The Great Pan Debate: Frypan vs. Skillet

If you've ever found yourself frozen in the cookware aisle, staring at what appears to be two seemingly identical pieces of kitchen equipment with different names, you're not alone. The frypan versus skillet debate has confused home cooks since the first person decided to heat up food in a flat metal utensil. These seemingly interchangeable terms represent two distinct tools, each with its own strengths and ideal uses.

The history of these versatile cooking vessels stretches back to the Bronze Age when resourceful humans first discovered that flattened metal made an excellent cooking surface. The ancient Greeks perfected the long-handled design we know today, though they probably weren't philosophising over confusing cookware terminology while whipping up their Mediterranean feasts.

By the Middle Ages, European kitchens housed an impressive array of cooking vessels, with specialised pans for everything from crepe-making to chestnut roasting. The modern distinction between frypans and skillets emerged during the Industrial Revolution. During that period of rapid technological advancement, manufacturers began standardising cookware designs to suit different culinary techniques.

In the following guide, we’ll tease apart all these subtle yet significant differences, exploring how each pan's unique design influences its performance in the kitchen. We'll examine their distinct properties, from heat retention to versatility, and reveal why professional chefs usually keep both in their toolkits. Whether you're searing a perfect steak, crafting a delicate omelette, or creating a simmering one-pot wonder, you'll learn which pan to reach for and why. If you’ve been wondering how to become a better cook, this deeper understanding of your cookware will help you on your journey (and may finally explain why that one-pan-fits-all approach wasn't quite working out for you).

Finding Common Ground: Where Frypans and Skillets Meet

Before unravelling their differences, let's appreciate what these kitchen essentials share. We’ve gotten so used to having these kitchen cabinet staples around that we take them for granted. However, a closer study will reveal that frypans and skillets are marvels of culinary engineering. Each has a solid flat base for even heating, a round shape that promotes consistent cooking and a long handle that keeps your hands safe from the heat.

These shared characteristics make both types naturally suited to certain universal cooking tasks: heating oils evenly, maintaining consistent temperatures, and providing a stable platform for everything from gentle sautéing to vigorous stirring. Both can handle high temperatures, transition seamlessly between cooking techniques, and—with proper care—become long-lasting kitchen allies. Only when we look closer at their specialised features do their unique strengths begin to emerge. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in:

Frying Pans: Your Kitchen’s Smooth Operators

A frying pan is like that friend who's great at casual get-togethers but struggles at a formal dinner party. With their gently sloping sides (typically around 20-30 degrees), frypans excel at tasks requiring smooth movement and quick flipping.

The sloped sides of GreenPan's non-stick, non-toxic ceramic-coated frying pans make them perfect for:

• Pancake flipping (without accidentally folding them into chewy origami)
• Omelette making (because nobody wants their eggs to look like they've been through a war)
• Quick stir-frying in small quantities (when you're not quite ready to commit to buying a wok)
• Searing fish on both sides without it falling to pieces
• Tofu scrambling (because even plant-based protein deserves to be perfectly crumbled)
• Real or tempeh bacon crisping (for when you want your breakfast to snap, crackle, and pop)

Skillets: Your Kitchen’s Heavy Hitters

A skillet, on the other hand, is your kitchen's heavyweight champion. With straighter, taller sides (usually curving up to around 90 degrees), it's built for serious cooking business.

GreenPan's superb quality skillets also feature our revolutionary Thermolon^TM non-stick, PFAS & PFOA-free coating and come with a robust design that makes them ideal for:

• Deep-frying (without turning your stovetop into an oil painting)
• Sauce making (those straight sides keep everything where it should be)
• Finishing dishes in the oven
• One-pan meals like curries, shakshuka and other delicacies (because who has time to wash more than one pan?)
• Searing meat and chicken or veggie options such as tofu or cauliflower steaks

The Skillet vs Frypan Showdown: When to Choose Your Champion

While both are versatile performers, each has signature acts that elevate your cooking from “good” to "can I have that recipe?" status. The trick is understanding the subtle differences and how they will impact the texture and flavour of your lovingly prepared meals. Let's break down exactly when to reach for each one.

Frypan Territory

With its sloped sides and lighter build, your frying pan is designed for dishes that require a bit of culinary choreography. Whip it out for:

• Morning tasks like eggs and pancakes
• Quick sautéing of vegetables
• Any dish that requires frequent flipping or tossing
• Foods that need to slide easily onto a plate

Skillet Scenarios

Those straight, tall sides aren't just for show—they're ideal for dishes that need confidence and containment. Here's when your skillet should take centre stage:

• Dishes that start on the stovetop and finish in the oven
• Recipes with liquid ingredients that might splash
• Deep-frying adventures
• One-pot meals that need room to breathe

The Science Behind the Sizzle

Here's where things get interesting (and where GreenPan's ceramic coating technology truly shines). While traditional non-stick frypans and skillets often rely on coatings that contain PFAS chemicals to prevent food from sticking, our advanced ceramic coating is naturally non-stick and non-toxic.

Every one of our frypans and skillets features this ceramic coating, which means:

• No PFAS chemicals leaching into your food: Because your morning eggs shouldn't come with a side of forever chemicals.
• Better heat distribution: Say goodbye to hot spots and hello to evenly cooked masterpieces.
• Enhanced durability. Our pans are tough enough to handle metal utensils, though we still recommend using silicone or wooden utensils, as these are far gentler on the surface and may extend the lifespan of your product.
• Easy cleaning: Let’s face it, life's too short to spend it scrubbing pans.

Turning Up the Heat

Understanding how your cookware handles heat is the secret sauce to producing restaurant-quality results at home. Our ceramic coating conducts heat differently from traditional non-stick surfaces, offering superior performance without the toxic trade-offs. Nevertheless, even with the same coating, our frypans and skillets have unique heat personalities. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Frying Pans

Our ceramic-coated frypans are the quick responders of the kitchen world. Their lighter build means they're ready to go when you are, making them perfect for those mornings when the coffee has yet to kick in, and you need a pan that can keep up with your bleary-eyed cooking attempts.

Frypans excel at:

• Heating up quickly (thanks to their lighter construction)
• Adjusting rapidly to temperature changes
• Perfecting dishes that require precise heat management

Skillets

Think of skillets as the thermal marathon runners of your cookware collection. With their weightier construction and higher sides, they're built to hold and distribute heat consistently over time. When you need consistent, reliable heat for longer cooking times or that perfect steakhouse sear, your skillet is your best friend. They shine at:

• Maintaining heat (thanks to their heavier construction)
• Higher-heat cooking
• Achieving a heavenly sear

Skillet vs. Frying Pan: Making the Right Choice

Still torn between the two? We’re here to help you through your stovetop existential dilemma. To figure out which item is right for you, consider these questions:

• Do you often cook dishes that need to go from stovetop to oven? (Yes = Skillet)
• Are you a frequent flipper of food? (Yes = Frypan)
• Do you cook lots of saucy dishes? (Yes = Skillet)
• Is quick temperature control important to you? (Yes = Frypan)
• Do you regularly cook for a crowd? (Yes = Skillet)
• Are you big on breakfast foods like crêpes and omelettes? (Yes = Frypan)
• Do you enjoy slow-cooking methods like braising and simmering? (Yes = Skillet)

If, like most cooking enthusiasts, you’ve answered yes to a few (if not all) of these questions, there’s an easy answer—in the kitchen, variety is most certainly the spice of life, so consider getting one of each! Having both will make life easier and give you the versatility and flexibility to mix and match your cookware to whatever your foodie inspo is on a given day.

Size Matters (When Choosing Cookware)

One of the keys to perfect cooking is matching your pan size to your purpose. Overcrowding is the enemy of proper searing and sautéing—when food is too close together, it steams instead of sears, and nobody wants soggy food when aiming for crispy.

On the flip side, using a pan that is too large can lead to burnt oils and uneven cooking as the empty spaces overheat. To help you navigate these potential pitfalls, Greenpan’s skillets and frying pans come in a range of convenient sizes.

Our frypan range includes:

• 20cm Frying Pans - perfect when cooking for one or preparing small side dishes
• 24cm Frying Pans - the Goldilocks of pans—not too big, not too small
• 26cm Frying Pans - perfect for when you need some extra volume but don’t want to end up with a fridge full of leftovers.
• 28cm Frying Pans - ideal for family-sized cooking
• 30cm Frying Pans - for when you're feeling particularly ambitious or ravenous

For skillets, we offer:

• 26cm Skillets - perfect for couples or small family meals
• 28cm Skillets - handles family-sized dishes with room for sauce reduction
• 30cm Skillets - when you're channelling your inner chef for a dinner party

Pro tip: For frypans, go slightly smaller than you might for a skillet, as the sloped sides give you more surface area at the base. For skillets, remember that the straight sides mean you’ll have less cooking surface than the diameter suggests, so consider sizing up if you're stuck between two options.

Caring for your Skillet or Frypan

Whether you choose a frypan or skillet, proper care will ensure it lasts longer than your gym membership (and gets more regular use). Our ceramic coating makes this easier than traditional non-stick care, but there are still some golden rules:

• Avoid metal utensils to avoid damaging the non-stick coating.
• Skip the dishwasher. All our cookware is dishwasher safe, but handwashing will extend their life. The good news is that our non-stick surface makes washing up a breeze, so you can get through this task with a minimum investment of time and elbow grease.
• Use low to medium heat (high heat is like coffee after 8:00 pm—unnecessary and potentially problematic.
• Let them cool before cleaning. Even with high-quality cookware, it’s best to avoid thermal shock.

Expanding Your Kitchen Toolkit

The great frypan vs. skillet debate might seem like overkill until you're trying to flip a pancake in a straight-sided skillet or contain a simmering sauce in a shallow frypan. Armed with crucial knowledge about the subtle differences between these kitchen essentials, you can now make informed choices about which to grab when planning a meal.

Those sloped sides on a frying pan aren't just for show, and a skillet's vertical walls are doing more than just looking professional. Each has its moment to shine—from the frypan's breakfast acrobatics to the skillet's oven-to-table versatility. The right choice comes down to your kitchen habits—reach for a frypan if you're all about the quick flip or a skillet if saucy, slow-cooked dishes are more your speed.

Whatever’s on the menu tonight, making the right cookware choice can elevate both your culinary game and your kitchen's health credentials. Because great cooking isn't just about what goes into your pan—it's about the pan itself.

Explore our range of healthy, non-stick, non-toxic frying pans and skillets today. Side effects may include improved cooking confidence and an irresistible urge to explain pan differences to dinner guests.