Table of Contents
- How many quarts in a 12 inch skillet?
- What is a quart of water?
- What if you need more than 2 quarts of water in a skillet?
- What is the disadvantage of completely filling the skillet?
- How many quarts are in a 10-inch frying pan?
- Does the material of the skillet affect its capacity?
- How to measure the capacity of skillet using depth and diameter.
- Final thoughts
How many quarts in a 12 inch skillet?
So, how many quarts can a 12 inches skillet hold? The short answer is 2 quarts of water. A standard 12-inch skillet is about 10 inches wide, 2 to 2½ inches deep, and 4 inches high at the rim. It holds about 8 cups (64 ounces), so it also holds 2 quarts of liquid.
What is a quart of water?
A quart, as a liquid measure equal to 2 US pints, is 3⅓ CUPS.
This means that if you wanted to fill up your 12-inch skillet with water, it would need 64 ounces which is 8 cups because there are 4 cups in a quart. This would be 2 actual quarts of water. To get the number of quarts, simply divide the measurement by the number of cups in a quart. Quarts = (Measurement)*(Number of Cups in 1 Quart) / 4
What if you need more than 2 quarts of water in a skillet?
The simplest answer is to add a lid to the skillet. A large skillet with a lid can contain about 3 quarts of water if placed on top of a larger pot or pan that contains the same amount.
If there’s no lid, you can use foil and then cover it with a lid or plate that’s bigger than the skillet. If you’re in the wilderness and don’t have any extra cookware, just flip your 12-inch skillet upside down and turn it into an improvised container. Place another pan measuring at least 10 inches wide on top of the inverted skillet and fill up the resulting cavity between them with water. Don’t expect it to hold much, though; this type of arrangement would hold about 1¼ pints.
What is the disadvantage of completely filling the skillet?
There are disadvantages to completely filling the skillet with water. For one, it’s heavy. You’d have to carry around 3½ pounds of water in your skillet!
Another problem is that any fat or grease dropped into the skillet will be submerged under the water and hard to get out. If you’re not planning on washing the skillet right away, then this probably isn’t a big deal, but still, it’s something to watch out for.
However, if you only fill the skillet halfway up with water and add another pan on top then there is no need to worry about losing your cooked food and oil and such won’t go into the actual water. (You can also use aluminum foil in lieu of an extra pot).
If you overfill the skillet with water and can’t fit another pan on top of it, you might be tempted to flip the whole thing over. Don’t do that! The best way to empty the water is to take a sharp object like a butter knife or tongs and stick them into the water from above so they puncture the surface tension. Then all you have to do is move your hand in a circular motion while keeping your fingers together so as not to break through the surface tension. This will create a whirlpool effect inside of which will drain all of your cooking liquid without making a mess.
Finally, it is difficult to stir food in a skillet that is completely filled with water. For example, if the bottom of your 12-inch skillet is 10 inches wide, it’s hard to get a wooden spoon or spatula underneath the food you’re trying to turn. A better way to agitate food in a half-filled skillet would be to twist the handle back and forth while moving the whole pan instead of stirring with a utensil.
How many quarts are in a 10-inch frying pan?
A 10-inch frying pan that’s 2 inches deep, is about 8-9 cups in volume. So it can hold about 1.5 quarts of liquid.
To determine the number of quarts by measuring the diameter, you divide π by 4 to get 3.14/4=0.7854252848479 which rounds up to 0.79 so your frying pan holds about 79 ounces or around 6 cups which equates to about 1.5 quarts plus a little over half a cup so it could technically be considered 2 quarts”.
For reference purposes here are some other common items with standard measurements:
1 quart – 32 oz (~4 cups) = 9″ in diameter
2 quarts – 64 oz (~8 cups) = 10″ in diameter
3 quarts – 96 oz (~12 cups) = 12″ in diameter
4 quarts – 128 oz (~16 cups) = 14″ in diameter
However, the above-mentioned capacities are full capacities of pans. You would not want to completely fill a pan with water. Therefore, the practical capacities of pans are always smaller than these.
Does the material of the skillet affect its capacity?
Yes, if the material of the skillet is thicker, then it will have more capacity.
The skillet in question is made of aluminum so it has a weight of about 1 pound per cubic foot. Aluminum has a density of 2.7 grams/cm^3. So that means an empty 12-inch skillet would weigh 12*2.7=32 ounces which equates to just under 2 pounds with water in it
If you are measuring its weight after completely filling it with water you would need to take into account that there are additional molecules outside of the pan’s surface area that is pushing down on the water inside and vice versa. If the walls were perfectly flat all around (which they’re not) I’d say your pan could hold about 5 pounds of water.
However, the walls usually taper out slightly which means there will be less surface area touching the water which means you can’t support as much weight before it starts to deform or buckle under pressure.
How to measure the capacity of skillet using depth and diameter.
1. Make sure the skillet is dry and with no food in it. Get a measuring cup and pour water into the skillet until it reaches the bottom of the upper lip or rim of the skillet.
2. Measure how much water you poured into your skillet by using your ruler or tape measure to find out the depth of water in centimeters.
3. Next, find out how wide across your skillet is at its widest point across from side-to-side by using a tape measurer or ruler and starting along one edge and ending on another and finding where it intersects but not around any bumps or around the handle/ring which would influence it’s shaped so measurements tend to be smaller than the actual capacity.
4. Find out how many centimeters go into 12 inches by dividing the number of centimeters by 0.3 to get feet and then multiplying it times 12 for inches or divide by 1/2 which is 6 so you should have about 12 inches in one foot.
5. Once you have your capacity, divide that number by 4 since a quart is equal to 2 pints and there are 4 cups in one quart because if not just use this calculator’s numbers divided by 10.
6. Take the number of inches in a quart and multiply it by 32 to get how many ounces there are in a quart.
7. Once you have how many ounces are in a quart, multiply that number by 0.946352946352 to find out how many liters or milliliters there are in a quart since one liter is two quarts.
8. Take the volume of water from step 2 divided by .946352946352 to get the volume in quarts which should be very close if not exact though I rounded it off for simplicity.
Final thoughts
The maximum number of quarts a 12-inch skillet will hold depends on the material it’s made from, but the general rule is to fill it halfway if you plan to use another pan as a lid or nearly all of it if you don’t. A 10-inch frying pan will only fit a little over a quart depending on how much oil and food was cooked in there, so be sure to scrape all remnants into your cooking pot for conservation purposes!
