Saucepan vs. Saucier: 6 Differences and Why You Don’t Need Both

Should I buy a saucepan or a saucier? What’s the difference? Do I need both?

Saucepans have a flat bottom and tall, straight sides. Sauciers have sloped walls and a wide opening. Both are ideal for boiling water and making sauces, but sauciers are better for recipes that require frequent stirring.

That’s the high-level difference, but there’s more to know.

In this comparison of saucepans vs. sauciers, I break down their similarities and differences and the factors to consider before choosing which to buy.

You’ll also learn which types of dishes are best cooked in each. 

So, if you’re shopping for cookware but can’t decide between a saucepan and a saucier, keep reading.

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Use the links below to navigate this comparison:

• Saucepan vs. Saucier: Video Summary
• What Is a Saucepan?
• What Is a Saucier?
• Saucepan vs. Saucier: Comparison Chart
• Shape
• Performance and Versatility
• Construction and Materials
• Storage
• Cleaning
• Price
• Bottom Line: Do You Need a Saucepan, Saucier, or Both?

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Saucepan vs. Saucier: Video Summary

If you’re a visual learner, watch me break down the differences between saucepans and sauciers in this quick video. You can also watch it on YouTube.

What Is a Saucepan?

As the name suggests, Saucepans are designed specifically for cooking sauces, but they’re also suitable for deep frying, boiling water, and even braising.

They’re shaped like a cylinder with a flat bottom, feature high, straight sides, and a long handle. Unlike saute pans that have wide bases, saucepans are taller than they are wide.

The high sides ensure that sauces don’t spill over, and the flat bottom maximizes contact with the burner. Almost all saucepans come with lids for heat and moisture retention, perfect for cooking rice, steaming vegetables, and simmering sauces.

Along with frying pans, saute pans, and stock pots, a saucepan is a must-have kitchen staple, which is why they’re included in most cookware sets.

They range in size from one to four quartz. The most popular saucepan sizes are 2- and 4-quart.

What Is a Saucier?

Sauciers have the same primary purpose as saucepans — to make and reduce sauces — however, they feature a much different shape.

Sauciers have rounded bottoms, sloped walls, and rolled edges. At a glance, they look like bowls with handles.

Compared to saucepans, sauciers have a wider opening with shallower edges.

Due to the sloped sides, ingredients gently slide to the bottom, making whisking and stirring easier than with saucepans. This space also prevents burning and sticky clumps of food. 

If you need to stir the food frequently, as with custard and certain sauces, then a saucier is ideal.

Despite their name, sauciers are not limited to just making sauces. They are ideal for oatmeal, polenta, risotto, and other grains as well.

Sauciers were traditionally used by cooks — French cooks, to be specific — but they are becoming increasingly popular in home kitchens.

Like saucepans, sauciers come in several sizes, but the most common are one to four quarts.

Saucepan vs. Saucier: Comparison Chart

For a quick comparison of saucepans vs. sauciers, the chart below outlines the main differences. I’ll go into more detail in the sections below.

	Saucepan	Saucier
Shape	Cylinder: small opening, straight sides, flat bottom	Bowl-like: wide opening, sloped sides, rounded bottom
Performance	Fast heating, prevents spillage, superior for steaming	Easier to whisk and stir, faster evaporation rate
Construction and Materials	Stainless steel, aluminum, hard-anodized aluminum	Stainless steel and copper
Storage	Requires more vertical clearance, easy to stack	Larger footprint, wider opening to fit items inside
Cleaning	Food sticks along edges, difficult to clean in the corners	Food is less likely to stick, easier to clean
Price	$-$$$	$$-$$$
Main Advantage	Containing liquids, steaming	Cooking foods that require constant stirring, easier to clean, fast evaporation rate
Main Disadvantage	Difficult to clean, food gets stuck in the corners, not suitable for whisking	Spillage, may not be compatible with steamer baskets

Shape

The most significant difference between saucepans and sauciers is their shape.

Saucepans have a flat bottom and straight sides, a narrow opening, and a long handle. They look like a cylinder with a handle attached. 

Most saucepans have straight rims to contain liquids, but some, such as the All-Clad Copper Core saucepan, feature flared rims for spill-free pouring.

Others take it a step further and have a pour spout; the Calphalon Classic saucepan is a good example.

Due to the high sides and narrow opening, saucepans have less cooking surface area.

Sauciers have a curved bottom, sloped sides, long handles, and a much wider opening than saucepans. They look similar to a large bowl but with thicker walls, a handle, and a lid.

They are shaped similar to a frying pan but with taller sides to accommodate more liquid. Compared to saucepans, sauciers feature a larger cooking surface.

Performance and Versatility

For the most part, saucepans and sauciers are somewhat interchangeable. They’re both suitable for sauces, rice, pasta, braises, and soups.

However, each has its advantages and disadvantages in the kitchen.

Saucepans are better than sauciers for boiling pasta and simmering sauces. The smaller opening and high sides help to contain liquids and prevent spillage.

They also heat up faster due to their flat bottoms, which maintain even contact with the heat source.

Saucepans are also superior when it comes to steaming. The tall, straight sides and wide bottom make it easy to fit a steamer basket and provide enough vertical space for the ingredients.

Sauciers are often too wide, and the sides are too short to accommodate a steamer basket.

However, this depends entirely on the size of the steamer basket and saucier. For example, my steamer basket fits perfectly in the Misen saucier, as you can see below.

Sauciers are better for meals that require constant stirring or whisking. The sloped sides make it easy to reach all areas of the cooking surface with a spoon or whisk. 

Alternatively, the bottom edges of saucepans, where the base and sides meet, can be difficult to scrape with larger utensils.

The saucier’s sloped sides also prevent food from getting stuck along the edges. If you’ve ever made rice in a saucepan, you know how easily the grains get stuck along the edges. You can limit that with a saucier.

Ultimately, sauciers make it easier to reach all the contents of the pan when stirring without having to drag your utensil around the bottom edges to ensure you’ve gotten everything. Simply put, if a recipe requires lots of stirring, a saucier makes it easier.

Another significant difference between saucepans and sauciers is their openings. Sauciers typically have much wider openings, which means they have a fast evaporation rate. In other words, sauciers can reduce sauces in less time than saucepans.

However, with many meals, especially soups and stocks, you may not want the liquid to reduce too quickly. In those culinary endeavors, you’re better off using a saucepan.

Construction and Materials

Another key difference between saucepans and sauciers is the materials and construction.

Saucepans are generally stainless steel, aluminum, or hard-anodized aluminum. While most have a stainless steel interior, many are coated with non-stick materials for easy cleanup.

Sauciers are most commonly made with stainless steel or copper. You can find non-stick aluminum sauciers, but they aren’t as common.

Both saucepans and sauciers can be constructed with most materials, including stainless steel, non-stick (ceramic and PTFE), cast iron, enameled cast iron, and hard-anodized aluminum.

The chart below shows examples of popular saucepans and sauciers and their material types.

Material	Saucepan	Saucier
Stainless Steel	All-Clad D3	Misen
Copper	Made In	Made In
Non-Stick (PTFE)	Cuisinart	Cuisinart
Non-Stick (Ceramic)	GreenPan	GreenPan
Cast Iron	Staub	Lodge
Enameled Cast Iron	Tramontina	Tramontina

When shopping for a stainless steel saucepan or saucier, I highly recommend buying a fully-clad option, rather than one with an impact-bonded base.

Fully-clad means that bonded layers of steel and aluminum extend throughout the saucepan or saucier. With an impact-bonded base, the aluminum is bonded to the bottom only.

Why does this matter?

Steel, while durable and non-reactive, is a poor heat conductor. Aluminum, on the other hand, is not durable but offers excellent heat conduction.

By layering the two metals throughout the cookware, as is the case with fully-clad saucepans and sauciers, you get even heating throughout.

When the aluminum is only present at the bottom, you get hot and cold spots along the sides, resulting in uneven and inconsistent cooking.

Storage

Saucepans feature a uniform diameter from rim to base, so it’s easy to stack smaller ones within bigger ones.

Sauciers, however, have wider openings so you can store other cookware in them.

Ultimately, both are easy to store, but sauciers take up a larger footprint while saucepans require more vertical clearance with their taller sides.

Cleaning

Sauciers are easier to clean than saucepans for two reasons.

First, with their sloped sides, food is less likely to stick to sauciers.

Secondly, since sauciers have a rounded bottom, it’s easier to reach the entire surface with a sponge. It can be difficult to scrub burnt bits and stuck-on food from the inside edges of a saucepan.

With saucepans, ingredients tend to stay in place, which increases the risk of burning and sticking. If you’ve ever overcooked rice in a saucepan, you know what I’m talking about. 

Price

Since sauciers aren’t as common as saucepans, they are sold mainly by high-end brands and tend to be more expensive.

However, the price depends on the brand, materials, size, construction, and other features.

Below is a pricing chart so you can review the current costs of the most popular saucepans and saucers.

Click the price to learn more about each piece on Amazon.

Bottom Line: Do You Need a Saucepan, Saucier, or Both?

The main difference between saucepans and sauciers is the shape.

Saucepans feature a flat bottom, tall, straight sides, and a long handle, whereas sauciers are shaped more like a bowl with sloped walls and a wide opening.

Both are ideal for boiling water, making sauces, deep-frying, and braising, but sauciers are better for recipes that require whisking or frequent stirring.

Saucepans do a better job at containing liquids and preventing spillage, but sauciers can reduce sauces quicker and are easier to clean.

Both come in a range of prices, but sauciers tend to be more expensive.

So do you need a saucepan and saucier? Or is one enough?

Ultimately, you can perform most of the same tasks with either a saucepan or saucier.

Having both is convenient; however, if you only have space or budget for one, I recommend a saucier. It can do almost everything that a saucepan can, but it makes stirring, whisking, and cleaning easier.

Plus, its faster evaporation rate saves you time when reducing sauces.

Saucepans’ main advantage over sauciers is that they reduce spillage, but you shouldn’t have to worry if you don’t overfill a saucier.

If you’re on a budget, I highly recommend the Misen saucier. It’s made with thick, fully-clad stainless steel with a sturdy riveted steel handle and boasts a sleek, brushed stainless steel exterior. You can check its current price on Misen.com.

If you’re willing to splurge, check out the Made In copper saucier. This visually stunning piece is made in France and composed of 90% copper (exterior) and 10% steel (cooking surface).

Copper has superior thermal conductivity, which means this saucier heats up fast and responds quickly to temperature changes. Although this piece is very expensive, it’s absolutely gorgeous and cooks as well as it looks. Check it out on MadeInCookware.com.