The 6 Best Saucepans of 2025 | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Antara Sinha and Lesley Stockton

We’ve expanded this guide to include 2-, 3-, and 4-quart saucepans.

Regardless of a cook’s skill level, you’d be hard-pressed to find a piece of equipment that’s in heavier rotation than a saucepan. From the late-night mundane (boiling a quick pot of noodles) to the holiday-level ambitious (whipping up crackly caramel for croquembouche), a reliable saucepan gets you there.

Although there is no dearth of options, an excellent saucepan can be tough to find. We sought out models in the most useful sizes that are durable, heat evenly, are easy to clean, and have handles that are safe and comfortable to use.

We tested dozens of saucepans in a range of sizes, and the Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 2-Quart, 3-Quart, and 4-Quart Covered Sauce Pans are our top picks. They check all of the boxes and are an exceptional value, outperforming many of the pricier models that we tried.

This fully clad saucepan is ideal for small-batch cooking, and the high walls prevent splatters.

This multipurpose saucepan has a handle that stays cool to the touch, and it’s the ideal size for cooking a variety of foods.

A useful helper handle made this large saucepan easy to lift and maneuver.

This all-purpose saucier works for advanced and basic cooking tasks.

Reliable and durable, this medium saucepan is a versatile workhorse.

This large saucepan is long-lasting and the perfect size for simmering soup or steaming vegetables.

As with most cookware, we recommend tri-ply (aluminum sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel) for its even heating and durability.

Nonstick coatings, even if treated gently, wear off in a few years, forcing you to replace your pan frequently.

We wanted curves that allow for easy access to all your ingredients while whisking, stirring, and cleaning.

We looked for designs that made lifting and pouring easy, so you’re not losing your béchamel to the countertop.

This fully clad saucepan is ideal for small-batch cooking, and the high walls prevent splatters.

Tramontina’s Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel Covered Sauce Pans were the most comfortable pots to lift, pour from, maneuver, and clean. We found the 2-quart size best for cooking small batches of food, like a few hard-boiled eggs, stovetop hot chocolate, or rice or oatmeal for one. The saucepan’s high walls prevent splatters and allow you to comfortably rest a wooden spoon in the pot without it tipping over—a perk compared with the shallower small pans we tested.

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This multipurpose saucepan has a handle that stays cool to the touch, and it’s the ideal size for cooking a variety of foods.

Tramontina’s Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 3-Quart Covered Sauce Pan was one of the easiest to maneuver compared with others this size. While the Mauviel and de Buyer pans we tested required two hands and a dishrag to lift, this model’s handle stayed cool to the touch and was noticeably lighter. This size is the Goldilocks ideal—it’s the one we’d reach for to cook the largest variety of foods, be it short pasta, steamed vegetables, fluffy grains, or a slow-simmering sauce. The 2- and 3-quart saucepans are both part of the cookware set that we recommend.

A useful helper handle made this large saucepan easy to lift and maneuver.

We would choose the Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 4-Quart Covered Sauce Pan for boiling spaghetti or cooking potatoes, and it’s also roomy enough to puree soups directly in the pot. The sturdy helper handle sets this saucepan apart from many other, more expensive 4-quart saucepans we tested. Both of the handles stayed cool after long periods on a hot stove, and the assist made lifting the pot safer and easier, even when full of hot liquid.

This all-purpose saucier works for advanced and basic cooking tasks.

The All-Clad D3 Curated 2.5-Quart Saucier with Lid is a worthwhile investment if you want a versatile small saucepan for making everything from sauces to pastry cream to boiling water. Because of the saucier’s wide, rounded shape, you can reach every bit of food when you’re stirring, and it reduces liquids more quickly than a straight-walled pan.

Reliable and durable, this medium saucepan is a versatile workhorse.

All-Clad’s D3 Stainless Everyday 3-Ply 3-Quart Sauce Pan with Lid has a long handle that stays cool, making lifting and moving easy even after cooking over high heat. A flared lip around the rim helps liquids pour smoothly from the pan. The straight walls with sloping corners make it easy for utensils to get into every crevice. Though they’re expensive, All-Clad saucepans are high-quality, particularly easy to clean, and can last a lifetime. We’ve used them in our test kitchen for years.

This large saucepan is long-lasting and the perfect size for simmering soup or steaming vegetables.

The All-Clad D3 Stainless 3-Ply 4-Quart Sauce Pan with Lid has all of the features we love in our 3-quart upgrade pick, plus a comfortable helper handle that is essential for maneuvering a large, heavy pot—especially when it’s full. We love that the lids for the medium and large pans are interchangeable, so no time is wasted rooting around in your cupboard for the right one.

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I’m an associate staff writer covering cooking and kitchen gear at Wirecutter. I have spent over seven years in and around professional test kitchens working with chefs, professional recipe developers, and cooking experts. For this guide:

A saucepan is one piece of equipment that you should be able to find in even the most minimally stocked kitchen. If your current saucepan scorches foods easily or is full of nicks and dings, it may be time to upgrade. You should also switch to a stainless steel, fully clad pan if you’ve been using a nonstick saucepan. Nonstick coating wears out over time, and though it’s useful for cooking delicate items like eggs, you don’t need it for most things you’d make in a saucepan.

We recommend the following sizes for everyday cooking: A small, 2-quart saucepan is useful for small tasks, like boiling a few eggs or melting butter. We find a 3-quart saucepan to be most versatile. It’s great for most cooking tasks, whether you’re whisking together sauces or custards, making caramel, cooking grains, or steaming vegetables. A large, 4-quart saucepan is the size we would reach for when making soups or boiling pasta.

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Most saucepans can get the job done. But we found through our research and testing that a few features make an exceptional, especially durable, and well-performing saucepan.

Fully clad pans have an aluminum core that extends up the sides, so they heat more evenly throughout than pans with encapsulated bottoms, which have only an aluminum disk in their base.

Other multi-ply pans, like five- or seven-ply, are more expensive than tri-ply but don’t always heat more evenly. They’re also heavier and take longer to heat up, so we generally avoided them.

Other saucepans made from aluminum or anodized aluminum may be cheaper than tri-ply, but we don’t recommend them. Aluminum is reactive to acidic foods like tomatoes and can leave behind a metallic taste. Although anodized aluminum isn’t reactive, it has a dark color that makes it difficult to see when foods are browning.

We put each saucepan through several cooking, handling, and cleaning tests. We also noted the weight and the length of the handle.

We timed how long it took for a full pot of water to come to a boil. We then tested how easy and safe it was to move and lift the pot and pour out the boiling water. We noted whether the handle was too hot to hold, whether you needed to use two hands, and whether a dish towel or pot holder was needed.

We tested each pot by making chocolate pudding with three utensils: a metal whisk, a wooden spoon, and a silicone spatula. We tested to see how easy it was to maneuver a whisk into the corners of each pan to mix cornstarch, sugar, and cocoa powder.

We used a wooden spoon to test stirring and scraping around the walls and across the bottom as the pudding simmered and became more viscous, noting any spots that scorched or heated unevenly. We then emptied the warm pudding into containers to assess how cleanly each pan poured, how ergonomically sound it was to tip the pot using one hand, and how effectively a silicone spatula scooped around the edges.

Once the pot cooled to room temperature, we hand-washed it, noting any nooks and crannies that were hard to get into with a sponge. (We do not recommend cleaning tri-ply fully clad stainless steel cookware in the dishwasher. Temperature fluctuations can cause warping, and harsh detergents can cause corrosion over time. Hand-washing your stainless steel cookware will ensure it’s gleaming and long-lasting.)

This fully clad saucepan is ideal for small-batch cooking, and the high walls prevent splatters.

The Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 2-Quart Covered Sauce Pan performed exceptionally well in our heating and cooking tests, and it’s just the right size for little tasks like boiling a few eggs, reheating soup, or making oatmeal.

While other small saucepans we tested got uncomfortably hot to pour from after boiling a quart of water, the handle of the 2-quart Tramontina saucepan stayed cool to the touch. When making chocolate pudding, the milk came to a boil evenly across the bottom and walls of the pot, with no signs of hot spots. It was easy to reach all the way into the corners with a whisk, spoon, and spatula.

All the Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply cookware is durable. It’s covered by a lifetime warranty, and we found these pots showed less wear from scrubbing than some others we tested (a Mauviel saucepan, for example, garnered unsightly scuff marks on its lid following some light scrubbing).

We’ve recommended this cookware line for years, not just in this guide but also in our guides to skillets and cookware sets, and the pieces have held up well in our test kitchen.

Like all tri-ply cookware, these pans work on induction. They’re also oven-safe up to 500 °F.

The 2-quart pot has high walls. These prevented splatters, and we were able to rest a wooden spoon inside without it tipping over—a perk compared with some of the shallower small pans we tested such as the 2-quart American Kitchen saucepan.

It’s light—but not too light. Some of the other saucepans we tested in this size, such as the IKEA 365+ 2-quart saucepan and the Mauviel M’Urban 4 Tri-Ply Sauce Pan, weighed less than 2 pounds, which made them feel flimsy and unstable when stirring in them on the stove. At 2 pounds, the 2-quart Tramontina saucepan is heavy enough to feel stable while handling a wide range of cooking tasks, like whisking melted butter and stirring oatmeal. But it was still light enough to comfortably lift and pour from with one hand.

It’s easy to clean. The smooth construction of the pot and handle means it has very few crevices for food to get stuck. Most messes can be cleaned with just a wipe or two of a soapy sponge and warm water. The lack of decorative ridges, bolts, and engravings made it especially straightforward to clean.

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This multipurpose saucepan has a handle that stays cool to the touch, and it’s the ideal size for cooking a variety of foods.

If you want a saucepan that you can reach for on the daily for any number of cooking tasks, the Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 3-Quart Covered Sauce Pan is the one. It’s big enough for making sauces and boiling potatoes, but small enough to handle single-serve cooking such as boxed mac and cheese or instant noodles.

It’s ergonomic and easy to maneuver. The real draws of the Tramontina Signature saucepans are the ergonomics and thoughtful design, when compared with many of the other brands we tested. The 3-quart saucepan was easy to lift and pour from with one hand—even when full of 1.5 liters of boiling water.

Other saucepans we tested, such as models from Mauviel and American Kitchen, had handles with ornamental but difficult-to-grip grooves or sharp edges that would dig into your hand. The no-frills, smooth shape of the Tramontina handle is comfortable and secure.

It heats evenly. Each of the Tramontina Signature saucepans we tested heated evenly and reliably, which is especially valuable in the larger sizes where you might be sautéing ingredients or simmering a sauce. In our chocolate pudding test, we didn’t notice any hot spots across the bottom or scalding along the walls of the pan, and the bottom and sides of the pans heated quickly and evenly.

While other saucepans had much more noticeable hot spots near the handle (and some models, like the IKEA 365+, quickly scalded the milk on the walls, causing unsightly scorch marks), all three of the Tramontina Signature pans brought the pudding mixture to a gentle, easy-to-control simmer.

Whisking and stirring is a breeze. A gradually sloping wall made it easy for all three utensils (a metal whisk, a wooden spoon, and a silicone spatula) to scrape, scoop, beat, and stir without struggling to reach any corners. This was a major issue in some of the other pans we tested, such as options from Hestan and American Kitchen, which left clumps of dry, unincorporated ingredients.

A useful helper handle made this large saucepan easy to lift and maneuver.

For a large saucepan that can handle tasks like simmering soups and boiling pasta, the Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel 4-Quart Covered Sauce Pan is our pick. It stood out for its exceptional ergonomics—while other saucepans we tested in this size felt unsafe when handling sloshing, boiling water or warm pudding, the 4-quart Tramontina pan stood out in how easy it was to maneuver from stove to counter to sink.

It has a stellar helper handle. In our testing of saucepans over 3 quarts, we found that helper handles are essential to lifting, maneuvering, cleaning, and pouring from the pot safely. The 4-quart Tramontina saucepan had the roomiest, most comfortable assist handle that we tested. It stayed cool to the touch, and its large shape kept our knuckles safe from touching the hot walls of the pot.

It’s cost-efficient. It performed just as well—and even outperformed—some of the significantly more expensive large saucepans we tested. The Mauviel M’Urban 4 saucepan, for example, had an uncomfortably thin handle that made it difficult to maneuver, and the American Kitchen saucepan had extremely straight walls that made it frustrating to stir and whisk while making pudding.

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The Tramontina Signature saucepans don’t have a bent lip, which can help direct liquids when pouring and prevent them from splashing out of a pan. But we were still able to pour liquids cleanly and easily out of each pan, so it’s not a huge deal.

The Tramontina Signature line has a beautiful mirror-like shine, but it’s susceptible to minor water spots and smudging after hand-washing and handling. This doesn’t impact how well it performs (and some careful buffing with a dry cloth gets most of it out), so this issue is minor.

When testing for our guides to cookware and skillets, we’ve also found that the Tramontina Signature cookware can discolor slightly (developing a golden hue) with use at high temperatures. This is common with a lot of tri-ply cookware (though our All-Clad picks don’t discolor in the same way), and it doesn’t affect the performance.

This all-purpose saucier works for advanced and basic cooking tasks.

We tried out three saucier-shaped pans in the most recent round of testing, and the All-Clad D3 Curated 2.5-Quart Saucier with Lid was the best by a mile. In comparison, the Misen 3-Quart Stainless Steel Saucier, a five-ply pan, was too heavy for simple tasks like lifting with one hand, even when empty. And the IKEA Sensuell heated unevenly and had features that were more flash than substance: a silicone handle that got too hot to the touch, and a glass window that instantly fogged up.

The All-Clad D3 Curated 2.5-Quart Saucier is a multipurpose pan that’s a slightly updated version of what we’ve used in our test kitchen for years.

It can do everything a small saucepan can do, and more. The shape of the All-Clad D3 saucier makes it one of the most versatile pans we’ve tested. The gentle sloping sides allow a whisk or a wooden spoon to make contact with all the contents of the pot, without leaving anything to overcook in a crevice.

The wider, shallower shape allows for better evaporation than a narrower saucepan, which makes it more effective at reducing liquids. These features help when tackling more advanced recipes that require constant stirring, like risotto, béchamel, or pâte à choux.

The design gives it an edge. Unlike the 2-quart version of the All-Clad saucier (which otherwise performs similarly), the 2.5-quart size has a bent lip for easy, splatter-free pouring. The larger capacity also offers more headroom for vigorous whisking and stirring, techniques that are required for making cooked custards or beurre blanc.

It’s easy to clean and maneuver. The saucier shape also made it one of the easiest saucepans to clean, with a sponge smoothly swiping around the bowl of the pot without any corners to get into. Its smooth, curved handle (which is different than the classic All-Clad stick handle) was especially comfortable to lift and move around on the range with one hand.

We recommend All-Clad’s D3 cookware in our guides to skillets and cookware sets too; we have found it particularly easy to get spotlessly clean, even when coated with burned-on oil.

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Reliable and durable, this medium saucepan is a versatile workhorse.

Of the higher-end, medium-size saucepans we tested, the All-Clad D3 Stainless Everyday 3-Ply 3-Quart Sauce Pan with Lid was our favorite. It was exceptionally easy to whisk, scoop, and stir around its gently curved walls, which means no bits of cocoa powder or sugar were left to scald or burn, and there were no lumps in our chocolate pudding test.

A long handle that is angled away from the flame keeps it cool to the touch during cooking. And the pan heated evenly, bringing milk to a boil without any hot spots along the walls of the pan.

Though it’s expensive, All-Clad’s high-quality cookware is worth the price if you want something that will last a lifetime.

It’s easy to clean. Smooth, sloped walls made wiping down these saucepans a cinch. Though All-Clad has some bulky construction around the handle with large bolts and screws, it was easy enough to clean, and we didn’t find that it trapped any food or grime.

And again, we’ve found it’s easier to remove really tough stains from All-Clad than from a lot of the other tri-ply cookware we’ve tested.

It has tall walls. High walls protect you from splatters and hot splashes while stirring and cooking, while smooth sloping corners make it easy for utensils to get into the corners. It’s versatile enough for cooking that involves vigorous stirring, as well as tasks as straightforward as bringing a pot of water to a roiling boil.

This large saucepan is long-lasting and the perfect size for simmering soup or steaming vegetables.

Of the higher-end, large saucepans we tested, the All-Clad D3 Stainless 3-Ply 4-Quart Sauce Pan with Lid outperformed the rest. Its tall walls kept our workspace splatter-free when bringing our chocolate pudding mixture to a boil. Reaching into the sides and corners of the pot was easy with every utensil that we used. And while some of the models from Hestan and Mauviel had thinner, sharper handles, we found that the long, wide handles of the 4-quart All-Clad D3 saucepan stood out for their comfort, especially in this larger, heavier size.

It has snug, interchangeable lids. Unlike with many other brands we tested, the lids of the 3- and 4-quart All-Clad saucepans are interchangeable—a nice perk if you have multiple All-Clad pans and don’t need to rummage looking for the right one. They’re light and fit snugly over the rim of the pot.

It has a sturdy helper handle. In our testing, we found that a helper handle was an essential feature for large saucepans over 3 quarts. The saucepans from brands such as Mauviel and de Buyer didn’t have one, but the 4-quart All-Clad saucepan does, which is crucial when lifting a hot, full pot, or when pouring from the pan. Even though it’s one of the heavier large saucepans we tested, the sturdy helper handle made it feel secure and safe to lift.

It’s top quality. The All-Clad saucepans are more expensive than options from Tramontina due to their hardy, durable construction. If you’re set on purchasing from a legacy cookware brand, All-Clad is the most reliable, practical, and utility-focused of the higher-end brands we tested, including Mauviel and Hestan. The All-Clad saucier and saucepans are oven safe up to 600 °F, and like all tri-ply pans, they work on an induction burner. They come with a limited lifetime warranty. We have used them in our test kitchen for years.

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This is not a comprehensive list of everything we tested in previous iterations of this guide, just what’s still available.

The Farberware Classic 2-Quart Saucepan with Lid is a fine pan to boil water in. Because it isn’t fully clad, it doesn’t heat as evenly as our pick from Tramontina, and it may scorch your food. We’ve also found that the handle loosens over time.

The Cuisinart MultiClad Pro Stainless Steel 2-Quart Saucepan with Cover heated about as evenly as the 2-quart Tramontina Signature saucepan, but it’s less comfortable to hold. And we have concerns about the quality and durability of this pan because we saw a skillet from the same line warp during our testing of cookware sets.

We like the idea of the contoured handle of the Made In 3-Quart Saucier, but the finger rest seems dangerously close to the body of the pan. Though it’s less expensive than the All-Clad saucier we recommend, it’s made from five-ply stainless steel, which makes it heavier and slower to heat up than tri-ply pans.

We know, the Great Jones Saucy is beautiful. It works fine, and we like the measurements etched inside the pan, but we found the loop-shaped handle uncomfortable to hold, and the pouring spout only works if you’re right-handed.

The Le Creuset 2-Quart Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Saucepan with Lid is too expensive for a regular saucepan; for the price, we prefer the 2.5-quart All-Clad saucier.

We tested the Mauviel M’Urban Tri-Ply Sauce Pan With Lid in three sizes: 1.8-quart, 2.6-quart, and 3.4-quart. The handles tended to get uncomfortably hot, the tall, straight walls were difficult to whisk in, and the large size did not have a helper handle.

The wide, chunky handles of the 2-quart and the 2.64-quart de Buyer Alchimy 3-Ply Stainless Steel Saucepans were too hot to grasp after boiling water. The larger pan did not have a helper handle, and you have to buy the lids separately.

The American Kitchen Stainless Steel Saucepans, in 2-quart, 3-quart, and 4-quart sizes, had straight walls that made getting into the corners with a whisk and a wooden spoon difficult, leaving clumps of unincorporated dry ingredients in our chocolate pudding.

The 3-quart Caraway Saucepan was one of the three five-ply models we tested. The lid was extremely heavy, and the pan, while considerably more expensive than our top pick, was not more effective in our tests.

The Misen 3-Quart Stainless Steel Saucier, another five-ply saucepan we tested, has a smooth, bowl-like shape that was a delight to whisk and stir in. It was also the heaviest medium saucepan we tested, which made it difficult to handle, clean, and pour from using one hand.

We also tested the 2.5-quart All-Clad G5 Graphite Core Stainless Steel 5-Ply Saucier. Although it was impressively light for a five-ply pan, it did not perform better than our saucier pick to justify its hefty price.

The 3-quart Hestan Professional Clad Stainless Steel Pan was one of the most expensive pans we tested. The straight walls made whisking, stirring, and scraping a challenge, especially when mixing together dry and wet ingredients. Its short, thin handles didn’t feel comfortable or secure.

We tested two IKEA saucepans: the 2-quart 365+ Saucepan, and the 2.5-quart Sensuell Saucepan. Both performed poorly in our tests. The 365+ pan, the only non-clad pot we tested, had thin walls that heated rapidly and unevenly. The glass window in the metal lid fogged up immediately, and the silicone-wrapped handle got too hot to touch. It was also the heaviest small saucepan we tested.

This article was edited by Gabriella Gershenson and Marguerite Preston.

Antara Sinha

Antara Sinha is an associate staff writer reporting on cooking and kitchen gear at Wirecutter. She was previously at Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, and Cooking Light, and she has over seven years of experience writing about food, drink, and culture. She considers herself an ice cream connoisseur and believes the Chipwich to be a perfect food.

Lesley Stockton

Lesley Stockton is a senior staff writer reporting on all things cooking and entertaining for Wirecutter. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd.

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