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Your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan Is Great For These Dishes

by HexClad Cookware

Wondering what to do with your brand new 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan? This versatile pan is ideal for big family dinners or big batch cooking for one or two. Slightly too big for most baking projects, this is the pan you want to grab if you’ve got hungry mouths to feed and want to make a laid-back dinner for 6 to 8.

Tip: Your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan is great for large family meals or bigger batch recipes for one or two. It’s too big to use in place of a regular cake pan. It’s similar in size to our 5-Quart Dutch Oven or 5.5-quart Deep Sauté Pan, so can swap in easily for either of those in a pinch.

Here are some ideas for what to cook in your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan:

Think of your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan as the ideal oven-to-table pan. It’s low enough to have conversation over the top, but big enough to fit the entire meal in one pan. If you have a big family, think of this as your everyday pan. Or, if you’re cooking for one or two, the 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan is ideal for smaller-batch meal prep.

Use your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan for smaller-scale meal prep

If you’re cooking for one or two and want to prep bigger batches of food to have on hand throughout the week (or to freeze). Great dishes to make in your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan include chilis (like HexClad’s Weeknight Chili or Smoky Beef & Bacon Chili), soups (like our Kimchi and Tofu Soup), and stews (like Rosemary Beef Stew or Brothy Tuscan Cannellini Beans & Greens). Or, if you’re looking to do meal prep that focuses more on a building blocks approach, use this pan to boil grains or steam big batches of vegetables, too. The pan size is also generous enough to sear off batches of meatballs to freeze for impromptu pasta nights.

Your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan is ideal for laid-back entertaining

Not all dinner parties have to feature multiple courses and plating in the kitchen. For laid back entertaining with friends or family, opt for a one-pan recipe that you can make in your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan and serve right at the table. It’s ideal for big batch chicken dinners (like bone-in chicken thighs with mixed vegetables or chicken cacciatore), hearty pasta dishes (like Vodka Bolognese Rigatoni or Tteokbokki Mafaldine), and gorgeous curries (like Okra and Shrimp Coconut Curry). When serving oven-to-table, don’t forget to wrap the pan handles in a clean, dry dish towel so guests don’t burn themselves on the still-hot pan.

Easy family dinners are a cinch in a 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan

If you’ve got a big family, then you know that the glut of 4-person dinner recipes out there are just not practical. This pan is up to the challenge, fitting in 6 to 8 servings between its high sides. If you’ve got a family of hearty eaters, then opt for your 4.5-Quart Deep Sauté Pan. It’s ideal for kid-friendly dinners the whole family will love like Noodles with Creamy Spinach Sauce or One Pot Ricotta Pasta with Corn, Lemon, & Basil (maybe skip the basil on kids’ bowls if you’ve got a houseful of picky eaters). The generous surface area of this pan means it’s good for searing off bigger batches of fish, chicken, or meat, and it can handle a batch of pancake batter or French toast during a weekend rush.