This Saucepan Will Be the Most-Used Item in Your Kitchen

A quality saucepan is a kitchen essential. Thanks to some truly straightforward naming, you know it’s good for sauce, but these do-it-all pans are also great for reheating, boiling, simmering, and steeping. Whether you want to make perfect hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, cook fluffy white rice for dinner or create pomegranate syrup for a fancy cocktail hour, you’ll reach for a saucepan. Plus, if you learn to wash the right way, you can extend the life of your pan.

How we test saucepans

The Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab has tested more than 40 saucepans over the years. Each gets a “boil test” and a “scorch test.” The boil test determines how quickly the pan heats up and how well it maintains temperature. The scorch test indicates how evenly the saucepan cooks by seeing what sticks to the bottom. We also use this stuck-on mess to assess how easy it is to clean the pan. The pans that came out on top made our list of the best saucepans.

Our recommendations include long-time favorites as well as new models. Though we haven't tested them all formally in the Lab, they come from Lab-trusted brands and years of experience testing kitchen appliances:

• Best Overall Saucepan: All-Clad NS1 Nonstick Induction Saucepan
• Best Value Saucepan: Utopia Kitchen Nonstick Saucepan
• Best-Selling Saucepan on Amazon: Farberware Classic Stainless Steel Covered Saucepan
• Best Nonstick Saucepan: Williams-Sonoma Professional Nonstick Saucepan with Lid
• Best Ceramic Saucepan: Scanpan Classic Covered Saucepan
• Best Stainless Steel Saucepan: Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad Covered Stainless Steel Sauce Pan
• Best Copper Saucepan: Anolon Nouvelle Copper Luxe Nonstick Hard-Anodized Straining Saucepan
• Best Enamel Cast Iron Saucepan: Le Creuset Signature Saucepan
• Easiest-to-Use Saucepan: Breville Thermal Pro Clad Stainless Steel Covered Saucepan
• Best Saucier-Style Saucepan: Misen Saucier