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Three small baking dishes cover every One Dish Kitchen recipe that calls for one: a 5×5-inch dish, a 5×7-inch dish, and a 10-ounce ramekin. Here’s what each one bakes, the dishes we’ve tested, and where to find them.
Table of Contents
How We Landed On These Three Sizes
For years I baked everything in a 5-inch Le Creuset square dish. It was the right size, it held up, and it shows up in a lot of the older photos on this site.
Then Le Creuset stopped making it, and I had a problem. Hundreds of recipes here were written for that dish, and readers couldn’t buy one.
So we started testing. We baked the same recipes in every small dish we could find, and the ones that worked shared a capacity rather than a shape. Eventually we had our own dishes made in the sizes our recipes actually needed, a 5×5 and a 5×7, and settled on a 10-ounce ramekin as the only one we’d use.
That’s why every baking recipe on this site fits one of three dishes. It isn’t a preference. It’s what a decade of testing narrowed down to.
Why Dish Size Matters When You Cook For One
The dish is part of the recipe. We build and test every recipe here in a specific dish, so its size does the same work as any ingredient on the list.
In a dish that’s too large, a single serving spreads thin. It bakes faster than the recipe says, the edges set before the middle does, and it comes out dry around the outside. In one that’s too small, batter rises over the sides and the center can stay wet while the top browns.
Bake times are written for the dish we used. Change the dish and the timing changes with it, which is why every recipe on the site names the size right in the instructions.
The Three Baking Dish Sizes You Need
Every recipe on One Dish Kitchen that calls for a baking dish uses one of three sizes. Stock these and you can make any of them.
The 5×5-Inch Baking Dish
The one we reach for most, and the dish more than 100 of our recipes are written for. It measures 5×5 inches inside and holds 22 fluid ounces (650 ml), which is enough for a single casserole, a baked main, or most desserts without the food spreading so thin it dries out. Ours is ceramic, oven safe to 500°F, and goes from freezer to oven, so you can bake something you froze without thawing it first.
We use it for Small Batch Lemon Bars, Mini Lasagna, Broccoli Casserole For One, and Mini Zucchini Bread. See all our 5-inch baking dish recipes.
If you buy one dish, make it this one. You can find ours here.
The 5×7-Inch Baking Dish
Longer and deeper, at 7×5 inches inside and 33 fluid ounces (975 ml). The extra length matters for anything you want spread out rather than piled up, like a sheet cake or a pizza that needs edge-to-edge crust. Same ceramic, same 500°F limit, same freezer-to-oven range as the 5-inch.
We use it for Mini Texas Sheet Cake, Chicken Enchiladas For One, and Small Batch Oatmeal Bars. See all our 5×7-inch baking dish recipes.
Ours is here.
The 10-Ounce Ramekin
Every ramekin recipe on the site is made in a 10-ounce ramekin, so it’s the only size you need. Ours measures 4.3 inches across and 2.4 inches tall, in glazed ceramic that won’t hold onto food odors or stains, and it’s oven safe to 500°F like the two dishes. It holds a single dessert, a dip, or a baked egg, and it goes from oven to table, so you bake and eat in the same dish with one thing to wash.
We use it for Apple Crisp For One, Chocolate Lava Cake For One, Small Twice Baked Potato Casserole, and Cheesy Baked Eggs For One. See all our 10-ounce ramekin recipes.
Ours is here.
What To Look For In A Small Baking Dish
Once you know the size you need, a few things separate a dish you’ll use for years from one that cracks or bakes unevenly.
Material. Ceramic and stoneware heat slowly and hold that heat, which gives casseroles and baked desserts even cooking and browned edges. Glass behaves similarly and lets you see the sides as they brown, though it’s more prone to cracking with sudden temperature changes. Metal heats fastest and is better suited to sheet pans and cake pans than to small casserole dishes. For single servings, we use ceramic.
Depth, not just footprint. Two dishes with the same 5×5 opening can hold very different amounts. Ours is 1¾ inches deep and holds 22 ounces, and that depth is what keeps a single serving from spreading thin and drying out. When you’re comparing dishes, look at the capacity in ounces rather than the length and width alone.
Oven temperature limit. Check what the dish is rated for before you buy. Most ceramic bakeware handles standard baking temperatures, but limits vary and exceeding them can crack a dish. Ours are safe to 500°F, which covers everything on the site.
Freezer to oven. A dish that can go straight from the freezer to a preheated oven saves you a thawing step. Not all bakeware handles that shift, so look for thermal shock resistance if you plan to freeze anything you bake.
Broiler safe. If you want browned cheese on top of a casserole, check whether the dish can go under the broiler and at what distance. Ours can, on a low setting, with at least 2½ inches between the dish and the heat.
Easy to handle and store. Small dishes with wide handles are easier to pull from a hot oven, and stackable ones save cabinet space when you own more than one.
Can You Use A Dish You Already Own
If you already have a small baking dish, you may not need to buy anything. Our Mini Pound Cake is written for a 5×5-inch dish, so we baked it in several other small dishes to see how much the dish changes the result. They all worked, including a 6-inch round cake pan, which a lot of people already have in the cupboard.
A few we’ve tested and can recommend:
- Peugeot Appolia individual square dish. Ceramic, made in France, and still sold, which matters when so many small dishes get discontinued. It goes from freezer to a preheated oven.
- Sweejar ceramic rectangular baking dish. Holds about 20 ounces, easy to find on Amazon, and less expensive than most.
- Le Creuset 5-inch square dish. The dish we used in the early days, and you’ll still see it in some of our older recipe photos. It appears to be discontinued, so you can’t buy one new, though they turn up at discount home stores and secondhand.
- A 6-inch round cake pan. Not a baking dish, but it holds close to the right amount and works for cakes and crisps if that’s what you have.
What matters most is capacity, not shape. A dish holding somewhere around 20 to 24 ounces will handle our 5×5-inch recipes whether it’s square, round, or rectangular. The further you get from that, the more the results drift, so with a larger dish, start checking early and go by the doneness cues rather than the clock.
Where To Buy Small Baking Dishes
We sell the exact dishes our recipes are written for on our Store page, including the 5×5-inch dish, the 5×7-inch dish, and the 10-ounce ramekin.
You can also look for those same sizes elsewhere. Home and kitchen stores, discount stores like HomeGoods, and Amazon all carry small bakeware, though the selection changes constantly and true single serving sizes can be hard to find among the family-sized dishes. Thrift stores are worth a look too, since ceramic and stoneware hold up for years and secondhand pieces work as well as new.
If you’re outside the United States, you should be able to find similarly sized dishes at your local kitchen shops.
Frequently Asked Questions
A 5×5-inch baking dish is the best size for cooking for one. It holds about 22 ounces, which is right for a single casserole, a baked main, or most desserts. If you buy one dish, buy this size.
Yes, a 6.5-inch cast iron skillet works for many single serving recipes. Cast iron holds heat well and gives baked goods a crisp edge. We have a collection of 6.5-inch cast iron skillet recipes written for that size.
Fill it with water using a measuring cup and count as you go. Most dishes aren’t marked with a capacity, and knowing the number tells you far more than the length and width do. Our 5×5-inch dish holds 22 ounces and our 5×7-inch dish holds 33.
Yes, glass works and lets you watch the sides brown. It’s more sensitive to sudden temperature changes than ceramic, so don’t move it from the refrigerator into a hot oven or set a hot dish on a cold surface.
Get the right size and everything else gets easier. A 5×5-inch dish covers most of what you’ll bake for one, and the 5×7 and a 10-ounce ramekin fill in the rest. When you’re ready to cook, browse our recipes for one, or find the dishes our recipes are written for on our Store page.
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.
Hi,
I have a question. I ahve several 9 inch ramikins . Do I need to buy the 10 inch ones or can i use what I have on hand?
Thank you.
Kaen
Our recipes have been tested using 10 ounce ramekins. If you use anything smaller, the recipes may not work the same.
I’ve had a pair of corningware French dishes 24 ounce that I’ve had for about 15 years I got them for a buck each at a garage sale and I just loved them. I moused them away because with the two of us. i would make bigger dinners, so we have leftovers for two or three nights which we just loved. it’s like cook once and warm it up twice.
but. Being widowed now twice, I still use those for like apple cobblers or a small cornbread, so open up your. opportunities you will find something for those special dishes that’s just your size, otherwise just make a bigger meal and eat on it two or three nights. Do you know why????? because you are worth it? ❤❤😁😁😁😁
I just thought I would mention that you can usually find the 5×5 Le Creuset baking dish on ebay and it is worth looking for.
I live by myself and I need someone dish recipes
Enjoying my Cooking for One cookbook so much, I got one for my granddaughter that lives alone.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for your ingenious and tasty recipes ! Love also the info on all your baking utensils, tools and cookware … you are awesome ! And a life saver!
The 5″ square Le Creuset dish can be bought as part of a set, with an 8″ dish, at WIlliams-Sonoma and other department stores. I love mine and bought one for my daughter. I love your recipes.
Thank you, Betty.
I just wanted to say thank you for this site! I am cooking for just myself now and that is saying something, let me tell you. I hate to cook! But I am tired of take-out and sometimes I just don’t feel like going out, so it’s either cook for myself or go hungry! LOL!
I don’t do “hungry” very well and I’m just starting to travel down this road to “one serving” meals! I must say that 99 % of my recipes are all for at least 4 and more and trying to scale down a recipe is the pits for me! I am so happy to have found you that I can hardly stand myself! I will be using your recipes more and more until I transition myself to using them all the time.
Jessie, GOOD FOR YOU!
When you do shop pre prep your counter for when you get home and split the food pkgs right away. I buy a whole cooked chicken and debone it in less than five minutes.OR, buy a whole chicken and either cook it first or cut it up for several recipes and freeze. There you go…If you get the rotisserie chicken, put the Bones into a pot of broth, add a chopped up onion, turn on low for 30 mins. Divide the chicken meat into a few bags and freeze. follow Joan’s awesome recipes to make many main meals. tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken soup. sandwiches, Remove the bones from the broth, use broth for chicken noodle soup and other recipes. You will be proud of yourself. I had to go from cooking for EIGHT to one…got tired of living on cold sandwiches…good luck
This was a very informative post. Thank you for all the work showing us the baking dish options and the before and after baking photos.
Hi Joanie:
I have recently found your site and am happily baking and cooking my way through some of your recipes. I came across this blog and thought I would add my 2 cents worth. 2 years ago I moved into a small studio apartment with only a two burner stove, a table top oven and a microwave. Had to rethink all my cooking/baking items. I came across Fat Daddio pans. And I wish that I had found them decades ago. They come in a tremendous number of shapes and sizes (well, a lot more before the pandemic). They are generally inexpensive, bake evenly, release well, are very easy to clean, lightweight –for those with dexterity and weight issues with hands/arms like me. Just of few of FAtDaddio baking pan attributes. As I have so little space I bake and store in them. I do like to use parchment paper with them for ease of clean-up, but even when I don’t, a little soaking and they clean readily. Check them out on Amazon.! Oh, and I generally double your recipes, as there are two of us! But when I just want something for me, or hubby has a particular request, these recipes are great size as written. Thanks so much.
I love to cook and love to use really good food but really good food is expensive. Now that I found your website, I can continue to cook without the waste and eating the same thing over and over!
Thank you!
Where can I buy some of the dishes
We have found dishes on Amazon as well as in various home stores. We list the dishes (and other products) we use and love on our Bakeware page – https://onedishkitchen.com/bakeware-cooking-for-one-kitchen/
Hi Joanie,
I have been following you since the get-go! You and your diverse and delicious selection of recipes turned my life around after I suddenly found myself alone.
Cooking For One/OneDishKitchen.com is a lot more than just another recipe site. Your pleasant and personal interaction with all of your followers has created a huge and wonderful family. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Linda.
Thank you Joanie for taking the time to actually show us the results of these different baking dishes! Fortunately, I have all the sizes needed for your recipes. I started collecting small cookware and baking dishes early in the game. I love your recipes and my poor cookbook is showing the wear and tear of constant use. 🙂
Love all the recipes so far but I’d like to see more low cal and low carb dishes. Pretty sure they’d be amazing!
Thank you, Beverly. We do have many low calorie and low carb recipes on our site with many more to come. Please use the search bar which looks like a little magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the page and type in “low carb” to see them. You might also like to browse through these healthy single serving recipes – https://onedishkitchen.com/single-serving-meals/
Love your recipes.
Thank you so much!
I have your book and I love it. But could you make another book and include the recipes shown on face book. The ones that are not in your current book.
I love your recipes, they are so helpful. Thank you for all your help
I’m so glad you are finding the recipes helpful. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.
I love Joanie’s lovely personality and her easy manner when preparing a dish. She is a lifesaver for us singles! I bought “The Ultimate Cooking For One” cookbook and it was money well spent
Thank you so much, Linda. I’m so happy you are finding our recipes helpful.
Sure would like to see a link to the Pyrex littles and the Corningware too.
The links can be found on our Bakeware Page – https://onedishkitchen.com/bakeware-cooking-for-one-kitchen/