What To Cook In Your 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan

If you’ve gotten your hands on a new 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan, you might be wondering what makes it different from a regular skillet. We’re glad you asked! This pan can function as your everyday skillet, but its straight (rather than sloped) sides make it a good pick for dishes that need a lot of stirring (the higher sides help stuff stay in better) or for skillet cakes.

Tip: Grab your 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan anytime a recipe calls for a high-sided or straight-sided skillet or a 10-inch cast-iron skillet.

Here are some ideas for what to cook in your 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan:

While the ideas below are specific to the size and shape of a 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan, the truth is that this versatile pan is a great everyday pick for many cooking tasks. Use it to cook fried or scrambled eggs, to cook fish, or to quickly sauté your favorite vegetables. (Due to the wide base and high sides, however, it’s not great for making omelets. Opt for an 8-inch pan, instead.)

Think your 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan as the HexClad version of a cast iron skillet

Anything you love to make in a cast iron skillet is ideal in a 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan. We’re talking eggs, skillet cornbread, a perfectly seared steak, breakfast hash, you name it. But the best part is, unlike a traditional cast iron skillet that requires specific steps for cleaning and maintaining it, you can just chuck your HexClad pan into the dishwasher.

The 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan is your go-to frittata pan

There’s something about a frittata made in a slope-sided skillet that is just a bit of a bummer. Instead, opt for the straight sides of the deep sauté pan, which allows wedges of frittata a hefty structure. You can either start by cooking your favorite frittata fillings in the skillet (like bacon or pancetta, mushrooms, onions, peas, leeks, etc) or simply use the skillet as a vessel for the frittata, relying on separately cooked fillings like roasted veggies and/or meats.

If you’re short a cake pan, the 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan has got you covered

Thanks to the oven-safe coating on HexClad pans, you can use your 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan as a cake pan, if needed. Simply butter and flour it as you would your cake pan, and proceed accordingly. The 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan is actually an ideal pick for upside-down cakes like pineapple upside down cake, rhubarb cake, or tarte tatin, which require cooking caramel in the skillet before layering the fruit and batter on top. We’ll be right over with ice cream….

Use a 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan for one-pan dinners for two

So many recipes serve 4, but much of the time, it makes more sense to cook for two. Enter the 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan. Start by searing off your protein of choice—steak, chicken, fish, tofu, what have you—then, set it aside and cook your preferred vegetables of choice in the skillet. If the protein didn’t cook all the way through (like bone-in chicken thighs or a thick steak, for instance), add them back on top and transfer to a 350ºF oven to bake until cooked through.

For small-batch one-pot pastas, a 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan is your guy

Unlike slope-sided skillets, the straight sides of the 3.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan will keep noodles from flying when a toss or a flip is required. To make it, halve HexClad’s One Pot Ricotta Pasta with Corn, Lemon, & Basil recipe or try Martha Stewart’s recipe for one pan pasta that made the method famous.

P.S. If you’re looking for the same shape but in a bigger format, try the 5.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan or 7-Quart Deep Sauté Pan. Check out our ideas for getting to know your deep sauté pan, from cozy winter pastas to a quick weeknight chili.