Stovetop Baking Recipes

Can you bake on a stovetop?

Yes, with some adjustments. A stovetop is not an oven, so it cannot surround food with even, dry heat. But a heavy pan with a tight lid traps heat and steam, and that is enough to cook many cakes, breads, and desserts. The results are usually a little different from oven baking: softer, more tender crusts, and often paler tops.

This guide covers the main techniques, the equipment that helps, a handful of easy ideas, and what to do when something goes wrong.

How stovetop baking works

Heat comes only from below. The lid is what turns a pan into a small oven: it holds hot air and steam around the food so the top sets as well as the bottom. There are two broad approaches:

Dry pan-baking: batter or dough cooks in a covered skillet over low heat. The bottom browns and the top sets from trapped heat.
Steaming: the batter sits in a pan or dish above simmering water inside a covered pot. The heat is gentler and very even, so there is less risk of a burnt bottom, but there is no browning.

Equipment you need

A heavy-bottomed skillet or pot with a tight lid. Thick bases spread heat more evenly and are less likely to scorch. Cast iron, heavy aluminum, and Dutch ovens all work. A thin pan tends to burn on the bottom before the center cooks.
A trivet or rack (or a ring of rolled foil) to lift a pan off the bottom of a pot when steaming.
A heat-safe cake pan or dish that fits inside your pot with room around the sides.
Parchment paper to line pans and make lifting easier.
A heat diffuser (optional) for gas burners that run hot at low settings.

Method 1: Covered skillet baking

This works well for small cakes, quick breads, cornbread, and cookie-style desserts.

Choose a skillet with a lid that fits snugly. Grease it well or line the base with parchment.
Preheat gently over low or medium-low heat for a minute or two. Avoid high heat.
Add the batter and spread it evenly. Keep it fairly thin; thick batters are more likely to burn before the center sets.
Cover and cook over low heat without lifting the lid too often. Each peek lets out heat and steam.
Check for doneness with a toothpick or skewer in the center. It should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Remove from the heat and let the cake rest in the pan for a few minutes. Residual heat in a heavy pan keeps cooking the food, so do not leave it on the burner past the point it is done.

Cook times vary widely with pan size, batter depth, and your burner, so treat any time you read as a rough guide and rely on the toothpick test.

Method 2: Steaming in a pot

Steamed cakes are the most forgiving way to “bake” on a stove. A common approach, used for chocolate cakes in some recipes, is:

Put a trivet or a coil of foil in the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven and add water to come partway up the trivet.
Pour batter into a lined, heat-safe cake pan and set it on the trivet.
Cover the pot, bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer.
Steam until the center springs back when pressed lightly or a skewer comes out clean. Many recipes land in the range of 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the cake.
Top up with hot water if the pot runs low.

To prevent drips, you can wrap the lid in a clean kitchen towel so condensation does not fall onto the cake. Make sure the towel ends are tied up and kept away from the burner flame or element.

Method 3: Pan breads and griddle bakes

Some breads are naturally suited to a stovetop because they are thin or cooked in direct contact with a hot surface:

Flatbreads such as naan, roti, tortillas, and pita cook in a dry skillet in a few minutes.
English muffins and crumpets cook on a griddle over low heat, flipped once.
Pancakes and drop scones are the simplest stovetop “baked goods.”
Skillet quick breads and soda breads can be cooked in a covered, heavy pan over low heat, flipping once or finishing with the lid on.

If you want a yeasted, crusty loaf and do have an oven but not a Dutch oven, see our guide to baking sourdough without a Dutch oven.

Easy stovetop baking ideas

Frying pan chocolate cake: a small batter of butter, cocoa, milk, sugar, egg, flour and baking soda, cooked covered over very low heat. Reported times are roughly 10 to 12 minutes, but verify with a toothpick.
Steamed chocolate cake in a Dutch oven (see above).
Skillet cookie: press cookie dough into a lightly greased skillet, cover, and cook on low heat until set at the edges and just soft in the center.
Skillet cornbread: works in a heavy covered pan on low heat.
Stovetop fruit desserts: cooked fruit needs no baking at all. Try cooking peaches on the stove and spoon them over cake, pancakes, or ice cream.
Cobbler-style toppings: cook fruit in a skillet, drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top, cover, and simmer on low until the topping is cooked through.

Cake recipes that don’t need an oven

If you are looking for cakes that do not require an oven, the main options are the covered-skillet cake, the steamed cake, and the cake cooked in a rice cooker or slow cooker. Mug cakes in the microwave are another route. Dense, moist batters such as chocolate, banana, carrot, and coffee-style cakes tend to work better than very light sponge cakes, which need even, dry heat to rise and set.

Tips for even heat and no burnt bottoms

Keep the heat low. Medium-low is often the highest setting that works.
Use the heaviest pan you own.
Raise the pan slightly off direct heat when you can, using a trivet or a thin layer of salt or sand in a pot as a buffer.
Resist opening the lid constantly.
Rotate the pan a quarter turn partway through if your burner is smaller than the pan.
Use a thermometer if you have one. A cake is generally done when the center reaches roughly 200 to 210 degrees F (93 to 99 degrees C), though a toothpick test is usually enough.

Troubleshooting

Burnt bottom, raw center: heat was too high or the batter was too thick. Lower the heat, use a diffuser, and spread the batter thinner.
Gummy or wet top: condensation dripping from the lid. Wrap the lid in a towel or tilt it slightly to release some steam, or wipe the lid before opening.
Pale top: normal for stovetop baking. Finish under a broiler if you have one, or add a glaze, frosting, or fruit topping.
Cake sticking: line the pan with parchment and grease both parchment and sides.
Uneven cooking: the pan may be too large for the burner. Use a smaller pan or rotate it.

What about the 3:2:1 rule?

The question comes up often, but “3:2:1” means different things in different kitchens. In baking, it is most often given as a ratio for pastry dough: roughly three parts flour, two parts fat, and one part water by weight. Elsewhere, it refers to a time-based method for smoking ribs, which has nothing to do with baking. (For ribs without a smoker, see flanken-style ribs on the stove.) Because sources differ, check the context of the recipe you are following.

What is the easiest thing to bake from scratch?

Simple drop cookies, quick breads such as banana bread, and one-bowl cakes or brownies are common starting points because they need few ingredients and no special technique. If you want something similar to bake in small portions, our guide to baking mini loaves of banana bread shows how timing changes with the pan, and the easy Jammie Dodgers recipe is a gentle introduction to making cookie dough from scratch.

If you want to bake with a ready-made dessert, see how to cook a frozen fruit pie using an oven.