Deep Walls, Less Spatter: Choosing the Best Deep Frying Pan

A lot of Mexican cooking happens in a frying pan with more oil than a sauté and less than a fryer. Flautas and taquitos, chiles rellenos in their egg batter, tortilla strips for sopa, churros at home: all of them want oil an inch or so deep, and a regular skillet’s low walls make that messy. A deep frying pan, with walls around 3 inches high, holds that oil, keeps most of the spatter inside, and still has the wide floor of a skillet.

This guide covers those pans: deep skillets, chef’s pans and fry pans with tall sides, in cast iron, stainless, carbon steel and nonstick. For a countertop appliance with a thermostat, see our guide to the best deep fryer; for the full range of everyday skillets, our best frying pan guide. Specs here come from the makers and the Amazon listings, and the oil safety advice comes from the U.S. Fire Administration.

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Quick verdict: which deep frying pan to buy

The table lines up five pans, one per kind of cook. Eight are covered in full after it.

Five deep frying pans side by side

One pick per kind of cook, with what each maker or listing says about depth, lids and stoves.

Product images from Amazon. Oven ratings and stove compatibility are as stated by each maker or listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best deep frying pan

Every pan here has taller walls than a standard skillet. They are grouped by material, because the metal decides how the oil behaves: cast iron holds temperature, carbon steel and clad stainless react quickly when you adjust the burner, and nonstick makes breaded food easy to turn but should stay at moderate heat. We avoided repeating the picks in our non-stick deep pan and sauté pan guides; if you want an All-Clad, its deep sauté pans are covered there.

Cast iron

Hybrid and nonstick

How to choose a deep frying pan

The right deep pan depends on how much you fry, what stove you cook on and how much weight you can lift with oil in the pan.

1. Wall height and width

A standard skillet has walls about 2 inches high; the pans here run about 3 inches or more. Taller walls hold more oil and catch more spatter. Width decides batch size: a 14-inch pan fries far more at once than a 10-inch one, but a wider pan also needs more oil to reach the same depth.

2. Material and heat recovery

When cold food goes into hot oil, the oil cools. Heavy cast iron holds heat and recovers well, but is slow to cool down if the oil gets too hot. Carbon steel and clad stainless respond faster to the burner. Nonstick pans make breaded food easy, but makers set lower oven limits and ATK advises moderate heat with PTFE coatings.

3. A lid you can reach

The U.S. Fire Administration’s advice is simple: keep a pan lid or a baking sheet nearby when you cook, and if the pan catches fire, slide the lid or sheet on top, turn the burner off and leave it covered until the pan is cool. Never try to put out a grease or oil fire with water. A pan sold with its own lid, like the Lodge, Made In, HexClad, Calphalon, Cuisinart and Tramontina, keeps the cover in the right size at hand.

4. Handles and weight

A pan full of hot oil is the heaviest, most dangerous thing on the stove. Look for a helper handle on pans over 12 inches, and turn handles toward the back of the stove, as the USFA advises, so nobody bumps them.

5. Your stove

Induction needs a magnetic base. Cast iron, carbon steel and the clad pans here work on induction; the Tramontina does not, and Calphalon does not list it for this pan.

6. When to buy a fryer instead

If you fry big batches every week, a countertop fryer with a thermostat and a basket is easier and keeps the oil at a set temperature. Our deep fryer guide covers those. A deep pan is the better fit for cooks who shallow-fry often and want one pan that also sears and braises.

Frying safely in a pan

The USFA’s cooking safety guidance applies to every pan on this list. Stand by your pan, and if you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off. Fires start when the heat is too high: if you see smoke or the grease starts to boil, turn the burner off. Move dish towels, bags and paper away from the stove, keep children and pets at least 3 feet away, and keep a lid or baking sheet within reach. If a fire does not go out, get everyone outside and call the fire department from outside.

A thermometer rated for frying temperatures helps you keep the oil in the range your recipe asks for, rather than guessing from the smoke.

How we chose these eight pans

We looked for pans with walls clearly taller than a standard skillet, from makers that publish their materials, oven limits and stove compatibility, and covered each common material. Specifications come from the makers and the Amazon listings; Lodge’s dimensions come from its own product page. We kept away from the picks in our deep nonstick and sauté pan guides so this page adds new options. Every pan was in stock on Amazon when this guide was written.

We have not fried in these pans ourselves. Safety advice comes from the U.S. Fire Administration’s cooking safety guidance, and nonstick heat guidance from America’s Test Kitchen.

Deep frying pan questions, answered

What is the best deep frying skillet for most kitchens?

A cast iron deep skillet like the Lodge 3.2-quart: about 3-inch walls, steady heat, any stove and a lid included. If cast iron is too heavy for you, look at the Made In 14-inch stainless pan or the lighter de Buyer carbon steel pan.

Can you deep fry in a frying pan?

You can shallow-fry and fry in an inch or two of oil in a deep pan, which covers flautas, chiles rellenos and most breaded food. For fully submerged frying in larger amounts of oil, a deep pot or a countertop fryer with a thermostat is easier to control.

Is a nonstick pan good for frying?

For shallow frying breaded food at moderate heat, yes. Follow the maker’s limits; ATK advises not putting a PTFE nonstick skillet in an oven above 450°F and not broiling it. For hotter, longer frying, choose cast iron, carbon steel or stainless.

What is the best frying pan with deep sides and a lid?

Among the picks here, the Lodge, Made In, HexClad, Calphalon, Cuisinart and Tramontina pans all come with lids. The HexClad has the tallest walls at about 3.5 inches.

What should I do if oil in my pan catches fire?

The USFA says to keep the pan where it is, slide a lid or baking sheet on top, turn the burner off and keep it covered until it is cool. Never use water on a grease or oil fire. When in doubt, get out and call the fire department from outside.

Where to go from here

For most cooks, the Lodge deep skillet is the pan to start with. Our guide to the best frying pan compares everyday skillets by material, and the best cast iron skillet and best carbon steel pan guides go deeper on those metals. For the methods behind the dishes, see our guide to Mexican cooking methods.

And if you would rather someone else stood over the oil, Julia’s Mexican Restaurant in Houston is open seven days a week. See the menu and call to order.