handle and pan were to hold and move.
• Boiling Water Test (Part 2): I then repeated the boiling water test with the lid on to see how fast the water boiled with the saucepan covered and how comfortable it was to remove the lid.
• Rice Test: I made one cup of jasmine rice on the stove to see if the lid leaked steam, as well as to examine how evenly the rice cooked. Then, I soaked each pot for five minutes in hot water from the tap and hand-washed the saucepan to see how hard it was to remove any cooked-on rice.
• Browned Butter Test: I browned four tablespoons of unsalted butter on medium-low heat to see how evenly the pan heated the butter, which can easily burn.
• Pastry Cream Test (Winners-Only): I made a batch of pastry cream in each of our favorite pans to see how evenly it cooked and how easy it was to maneuver a bulky balloon whisk in the cookware. Afterward, I cleaned each pan by hand to see if there was any burnt- or stuck-on pastry cream and evaluated the ease of cleanup.

What We Learned

Wider Saucepans Were Better

I stuck to testing 3- and 4-quart saucepans, so most of the cookware had similar capacities. But the shape of the saucepans varied, with some taller and some wider. Unlike sauciers, with their low sides and gently sloped corners, saucepans have straight sides that jut out from the base at 90-degree angles. This means getting into the corner of the pan, especially with a balloon whisk, can be challenging. With taller, more narrow saucepans, stirring was harder. I had difficulty getting the whisk into the corners of the pan, and splashing the pastry cream.

Wider saucepans were more user-friendly, allowing us to angle and tilt the whisk handle lower so I could maneuver into the sharp corners and stir and scrape the pastry cream. Clean-up was also easier, as the wider silhouette made it a cinch to reach in with a sponge and scrub the sides and bottom of the pan. The Tramontina, Zwilling, and All-Clad are eight inches from lip to lip, and the Goldilocks is nearly 8.5 inches across. In comparison, some of our least favorites were 7 1/4 to 7 3/4 inches wide.

A Good Handle Was Important

The saucepans' handles varied quite a bit: Some were short, some long, some rounded, and some thinner with center indentations. We found rounded, wider handles to generally be more comfortable for a variety of users. Rounded handles (like the Tramontina) or handles that had some depth and width (like the Zwilling and Goldilocks), felt comfortable and offered a nice balance, making the pan easier to pick up.

It was also important that the handles didn’t get too hot. While most stayed cool, some heated up quite a bit, which made maneuvering the pan difficult when picking up or pouring.

Finally, though it seems like a minor quibble, a couple of pans had handles positioned slightly lower on the pot. This resulted in the inside rivets being lower as well, which made cleaning more difficult, as food got trapped more easily around the rivets. 

There Were Little (But No Less Important) Differences Amongst the Lids

Placing a lid on a pot creates a closed environment where heat gets trapped, bringing the liquid to a boil faster and preventing moisture from evaporating. I liked lids that were slightly arched, which allowed moisture to run down the sides and fall back into the pot.

Beyond the shape, the handle on the lid needed to stay cool. Ideally, you’d be able to cook a pot of rice or boil water and then remove the lid without a towel, pot holder, or oven mitt. Lids with larger or taller handles stayed cooler and were easier to pick up.

What's the Difference Between a Tri-Ply and a Five-Ply Saucepan?

More than half of the pans we tested were tri-ply, meaning they were constructed with three layers of metal. Tri-ply cookware usually has an outer and inner stainless steel layer, and a more heat-conductive metal (typically aluminum or copper) sandwiched between them.

But there were a few non-tri-ply pans, too. This included the Farberware, Material, All-Clad D5, and Avacraft. (The latter being a hybrid pan, with a 5-ply capsule bottom.) Five-ply, as you can guess, means there are five layers of metal, often more aluminum (or copper) and stainless steel to help diffuse the heat. Five-ply pans often take more time to heat up and weigh more, but the extra layers of metal (theoretically) distribute heat better and are more durable.

Notably, the All-Clad D5 heated beautifully and was responsive to temperature with no hot spots. But the added weight may be tougher for some users (it was nearly a pound heavier than the D3). The Material pan cooked slightly unevenly (even though one of the core materials was copper, a metal known for its quick heat distribution) possibly due to the extreme curve on the bottom. The Avacraft pan had a slightly uneven bottom, too, with lower edges around the pan, which caused butter and rice to cook more around the sides. The Farberware pan, which was neither tri-ply nor 5-ply, felt cheap and heated unevenly due to the thin metal.

In the end, the tri-ply pans balanced performance and usability was the best. They heated up evenly and though most were not quite as responsive as the All-Clad D5, they were still consistent and had minimal hot spots. 

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Saucepan

For most home cooks, a 3- to 4-quart saucepan offers a versatile, spacious capacity. Look for a saucepan that is tri-ply, which will ensure that the pan heats up consistently and evenly with little to no hot spots while still being lightweight. Wider saucepans (eight inches from lip-to-lip) allowed for easier stirring and cleaning.

In general, I liked saucepans with wider and rounder handles, which felt comfortable to grip. I also found that taller or larger lid handles heated up less readily, and lids that slightly arched upwards encouraged moisture to run back into the pan quickly.

Our Favorite Saucepans

The Best Overall Saucepan

Zwilling Spirit 3-ply Stainless Steel 4-Quart Saucepan

$85 at Amazon $75 at Sur La Table View on Zwilling.com

What we liked: The Zwilling Spirit 4-quart saucepan was the largest pan I tested, as well as one of the heaviest due to its size. But the handle had a slight flare near the end, as well as a rounded bottom and slight indentation on top, which allowed my thumb to rest comfortably while holding and carrying it. The handle stayed cool, only getting hot about one inch from the pan’s body, which lets you choke up on the handle for leverage. 

The included glass lid, which is oven-safe to 400°F, made it easy to see when the water was boiling, without having to lift up the lid to check. The lid’s handle stayed cool to the touch, and there are measurement markings on the interior of the pot. 

The tri-ply material conducted heat well with no hot spots. Despite having a larger capacity, stirring was relatively easy when making the brown butter and pastry cream thanks to its wide size and flared rim. Finally, clean-up was a cinch with this model, with minimal scrubbing to get any stuck, cooked-on rice off. It’s also induction-friendly.

What we didn’t like: The handle of the Zwilling Spirit could have been slightly longer, as it was a relatively short seven inches. Folks with larger hands might find it too small.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 4 quarts
• Weight: 4 pounds, 8 ounces with lid; 3 pounds, 5 5/8 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel and aluminum)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 7 1/4 inches
• Depth: 5 inches
• Handle length: 7 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

The Best Budget Saucepan

Tramontina Covered 3-Quart Saucepan

$94 $40 at Amazon $48 at Home Depot $109 $65 at Macy's

What we liked: The Tramontina saucepan performed remarkably well for its price point. The tri-ply pan heated up evenly with no hot spots. Rice, browned butter, and pastry cream all came out nicely, with no sticking or burnt-on spots. Stirring was relatively easy, as the 3-quart pan was still eight inches wide, which made it easy to angle a wooden spoon or whisk in the corners of the pot.

The pan’s handle was slightly longer than the Zwilling pan (at about eight inches long) and had a nice, rounded feel. It stayed cool, only getting warm about one-and-a-half inches from the pan's body. The stainless steel lid had a tall handle that didn't get hot, making it comfortable to remove mid-cooking. Clean-up was pretty easy as well, with minimal scrubbing necessary to remove the cooked-on rice. It’s also induction-compatible.

What we didn’t like: The lid’s handle was a bit thin, making it a little less easy to grab. The shiny mirror finish on the outside is pretty, but showed fingerprints immediately, and the long-term durability of the finish is questionable, as mirror finishes tend to show scratches more easily than brushed ones.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 3 quarts
• Weight: 3 pounds, 4 ounces with lid; 2 pounds, 8 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel and aluminum)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 7 1/4 inches
• Depth: 4 inches
• Handle length: 8 1/8 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

Another Great Budget Saucepan

Goldilocks 3-Quart Saucepan

View on Cookgoldilocks.com

What we liked: This wide, deep saucepan was a joy to use; it has a balanced handle with a gentle divot that's comfortable to grasp and a sturdy construction that cooked up perfect rice, brown butter, pastry cream, and much more (we've kept it in use for longterm testing). The rivets that attach the handle to the pan are also high enough that they don't get too crusted with food, and the corners are curved and wide it's easy to get at them with a whisk, wooden spoon, or a sponge when cleaning.

What we didn't like: The lid got vacuum-sealed to the pot a few times, but I think that was more of a fluke (cold interior, hot exterior) than anything wrong with the pot.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 3 quarts
• Weight: 3 pounds, 10 1/8 ounces with lid; 2 pounds, 8.5 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 8 inches
• Depth: 4 inches
• Handle length: 7.5 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

The Best All-Clad Saucepan

All-Clad Stainless Steel Tri-Ply 3-Quart Saucepan with Lid

$120 at Amazon $155 at Williams Sonoma $228 at Walmart

What we liked: This tri-ply pan cooked evenly and was responsive to heat. It was also easy to clean, requiring minimal scrubbing. Its handle has an indent that runs along its length, which helps to prevent the handle from turning in your hand as you pour. Plus, it comes with All-Clad's lifetime warranty.

What we didn't like: The saucepan's handle was thin and less comfortable to hold than other winners, and the small lid handle got hot.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 3 quarts
• Weight: 3 pounds, 10 1/8 ounces with lid; 2 pounds, 13 5/8 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel and aluminum)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 7 1/4 inches
• Depth: 3 3/4 inches
• Handle length: 9 1/4 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

Made In Stainless Clad Saucepan

$143 at Amazon $149 at Made In Cookware

What we liked: This is a lovely, balanced wee thing of a pot—but just because it was tiny doesn't mean it wasn't mighty. Its five layers of cladding helped it heat up quickly and evenly, and the handle had a divot down the center that made it easy to grasp (it also stayed quite cool in all of the tests). I also liked that the rim had a slight flare to it, which made it easy to pour from.

What we didn't like: It's pretty pricey for a tiny pot, and while the high, steep corners helped contain what was inside, they made whisking a little more awkward.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 2 quarts
• Weight: 2 pounds, 6 ounces with lid; 1 pound, 13 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 5 (stainless steel exterior layers, aluminum inner layers, and aluminum alloy core)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 7 inches
• Base diameter: 5.75 inches
• Depth: 3.75 inches
• Handle length: 6.75 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

The Competition

• All-Clad D5 Stainless Steel Saucepan: This five-ply pan performed beautifully, and if you're looking for a five-ply saucepan, it's well worth considering. However, it's heavier and more expensive, which kept us from naming it as a winner.
• Cuisinart Multiclad Pro Triple Ply Stainless 3-Quart Saucepan: The Cuisinart pan performed well, with even cooking and a cool handle on the pot and lid. But the lid was flat, which meant moisture clung to it for a while before randomly dropping back into the pot. The narrower and taller dimensions of the pan also made it more difficult to stir food.
• Material The Sauce Pot: We had high hopes for this five-ply saucepan with a built-in spout which made it easier to pour (if you're right-handed). It had a comfortable handle that was thicker and rounder, making it easier to hold and pick up. However, we noticed there were some hot spots in the pan, with the rice browning and sticking in certain parts. The rice was also difficult to scrub off, making it more challenging to clean than other pots we tested.
• AVACRAFT Stainless Steel Saucepan with Glass Lid: This pan had some hot spots due to an uneven bottom that rose slightly in the middle, with rice and butter browning around the edges faster than in the center. 
• Farberware 3-Quart Classic Traditions Saucepan with Glass Lid: The Farberware saucepan was the only pan we tested that was not tri-ply or five-ply. It was significantly lighter in weight than the other pans, with a resin handle and lid knob. Because the pan was so thin, it performed poorly, with overcooked rice on the bottom and undercooked rice on top, and butter that almost burned in some spots and didn’t brown properly in others.
• Duxtop Whole-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless Steel 3-Quart Saucepan with Lid: The Duxtop saucepan performed well through all the tests, with even heating and cooking, nice responsiveness, and a comfortable cool handle. However, the handle placement is slightly lower on the body, which meant the inner rivet heads were also lower. Food got caught in the rivets, making clean-up more challenging.

FAQs

What is a saucepan? 

A saucepan has a flat bottom with straight sides and a long handle. It comes in a variety of sizes, the most common being two to four quarts, though you can get smaller saucepans as well. A saucepan is smaller than a Dutch oven or stockpot, and narrower and taller than a frying or sauté pan. Saucepans differ from sauciers in that they're more cylindrical than rounded.

What does a saucepan look like? 

A saucepan is a cylindrical pan with a flat bottom and straight sides. Saucepans have long handles and often come with tight-fitting lids.

What is a nonreactive saucepan? 

Saucepans and cookware come in a variety of different materials. Some materials, like aluminum, copper, or cast iron, will react with acidic ingredients like lemon juice or tomatoes. When reactive material is used to cook these acidic ingredients, metal can actually migrate into the food, damaging the pan itself and giving your food a metallic taste. Nonreactive saucepans use stainless steel, enamel, or nonstick coatings on the inside of their pan to make them safe and durable for cooking all food, regardless of acidity. However, the type you choose must be free of PFAS to ensure you're using non-toxic cookware.

What is a saucepan used for? 

Saucepans are versatile pieces of cookware, suitable for cooking anything that involves liquid. Boil some water and use the saucepan to blanch vegetables or poach items like eggs. Use a saucepan to cook rice, quinoa, or pasta, as the flat-bottomed surface heats up the water quickly on the stovetop. They are also great for reheating leftovers, including soups and stews.

What is a large saucepan? 

A larger saucepan is three to four quarts in size. Bigger than that, and we just recommend getting a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven.

Why We're the Experts

• Irvin Lin is a food blogger and writer who has written many equipment reviews for Serious Eats, including stand mixers and bamboo steamers.
• He is the author of the cookbook Marbled, Swirled, and Layered.
• Grace Kelly is the commerce editor for Serious Eats. She tested the Goldilocks 3-quart saucepan (as part of the 7-piece set) for over three months, evaluating its durability, performance, and how easy it was to clean.
• Ashlee Redger is a contributing writer who has been reviewing products for Serious Eats for almost two years. She tested small saucepans, naming the offering from Made In as the top pick.
• For this review, we tested ten saucepans, evaluating their heat responsiveness, handle design, cleanup, and more. We added our winning small saucepan as a top pick as well.