The 7 Essential Pots and Pans Every Cook Needs

So, you're ready to start outfitting your kitchen with the right gear. Where to start?

You could spend thousands of dollars on the best pots and pans in the world. I know, because I've easily spent that much in my lifetime and have worked in kitchens equipped with everything from top-of-the-line septuple-layered, copper-lined pans to the simplest, lightweight aluminum cookware from a restaurant supply store. You'd be surprised at the number of expensive pans that fare not much better than the cheap ones.

Here are the seven pots and pans that I turn to the most. The ones that hang by my stove and get used almost every day. A good cook never blames his tools, but outfit your kitchen with these, and you'll have absolutely no excuse.

Wherever applicable, I've included two versions: the money-is-no-object best, and a budget-minded alternative.

A Stainless Steel Skillet

Made In 12-Inch Stainless Steel Skillet

View On Amazon $129 View On Madeincookware.com $119

Tramontina 12-Inch Stainless Steel Skillet

View On Amazon $34 View On Home Depot $36 View On Tramontina.com

A large skillet is the true workhorse of the kitchen. It's perfect for rapidly browning large quantities of vegetables or meat. Pan-roasting a whole chicken? This is the pan of choice. Need to brown a pork tenderloin or a 3-rib beef roast? No problem. It's also excellent for braising and reducing sauces. It has a tight-fitting lid and is oven safe, which means you can brown your short ribs, add the liquid, cover, and braise in the oven, then reduce the sauce on the stovetop and serve all out of a single pan.

Why is tri-ply construction important? Stainless steel is heavy and can retain a lot of heat, but it's a slow conductor. Aluminum is lightweight (and retains less heat per unit volume), but transfers heat really fast. Combine the two in a single pan by sandwiching the aluminum in the center, and you've got a skillet that can retain heat for maximum browning and will distribute that heat evenly over its entire surface, eliminating hot and cold spots.

The best: When we tested stainless steel skillets, the Made In 12-Inch Stainless Steel Skillet came out on top for its responsiveness and even heating. the All-Clad D3 and Le Creuset skillets performed equally well, they're just more expensive.

On a budget: The Tramontina 12-Inch Stainless Steel Skillet is $50 and a strong pick. It has less cooking area than the Made In, but it's also cheaper.

A 10-Inch Cast Iron Skillet

Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

View On Amazon $39 View On Williams-Sonoma $15 View On Walmart $25

Lancaster No. 8 Cast Iron Skillet

View On Lancastercastiron.com

Any time you want intense heat that lasts and lasts, the cast iron skillet is your pan of choice. It excels at cooking pizzas, frying chicken, crisping bacon, giving golden-brown crusts on apple pies and cornbread, searing steaks, paddling troublemakers, looking really good in the kitchen, and being an all-around bada*s.

Contrary to what many people say, taking care of a cast iron pan is not all that difficult. All it requires is a bit of training, an ounce of loyalty, and a modicum of respect. Here's our complete guide on the subject.

A 10 to 11-inch model will give you plenty of space to work in, and won't be so heavy that it requires a forklift to move.

The best: If your grandmother had one, you're lucky. The rest of us can find old-fashioned Griswold or Wagners off of eBay. Look for models that are completely smooth from reputable buyers, and expect to pay upwards of $100 for a high-quality, well-seasoned skillet.

On a budget: the 10 1/4-inch Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet from Lodge. Despite its claim to being pre-seasoned, you'll still have to season it yourself before it achieves true non-stick qualities, but you can't beat the price. If you find a traditional cast iron skillet to be too heavy, this beautiful, lightweight model from Lancaster is also great.

A 10-Inch Non-Stick Skillet

T-fal Professional Total Nonstick Thermo-Spot Heat Indicator Fry Pan

View On Amazon $61 View On Walmart $30

Tramontina 10-Inch Professional Aluminum Nonstick Restaurant Fry Pan

View On Amazon $29 View On Walmart $29

Ok, so if your cast iron skillet is perfectly seasoned, it should be completely nonstick. But for the rest of us mortals, a non-stick coated pan is a useful tool to have on hand for guaranteed results with omelets, pancakes, frittatas, and the like—things that you don't want to get stuck to the pan halfway through a precarious flipping step.

Unlike with stainless skillets, a non-stick pan should never be heated up until it's smoking hot; The non-stick finish has a tendency to vaporize and can be harmful. What does this mean? Well, it means that you don't really need a super-thick pan designed for retaining heat. A pan that manages to distribute heat evenly with minimal weight is all you're looking for, and that means that aluminum is the ideal material. I like having one with a cover so that I can steam my fried eggs and omelets whenever I feel the urge to.

And we all know not to use metal utensils on non-stick surfaces, right?

The best: For nonstick, go with something cheap, as it'll have to be replaced every few years. In our tests, we liked the skillet from T-Fal, which performed well in our tests and is oven-safe up to 400°F. This one from Tramontina works well, too, and has a handle with a removable silicone grip.

A 3-Quart Saucier

Made In Stainless Clad Saucier

View On Amazon $159 View On Madeincookware.com $159

All-Clad 2-Quart D3 Stainless Steel Saucier with Lid

View On Williams-Sonoma $160 View On Sur La Table $160

Saucepans are nice, but I find the squared edges annoying - food gets caught in there, and it's hard to stir or whisk it out. A saucier can perform all of the same functions as a saucepan, with the added advantage of rounded edges that make whisking and combining ingredients a snap. A 3-quart size is just large enough to heat up enough soup to feed 4 to 6 people. It'll hold a couple bottles of wine, but is still a reasonable enough size that you can reduce those bottles down to a cup or two without having to switch out to a smaller pot.

If you like using the low-heat, low-water method of cooking pasta, this pot will do you as well. Cook the pasta, drain it, and add your sauce directly to the pot and heat to combine for no-mess, no-fuss cleanup. Oh, and it's a good friend to have for boiling and poaching eggs.

The best: After extensive testing, the Made In Stainless Clad Saucier came out on top. It's well-balanced and has a wide surface area for stirring. We also liked this 2-quart offering from All-Clad, if you're cooking for fewer people.

A 14-Inch Wok

Yosukata Carbon Steel Wok Pan

View On Amazon $60 View On Yosukata.com

Mammafong Pre-Seasoned Blue Carbon Steel Flat-Bottom Pow Wok

View On Amazon $88 View On Mammafong.com

Whether you stir-fry or not, a wok is one of the most versatile tools in the kitchen. It's perfect for indoor smoking, braising, and steaming. It's by far the best vessel for deep-frying; its wide shape and large volume make it easy to fit plenty of food in there with minimal contact and oil use, with virtually no danger of splattering the stove top with hot oil (or worse, overflowing).

You may have heard elsewhere that on Western stoves, a skillet is a better vessel for stir-frying. This is not true. When tasted side-by-side, a stir-fry that comes out of a wok tastes significantly better than one that comes out of a skillet due to its shape, material, and manner in which heat is transferred (a wok has a much larger hot area above and around the actual cooking surface, helping to produce that familiar smoky wok-hai flavor that is impossible to achieve with a flat skillet).

The best: We tested flat-bottomed woks and named the Yosukata Black Carbon Steel Wok our top pick. It's heat responsive, has a helper handle, and is easy to season. We also liked this wok from Mammafong, which had a deep, very responsive metal bowl.

An Enameled Dutch Oven

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron 5.5-Quart Round Dutch Oven

View On Amazon $285 View On Williams-Sonoma $260 View On Sur La Table $420

Staub 5.5-Quart Round Cocotte

View On Amazon $244 View On Williams-Sonoma $350 View On Sur La Table $400

Cuisinart Chef's Classic Enameled Cast Iron 5-Quart Round Covered Casserole

View On Amazon $100 View On Walmart $100 View On Home Depot $100

An enamel-coated cast iron Dutch oven is the ideal vessel for slow braises and soups. In the oven, thick walls and a heavy lid make for really great low-and-slow heat transfer meaning your stews and pot roasts will come out more tender and juicy with minimal evaporation during cooking. On the stovetop, tall, wide sides make for easy and splatter-free browning of large amounts of meat and vegetables, with plenty of heat retention.

If you opt out of buying a wok, a Dutch oven is also great for deep frying.

The best: The Le Creuset 5.5-quart Dutch oven is the benchmark for performance and styling. Large enough to fit a whole chicken (for the classic French poule-au-pot), it'll handle any heavy-duty task you throw at it with the greatest of ease. Ditto with the 5.5 Cocotte from Staub, another classic that will last a lifetime.

On a budget: The Cuisinart 5-Quart Chef's Classic Enameled Dutch Oven comes in at under $100. It performs very well, though it may not have the longevity of a Le Creuset.

A 16-Quart Stockpot

Tramontina 16-Quart Gourmet Stainless Steel Covered Stock Pot

View On Amazon $110 View On Home Depot $110 View On Wayfair $81

Every kitchen should have at least one big-a*s pot for big-a*s jobs. Save your chicken and meat scraps and whip this big boy out once a month to make a supply of stock (your cooking will thank you). Need to boil that whole country ham or make enough pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes to last you through the winter? You'll need a really big pot.

Large enough to cook at least 4 to 5 pounds of pasta, it'll also solve all of your crowd-feeding problems, making entertaining a snap. Unlike the enameled Dutch oven, you're never going to be searing or sautéing in your stock pot, so heat distribution and retention are not much of a concern. All you want is to make sure that the metal is thick enough that you won't burn whatever is resting right against the bottom surface.

The best: The Tramontina 16-Quart Gourmet Stainless Steel Covered Stock Pot is well-priced and a solid performer. After testing 16 stockpots, it was one of our top picks.

On a budget: We also liked the Cook N Home Stainless Steel Stockpot, which had rubber-coated handles and boiled water quickly.

FAQs

What cookware is essential?

We think the above list represents the cookware we'd say is essential. This includes a stainless steel skillet, cast iron skillet, saucier, stockpot, nonstick pan, and more.

What cookware is compatible with induction stovetops?

For cookware to work with induction, it has to have a magnetic base. This means anything made from cast iron or carbon steel will be compatible. Otherwise, we created this list of our favorite cookware that's induction-friendly.

Why We're the Experts

• J. Kenji López-Alt is the former culinary director of Serious Eats and still moonlights as a culinary consultant for the site.
• He's the author of the James Beard award-winning cookbooks The Food Lab and The Wok.
• Over the years, we've tested oodles of cookware as a site, so we know a thing or two about what to look for—and what not to.