Best saucepans to buy in 2026 – top saucepans for all hob types

A good quality saucepan is a kitchen essential. Whether you’re warming baked beans, boiling potatoes for creamy mash, making jam, or melting chocolate in a bain-marie, these humble little pans are not only versatile but essential.

If you’re like us and you love high-quality cookware, or even if you’re simply being practical as your old saucepan is on its last legs, there are myriad questions you need to ask yourself before you buy. How much space do you have? What size do you need? What hob type do you have?

We’d advise choosing the best saucepan you can afford as you’ll likely be using it daily and thin, cheap saucepans are not built to last. If you’re looking for a whole new collection, head over to our best pan sets review. We’ve tested a whole host of pans, including the best frying pans, best sauté pans, best casserole dishes and many more.

The latest additions were tested and reviewed by Anna Lawson.

Best saucepans at a glance

• Best premium non-stick saucepan: Smeg ‘50’s Style’ Saucepan (SPF2012EGM50), £129
• Best non-stick saucepan: Ninja Foodi Zerostick 16cm saucepan, £34.99
• Best stainless-steel saucepan: Samuel Groves stainless steel tri-ply saucepan, £112.50
• Best hybrid saucepan: Circulon C Series SteelShield saucepan, from £71.99
• Best investment saucepan: Le Creuset 3-ply stainless-steel saucepan, from £169
• Best saucepan for students: Judge Vista draining saucepan, £50
• Best microwave-safe saucepan: Kitchen Craft 900ml microwave saucepan, £13.50

How we test saucepans

I tested around 25 saucepans in total, narrowing the guide down to the seven strongest performers. All testing was carried out by Anna Lawson, a recipe writer and food journalist, who cooked a range of everyday dishes in each pan to assess performance across four key areas: cooking efficiency, build quality, balance and ease of storage.

• Porridge: This is one of the most likely foods to catch and stick, making it a reliable way to assess how well a pan’s surface performs and how easy it is to clean afterwards.
• Caramelising onions: Cooking onions gently over a long period revealed how well each pan distributed heat at lower temperatures and how responsive it was to adjustments. Pans that ran too hot caught the onions; uneven heat distribution showed up clearly.
• Boiling pasta: We timed how long each pan took to bring water to the boil and cooked pasta with the lid on to check for boiling over, a useful indicator of how well the pan handles sustained high heat.

We also assessed each pan for:

• Build quality and balance: I noted how each pan felt on the hob, whether it was stable, felt well weighted and gave a sense of durability that justified the price.
• Storage: I considered whether each pan was practical to store, including whether it stacked easily and how much cupboard space the lid required.
• Value: I weighed up whether the performance and build quality justified the price, particularly where pans sat at the premium end of the guide.

Best saucepans to buy in 2026

Smeg ‘50’s Style’ Saucepan (SPF2012EGM50)

Available from AO (£129), Smeg (£129.95)

Best premium non-stick saucepan

Pros:

• Exceptional non-stick performance
• Stylish design, with three colour options
• Dishwasher safe
• Clear lid with wide easy-to-grip handle

Cons:

• Only available in one size (20cm)
• Expensive
• Slow to bring water to the boil

Star rating: 4.5/5

Fans of Smeg’s cookware are often drawn to the iconic design and this 50s-style saucepan doesn’t disappoint in that regard. Available in three colours it’s the kind of pan you’d happily leave out on display. The clear lid with its wide stainless steel handle stays cool in use and is easy to grip, which is a small detail that makes a difference day to day.

The non-stick coating is the real standout. Onions softened and coloured evenly while gliding effortlessly around the pan, and porridge simmered without catching or sticking, which is a good test of even heat distribution. The pan also proved durable enough for everyday use, showing minimal wear after repeated washing and cooking.

The trade-off is speed. Bringing two litres of water to the boil took around 15 minutes, which was notably slower than other pans we tested. At this price it only comes in one size too.

Available from:

Ninja Foodi Zerostick 16cm saucepan

Available from Argos (£34.99)

Best non-stick saucepan

Sleek in appearance with an impressive non-stick coating, these Ninja pans thoroughly impressed us in our tests. They’re currently available in sizes 16cm and 20cm and are an absolute must-buy if you’re in the market for a new non-stick saucepan.

The handle is slim, making it comfortable to cook with, but be aware that it can get hot. For added versatility, the saucepan is oven safe to 260C and dishwasher-safe too.

Nothing stuck to this pan, it distributed heat evenly and we felt fully in control cooking with it. For a review of the full range, read our Ninja Foodi Zerostick saucepan set review.

Available from:

Samuel Groves stainless-steel tri-ply saucepan

Best stainless-steel saucepan

Handmade in England, this saucepan from Samuel Groves is expensive but an absolutely worthwhile investment piece. This versatile and beautifully designed saucepan is oven-safe up to 260C and is metal utensil-safe.

Although it’s an uncoated saucepan, nothing stuck in test. We found it easy to control and maintained heat well on both high and low temperatures. Although the lid rattled a little, the saucepan did not boil over when cooking pasta.

These pieces are built to last and come with Samuel Groves’ ‘pan for life’ scheme. For a review of the full range, read our Samuel Groves stainless steel tri-ply three-piece set review.

Circulon C Series SteelShield saucepan

Available from Circulon (from £71.99)

Best hybrid saucepan

You’ll notice our top two saucepans have two seemingly opposing qualities: one is non-stick, the other is uncoated. Both are desirable qualities in a saucepan and Circulon has managed to create a hybrid of the two. This saucepan cooks like non-stick but produces a stainless steel-like finish.

All in all, this saucepan cooked very well: it’s quick to come to temperature and cooks food gently and at a high-sear very well. Our one gripe with this pan is that it’s difficult to get foods super smooth as bits gather in the Circulon grooves at the base of the pan, so foods like custard have the potential to become lumpy.

But there are additional useful features, like the pans being oven-safe to 260C, as well as dishwasher-safe and metal utensil-safe. For a review of the full range, read our Circulon C Series Steel Shield three-piece pan set review.

Available from:

Le Creuset three-ply stainless steel saucepan

Available from Le Creuset (from £169)

Best investment saucepan

Combining good looks with second-to-none construction, this saucepan will be used in your kitchen for years to come. The triple-layer stainless steel ensures even, constant heat and the solid lid make cooking with less water possible, locking in steam and flavour.

Laser-etched measurements inside the pans and curved rims for no-spill pouring only made us love them more. The saucepan may be on the heavier side for some, but an extra ‘helper’ handle makes lifting easy, even when full.

For a review of the full range, read our Le Creuset three-ply stainless steel saucepan set review.

Available from:

Judge Vista draining saucepan

Available from Judge (£50)

Best saucepan for students

No student should start uni without a new saucepan. The Judge Vista saucepan comes with an inbuilt strainer, so you can take colander off the to-buy list. Additional useful features include pouring lips either side of the pan and volume markings inside.

This saucepan excels at basic cooking tasks that will be student staples, such as heating through sauces and cooking pasta. But if you’re a budding chef, you might need something more versatile as this pan is only oven safe to 150C and we did notice some sticking.

For a review of the full range, read our Judge Vista 3-piece saucepan set review.

Available from:

Kitchen Craft 900ml microwave saucepan

Available from Amazon (£13.50)

Best microwave-safe saucepan

Who says that you can’t use pans in the microwave? If you like to grab the first thing you can to warm up baked beans or that handful of frozen peas this may become your new favourite gadget!

It’s made from stain-resistant plastic (so hopefully won’t go bright orange the first time you cook carrots in it) and has the handy design of dual pouring spouts, which is a bonus for left handers. The two side vents open to cook in the microwave and close to store food in the refrigerator.

We bet that once you start using one of these you’ll be amazed at how much more efficiently your microwave works – it’s a great way of cooking frozen spinach for one.

Available from:

How to choose the best saucepan

For lots of detailed buying advice, head to our best pan sets review to find all the best information about materials, weight, hob suitability, oven proofing and cleaning preferences.

As a general rule of thumb, your saucepan should be ‘just right’ weight-wise; not too heavy that it causes your arm to strain, but equally not so light that it’s easily knocked or feels cheap.

If you like to put your pans in the oven to finish cooking, choose one that’s oven-safe to a high temperature – we’d suggest anything over 180C. Although we’d generally recommend always hand-washing your pans, life is busy for many of us, so dishwasher-safe pans are a real plus.

Many of the brands on this list offer saucepans in a range of sizes. Decide which size you need before you buy.

• 14cm: Great for heating up small quantities, like single servings of milk or heating through small sauce garnishes.
• 16cm: Still for small quantities, good for single soups or baked beans.
• 18cm: For two portions of pasta, a small portion of pasta sauce, also a good size for using a bain-marie for hollandaise or melting chocolate.
• 20cm: Ideal for three or four portions of pasta sauce, great for family-sized portions.
• 22cm and above: Here, you’re moving into stockpot territory.

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