What higher approach to body a lone fried egg than with a hobbit-sized skillet? Why schlep out a monster pan while you’re cooking an oatmeal skillet cookie, or a fast shakshuka for one which requires a mere seven-ish inches of circumference for optimum poaching? Typically, much less is extra, and it’s one thing that the perfect small frying pans can achieve this very nicely.
Once I moved round typically in my twenties, I didn’t personal a lot. In consequence, home-cooking-wise, I used to be sometimes dwelling off the minimalist duo of a jumbo, oven-safe, cast-iron skillet (suppose, a 15-inch Lodge skillet) and what I referred to as the single-serving frying pan, which was most frequently a 5- to 8-inch extensive frying pan with some type of thriller nonstick coating. Whereas this may sound spartan, these two items of cookware allowed me to make nearly something my coronary heart desired — for one, anyway. Nowadays, I discover myself cooking for extra mouths extra ceaselessly, however the handiness of that tiny frying pan has remained important for fast, single-serving meals and side-quest dishes, from pan-searing a strip steak to whipping up a stir-fry with my leftovers.
Now, as somebody who has sizzled their approach by way of many pans over a few years, I attempt to examine a couple of particular bins when in search of an amazing frying pan. Sturdiness is vital, so hardy supplies equivalent to stainless-steel and forged iron are high of thoughts. I’m not towards nonstick pans, however I’ve turn into more and more creeped out by artificial “eternally” chemical substances — in any other case often called PFAS — that coated the nonstick pans of yore. As a substitute, I’m choosing nonstick frying pans with extra transparency about what precisely goes into their shiny coatings. (I’m additionally extra conscious of doubtless dangerous microplastics in utensils, and now completely use medical-grade silicone cooking utensils and glass storage containers.).
Under, I’ve rounded up a couple of choices of small, single-serving frying pans for each finances and materials desire, from almost-palm-sized nonstick frying pans to miniature pan-and-lid bundles.
For newbie cooks, this nonstick frying pan and lid set
… Or, go for Caraway’s nonstick pan with out the lid
For those who’re not trying to spend fairly as a lot on a bundle, you may also choose to purchase the above frying pan at beneath $100 in any variety of its shade choices, together with marigold, sage, and a dusty rose pink.
Stainless-steel is a workhorse
A palm-sized frying pan
An aesthetically-pleasing Japanese frying pan
Caraway doesn’t simply do ceramic cookware
Smithey’s rustic pan is a pot rack flex
Blissful frying.