Home › Home & Kitchen › Kitchen & Dining › Cookware › Saucepans How to Use a Double Boiler Published: July 9, 2026 · Updated: July 9, 2026
A double boiler cooks delicate things over simmering water instead of direct heat: set a heatproof bowl snugly over a pan of barely simmering water, without the water touching the bowl, and stir. The gentle, indirect heat melts chocolate and makes custards and sauces like hollandaise without scorching or curdling them.
Recommended Heatproof bowl over barely-simmering water, not touching it — gentle heat that won't scorch — A double boiler (or bain-marie) exists to give you low, even, indirect heat for things that scorch, curdle or split over a direct flame. You can buy a dedicated set, but any heatproof bowl that sits snugly in the rim of a saucepan works — the bowl should rest above the water, not in it. Put an inch or two of water in the pan, bring it to a bare simmer, set the bowl on top, and add your ingredients, stirring as they warm. Keep the water at a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil: the steam does the heating, and too much heat defeats the point. It's ideal for melting chocolate, making custards, curds and delicate egg sauces such as hollandaise, and warming things you don't want to catch on the pan. Two rules save most mistakes: don't let the bowl's base touch the water, which creates a hot spot, and when melting chocolate keep every drop of water and steam out of the bowl, because even a little moisture makes chocolate seize into a stiff paste. Use oven mitts, since the bowl and steam get hot, and lift the bowl off the moment it's done.
