Difference Wiki

Pan vs. Saucepan: What's the Difference?

Edited by Huma Saeed || By Sawaira Riaz || Updated on September 29, 2023
A pan is a broad, flat-bottomed cooking vessel often used for frying or sautéing. A saucepan is a specific type of pan with high sides and a long handle, typically used for simmering or boiling liquids.

Key Differences

A pan serves as a versatile kitchen tool with a flat bottom, designed for tasks like frying, sautéing, and more. A saucepan, however, has higher sides and is often equipped with a lid, which makes it ideal for simmering and boiling.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
When you think of a pan, it's likely the image of a flat skillet comes to mind. Conversely, a saucepan often brings to mind a vessel that looks more like a pot than a pan, with a distinct function of containing liquids.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
In terms of shape, a pan is generally more shallow, allowing for the easy flipping or turning of food items. A saucepan, with its deeper structure, is designed for activities that involve liquids, such as making sauces or cooking pasta.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
While many people use the word pan to colloquially refer to any sort of cooking vessel, a saucepan is a more specialized term that denotes a specific function and form.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023
A pan may or may not come with a lid, as its primary function doesn't necessarily require one. However, a saucepan often includes a lid to aid in simmering, boiling, or reducing liquids more effectively.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Comparison Chart

Definition

Broad cooking vessel
High-sided pan
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Typical Use

Frying, sautéing
Simmering, boiling
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Shape

Generally shallow
Generally deep
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Lid

Optional
Usually included
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Specificity of Term

More generic
More specific
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Pan and Saucepan Definitions

Pan

Pan: A flat-bottomed cooking vessel.
I fried the eggs in a pan.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

Saucepan

Usually comes with a lid.
I covered the saucepan with its matching lid.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

Pan

Pan: May or may not have a lid.
The pan didn't have a lid, so I used aluminum foil.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Saucepan

A deep cooking vessel with high sides.
I boiled the pasta in a saucepan.
Sara Rehman
Sep 17, 2023

Pan

Pan: Versatile kitchen tool.
From pancakes to stir-fries, the pan is incredibly versatile.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Saucepan

Primarily used for simmering or boiling.
I simmered the tomato sauce in a saucepan.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Pan

A shallow, wide, open container, usually of metal and without a lid, used for holding liquids, cooking, and other domestic purposes.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

Ideal for liquid-based cooking.
Making soup is easier in a saucepan.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Pan

An open metal dish used to separate gold, other precious metals, or gemstones from gravel or waste by washing.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

Often has a long handle for easy gripping.
The saucepan's long handle made it easy to move.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

Pan

Either of the receptacles on a balance or pair of scales.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

A deep cooking pan with a handle.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A vessel used for boiling and evaporating liquids.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

A deep cooking vessel with a handle and sometimes a lid; used for boiling, stewing and making sauces.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A basin or depression in the earth, often containing mud or water.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

To cook in a saucepan
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A natural or artificial basin used to obtain salt by evaporating brine.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

A small pan with a handle, in which sauce is prepared over a fire; a stewpan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Hardpan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Saucepan

A deep pan with a handle; used for stewing or boiling
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A freely floating piece of ice that has broken off a larger floe.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The small cavity in the lock of a flintlock used to hold powder.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(Music) A steel drum.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(Slang) The face.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(Informal) Severe criticism, especially a negative review
Gave the film a pan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Variant of paan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A pivoting movement of a movie camera.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Peroxyacetyl nitrate
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Greek Mythology The god of woods, fields, and flocks, having a human torso and head with a goat's legs, horns, and ears.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To wash (gravel, for example) in a pan to separate out gold, other precious metals, or gemstones.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To cook (food) in a pan
Panned the fish right after catching it.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(Informal) To criticize or review harshly.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To wash gravel, sand, or other sediment in a pan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To yield gold as a result of washing in a pan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To pivot a movie camera along a horizontal plane in order to follow an object or create a panoramic effect.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To pivot (a movie camera) in a specified direction.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A wide, flat receptacle used around the house, especially for cooking.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The contents of such a receptacle.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A cylindrical receptacle about as tall as it is wide, with one long handle, usually made of metal, used for cooking in the home.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(Ireland) A deep plastic receptacle, used for washing or food preparation; a basin.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A wide receptacle in which gold grains are separated from gravel by washing the contents with water.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A pond or lake, considered as the expanse of land upon which the water sits.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A dry lake or playa, especially a salt flat.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(South Africa) playa lake: a temporary pond or lake in a playa.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

: a flat artificial pond used for collecting minerals from evaporated water.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(geology) nodot=a: a hard substrate such as is formed in pans.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Syn of pipe: a channel for lava within a volcano; the cylindrical remains of such channels.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Strong adverse criticism.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A loaf of bread.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The chamber pot in a close stool; the base of a toilet, consisting of the bowl and its support.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(slang) A human face, a mug.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(roofing) The bottom flat part of a roofing panel that is between the ribs of the panel.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A closed vessel for boiling or evaporating as part of manufacture; a vacuum pan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(firearms) The part of a flintlock that holds the priming.
Flash in the pan
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the brainpan.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(figurative) The brain, seen as one's intellect.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(carpentry) A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(musical instrument) steelpan
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A part; a portion.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(fortifications) The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A leaf of gold or silver.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(transitive) To wash in a pan (of earth, sand etc. when searching for gold).
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(transitive) To disparage; to belittle; to put down; to harshly criticize, especially a work (book, movie, etc.)
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To turn out well; to be successful.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To beat one's opposition convincingly.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To turn horizontally.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To move the camera lens angle while continuing to expose the film, enabling a contiguous view and enrichment of context. In still-photography large-group portraits the film usually remains on a horizontal fixed plane as the lens and/or the film holder moves to expose the film laterally. The resulting image may extend a short distance laterally or as great as 360 degrees from the point where the film first began to be exposed.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To shift an image relative to the display window without changing the viewing scale.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(audio) To spread a sound signal into a new stereo or multichannel sound field, typically giving the impression that it is moving across the sound stage.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To join or fit together; to unite.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(informal) Pansexual or panromantic.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A part; a portion.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A leaf of gold or silver.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The betel leaf; also, the masticatory made of the betel leaf, etc. See Betel.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A shallow, open dish or vessel, usually of metal, employed for many domestic uses, as for setting milk for cream, for frying or baking food, etc.; also employed for various uses in manufacturing.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A closed vessel for boiling or evaporating. See Vacuum pan, under Vacuum.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The part of a flintlock which holds the priming.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the upper part of the head; the brainpan; the cranium.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The hard stratum of earth that lies below the soil. See Hard pan, under Hard.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

A natural basin, containing salt or fresh water, or mud.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To join or fit together; to unite.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To separate, as gold, from dirt or sand, by washing in a kind of pan.
We . . . witnessed the process of cleaning up and panning out, which is the last process of separating the pure gold from the fine dirt and black sand.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To criticise (a drama or literary work) harshly.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To yield gold in, or as in, the process of panning; - usually with out; as, the gravel panned out richly.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To turn out (profitably or unprofitably); to result; to develop; as, the investigation, or the speculation, panned out poorly.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

To scan (a movie camera), usu. in a horizontal direction, to obtain a panoramic effect; also, to move the camera so as to keep the subject in view.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

The god of shepherds, guardian of bees, and patron of fishing and hunting. He is usually represented as having the head and trunk of a man, with the legs, horns, and tail of a goat, and as playing on the shepherd's pipe (also called the pipes of Pan), which he is said to have invented.
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Cooking utensil consisting of a wide metal vessel
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

(Greek mythology) god of fields and woods and shepherds and flocks; represented as a man with goat's legs and horns and ears; identified with Roman Sylvanus or Faunus
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Shallow container made of metal
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Chimpanzees; more closely related to Australopithecus than to other pongids
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Make a sweeping movement;
The camera panned across the room
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Wash dirt in a pan to separate out the precious minerals
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Express a totally negative opinion of;
The critics panned the performance
Sawaira Riaz
Apr 30, 2023

Pan

Pan: Used for frying or sautéing.
The vegetables were sautéed in the pan.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Pan

Pan: Made from various materials like cast iron or non-stick.
I prefer using a cast-iron pan for better heat retention.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 17, 2023

FAQs

Can a pan be used for boiling?

While you can technically boil in a pan, a saucepan is generally more suitable for this task.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

What is a pan?

A pan is a broad, flat-bottomed cooking vessel often used for frying or sautéing.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

What is a pan primarily used for?

A pan is primarily used for frying, sautéing, and other high-heat, quick-cooking methods.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

What materials are saucepans made of?

Saucepan materials range from stainless steel to non-stick and even copper.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

What are the common uses of a saucepan?

A saucepan is commonly used for simmering, boiling, and making sauces.
Sara Rehman
Sep 17, 2023

Does every saucepan have a lid?

Most saucepans come with a lid, but it's not a strict requirement.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Is a saucepan a type of pan?

Yes, a saucepan is a specific type of pan designed for certain cooking tasks.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Can a pan have high sides?

While some pans have moderately high sides, they are usually not as deep as saucepans.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

Do I need both a pan and a saucepan?

Having both is beneficial for versatility, as each is optimized for different cooking tasks.
Harlon Moss
Sep 17, 2023

What materials are pans made of?

Pans can be made of various materials like cast iron, stainless steel, and non-stick coatings.
Aimie Carlson
Sep 17, 2023

What is a saucepan?

A saucepan is a deep, high-sided pan typically used for simmering or boiling liquids.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Can I fry in a saucepan?

It is possible but not ideal; a regular pan is better suited for frying.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023

Are pans and saucepans interchangeable?

They can be used for some overlapping tasks, but each has its specialized functions.
Sara Rehman
Sep 17, 2023

Is a saucepan deeper than a pan?

Yes, a saucepan generally has higher sides, making it deeper than most pans.
Janet White
Sep 17, 2023

Can a saucepan be flat-bottomed?

Most saucepans have a flat bottom but are distinguished by their high sides.
Sawaira Riaz
Sep 17, 2023
About Author
Written by
Sawaira Riaz
Sawaira is a dedicated content editor at difference.wiki, where she meticulously refines articles to ensure clarity and accuracy. With a keen eye for detail, she upholds the site's commitment to delivering insightful and precise content.
Edited by
Huma Saeed
Huma is a renowned researcher acclaimed for her innovative work in Difference Wiki. Her dedication has led to key breakthroughs, establishing her prominence in academia. Her contributions continually inspire and guide her field.

Trending Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

New Comparisons