Lessons > How to Pan Fry

Your culinary journey starts here

★★★★★ (80)

36,309 Students
All Levels

Lesson Overview

Pan frying is one of the most common dry-heat cooking methods, yet many cooks have trouble achieving that nice golden crust when pan frying or they have problems with sticking and burning. Pan frying is an important cooking skill to learn as so many recipes start in the pan.

In this lesson, yo…

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Lesson Objectives

At the end of this lesson you'll be able to:
  • describe why you need to properly heat a metal pan and the oil before cooking
  • heat a metal pan to the correct temperature using the water test method
  • describe when to add the oil to the pan and what indicators you need to wait for before adding the food
  • understand why it is important to control the pan-frying temperature
  • achieve a beautiful, golden crust on foods without them sticking or burning

Course Syllabus

START: Watch Lesson Platform Tour
1. Introduction: Pan Frying
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2. Complete Your Self Assessment
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3. What Happens When Heating a Pan?
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4. The Water Test | Heating the Pan
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5. Adding Oil to a Heated Pan
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6. Adding Ingredients to the Pan
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7. How to Control Pan Temperature
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8. Pan Frying | Cooking & Finishing
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9. Pan Frying Challenge Questions
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10. Pan Frying Thick vs. Thin Ingredients
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11. Pan Frying with Alternative Pans
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12. Practice Activities & Recipes
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13. Lesson Quiz
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Practice Recipes

A few of the practice recipes you'll learn in this lesson.

Prerequisites & Related Lessons

Please consider these additional lessons to support your learning and discovery. Some of these lessons are prerequisites that may help contextualize what you are learning and form a baseline of knowledge and skill. Other lessons are related and may help you explore next steps or dive deeper on a learning topic.

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What People Are Saying

"I have experienced some of the rookie mistakes demonstrated in the lesson. Now I am able to determine why and how they occurred and will be able to correct them to produce a better result." ★★★★
"Very helpful, basic info. all beginner cooks should learn. I find the background music distracting, however, and feel I'd be able to concentrate better on the lesson without any music. But overall, excellent." ★★★★★
"it was very helpful. more over thanks to this lesson me and my family had nice new year dinner. so very nice memories thanks to you." ★★★★★
"So informative. I have been cooking many years and did not know the water test. I love these classes" ★★★★★
"Very clear, step-by-step, complete and fine!" ★★★★★
"This has been a very useful lesson on pan frying and packed with helpful tips and techniques." ★★★★★
"This lesson has been excellent! I am a self taught home cook (no restaurant experience) so while I felt that I had a general understanding of pan frying, this has filled in several gaps of knowledge and has already generated more consistent and generally better dishes. I made the Chicken Saltimbocca and it was fantastic!" ★★★★★
"Very helpful information and easy to understand for a novice!" ★★★★★
"As always I am surprised by how many small details I DON'T know about these topics. I'm sure if I did the quiz before the lesson I would only be getting in the region of 40-50 per cent, maybe even less, although I have been giving myself 80 per cent on my pre-test self assessment for the very same topics! The results are great (though I keep forgetting to take a photo) and I am sure that the difference is in all those small details Thank you!!" ★★★★★
"Well worth doing a variety of the pan frying recipes and sauces presented to reinforce the concepts and to gain greater ease." ★★★★★
"I felt like I had a good grasp on pan frying, but really didn't know the most basic thing - about how to properly heat the pan and why! Really great information." ★★★★★
"The instructions were very helpful and clear and the practice recipes were instructive and delicious." ★★★★★
"Thank you for the lessons. It's been fun to watch and learn. I know we will use some of what we learned for years to come. The teaching is good." ★★★★★
"This lesson was very helpful. I learned a lot about pan frying. Thanks 5" ★★★★★
"Very helpful, I had an idea, but the tips and tricks helped immensely, Thank you very much" ★★★★★
"I have been cooking for nearly 13 years now, and have not once pan fried an ingredient properly until signing up for this course! WELL worth it!" ★★★★★
"Excellent lesson, excellent recipes, excellent apprenticeship." ★★★★★
"I learned so much about pan frying; I'm excited to try it out very soon." ★★★★★
"I'm a 33 year old adult who didn't know 90% of this stuff. Thanks for the great lesson!" ★★★★★
"Amazing lesson, covers everything you need to know to cook properly and safely!" ★★★★★
"Clear, simple explained, learned a lot!" ★★★★
"It seems like an introductory course but very important tips there." ★★★★
"I think the material is like learning the ABC's. It's a very basic lesson in learning how to prepare all kinds of meats. If this process is not followed, the food will not be done properly." ★★★★★
"good" ★★★★★
"This was a fun lesson and I learned a lot of cool tricks and ways to heat my food properly, such as the water test." ★★★★★
Show More
38 Videos | 13 Tasks
Task 1: Introduction: Pan Frying
Task 2: Complete Your Self Assessment
Task 3: What Happens When Heating a Pan?
Task 4: The Water Test | Heating the Pan
Task 5: Adding Oil to a Heated Pan
Task 6: Adding Ingredients to the Pan
Task 7: How to Control Pan Temperature
Task 8: Pan Frying | Cooking & Finishing

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