10 Best Sauté Pans for the Home Cook 2021

1) Logastina Accademia 
26cm Sauté Pan

Summary:

Yes, I know, placing the most expensive product first is never a good look for a product reviewer. But let me redeem myself by telling you how phenomenal this company is.

Logastina is an Italian based cookware company that was formed in 1901. They've earned their spot on our healthy cookware list (created by food scientists) and besides surviving over a century full of economic uncertainty, Logastina is well known for a few things:

1) Using high quality materials (praised by chefs).

2) Creating the first stainless steel cookware set EVER! 

3) Surviving this long with prices that are far above their competitors.

When you buy Logastina, you're paying a high price for high quality. If you're an adamant home chef, we can't recommend them enough. If, however, you're looking for something a little cheaper, there are a good handful of sauté pans that will get 90% of your everyday cooking jobs done proficiently. Continue on down the list.

2) Sardel 4Qt Stainless Steel
Sauté Pan

Summary:

It's difficult to approach some of these reviews without sounding like a totally sleezy salesman. I've realized that sometimes the truth just sounds like a huge lie because of the seeming "exaggerations." My hope is that you don't solely trust my words, but conduct your own research. So this might sound a little over the top, but it's our truth...

Sardel sells the greatest stainless steel cookware available, and they do it for a reasonable price.

Again, don't take out word for it. Check the Sardel website and glance at the reviews. As of 10/5/2020, this 4 QT sauté pan has 116 reviews, every single one of which is 5 stars.

People were amazed with the packaging, the feel, and most importantly, the even heat distribution of this pan. Sardel also made it onto our healthiest cookware article because they create reliably- made stainless steel cookware. An indispensable quality for cooks who care (which we all should).

These pans are usually only up for pre-order. It seem their popularity has caused a mild backup in production. 

3) All-Clad E7853364 HA1 Hard Anodized Aluminum Sauté Pan

Summary:

The famous All-Clad reputation precedes itself. This pan is perfect for those who don't like the usually drastic angle of steeper sauté pans. It has a nice, progressive curve that keeps food from abruptly splashing against the sides. It also has great cleaning reviews. People continually talked about how easily food scraps came off.

There were a few complaints about the heavy body and the uncomfortable grip. These usually aren't deal breakers, but are important to some. 

4) Cooking Light Allure Nonstick
Deep-Cooker Sauté Pan

Summary:

Probably one of the only "nonstick" sauté pans we thoroughly enjoyed reviewing. This pan is cheap, has a ceramic (non-teflon coating) nonstick surface and distributes heat very effectively.

The most common complaint was the the nonstick feature. Based on the conflicting reviews, we're inclined to believe that people who had bad things to say about the nonstick feature did not use the pan as instructed (low-medium heat), or they used no oil at all. While nonstick companies will tell you that you don't need any oil, it's recommend to always use at least a little lubricant. 

Customers also loved the comfortable grip, sleek look and awesome price of the Cooking Light sauté pan. 

5) Cuisinart 733-30H Stainless
5.5QT Sauté Pan

Summary:

Maintaining a 4.7 / 5 star review after over 1400 Amazon reviews (as of 10/05/2020) is pretty spectacular. The vast majority of customers who bought this Cuisinart were very content with the price and even heat distribution. 

However, the most common customer complaints were the pan showing up with dings, warping over time, or having a slight lump in the middle. It should be noted, these complaints were VERY rare. I say "common complaints" to express to you that the complaints happened more than once. 

Overall, if quality is not of the utmost importance, and you're looking for a good price on a solid sauté pan, the Cuisinart would be our first point of interest.

6) Cooks Stainless Steel 5 Qt
Sauté Pan

Summary:

This pan had VERY similar reviews to the Cuisinart above. The VAST majority of the verified customers loved this sauté pan and recommended it highly. There were some rare complaints about sticking and warpage, but it seems to be conflicting with the consensus. 

We've never heard of this company, and so cannot comment on their reputation. We can tell you that the price is cheaper than just about any on the market and they somehow receive some of the most positive reviews we've seen.

It's always a gamble investing in cheaper equipment, but if budget is what you're looking for, the Cooks stainless sauté pan would be an educated risk worth taking. We'll let you be the judge.

7) Cuisinart Contour Stainless Steel 
5QT Sauté Pan

Summary:

Why'd we put two Cuisinart aluminum based, stainless steel pans on our review list?

Because this one has a tempered glass lid and the other has a stainless one. Simple as that.

Both have similar pros and cons. Everybody was happy with the price, heat distribution and ease of cleaning. Some people were upset with accumulate heat spots and warpage over time (most likely due to overly high heating, but maybe not).

8) Calphalon Classic Nonstick
 5QT Sauté Pan

Summary:

I know I know, the cons list is longer than the pros list. Why would we put this pan on the review?

The bottom line is, teflon nonstick pans have some inherent downsides that are important to mention. The plus side is that this sauté pan is nonstick as long as it's used correctly.

That is, low-medium heat ONLY, no dishwasher, no abrasive materials (metal usually), and no cooking sprays. These things can all compromise the integrity of the nonstick (teflon) layer. Higher temperatures can also leach PTFE gas bi-products into your food which, yes, sounds scary. It may be harmless. To be honest, there's a lot we (and the industry) don't know. Just something to keep in mind.

There were also some complaints of warpage. In spite of all the negatives, the reviews are mostly positive. People were generally happy with the way it performed as long as it was used as instructed.

9) Ozeri Stone Earth
Sauce Pan

Summary:

The extremely high reviews on this model couldn't be ignored. People were generally ecstatic with the extremely low price, and the overall heating capacity of this pan. With that being said, we gave it 4 stars because we really don't know much about the material being used. 

This pan claims to be APEO, GenX, PFBS, PFOS, and PFOA free, but then what nonstick material is being used? Ozeri says it's a, "stone derived coating from Germany", which is an extremely vague statement. This company can be using the safest nonstick coating available, but we have no facts to validate it. At this point, it's a big "we don't know."

Either way, the pan has received incredible feedback and we can't let our biases dictate what we put on our reviews. Customers liked this pan a lot. You deserve to know.

10) T-Fal C51782 Prograde Titanium 
Sauté Pan

Summary:

I spent the majority of my college years with a T-Fal frying pan. It was the easiest pan in the world to clean and it always cooked my meals proficiently. After over 6000 amazon reviews, T-Fal's three main sauce pans have sustained a 4.6 / 5 stars (as of 10/05/2020).

These pans have notoriously received praise for their crazy longevity (which is pretty rare for your average nonstick pan) That said, these pans do contain PTFE (not PTFO, cadmium or lead) which is still a chemical in question. This pan also has a center that rests higher than the outer corners. This will make oils accumulate on the side and not the middle (not a huge concern with simple cooking projects).