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The baking dish you use when you’re cooking for one is very important. Here are the best small baking dishes.
There are two essential things you need to know when you’re baking and cooking for one. The first is that you’ve got to know how to reduce a recipe. Some recipes are easy to reduce and others are a little bit more involved. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered here. At One Dish Kitchen, we have hundreds of tested recipes that we’ve already scaled down for you.
The second important part is using the right baking dishes. With each recipe, I reference the baking dish or bowl I use and often provide a link to purchase it from Amazon or from another retailer. The size of the dish used in the recipes at One Dish Kitchen is very important. The recipes are developed and tested using the dish that is recommended. One thing to remember, if you use a much larger baking dish for the recipes featured, the cooking time will be different than listed in the recipe and the results may not be the same.
The 5-inch Baking Dish
The most used and recommended baking dish on our site is the 5×5-inch (125×125 mm) baking dish which has a base of approximately 25 square inches (160 sq cm) with a volume of approximately 22 fluid ounces (650 ml). It’s the perfect size when cooking for one or two people. In the early days of One Dish Kitchen, we referenced the Le Creuset 5-inch square dish. You’ll still see it in many of our recipe photos. However, it appears that this wonderful little dish has been discontinued by the company. You may still be able to snag one at a discount home store, but you cannot purchase it from Amazon or from Le Creuset at this time.
This discovery led us to test other similarly sized dishes to use with the recipes requiring a 5-inch dish. The good news is that we ended up sourcing our own 5-inch baking dish that we use and love and are now selling it here on our website. It’s sturdy and deep and ideal for every one of our recipes that call for using a 5×5 or a 4×6-inch baking dish.
Other Dishes We Love
- The Peugeot Individual Ceramic Square Baking Dish, 18cm (7in), is a very good baking dish. We have found this baking dish on Amazon and you can find a listing for it in the Bakeware section of our amazon storefront and should be able to find it at other retailers or directly from Peugeot-Saveurs.
- The Sweejar Ceramic Baking Dish, Rectangular Small Baking Pan measures 6.5×4.9×1.8-in and works very well in our recipes calling for a 5-inch dish. We have found this baking dish on Amazon and you can find a listing for it in the Bakeware section of our amazon storefront.
- The Emile Henry Individual Rectangular Baker, with Outer dimensions of 7.9″ x 5.5″ x 1.8″ Inner dimensions o: 5.9″ x 4.8″ x 1.6″, is another great alternative to the 5-inch square baking dish. You can find a listing for it in the Bakeware section of our Amazon storefront and should be able to find it at other retailers or directly from Emile Henry.
- We have successfully tested recipes with the Corning Ware 5×5-inch dish but currently can not find an active listing for it.
In addition, we tested 6 different small baking dishes. These dishes or similarly sized dishes should be easy for you to find in your local stores and on Amazon.
Other Dishes We Tested
We took our Mini Pound Cake recipe and baked it in 6 different baking dishes.
- 5 x 7-inch Le Creuset (20 fl oz)
- Round 6 x 2-inch Wilton Cake Pan
- Pyrex Littles: 6-inch square baking dish (24 fl oz)
- Pyrex Littles: 5-inch square baking dish (18 fl oz)
- Chantal: 5-inch square baking dish (16 fl oz)
- Pyrex: 5 x 9-in (1.5-quart) Loaf Pan
Our Findings
Every one of these baking dishes worked perfectly! Below you will see how full the pans were with the same pound cake batter before and after baking.
I used the same baking time for each of the pans with similar results.
5×5 Peugeot
5×7 Le Creuset
Round 6-inch Wilton Cake Pan
Pyrex Littles: 6-inch square
Pyrex Littles: 5-inch square
5×5 Chantal
Pyrex 5 x 9 inch Loaf Pan
Ramekins
Many of our single serving desserts are baked and served in ramekins. We use and recommend these sizes:
- 8.5-ounce ramekin
- 10-ounce ramekin
Where To Find Small Baking Dishes
We sell our own 5-inch baking dish on our One Dish Kitchen Store website.
Many other small baking dishes can be found at Amazon, and at Home Goods, Target, Walmart, Macy’s, and other department stores in the US. If you live outside the United States, you should be able to find similarly sized dishes at your local stores.
I bought these for my daughters who are in college.. my oldest got them yesterday and was already cooking up a storm.. she was commenting that the cook book and web site are amazing. Thank you for having a perfect resource for budding cooks who are now forced to feed themselves.
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m thrilled to hear that your daughter is already enjoying the baking dishes and finding the cookbook and website helpful. It’s wonderful that she’s diving into cooking for herself—what a great skill to have! I hope she continues to enjoy exploring the recipes, and I’m so glad we could be a part of her cooking journey.
I love to bake in my 10-1/4 inch cast iron skillet. It belong to my grandmother and is over 100 years old. My grandmother also passed down a 6 in round skillet. Will these 5 x 5 in recipes work in my smaller cast iron skillet?
How wonderful to have those cherished skillets from your grandmother! While I haven’t tested all the recipes in a 6-inch round skillet, it should work fine for many of them. You might need to keep an eye on the cooking time and make adjustments as needed.