Home › Home & Kitchen › Kitchen & Dining › Cookware › Sauté Pans How to Deglaze a Pan Published: July 9, 2026 · Updated: July 9, 2026
After searing meat or vegetables, pour off excess fat, add a splash of liquid to the hot pan, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom as they dissolve into the liquid. Those bits — the fond — are concentrated flavor, and deglazing turns them into the base of a quick pan sauce or gravy.
Recommended Add liquid to the hot pan, scrape up the browned fond, and reduce it into a sauce — When you sear food, savory browned residue called fond sticks to the pan; deglazing lifts that fond off with liquid so it becomes flavor in a sauce instead of burning or going down the drain. First take the cooked food out and pour off most of the fat, leaving the browned bits. With the pan still hot over medium heat, pour in a splash of liquid — wine, stock, or even water, plus juice or vinegar for brightness — and it will bubble hard. Immediately scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon or spatula; the steam and stirring loosen the fond so it dissolves and colors the liquid. Let it simmer and reduce by about half to concentrate the flavor, then finish the sauce however you like: a knob of butter for gloss, cream, mustard, or herbs. If you use wine or another alcohol, let it cook a minute or two to burn off the raw edge. Deglaze while the fond is brown and fragrant, not black — burnt fond tastes bitter, so keep the sear hot but watch it. A stainless or cast-iron pan builds the best fond; nonstick barely browns, so there's little to deglaze.
