what is a good size for a stock pot

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Even if you don’t think there’s any way your little kitchen could need one, the best stock pot is an essential piece of cookware that is the solution to a lot of cooking needs. It’s simply the most practical vessel for boiling pasta and making big batches of sauce, steaming corn, whipping up lobster boils in the summer, or boiling russets for mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving—as well as for simmering beans, stews, and chili, and, of course, making stock.The best stock pots

The gulf between the best stockpot and a bad stockpot is wide. Pick the wrong one and you could end up with a clunky pot that you curse every time you lug it out of storage. A good stockpot stores easily, is durable and sturdy, not too heavy, and offers versatility.

We tested seven highly rated stock pots—all with a capacity of eight quarts, which we think is the perfect size (more on that later)—to find the very best model on the market. Read on for our top picks. For more details on how we tested our stockpots and the models that didn’t make the cut scroll further down.

For home use, stockpots come in a range of sizes, usually from eight to 20 quarts (some commercial kitchens use massive 74-quart versions). For most home kitchen tasks, we think a 12-quart stockpot is an ideal size and large enough for making big batches of stock or sauce.

Best budget stockpot: Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless-Steel Stock Pot

If you’re looking to spend on a still-high-quality stock pot, the Cuisinart Chef’s Classic is the best bet. Middle of the pack height- and width-wise, it’s a great Goldilocks pot that doesn’t take up too much stove space. The mirror-stain finish is shiny and good looking, and the “Cool Grip” handles stay relatively cool on the stovetop, particularly compared to our top pick. It has an aluminum-core base that conducts well and provides even heating at the base and makes it induction friendly.

We also found the measurement line inside the pot, with both metric and Imperial volumes, came in handy. We wouldn’t necessarily use the post as a measuring cup, but it’s a handy reference if you need to keep track of how much liquid is in there in order to know if you’ve reduced it enough or need to add more water or stock to something.

One highlight specific to the Cuisinart stock pot: It has a superlative lid. It’s the tightest fitting lid we tested, which the brand calls a “Flavor Lock” thanks to a neat design that doubles as a dripless pouring rim. While all of the stainless-steel models we tried featured a flared lip at the top of the pot, Cuisinart’s was the flattest and thinnest, which made for a great seal for the lid and easy, spill-free pouring.What we didn’t like about the Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless-Steel Stock Pot

This is a taller style of stock pot, and its shape isn’t nearly as versatile for using in the oven. Like all stainless-steel cookware, it’s still oven-safe, but you’d need to seriously rearrange the racks if you want to use it for an oven braise. It’s also about 2 pounds lighter than the All-Clad, which could be a plus if you’re in search of a lightweight stock pot that’s easy to move, but does raise some concerns about its durability and whether or not it’ll warp. That said, Cuisinart offers a lifetime warranty, which doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll last a lifetime, but you can get it replaced if it ever gets damaged.

Cuisinart Chef’s Classic 8-Quart Stainless-Steel Stockpot

This should not come as a surprise to you: To test these stock pots, we made a bunch of stock, following a very basic chicken stock recipe that relied on collagen-heavy wings. We made a double batch in each pot, yielding about four quarts.

Then we tested heat conduction by boiling water and cooking 24 ounces of lasagna noodles in each pot. We tracked how long it took to bring the water to temperature and how easy it was to drain the noodles after they’d reached an al dente texture.

We also cooked 1 pound of beans in each pot, as a test of how easy they were for using slightly smaller volumes of food, and what it felt like to have to reach inside the pot while it’s hot.

Lastly, we moved the pans in and out of the oven while hot and full, to test their maneuverability and oven-friendliness.

In addition to the cooking tests, we took note of the general features of each pot: their heights, widths, weights, handle shapes, lid material and fit. Things we considered

Best overall stockpot: All-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless-Steel Stock Pot

The All-Clad eight-quart stock pot is the shortest and widest model we tested, more the shape of a Dutch oven than a traditional stock pot, which is something that originally seemed like a negative—it could be harder to get on a burner. But when making stock with larger bones and carcass pieces—like those from a Thanksgiving turkey—the width is a welcome feature, helping to keep everything submerged. And with smaller volumes of food, the shape is much easier for reaching into corners, flipping cubes of meat while browning, or nudging a mirepoix around while steam is billowing from it.

Additionally, its squatter shape is significantly better for using in the oven, making it the most versatile option if you don’t yet own an oven-friendly vessel like a Dutch oven for your braised short ribs, baked beans, and carnitas.

The shape is also the easiest one to store: It stacks nicely with the other pots, so adding it to our kitchen didn’t require moving things around to make space for a tall, bulky new piece. And the shorter shape means that it’s more likely to accommodate standard shelf heights in cupboards and pantries.

The All-Clad’s riveted handles aren’t as big and looping as those of some of the other pots we tested, but we love their trademark flat shape, which we find particularly sturdy and easy to grip when transporting a full pot from the sink to the stovetop to the oven and back again—solid and durable even with oven mitts on.

The three-ply construction, an aluminum core and layers of stainless steel, that makes this type of cookware so expensive does provide even heat distribution throughout the entire pot—not just at the base, like budget stock pots do. It also features what All-Clad calls a “starburst finish,” which helps keep food from sticking and makes it easy to clean.What we didnt like about the All-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Stock Pot

The downside to this stock pot? It is not cheap. But according to reviewers (and the members of Team Epi who have this and other All-Clad tri-ply products in their own kitchens), the lifetime warranty is worth the money; you’ll have this pot for a very long time, and it will serve you incredibly well. And while we always advise using oven mitts if you need to touch any part of a hot stock pot, in side-by-side tests we found its smaller, shorter handle got hotter than others, just in case you’re the type to make an errant, mitt-free grab.

All-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless-Steel 8-Quart Stockpot

Kitchen Equipment Expert’s Favorite Stockpots

FAQ

What is the most common size stock pot?

What size pot is best for stock?

Is a 6 qt stock pot big enough?

What is the best size for a soup pot?

How big is a standard stock pot?

The standard stock pot size for most home kitchens is 12 quarts. I consider this to be the best size stock pot for needs of most families. It is large enough for a small seafood boil, large amounts of pasta or greens.

How big should a stockpot be?

It pays to get a stockpot that’s bigger than your other pots, yet still fits inside a base cabinet, to cover the biggest cooking tasks while avoiding pot-size overlap. For more capacity, a 16-quart stockpot is just about as big a pot as most home kitchen burners can handle.

What if a stock pot is too small?

However, choosing a pot that is too small for a large batch of stock will cause the stock to take hours longer than it should. Stock pots come in a wide variety of sizes ranging from 6 quarts all the way to 20 quarts (that’s roughly 5.5 liters – 19 liters).

What size pot do I Need?

It depends on what you’ll be using it for. If you’re looking to make large batches of soup or stew, you’ll need a bigger pot (like 24 and 32 quarts). But a small pot (like five or six quarts) will do just fine if you cook for yourself or a small group. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what size pot is best for your needs.